Once you and your high school coach have compiled a list of appropriate colleges to target, you should prepare a tape or DVD containing highlights and one or two full games. These don’t have to be fancy. Recruiters know you’re not George Lucas. Just get 15 or 20 minutes worth of good plays (the very best ones should be at the start of the tape), then tack on one or two of your child’s best games after those. Leave five seconds of "trailer" (blank space) between the plays, for cleaner transitions.

Put your child’s name, school and position on the label. But be sure to include your coach’s name, school and phone number, too, so the recruiter can contact him if he wants to visit your child. Recruiters can talk to coaches all they want, but they’re restricted on when and how often they can contact kids. That's why you want your coach’s name and phone number on the tape, in addition to your child's.

It’s a nice touch to prepare a script that tells the recruiter your child’s jersey number and what years and/or games are on the tape -- and that also includes a brief, play-by-play writeup, so a recruiter can fast forward to plays he really wants to see, or zoom past those he doesn’t care about.

Some parents add inspiring music and graphics. These are a colossal waste of time and money, in my view. Sell the steak, not the sizzle.

Send tapes to your target schools, first. There's nothing wrong with sending them to Wish List schools, too. But make sure you first cover schools that fit your child the best.

Keep a record of the schools you mail to. If recruiters don’t call your coach about your child, ask your coach whether it makes sense for you to call them. There are times of year when recruiters are forbidden from talking to athletes, so trying to reach them at those times will be pointless. But your coach can call them anytime, and he should follow up on tapes if you can’t.

Another way to promote your child is on college websites. Most of them have recruiting questionnaires that you can fill out and submit online.

Also, look into non-school athletic activities, such as camps and tournament/travel teams. Your coach may be able to suggest some of these. But check with other sports parents, too, because many outside opportunities (AAU basketball, for example) ruffle the feathers of high school coaches.  Try to rise above these turf battles between school-sanctioned and non-school sports. The bottom line is this: Anything that lets your child continue to compete, work on his or her skills, and be seen by recruiters, is worth looking into.

If your child is truly a scholarship-level athlete, I can almost guarantee he’ll get offers. Once a few schools make offers and start competing, you’re in the driver’s seat.

But while it’s nice to be in demand, the fun has to end sometime. Eventually, you’ll have to pick a school or your choices will disappear into first-come-first-served land.

(Yes, schools do offer more scholarships than they have available, then withdraw them as spots are filled. Think "overbooked airline," except your reward for giving up your seat is a bill for a hundred grand, due in four years.)

The most reliable sign that a school is going to offer your child a scholarship is when they offer an official visit to campus. Even that isn't a guarantee. But most of the time, if they offer a visit, they'll offer a scholarship.

An official visit is when the recruiting school pays for your child's travel, lodging and meals for one to three nights, often over a weekend. They'll house and feed you and your spouse, too, if you want. But they can't pay your travel.

If the school isn't paying for your child’s travel, lodging and meals, it's not an official visit. Offers of free tickets to games are not official visits. Neither are offers to "come up and visit next weekend, so we can show you around campus."

Like scholarships, offers of official visits have a very distinct, unmistakable sound. If it doesn’t include the words, "official visit," it probably isn’t one.

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