Junior Rank Teams Up with National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) to Make 6th-9th Grade Student Athletes' Dreams a Reality
Junior Rank has partnered with the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) to help 6th-9th grade athletes turn their dreams of being a collegiate athlete into a reality.


CHICAGO, IL, March 11, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Junior Rank, a company dedicated to the education, evaluation and instruction of America's next generation of student athletes, has partnered with the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), to help 6th-9th grade athletes across the country turn their dreams of being a collegiate athlete into a reality.

According to Junior Rank Founder and CEO, Shaon Berry, the partnership with NCSA is a natural fit and one that adds a tremendous value to Junior Rank athletes and their families.

"NCSA has a proven track record of success with high-school student athletes who desire an opportunity to play their sport at the next level. The professionals at NCSA understand that preparation for being a recruit starts well before high school," Berry said. "NCSA evaluates every aspect of the student athlete including their athletic performance, academics, character and discipline. Using that thorough evaluation and detailed recruiting guidelines given directly from college coaches, NCSA is able to match the student-athlete with the right college program. This matching capability results in a highly successful recruiting process and an average scholarship of more than $18,000 for each student athlete who qualifies for their curriculum. At Junior Rank, we are approaching our junior athletes the same way. We are looking at that spectacular seventh grade quarterback and educating him to the academic expectations of the NCAA while evaluating him against his peers from across the country. By giving him feedback on JuniorRank.com, he is able to maximize his performance and recruiting potential as he advances to high school."

Chris Krause, who founded NCSA in 2000, believes in giving every student athlete a shot at their dream and has developed a very specific recruiting process for athletes prior to their arrival to high school.

"One of the biggest myths of the college recruitment process is that recruiting begins when a student athlete is contacted by a college coach during their junior or senior year of high school, but that is a huge misconception. College coaches start to recognize 7th and 8th graders as recruits so it's important for student athletes to start identifying the schools that they would like to target early and formulate relationships with college coaches to begin the process," says NCSA founder, Chris Krause.

Berry, a respected youth football coach and former University of Pittsburgh running back, founded Junior Rank in 2008. Having launched his first Junior Rank football combine in Lake Barrington, IL in June of 2008 with over 300 athletes in attendance, Berry's National Combine in San Antonio, Texas in January of this year drew more than 500 athletes, some coming from as far away as Alaska.

"The positive feedback from athletes and their parents has been overwhelming," Berry said. "There are a lot of gifted kids out there looking to showcase their talent. For some, it's ballet, others math or science, but for many, it's sports. We feel that we are giving these talented athletes an outlet to showcase their talent and the tools, if they choose to embrace them, to help get them one-step closer to their dream."

Krause agrees and adds that getting college attention often starts well before high school freshman year. NCSA provides guidance and information on how to make sure a student athlete ends up on a college 'radar screen'. "At NCSA, we educate student athletes and their families on how to take a proactive approach to interacting with college coaches. It must be the student themselves who take an active role in contacting coaches and making the proper introductions, many times, even before high school begins. It is also crucial for student athletes to have their athletic resume and video available online to allow for easy evaluation by college coaches."

Krause also notes the valuable knowledge and insight that the respected team of NCSA scouts such as Tom Lemming, Randy Taylor, Bob Chmiel and dozens of former NFL players are able to share with student athletes and their families about the recruiting process.

A series of ten junior football combines will be taking place across the country in 2010 starting with Austin and Katy, Texas in March. The other combines are planned for Kansas, Utah, Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, California and Hawaii through July.

Combines, which are broken down by age with 6th and 7th graders earlier in the day and 8th in 9th graders later in the day, are 4.5 hours long with a cost of $99. Current and former college and NFL players and coaches are on hand to give instruction and combine results are recorded by an independently contracted testing company. Athletes can create a profile and register for a combine as well as view combine testing results, MVP award winners, weekly athlete features and much more by visiting www.juniorrank.net or by calling 1-877-JR1-RANK (877-571-7265).

For information on the NCSA, please visit www.ncsasports.org or call 1-866-333-6846.

National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA): Since 2000, NCSA has quickly grown to be the leading collegiate recruiting source for more than 35,000 college coaches and more than 10,000 verified college athletes from across the country. With a rate of more than 90% of NCSA athletes succeeding to play collegiate athletics, NCSA is the leading educational resource for parents, athletes and coaches who are involved in the recruitment process. Through the educational resources on their website, www.ncsasports.org, and more than 1,000 presentations of the critically acclaimed seminar "College Recruiting Simplified," the organization has helped over 1,000,000 athletes and parents learn about the process. NCSA's new book, "Athletes Wanted" furthers this education by sharing the tools for maximizing athletic scholarship and life potential. For more information, visit www.athelteswanted.org.

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Caiti Carrow
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