Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) is a recruiting platform that helps connect students with coaches. It can streamline the recruiting process and make it easier for students to understand their options as a student-athlete. If you’re thinking about continuing your favorite sport during your college years, here’s what you need to know about the NCSA, its membership tiers, available sports, and more.
What is the NCSA?
The NCSA, officially known as Next College Student Athlete, is an online college recruiting tool for student-athletes in middle school or high school, parents, and coaches. Experts through the NCSA Athletic Recruiting team include scouts and coaches as well as former college athletes. They work with 40,000 college coaches across more than 30 sports and can assist within the United States and across the world.
They’re a part of the IMG Academy, which offers sport camps, gap programs, training, and other resources to students online and at their sports training facility in Bradenton, Florida. The IMG Academy is also a preparatory boarding school.
Members are able to take advantage of:
- A personal athlete profile
- Assistance finding the right college
- Direct messaging with coaches
- Profile tools such as see who has viewed your profile
- Recruiting workshops
- Nutrition coaching
- Mental performance online coaching
- Developmental Coaching
- And more
Student-athletes will also have the opportunity to work with a personal recruiting coach so you can get personalized assistance during your journey.
Those interested will have to schedule an assessment to be accepted to the program. During this meeting, students and parents can also ask questions about what to expect, membership options, and how NCSA can help going forward.
What Sports Does the NCSA Cover?
At the moment, the NCSA can assist students with over 30 sports. These include:
Men’s
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Football
- Golf
- Hockey
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Soccer
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Track & Field
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Wrestling
Women’s
- Basketball
- Beach Volleyball
- Field Hockey
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Hockey
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Soccer
- Softball
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Track & Field
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Wrestling
Coed Sports
- Cheerleading
The webpages for each sport on the NCSA website include recruiting guidelines, rules, calendars, scholarships, videos, events, and more so you can go into the recruiting process well educated about what to expect.
What is Included in Your NCSA Membership?
The NCSA has several tiers of membership available to students, ranging from free to thousands of dollars.
As of this writing, the NCSA has five membership tiers available. One is free, but the other four, Champion, Elite, MVP, and MVP+, are premium and cost money. All tiers include an athletic and student profile. They also include the college coach directory and map and access to live and on-demand workshops, but free accounts only have limited access to these features.
Depending on the tier you choose, premium memberships can also include:
- Scholarship guidance
- SAT/ACT prep course
- Roster opening notifications
- Professional highlight videos
- Personalized game plan
- Direct promotion
- One-on-one personal recruiting coaching
- Mental performance and nutrition workshops
- One-on-one mental performance coaching
- One-on-one nutrition coaching
Should You Sign Up for the NCSA As a Student-Athlete?
Determining whether or not this organization is right for you and which tier is best for you is a personal decision. Consider your goals as well as your budget.
According to their website, many students have found success through the NCSA. We recommend reading over their website carefully and checking out reviews from trusted third-party sites before signing up. See what others are saying about their experience. You can also schedule an assessment to get more information about their programs.
How Can Student-Athletes Get Noticed By College Coaches?
Using a resource like the NCSA or another recruiting platform, such as PrepHero can be a great way to get noticed by college coaches, but it’s not the only route available. Student-athletes can actually reach out to college coaches completely on their own. If you choose to take this route, you should send introductory letters to coaches at schools you’re interested in attending, schedule follow-up calls, and regularly update them with your latest stats.
The NCSA can be an excellent resource for student-athletes who want to continue playing their favorite sport even after high school graduation. Students can sign up as early as middle school, making it easy to get ahead of the game. However, many of NCSA’s features are locked behind payment plans which may not make this the most ideal tool out there for all students. It is possible to tackle contacting coaches yourself. You should carefully weigh the pros and cons of the service, the cost, and your own personal goals before signing up.
Before you contact coaches, however, you should have a good idea of where you’d like to attend. College Raptor’s College Match can take your on-the-field goals into account while also considering your academic objectives and other must-haves and wants to return the perfect colleges for you. Get started today – it’s completely free!
