Former Division I coach Alex Swenson says paying for expensive tournaments won't get you recruited. What works: contact coaches before the event, have someone advocate for you, and send video highlights with your schedule so coaches know when to watch.
Chapters
An expensive tournament or showcase is not just going to get you recruited. It doesn't work like that. As a former D1 coach, scout, and recruiter that talks to college coaches on a weekly basis, they have a full list of athletes they are going to watch. They're not just showing up to a recruiting event hoping to find athletes. That's not how it works. So the athletes that do get seen, they do 3 things. It's their communication prior to that event. They have also somebody helping them, whether it's again their coach talking to these college coaches or recruiter helping with the exposure of that athlete. They've sent video to the college coaches as well. That's a really, really good tool. And they also sent their schedule out of where exactly they are going to be so the college coaches know where they can come watch them. Now compare that to families who spent thousands of dollars on travel, tournaments, fees, all the things that come with that and they're just hoping to be found. And it's not necessarily their fault, they just don't know what they don't know. Meanwhile, there's athletes at that same tournament that are getting massive exposure and communication going with these college coaches. So it's not an exposure problem, it's a communication and strategy problem. Certain showcases and tournaments can work, but they work best when you actually have a plan and a strategy going into that event. If you're looking for a more personal step-by-step plan for your sport in your year that will take all the guesswork out of this recruiting process, comment "plan" down below and I'll send it to you.
