You're Paying for Exposure. That Is Not Recruiting.

NCAA Research estimates that only about 1.4% of high school boys' soccer players and about 2.8% of high school girls' soccer players go on to compete at an NCAA Division I school. Those are 2024-25 figures from the NCAA's Probability of Competing Beyond High School tables, built from NFHS high school participation counts and NCAA roster counts. That is the backdrop every family should keep in mind when someone sells "recruiting."

What real recruiting looks like

The NCAA Eligibility Center is blunt about the process: coaches initiate most recruiting conversations. Exposure still matters — film, club play, campus visits, academics — but a paid third party telling you a coach "has you on their board" is not the same thing as a college coach contacting your kid under the rules for that division and sport.

If the only people talking about your child's recruitment are people you wrote a check to, you do not have recruiting yet. You have marketing.

The math does not care about the brochure

Across all NCAA divisions, the same NCAA tables put high school-to-NCAA soccer at about 5.9% for boys and 7.9% for girls. Division I is the narrow slice. Division II and III exist, NAIA and junior college exist, and none of those paths gets wider because a company mailed your highlight reel to a list.

Scarce roster spots plus a sales pitch create a perfect market for pretend recruiting. The scarcity is real. The guarantee is not.

Camps, showcases, and the word 'recruiting'

Institutional camps and clinics have NCAA rules of their own. As a quick example from Division I camp guidance: institutional camps generally must be open to entrants and publicly advertised, and coaches have limits on recruiting activity while camp is running. Showing up, paying the fee, and leaving with a "evaluated" sticker is not a scholarship offer.

NCAA advertising standards even treat athletics recruiting services as off-limits for NCAA promotional placements, and camp ads that are allowed are supposed to carry a clear disclaimer that the NCAA does not endorse the camp or service. That is not a conspiracy against parents. It is the organization drawing a line between its brand and paid recruiting middlemen.

How to tell exposure from interest

Ask boring questions. Has a college coach contacted the athlete directly under that school's rules? Can you name the coach, the school, and the date? Is the Eligibility Center account the right type for the divisions being chased? Is the film current, and do the academics match the schools on the wish list?

A company can still help with organization, film packaging, or camp logistics. That can be useful. Calling that package "being recruited" is the part that misleads families — and it gets more expensive the closer the kid gets to the senior year panic window.

Bottom line

Recruiting is interest from a college program. Paying for visibility can be part of getting found. It is not proof anyone found you. Hold every pitch up against the NCAA numbers, and against one simple test: who initiated contact, and can you verify it without the salesperson in the room?