CHICAGO - TelAve -- As thousands of high school seniors sign with college sports programs during the fall signing period, the race to get noticed is just starting for juniors and sophomores, and many families are being told it will cost them. Chicago parent Brian J. Smith has launched GritRecruit, a platform that lets athletes and their parents run college recruiting themselves. Families can start for free, with an optional $19-a-month upgrade.

Smith built GritRecruit when his daughter started thinking about playing in college. He learned fast that her sport, like most, is one where college coaches don't come looking for you that often. Outside of the top football and basketball prospects, most athletes get recruited because they reached out first. That leaves it up to the family to research schools, contact coaches and keep track of who replied, or pay a recruiting service $3,000 or more for help.

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"I found out very fast that recruiting isn't like it was when I went through it," said Smith. "Coaches want to hear directly from athletes, and families can absolutely do this themselves. They just need to know what to do, a real profile, the right words to send, and a way to stay organized. I built that for my daughter; it's helped us, and now I want to make it available to everyone."

How GritRecruit works:
- Build a profile: sport, position, stats, academics, and highlight video.
- Email coaches: ready-made templates for clear, professional outreach.
- Track replies and costs: who was contacted, who responded, what to do next, and what recruiting is costing the family.
- Parents stay in control: accounts are parent-controlled, and profiles stay private unless the family chooses to share them.

GritRecruit works for every sport. Smith's advice for families: "Don't wait until senior year. Pick the schools you'd love to play for, email those coaches yourself, and learn the contact rules for each division."

"I want GritRecruit to be useful to every family, no matter where they live, what sport their child plays or what they can afford," said Smith. "We will never sell your data."

GritRecruit is available now at https://gritrecruit.com. Follow along on Instagram at https://instagram.com/thegritrecruit.