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One of the best opportunity’s to promote your skills to college coaches is to attend as many college basketball showcases and events. These days (especially if you are not being highly recruited) the college showcase could be a very good opportunity to get the much needed exposure that basketball players need to get noticed by colleges.
How to Locate College Showcases: Dates / How to find them?
There are only certain months of the year that there will be showcases. Usually during the months of April, July, and September. And there are team related showcases during April, May, and July. It will all depend on what part of the country you live in, and how hard you work to find them.
The NCAA Website:
The most effective way to locate a showcase is to go to the NCAA website and view the master list of men’s or women’s certified showcases / events. This list will have every showcase that is certified by the NCAA (men’s and women’s separately) across the USA. Checking this list will help you locate showcases, and at the same time let you know that a certain showcase is certified.
Steps to get to the NCAA Men’s and Women’s showcase (events) page:
Go to https://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ then click on Sports and Championship, then General Information then on Certified Basketball Events and Leagues. Then somewhere below you should see “List of Certified Events and Leagues” (see example below). Select the updated information on Showcases / Events (men’s or women’s) around the USA. The NCAA constantly updates the list, and Summer Events may not be available until after March 1st or later (you may need to keep checking until events are posted).
GO DIRECTLY TO CERTIFIED EVENTS
(Certified events for Men and Women are listed on this page)
Certified events (should look something like this on the NCAA page, try clicking on the links below). We have tried to constantly update the information and links, but the NCAA makes so many changes that it is extremely difficult to keep up with…
- 2011 Women’s Summer Events
- 2011 Women’s Spring Events (April)
- 2011 Final Four Women’s Events
- 2011 Men’s Summer Events
- 2011 Women’s Fall Events – TBD
Summer Events
The NCAA website has changed again, and changes often so we are providing one website link that will get you to any of the above… You will have to navigate to the page that you are looking for from there.
NCAA Showcase Events / Summer Leagues
Here is a sample of NCAA Women’s Showcase List:
Click Here for 2011 Women’s Showcase Event ListCheck it out – Although this list may be outdated (and will constantly be updated) it acts as an example to show locations, contact info, email addresses, website addresses, etc. If you are feeling motivated you could call the contacts and /or check out the websites to see if they are holding a showcase event near your area (or look the list over to get excited about this whole showcase thing).
AAU Coach’s, High School Coach’s / Word of mouth:
Most AAU and High School Coach’s will receive mailers for showcase events that they can share with their players. At the very least AAU coach’s or the Club that they are affiliated with will have information on showcase events. Some coach’s will automatically make copies and pass them out to players, and some may not. The best policy is to keep asking your coach’s if they have received any information so you won’t miss out on any showcase events they know about.
View this short list of companies that host showcase events:
Keep in mind that AVCSS Basketball does not endorse any of the showcase hosts below – it is just a sample list for you to check out. I should add that my daughters did participate in showcase events from this list (and it proved to be successful).
* BLUE CHIP * BLUE STAR * HOOPS&DREAMS
* ELITE SPORTS * N.E. ELITE * PREMIERE BASKETBALL
The #1 thing that you need to concentrate on and prepare for are College Showcases!
* Players must work hard all year round to ensure they are in basketball shape and their skills are sharp! Why pay all that money to attend a showcase and show up unprepared? The most important part of the showcase is the game, and how a player performs. Any player can sign up for a showcase, but if they are not prepared when they show up, it can be a waste of time (everyone’s time).
How many should you attend? (Don’t be afraid to travel)
As many as you can! There are only certain months that you can attend showcases so plan to attend as many as you can. Exposure is everything. If you don’t play so well at one showcase you can make up for it at the next one. Don’t hesitate and take your time deciding on attending showcases – most fill up very fast, and you may not get the chance to attend if you wait too long to register.
How will the coach’s know I am there?
Other than the coach’s noticing you while you are on the court – the only way they will make some time to take a look at you is if they were informed that you are there. How? Why? It’s fairly simple, coach’s pretty much have a list of recruits that they will be looking for at the showcases. If you send a college coach a letter stating that you are interested in attending college and playing for them, they will most likely pencil you in on their list of recruits to take a look at. Think about this – there is not a lot of time for college coach’s to recruit so having a players background information / stats available can help with their decision process. College coach’s may not want to spend a lot of time on a player that is not really interested in attending their school. So in order to make a showcase event the best opportunity it can be – there is some very important items that need to be taken care of prior to attending showcase events:
Important Items to do prior to attending Showcase events
1. You must select a list of colleges that you would like to attend (Div I, Div II, Div III)
2. Prepare a letter (which is basically your basketball resume) and include which showcases you will be attending.
3. Mail as many letters out as possible (we mailed out anywhere from 80-100 at a time).
* Letters / Mailings / etc are covered in more detail in the AVCSS Basketball publication “Guide to College Recruiting – The Basics” Check out our Basketball Store on the Home page for additional information.
Sample College Letter – Handout This sample college letter can be found under our Handouts section (download and easily modify the file).
THE SHOWCASE HANDOUT / LETTER:
Getting your handout (letter) ready for the showcases. This letter should be short and to the point (much less detail than the college letter they already received from you). It’s always best to have a handout ready to give to coach’s when a player attends showcases. You really can’t hand them to the coaches, but there are other ways to get them out. There is usually a table that the coach’s see that has the handouts on it. And your parents should have some handouts in hand (just in case they get the opportunity to hand them to a college coach or two). Although they usually keep the coaches in certain areas, there are ways to get the handouts to the coach’s (your parents can think of some creative ways to get your handout to the coach’s).
Sample Showcase Handout This sample showcase handout can easily be modified with your info.
Good Luck to you - Keep in mind that the whole recruiting process is going to be a challenge, but if you are determined and are willing to work extremely hard – you will be successful. There are thousands of players that are competing with you for athletic scholarships, it won’t be easy, but you can do it.
For more detailed recruiting information Check Out our “Guide to College Recruiting / The Basics The information in this booklet will save you time and money. The information is invaluable – having this information can get you started right now, avoid costly mistakes, and get you moving in a positive direction.
Also, don’t forget the publication “Summer Workout for High School Players”
Check out our Basketball Store for additional information.
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