In this article I’m going to tell you about 3 misconceptions parents and players have about what junior days can and can’t do.
Read time: 2 minutes
Junior days do 3 essential things:
Turn college from a concept into something concrete.
Boots are on the ground.
You are meeting coaches live.
You are getting as real of a feel for a place as you can.
The relationship with coaches shifts from digital on X to analog and in person.
Generate buzz in your own recruiting and garners other teams’ interest.
Documenting your visit to X
Tagging coaches who hosted you on X
Tagging 247 Sports or fan accounts with large followings to juice your retweets.
Get FOMO working in your favor instead of against it.
Get you ‘top of mind’ to be evaluated during schools’ summer recruiting camps.
Almost no one gets offered sight unseen except for the top 10% of recruits during a junior day.
You will need to perform and show out live during summer camps.
Junior days help ensure you show up known, liked and with a few coaches on staff already hoping you’re the guy.
Conversely, junior days can’t do these 3 things (but everyone falsely assumes they can):
Junior days do not fix your measureables:
They won’t make you taller, stronger or faster.
They won’t improve your GPA or that math class.
They won’t make your SAT/ACT scores higher or transcript more rigorous.
Junior days aren’t offers aka Likes Ain’t Offers:
It is possible to “win” junior day season, and attend every school’s junior day only to bomb during summer camp season.
Just because a coach follows you back, and hosts you for a visit, it doesn’t mean you’re exceptionally special. They host 100s of players and their parents - maybe even 1000s a year.
You still need to work your tail off and hit the nail on the head during summer camps.
Junior days won’t make you happy:
While you can go to 30 junior days, you don’t need to. You’re not a failure as a parent if your kid doesn’t attend 47 junior days.
You need to decide what “enough” is for you and your family - enough financially, emotionally, academically, athletically. And that is really hard.
They are A tool but they are not THE end all, be all tool.
Summing it all up:
Junior Day Benefits: Provide a concrete college experience, generate buzz, and increase visibility for summer camps.
Junior Day Limitations: Cannot improve physical attributes, guarantee offers, or guarantee happiness.
Junior Day Importance: Essential for building relationships with coaches and getting noticed, but performance at summer camps is crucial.
That’s all for now,
Brendan