Bradenton FL

Jul 12, 2019, 1:18 PM

I am working on a contract down in Bradenton FL for the next 12-18 months, and have been mingling with a lot of the locals over the past several months. The population is about as you would expect in any major retirement community.

There is a wide ranging mixture , of both upper and middle class retirees in the area. There certainly isn't the amount of retired money that I saw in Scottsdale Az while out there, but there is a healthy mix of tax brackets represented.

I also discovered that a fellow Clemson Alum is the purveyor of my favorite dinner and adult beverage stops. John Horne class of '82 (I think) owns with a couple of partners , four Anna Maria Oyster Bars in the Bradenton area. Some really good eats , if you make it down this way. About 30 minutes south of Tampa.

What has been most interesting to me is learning a great deal about the IMG academy. There is quite a lot of history in that place, and more money than you can shake a stick at. The place started basically as a private coaching place for up and coming pro tennis talent and Olympic sport kids. THey now do just about everything, and it is NOT cheap. They offer full scholarships to many DIV 1 type athletes in the major men,s sports, and are recruiting the rich kids parents like they used to sell time-shares at the beach.

I am sure that right now , this is all operating inside of the rules. IMG is not the only one of these places, but they are involved with many large university staffs. Here is my question for the board.

I think that this is bound to expload one day soon, and it will be worse than the travelling basketball AAU stuff. Do you think these places are operating within the spirit of the NCAA rules? There are very few families that can afford 60-80K a year starting in the 9th grade.

Most of the locals that I have talked to down here believe it is rich parents and sports agents that are paying for these "scholarships".

I hope they are wrong.

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IMG academy is allowed to "recruit" kids from my understanding as they are privately funded giving them a big advantage in sports over other schools that are state funded which is a big reason why schools refuse to schedule IMG. It's technically allowed but of course not exactly something everyone sees the same way especially not opposing coaches. I looked at IMG prices one day out of boredom and the school is substantially more expensive than any normal college but the coaching is unmatched at the high school level as even pros will go during the off season to learn from these coaches. I heard a story about their QB last year, arriving to IMG he had no division 1 offers but before the season even started he had over 20.. IMG is the real deal and coaches flock to it for recruiting because once these kids step on campus they're "college ready" nearly and require a lot less technical/physical work to be prepared on day 1 in college ball.

Bradenton FL

Re: Bradenton FL

Re: Bradenton FL

Re: Bradenton FL

Lived in Bradenton FL for 30 years.

Most if not all private high schools offer scholarships

IMG, International Management Group, is a monster...

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