<p>Hi all, I know this is technically not a recruiting question but hoping someone here might be familiar with this organization. My son received an invite for a team event in Scotland, it is an organization that covers basically all sports and it says players are recommended by coaches, peers or professional organizations and they do not advertise. However, I am leery, if this is just a business looking to make a buck. Team of 12, trip to Scotland to compete (golf) trip is 9 days and everything is include for 5k. Anyone heard of this group or have any experience with it. I am rather skeptical. Thanks </p>
<p>No direct experience here, but I think your instincts are right. It sounds like this business model is basically a travel agency, not some sort of elite athletic organization. Also a few bad reports online, here’s one: <a href=“Ripoff Report | USA Athletes Internatio Review - Olathe, Kansas”>http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/USA-Athletes-International/Olathe-Kansas-66062/USA-Athletes-International-High-School-Travel-Rip-Off-Olathe-Kansas-271643</a></p>
<p>Thank you Varska.</p>
<p>I don’t think that article shows the family was cheated. They asked for a change to the schedule and it was ‘no problem’ for them to fly the next day, but there was a cost. Should they have been told? Yes, but they didn’t ask and just signed the change form. $200 per ticket for a change is not a horrible charge. They did say they had a good time and felt the trip itself was worth it. </p>
<p>I think you should consider the organization a travel agent, no different than the many tour companies that shuttle high school language groups all over the place during spring break My daughter went on one. It was more expensive than if I would have taken her, but still rather reasonable and she had a good time. This year the school went with another company and it is about $600 more, so she didn’t go because I thought that was too much (and she’s busy).</p>
<p>I think it would be fun to play in Scotland for 9 days, but I don’t think there will be a lot of college scouts there. If you think it is fun, do it, but don’t expect anything other than 9 days golfing.</p>
<p>I have not researched this particular business, but there are several outfits like this who market to HS athletes with the “you have been selected for this honor” solicitation. I am certain some of them border on scams, however there are some that are reputable, if you understand from the beginning that it’s not an “elite honor.” Lots of athletes get the invitations. For the ones that are legitimate, they are basically “pay to play” foreign exchange type athletic camp/tourism/vacation packages, fun for the teens because they meet each other and are roomed together at the hotels or dorms, fun for the parents who also stay separate at hotels, sometimes the kids aren’t going on to play in college and it’s one last chance to compete. If you can afford it and think it will be fun, it probably will be.</p>
<p>However, do your homework and look up complaints. The one my neighbor’s family did last year with their daughter (track, and not the one listed in the OP) was a trip outside the U.S. (either 10 days or 2 weeks, I forget) they are still raving about. </p>
<p>They estimate it cost about 25% more than if they had taken the trip to the same destinations on their own, but then they would not have had the experience of being with the larger tournament type situation. I gather there were a few hundred athletes in different sports that participated, both boys and girls. It was their graduation present to their daughter and she had a grand time.</p>
<p>Thanks Meow, that was kind of what I thought. My son is a senior in college though not hs, but same type deal. It seems that most of the past participants have been from small colleges, and no names I really recognize from summer tournament competition. Although it looks like a lot of fun, I am not sure it would be worth the money. </p>
<p>Just to build on Meow’s post - I guess the thing that strikes me as ‘scammy’ about these outfits is the implication that the invitees are somehow ‘selected’ by coaches and peers. It’s the same with the same thing with trips abroad offered to ‘high academic achievers’ supposedly recommended by some unknown, teacher or counselor. Will you have a fun trip? Sure! But why can’t they be straightforward and say, ‘hey, do you like golf? (or tennis or softball) then join us for a 10 day golf trip to Scotland!’</p>
<p>You should also research the courses the group will play. There is a big spectrum and you don’t want to get fired up about playing famous links courses and then up playing on inland munis.</p>
<p>Varska, I totally agree with you, I guess that it’s marketing like anything else. Hey, like 100% of the college marketing we get !! “X University WANTS U !! Hey John Doe You have been Selected as a Preferred Student !!”</p>
<p>I will allow that with parents of athletes, sometimes you just want to believe. We were TOTALLY sucked into certain camps that were of little value. Some others were, but largely, I don’t know. I could never say. Kids who did the same camps never got recruited at all. Some kids did. So who knows.</p>
<p>The big thing is, some of the invitations are for big tours, like the OP said, touring in Scotland. Lots of golfers want to golf in Scotland. Will they do it on their parents’ dime with their parents enjoying Scotland as well, or do it later when they themselves have 10K to spare? I don’t know. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t pay anything to go to Jamaica and do anything, but have to say if there were an opportunity to take my son somewhere in, say, Russia or Africa, I don’t know, I might just think to myself “when else would they get to do that?” But that’s if we had the money, and we don’t. </p>
<p>^True - and I’m straying from the original topic a bit, but when an eighth grader gets a fancy-looking invitation that says she was ‘nominated’ to tour the Historic Sites of Europe based on her academics it’s not a lot of fun to tell her that 8K will be better spent for college. Same with sports, if you really are representing the US, it’s not going to be on your own dime. But as you say it’s just marketing - playing on ego and emotion.</p>
<p>I think we got one a few years ago which was all on important stationery with gold leaf and felt like a wedding invitation. It was for something in Washington DC. I actually looked at for a whole 5 minutes, which was like 5 minutes longer than I should have looked at it, and then looked it up online where people were saying their kids were left to run amuck in the city etc. and NO don’t do it. Other parents said that they felt their kids were better ready to go on to government positions soon. I’m obviously paraphrasing from memory so don’t hold me to this.</p>
<p>Anyway, marketing is marketing. If you have to pay for ANYTHING ahead of time, you’re being marketed to.</p>
<p>Glad my gut was correct. Thanks for the help and now I can throw the info away. :)</p>
<p>^unless, of course, you want to give him a nice trip to Scotland to cap off a successful college career :)</p>
<p>^ great idea but I am pretty sure that money will be earmarked for Q school… ;)</p>
<p>My son has a similar offer on the table for soccer, with a respected training organization. We have to look at it as a chance to travel and play soccer, and not as possible return on investment. He may miss out on some summer league games, so it is a difficult decision, let alone how much money it is.</p>
<p>I would say since the tour is golf-specific, maybe some golf-specific forums would be a good place to ask. I get worried about “multi-sport specialist” companies, although IMG in Florida has a great reputation for many sports including soccer, so some organization such as that do exist. </p>
<p>Do your homework, let him decide to do it if you have the money. The worst thing to do is feel that it is a missed opportunity but honestly it is beyond one’s budget.</p>
<p>I have already decided against it. I did check to see however it the whole team received invites and they did not, so how they got his name I have no clue. His coach said he might of recommended him but is not sure. Regardless there was enough negative stuff found for me online to say no thanks.</p>
I found out first hand how this company is, it is all for profit and my daughter’s coordinator lied. She filled out the contract online and click accept to accept the agreement. She contacted them 29 days after and wanted to let them know she wasn’t going. They told her she had to pay $600 for cancelling. They quoted NCAA bylaws that she would violate if she did not pay, which I called her college compliance office and she would not be in violation of any NCAA bylaws. When I told the coordinator that he gave incorrect information, he stated he knew the rules, he may, but what he stated was totally incorrect, it was a tactic to make someone pay. I would never do business with this organization.