Every family we speak to has been contacted by a recruiting platform. Most have paid for one. Almost none of them can tell us what it actually did for their player. This is not an accident.
What a platform is
A recruiting platform is a database. Your player gets a profile page, some film hosting, an email tool, and access to a list of college coaches. Some offer a coach who will review the profile. The business model depends on volume: thousands of players paying a subscription to be findable.
What coaches actually do with platforms
Coaches receive hundreds of unsolicited emails a season, many of them generated by platforms. Most are filtered or ignored. A college coach does not build a recruiting class by browsing a database. They build it through relationships: club coaches they trust, showcases they attend, and people whose judgement they have learned to rely on.
What representation is
Representation means someone is working for your player specifically. Evaluating them honestly. Building a target list that matches their level, academics and finances. Contacting staffs directly, with a relationship behind the call. Preparing them for trials and visits. Sitting in the negotiation at the end and comparing the offers side by side.
The honest downside
Representation costs more than a platform subscription and it is not for everyone. If a player is not at a level where a program will genuinely want them, no amount of representation changes that, and the right thing is to say so on the first call. We do.
How to tell the difference
Ask who, specifically, will be contacting coaches on your player's behalf, and how many other players that person is representing at the same time. Ask what happens if it does not work. Ask for a parent, not a player, who has been through the process. The answers will tell you what you are buying.
