“There are two extremes unrealistic parents and unrealistic athletes,” Renkens said.

A former high school and college coach, and a collegiate athletics director, Renkens has been around each facet of athletics, high school and college, to AAU and club teams. With that in mind he spent most of the evening letting parents, students and coaches know what to expect when planing to play athletics after high school.

Renkens focused on being realistic when looking for a college and to recognize if a college large or small is truly interested in an athlete. He noted that 0.8 percent of high school athletes receive full-ride scholarships.

“If you’re good enough, you’ll find them,” Renkens said about locating the right school, whether it’s Division I or NAIA.

Renkens stressed to parents that they needed to let coaches coach the team, instead of coaching from the sideline.

Marketability is an important variable for athletes. But instead of having a high school coach make the contacts, Renkens said parents and athletes have to get the word out themselves. And, he said that doesn’t involve using local newspapers to impress coaches with stats.

“I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, I don’t get the Sentinel,” Renkens said, referring to the Basehor newspaper. “College coaches don’t read newspapers.”

Renkens has coached high school basketball in Arizona and Illinois and also coached at Colby Community College in Kansas. He finished his coaching career at Assumption College in Massachusetts before he began speaking about recruiting to various audiences in the last few years.

Renkens did give honest accounts of recruiting, but stressed if athletes want to play at some college level, there are opportunities.

“It’s not that you’re not good enough, it’s that nobody knows who you are,” Renkens said.

To make an athlete be seen, Renkens said athletes need to send a one-page letter to coaches, including a brief paragraph or two about their interest in playing, along with concise data on statistics, awards and academic information. Renkens suggested the National Collegiate Scouting Association as a respectable organization that helps get an athletes vital information to colleges.

Tonganoxie High School athletes Joe Calovich and Shane Howard, both juniors, attended the presentation.

“It was helpful information,” Howard said. “It opens your eyes a lot.”

Calovich agreed.

“It was awesome,” he said.

After listening to Renken, Howard had a simple assessment.

“I just want to play somewhere someday,” he said.