See if it was just the New York Times saying this, I would not believe it. :)
I work in the collegiate sports field. Most of my clients are division II and III schools, where there either is limited scholarship money, or no scholarships.
I see tons of high school parents who spend ungodly sums of money on private coaching, travel teams, and the best summer camps. Yes, most of the parents have a good sense of where their child sits in the scheme of things. However, there are many other parents who have delusions of grandeur—and visions of full rides dancing in their heads.
I tell them if their kid hasn’t been approached by an elite team or gotten a letter from a D1 school by their junior year, save their money and spend more time studying. There are limited spaces available.
In all of the years covering high school sports in a pretty good division, there are a handful of kids getting full boat scholarships. Like one a year. And this is out of thousands of athletes.
The college coaches and scouts just shake their heads.
And if you want to hear horror stories, talk to a High School Athletic Director. There are nightmare parents everywhere.
They should get a grip and losen up. Sports are great fun, if you let them be fun.