the chance to be good enough to play in certain sports...you also will never play against the best talent to really push yourself to that level.
High school coaches take kids they see play at the tourneys. It is just the way it is. Sure...if you are a freak athlete and can show up at high school and get on the team and get noticed then great. But when the only guys that get scholarships to BYU from your area are those that played youth ball on Sunday, it isn't hard to connect the dots.