Each college recruiting camp tends to fill up very quickly.

Some of the most popular college athlete recruiting camps are fully booked as early as February. So early on, peep your calendar and plot out the camps you need to attend. Call the camps to request registration forms and then send them off right away.

Let's face it, college recruiting camps are pricey. The good news is that you can get a lot out of camps, even more than you might think is possible.

At some college athlete recruiting camps, for example, the staff will write college recommendations for all of their campers. At other camps, you may have to ask. Some coaches will even make calls on your behalf to coaches at other colleges who were not in attendance at the camp.

When you're at a college recruiting camp, use it as an opportunity to talk to the coaches you're interested in playing for. Schedule a time to speak with them 1-on-1 in the dorms or cafeteria.

Ask each coach his impressions of your play, and whether he envisions a role for you on his team. Discuss the aspects of your game you should work on to contribute to his program.

The camp staff will often feature active college players, many of whom spend the summer on campus working or taking classes. Utilize these players as resources. Talk to them. Beyond what you see on ESPN on the weekend, what is it really like to play sports in college?

What kind of commitment does it entail? What are their impressions of the coaches you're interested in playing for?

How do you find out which college recruiting camps various college coaches will be attending? You ask them.

During the winter, ask the coaches at the colleges you are considering which college athlete recruiting camps they intend to work that summer. They may even volunteer this information unsolicited in an effort to get their recruits to a venue where they can be observed at length.

Once you know the camps a coach will attend, make the appropriate notes on your log sheets. Request the camps' promotional materials and registration forms.

After having a few such conversations with various coaches, you might determine that the coaches from, say, your seven schools of greatest interest will not be attending any camps in common. No sweat, you can still get a lot out of a college recruiting camp.

Fortunately, college coaches are highly networked and are often willing to share information about prospective players.

Many college programs run summer college recruiting camps, which are an ideal setting for coaches to evaluate prospective players. You may attend as many camps as you like, all of which must be at your own expense. The NCAA prohibits college teams from paying recruits' camp fees.

Summer college athlete recruiting camps are often run at a host school and feature coaches from a number of different colleges. Camps provide an unrivaled opportunity for coaches to thoroughly evaluate prospective players, and likewise, for players to assess the coaches. Learn what you need to know about the college recruiting camp.

Unfortunately, college recruiting camps are expensive. They often cost more than $500 for one week.

It's a lot of money, but you have to think of a college recruiting camp as a sound investment, one that offers the most thorough exposure to college coaches. The key, though, is to make sure you spend your money on the right camps -- camps where the college coaches you want to play for will be.

Once you've arrived at a college recruiting camp, checked in, met your roommates, and eaten some good old fashioned dorm food, it's time to start playing.

Players are usually divided into teams that are headed by one college coach. Over the course of the week, though, the players will have the opportunity to work with every other coach. In this forum players can be examined at length, so that a few bad plays in an isolated game don't define your ability in the eyes of a coach.

Beyond your extensive exposure to a coach on the field, college recruiting camps allow players to develop personal relationships with coaches. In passing, in the cafeteria, and at scheduled extracurricular activities, you will be able to have casual conversations with them.

You can also arrange to eat lunch together or meet in the dorm lounge if you'd like to speak with a coach more formally about your college prospects. Just don't be overbearing by constantly requesting to meet with a coach.

It seems like every college coach these days wants you to come to his college recruiting camp. It's flattering, no doubt, but how do you choose which camps to go to? We explore that question and more on the latest episode of our non-Emmy Award Winning radio show.

Note: if you have trouble listening, give this a try.

I feel your pain. There's an email from a college coach in your inbox. You open it, excited to see what it contains, and then, BLAM! It's another coach asking you to attend his college recruiting camp.

This can be pretty frustrating. You've put a lot of effort into emailing coaches and all you seem to get are impersonal responses asking you to spend $500 to attend their camp.

So what do you do?

This may not be what you want to hear, but recruiting camps during the summer are an increasingly important part of the recruiting process. They serve a very important purpose in that they give coaches an extended period of time to observe players -- not just how well they play, but also what they're like as people.

College recruiting camps are also great for high school athletes, because they give you an unrivaled opportunity to show for a coach. They also give you, the opportunity to evaluate the coach and see if you like his style.

Sounds great, right? It is until you see the price tag on these things. They often cost $500 for a 4- or 5-day week. And that's before you factor in transportation.

The bottom line is, you should go to college recruiting camps if you can. But you should pick carefully. If you have 10 colleges on your list, you can't go to them all. There are two key questions to consider:

1. Which coaches need to see you play most? These may be the coaches who are at schools far away, who haven't been able to see you play in a tournament. Or, they may be the coaches at the schools at the top of your list.

2. Where can you get the most bang for your buck? Some college recruiting camps may have coaches from multiple schools on your list. If you can get more than one coach you want to play for to see you at a single camp, that makes your camp tuition go much further.

IMPORTANT: Inevitably, there will be some college recruiting camps that you get invited to but can't attend. Don't ignore those requests. Instead, email the coach and tell him you're flattered by his interest and that you'd love to come to camp, but you can't because it's not in your family's budget, you already have plans during that week, etc.

Be clear that you're still very interested in making his team and want to know what you should do despite not being able to make it to camp.

Pardon the use of variables, but here's a little college recruiting camp algebra:

Say you decide to attend the X University Soccer Camp, a college that really interests you.

You're also enthusiastic about A College and B University, whose coaches will not be at the camp.

What you should do then is ask the coaches at A College and B University if they know any of the coaches at the X University camp who can evaluate you on behalf of A College and B University.