PG National Academic SHowcase vs Headfirst High Academic Showcase

Good question.  To give the very best answer, I think I (and likely others) need to know more about your son and where he stands in the recruiting process.  My son has done both (HeadFirst 2x, actually), and benefited immensely from both....in very different ways.  I have a hunch which way I'd lean in terms of advice on one vs the other, but please tell us more about your situation first.  What are his skills, talent level, size and is he getting current interest, offers, is he targeting D1, D3...is he focused exclusively on the very best academic school, etc.

My son is a young 2016, 6'2", 175, and still growing.  He plays MIF and also pitches. He runs a sub 6.8 60.  Not sure of his velocity right now.  He is targeting d3 academic schools and some d1 schools with good academic programs.  He has D1 skills but probably not a top tier school at this point.  He has been in contact with 2 local D1 schools with good academic reputations but no offers yet.  They want to see some of his games in the spring.  We are just starting the recruiting process. We have only attended a small local showcase up to this point.  I know we are starting somewhat late. 

I would do HeadFirst and then have him do camps, if feasible, at some of his target D1s.  Also, in the meantime, I am assuming he is on a good travel team that will play in the right tournaments for exposure (Dynamic, ProspectWire, PG WWBA, etc.). To be sure, I am a huge fan of PG and everything they do.  Ideally, you could do both.  But, having to pick one only to do at this stage of the game...I think you are beyond thinking about what a website profile might do to get a coaches attention (I know that is not all PG does...no one is a bigger fan of PG than I am). But, I think that there will be more coaches from his target schools laying eyes on him at HF.  You need as many coaches to see him in action and be able to act upon that real time...assuming they like him.  PG doesn't pay coaches to attend their showcases or promise/list in advance which coaches will attend..that is not their model.  Your son can use the time between now and then to proactively reach out (more than once, and probably not just via email...he should pick up the phone) to each of the schools in attendance that he is interested in (HF does a very good job of posting early which schools/coaches will attend...until they do, just look at who attended last year....it won't change much).  You don't want to just hope he impresses PG scouts and gets a good rating...coaches will still need to see him in person (and very typically more than once).   So, I'd go where you know where the most coaches will be, and he can hopefully get on their radar in advance by sending emails, video, transcripts, SAT scores, coach/scout references, etc.  If it were a year earlier, I would probably have different advice.  My son did PG Academic after freshman year, then HF later that same summer and then again this past summer (before junior year).  That worked out well for us.  And, to answer your question, HF does not offer online profiles.  You really should create your own and soon.  There are very inexpensive and even free options (berecruited.com is one but there are many)...or you guys can quickly create your own for him.  Just my rambling thoughts late at night.  I can share more if you'd like.  Send me a PM, and I can even get you my phone number for a live conversation.

My 2012 attended PG National Academic, Headfirst Jupiter, and Headfirst Long Island.  We are passing on PG National Academic this year with my 2016, solely because it falls the weekend before his high school final exams.

PGNA and Headfirst are both extremely well run and great showcases.  In my experience, Headfirst has a greater number of high academic coaches attending in person.  However, PG provides their player ranking / profile which many coaches utilize as a great third party assessment of the player.  Headfirst does not provide a similar public ranking / profile.

My 2012 was offered by colleges directly from his participation at PGNA (from coaches who saw him there), and separately by his participation at Headfirst.  Additionally, my 2012 sent the link of his PG profile to every school he was interested in.  It was a reasonably detailed 3rd party assessment of his abilities that college coaches find very credible.

In the end, I think the optimal situation is to go where the coaches from your vetted list of schools will be, i.e., they see your son in person.  For us, that ended up being both PGNA and Headfirst (and Stanford too). 

Son was 2014.  Went to both PG Academic in Florida, and Headfirst Long Island.  Headfirst was by far the best as evaluation process was more in depth.  Stanford Camp excellent as well.  

This might seem like an odd question, but since we're thinking of doing an east coast college swing with 2017 this summer or next, is there any reason why a CA kid should NOT attend the NY HF camp?  I guess I'm thinking that east coast coaches have their "looking for CA kids" mindset on when attending a camp in CA, and not while they are in NY.  No doubt that's completely overthinking things....

JCG - Probably overthinking it.  Put yourself in the coaches shoes.   Would you care where somebody lives if they have the athletic and academics skills to attend one of these high academic schools?  Not so much as a lot of these schools recruit nationally.

All - As far as PG Academic or Head First goes, I'd fall on the side of Head First.   This is what they do.  There are countless examples (including my oldest son) of them doing high academic showcasing extremely well across the country.  The D3 high academics leverage the heck out HeadFirst.  For the most part it is the D3s single biggest recruiting events (large part of their budget) to seek and bring in talent.  

Thanks, Fenway.  Well as long as I'm overthinking it, it seems like if you're a rising senior D3 kid, attending a HF camp in CA in June, and figuring out where any interest lies and where you want to go in time for an early Novermber ED application is a heck of a quick dance.  But doing the same from an August HF camp in NY is even crazier.

The timing of the events makes sense from a recruiting perspective, particularly for the high academic D3s.  June at HF CA or August at HF NY is not too late for a 2016.

But a player should be engaged with his targeted list of schools before June that's for sure.  The recruiting timeline was very helpful to my 2012 and now my 2016.  He's planning to attend both of those HF events.  2016's contacted the coaches from his targeted list already and we're trying to visit schools on his breaks from high school.

That's not to say schools won't arise later in the process, but we're not counting on it.  2016's need to engage schools that they're interested in right now.

Thanks Fenway, I think the consensus is that Headfirst is the way to go if I can only choose one.  I'm hoping that I will be in a position to send my son to a PG showcase also but we'll see.

Neither the PG Academic Showcase official invite or the PG web site indicate which schools will be in attendance.  Is it too early for them to commit or am I missing something?

As per my comment above, PG does not invite schools (they come on their own, the event is the same weekend every year) or list or indicate which will attend.  It is my understanding that, while PG knows college coaches will attend, they do not know in advance which ones, nor will they make any assurances which schools will be in attendance.  That is not their "model".  However, HF does - http://www.headfirsthonorroll....wcases-session-1.asp .  PG puts on a showcase for players to be scouted and rated by PG scouts.  Coaches are more than welcome and do attend on their own. HF, on the other hand, is all about the coaches.  The entire event is centered around getting college coaches positioned to evaluate and interact with players (the coaches are acutally coaching the games).

Sorry, I glossed over that in your previous post.  Head First would be my preference, but it may conflict with a PG tourney son is looking to play in.  I was hoping the PG Academic would be a viable alternative.  I suppose he could query his target schools to see if they plan to attend.

Even better... Contact college coaches and ask them which showcases would give talented player the most exposure.

I concur with PGStaff.  Contact your coaches and ask.

And while I also support the sentiments of posters (including myself!) to go where your coaches will be, it is unlikely that "your coaches" will be clustered at only one event. 

PG National Academic (or any PG showcase where the player is evaluated / rated) provides an opportunity to share PG's evaluation with every coach / school on your player's list.  That PG eval was respected by every college coach my 2012 ever came in contact with. 

JCG,

My 2015 attend HF in August and it was great.  He got a lot of interest coming out of the camp and it definitely became a whirlwind in Sep and Oct.  He ultimately committed to a D1 program in the Patriot League that first saw him at HF and came to see him two more times in Sep.  FWIW, there are two kids from CA in his recruiting class.  Not sure where they saw those kids but would not be surprised if it was at HF.  

I will add that my 2015 son attended the Showball Academic camp last summer and was very impressed with the way it was ran. It was also $200. cheaper than HeadFirst and had over 75 coaches attend. My son was able to converse with several coaches of the schools he was interested in and received two offers at the camp. He eventually received six offers from schools who saw him at the camp. I also have a 2017 son and we are thinking of taking him to the PG National Academic Camp this summer and then back to the Showball academic camp after his junior year. Can anyone tell me what the cost of the PG camp is?