I’m asked regularly about IMG Academy, Spire Academy and similar places as options for student-athletes. In recent years, as more of these academies and their popularity has grown, the questions have increased.

I’ve been to both places multiple times and have worked with families on both sides – those who have attended IMG, Spire etc., and those who have contacted me once they’ve decided to leave when things didn’t turn out the way they expected.

IMG and Spire are fairly unique organizations, and they have their place in the overall landscape. IMG has been around for about 30 years. Spire opened within the last few years.

In many ways, IMG invented the for-profit sports academy business model in the US when it was just a tennis academy. They have since expanded to many more sports, most recently football and lacrosse. By any measure, they are incredibly successful. Spire Academy, outside of Cleveland, seems to be copying that model.

These are not prep schools, at least not in the traditional sense. Both are for-profit sports academies that offer academics as a supplement to athletics. This is fundamentally different than most traditional boarding schools which offer sports as a part of the whole educational/child development experience. IMG is working on improving its academic offerings as evidenced by the plans for new academic buildings shown on their website.

At around $90,000, IMG’s price makes most prep schools look like a bargain, which is saying something when the others are charging $70,000 to educate kids as young as 14. At times, they will discount the price based on the athlete’s ability and national recognition.

Their business model is to bring in Internationally recognized superstars on full scholarship which, in turn, draws families of “regular” athletes who can/are willing to pay $90,000 to chase their dream. Some of the coaches work on a commission basis. In other words, they get a financial percentage of what they recruit/bring in.

The education they offer is no longer merely the minimum it once was and they are making efforts to improve. Still, some/many courses are online and there remains a very large gap between the education they offer and the education at a traditional boarding school. They are not educators first, they are sports people first. That’s a concern for some/many when we’re talking about being responsible for kids 14-18 years old who are living away from home.

Living quarters and overall organization have come under scrutiny and are considered unacceptable by some of the families who have attended. Again, they are working on improving that. IMG, in particular, shows plans on their website for new dorms. While bad experiences happen at all places, even the traditional boarding schools, the percentage at IMG, Spire etc. is higher. That should be no surprise given the amount of freedom teenagers have at these places.

A couple months ago I was asked by the director of admission and financial aid at a prominent northeastern prep school to contact the mother of one of his existing students and discuss IMG. The young man is a basketball star and IMG had seen him at a major summer camp and was trying to get him to leave his traditional prep school and attend IMG. This mother has very little money and the prospect of saving thousands of dollars was very appealing to her. They initially promised her a full scholarship, but when it came time to get the deal done, that was not the case. She didn’t know what to think, whom to trust, or what to do.

Bottom line: Organizations like these clearly have their place. Given their cost and the alternatives available, parents who are serious about their child’s education and not just the sport should proceed cautiously when exploring them. The risk factor is higher at these sports academies as evidenced by, among other things, the higher transfer rate of kids leaving before they graduate. These are the right place for some kids but families need to make the decision to attend with their eyes open.

Updated: 5 June 2024

If you’re making a video for coaches to see, you want to make it as user-friendly as possible – for the coaches, not for you. You laugh, but too many videos are just an exercise in ego for the maker. You don’t want a coach to stop watching because of video issues before even evaluating your game. Believe me, it happens. Coaches do not have unlimited time. A very poor quality video causes the coach to hit the stop button and you get either no response to your video or a blow-off.

This doesn’t mean you need to pay a service to have it done. The only possible reason to pay to have it done is if you simply can’t be bothered or don’t want to spend the time. Anyone with a smartphone and a  YouTube account can make a good video.

Here are a few rules to make the process work better and improve your chances.

1. Identify your team, jersey number and color. Coaches don’t know you. They don’t know your hair color, your size, your body language, your position, your team. Don’t make them guess. This is not as important for highlight videos as it is for game video, but you should do it for both.
2. Game video is preferable to highlight video.
   1. Highlights have a place in the process, but 90% of the players/ parents making highlight videos don’t do it right, leaving coaches frustrated and shaking their heads as they watch. A highlight video should not be longer than one to two minutes, and should showcase abilities that immediately set you apart. This includes things like size, speed, athleticism or special skill.
   2. Game video is where the coach gets to see how you play the game. Are you smart? Are you a team player? What level is your team playing at? Do you do the little things? Do you make those around you better? Make sure you pick a good one. If a coach watches for 20 minutes and is wondering when he’s going to see something good, you’ve picked the wrong video. If you think this is common sense, you haven’t seen all the bad game video out there.
3. Do not use slow motion. This is an absolute no-no. Coaches can see what they want to see without the benefit of slow motion. Using it makes the athlete look like a prima donna and wastes a coaches time.
4. Do not tell the world how good you are. This means no over-the-top notes or text introducing or ending the video. Don’t scream at the viewer by using lots of capital letters, or use multiple exclamation points etc. Let the video stand on its own. Let others decide how good you are. That other stuff will only make recruiters think you’ve got a big ego or are likely to be a problem. This goes for the parents as much, or more, as the athletes.

Video is a key part of today’s recruiting process. In today’s world anyone with a smartphone and YouTube can have a good video. There’s not excuse for not having one. Coaches are already picking your game apart looking for problems. Don’t give them any unnecessary reasons to add to that list by providing a poor video or none at all. If you’re lucky enough to get them to watch, don’t blow your opportunity.