Next College Student Athlete Announces International Partnerships In New Zealand, Wales

NCSA named Official Recruiting Partner for Basketball New Zealand and Basketball Wales

CHICAGO, June 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Next College Student Athlete (NCSA), the world's largest and most successful college athletic recruiting network, today announced international partnerships with Basketball New Zealand, the national sports organization of basketball in New Zealand, and Basketball Wales, the national governing body of basketball in Wales. NCSA will serve as the Official Recruiting Partner for both organizations.

NCSA's online recruiting tools and resources will be available to all Basketball New Zealand and Basketball Wales athletes who hope to continue their athletic careers at U.S. colleges.

NCSA will also provide recruiting education seminars at partner events, as well as online webinars to help educate athletes and families on the college recruiting process.

Kiwi and Welsh athletes ages 13 years and older will have the opportunity to create a free NCSA profile when registering for events and gain access to NCSA's recruiting network.

"For over 20 years, NCSA has been helping student-athletes from around the world achieve their goal of competing at the collegiate level," said Phil Wallace, VP of Business Development for NCSA. "With support from NCSA, Basketball New Zealand and Basketball Wales will now be able to offer comprehensive recruiting support to young men and women who dream of continuing their athletic career – and their education – in the U.S."

Currently, over 100 New Zealand basketball players are on scholarship at U.S. colleges, with more than half of them at NCAA Division I schools.

NCSA's partnership with Basketball New Zealand will allow up to 25 Kiwi athletes to receive NCSA's All In Award. The cornerstone of NCSA's give-back mission, the All In Award is given to deserving student-athletes who have a strong desire to continue their athletics in college and require financial assistance.

Recipients will receive NCSA's MVP Membership at no cost, providing highly-personalised support and guidance to ensure that each student-athlete finds a college that is the right fit for them.  

"Joining forces with the world's largest and most successful college recruiting network is a significant step for Basketball New Zealand," said Basketball New Zealand High Performance Manager, Leonard King. "We are committed to helping our members achieve their goal of playing college basketball in the States and NCSA will provide many more Kiwis with a pathway to the U.S. college system."   

"With more and more New Zealand athletes choosing to pursue an athletic scholarship to attend college in the United States, it is imperative that they have access to the most relevant and up to date information," said Basketball New Zealand Talent Manager Mel Downer. "This partnership will ensure our athletes' recruiting process is smooth and enjoyable. With over 20 years of experience, NCSA will offer valuable expertise to help New Zealand athletes' achieve their basketball dreams."  

Basketball New Zealand and Basketball Wales will also integrate NCSA's recruiting software, Coach Packet, into their events. Coach Packet provides easy access to the latest rosters, player data, schedules and custom evaluation metrics by taking the historic bundles of paper handouts at recruiting events and complementing them with a dedicated universal iOS app.

The partnership will also grant both basketball clubs access to NCSA's team recruiting platform, Team Edition, which allows coaches to track and help guide their athletes' college recruitment process with easy-to-use software. Team Edition provides exposure to athletes and teams, connecting users to NCSA's database of more than 35,000 college coaches across 34 sports.

"We are excited to be embarking on this new venture with NCSA. Playing USA college basketball and receiving a scholarship to study is a goal for many Welsh players. Therefore, it is vital that they and their family have expert guidance in the college recruitment process. Partnering with the world's largest and most successful recruiting network will allow our athletes to gain exposure to college coaches and open the door to countless opportunities to play in the U.S.," said Gavin Williams, CEO Basketball Wales.

"Basketball Wales looks forward to working with NCSA to provide custom recruiting education and virtual seminars for our athletes. We have a huge amount of talent in Wales and we want to enable our players to fulfill their dreams and potential."

Basketball New Zealand and Basketball Wales are the first foreign governing bodies to partner with NCSA. NCSA its official recruiting partner of eight U.S. national governing bodies: USA Baseball, US Lacrosse, USA Field Hockey, US Tennis Association, USA Track and Field, USA Volleyball, USA Water Polo and USA Wrestling.

Founded in 2000 to help educate student-athletes and their families on the college athletic recruiting process, NCSA today works with families, club, high school and college coaches to helps hundreds of thousands of student-athletes find their best college fit.

About NCSA
Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) is the world's largest and most successful collegiate athletic recruiting network. Part of Reigning Champs LLC, NCSA leverages proprietary technology and data with professional expertise and personal relationships, connecting hundreds  of thousands of college-bound student-athletes to more than 35,000 college coaches nationwide across 34 sports each year. Learn more about NCSA here.

About Basketball New Zealand
Basketball New Zealand is the national governing body for the sport of basketball in New Zealand. Our role is to develop, grow and promote basketball and participants of the game. We do this by driving participation in basketball through competitive opportunities at a national and international level while supporting our nationwide Associations and national teams, including the Tall Ferns, Tall Blacks and age-group teams. In addition, Basketball New Zealand works to provide talent development pathways for athletes and develop game support for teams, clubs and associations.

About Basketball Wales
Basketball Wales is the national governing body for basketball in Wales. Our core principles are based on participation, progression, performance and success. Basketball Wales facilitates and supports basketball for all abilities and ages through innovative and exciting programmes such as mini basketball, national schools tournaments, walking basketball, masters basketball, wheelchair basketball, as well as junior and senior regional leagues in North and South Wales. We also run a successful elite national teams programme for junior boys and girls from U11 to U18 as well as our senior men and women's teams. Basketball Wales also provides training and development for first class referees, table officials and statisticians as well as digital and media personnel.

CONTACT: Lauren Pulte    
(248) 885-2607          
[email protected] 

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