Many people around the world dream of becoming college athletes and sign the scholarship offer they’ve always dreamed of. This inevitably draws human traffickers looking to profit from the exploitation of players’ dreams. Traffickers pose as “agents” or recruitment services to establish a relationship with the athlete and their family.
Families pay traffickers to arrange for their child to attend train/practice in the United States, with the promises of signing the athlete with a college program. In cases where the “agent” does arrange for the admittance and travel to the school, the athlete often finds themselves in situations that increase their vulnerability to predatory behaviours. Some posing agents immediately abandon the athlete while in transit or after arrival to the destination.
Safe & Free have partnered with NextUpRecruitment, to provide extensive support in the identification, rescue and prevention of human trafficking. NextUpRecruitment want their approach to modern slavery to be open and transparent for their prospective student athletes, coaches and colleges. NextUp want everyone to have confidence in their approach.
NextUpRecruitment maintains close professional relationships with all coaches and colleges and can positively say they meet ethical standards. In a case where this was no longer the situation, they would like anyone who has any concerns or observations about modern slavery or wishes to raise some issue about their modern slavery statement to directly contact NextUpRecruitment or report anonymously through our reporting mechanism. Report Here.