problem getting exposed to scouts

[halfnelson31]

How can i get more exposure to college scouts? first off ill explain my situation. Im entering my junior year at a small school on Quantico MCB that only has like 100 kids. Our athletic programs are absolutely pathetic save for football(state simi-finals albeit in 1-A). Our school is part of the delany athletic confrence but they play soccer in the fall and we cant do that because then we would have too many kids having to decide between football and soccer and personally that would be a difficult choice for me too but i would pick soccer since its my best sport. Any way so we play in the spring and are basically independents with no confrence tournments to compete in and we struggle to fill even a 10 game schedule. I know what yall r thinkin too. Just play club. Well...We just moved here sophmore year and i was too late to sign up for the fall season. I was gonna try out for a team in the spring but my dad dosent want me to play for a club since he thinks he will have to drive too much and i dont blame him cuz hes balancing his work plus college and my mom is just toooo busy with all my lil sisters and i cant join a team this fall for the same reason. I will have my lisence once the spring season rolls around but even thats not definate. I know that i will be able to play spring and fall my senior year but by then i fear it will be too late. Is there any way i can get exposed more? Also how are D3 schools like in terms of: tuition, ease of making team, ability to transfer to D2, D1 schools, makin a PDL team, etc?

[halfnelson31]

bump man noone has any ideas?

[CC05]

Why not try out for that team in the spring (or fall)?? Maybe too much travel for your dad but you'd probably be able to get a ride with someone/arrange car pools?

[goyoureddevils]

Sorry that it took so long for anyone to give you an answer. I am a high school coach, and former college player. I work very hard to make sure the local colleges all know about my players, and go to great lengths to get my players to do their part in attracting attention. Let me see if I can help you.

First of all, you can not wait for college coaches to come looking for you, that is just not the way it happens no matter what myths high school boys like to tell each other. Unless you are high school all american material, or at least all state, you are going to have to research schools and contact them - telling them you are interested in their program. You can research them very easily with a book that my soccer store sells called The Sports Source Official College Guide. They have a guide for men's colleges and womens, and list every school, JUCO through NCAA Div 1 that has a soccer program in the United States. They give details about the school such as student population, curiculum, tuition, and of course - male to female student ratio!
They detail the recent history of the team, say how many scholorships are available, and who the coach is and how to contact him/her.

Go to this website to order one www.thesportsource.com Order one and then start researching schools that are in your area, your budget, your playing level. Contact the coach and let him know you are interested. Contact lots of them if you are interested at all.... I wrote letters to 38 coaches my junior year, and heard back from almost all of them in one way or another. Once you contact them to tell them who you are, you need to send them a brief biography of your playing career....emphasis on brief, and a schedule. The fact that you play in the spring is a big help. College season is in the fall, how many coaches do you think want to go out recruiting in the middle of a season? None, if they can help it! That is one of the reasons they like to recruit off of club teams so much. As for that, you do need to get involved in a club team. If not with a travel club, find a men's league club or team that you can get on. They usually play all their games locally, the competition is usually good because the men are often ex collegiate players or should-have-beens, and the summer outdoor/winter indoor seasons that they play will give you another good opportunity to have a coach see you.

So you see, there is plenty that you can do, and the fact that it is your junior year means you are right in taking action now.

I will close with just this one piece of advice, when you are talking to a coach or righting up a resume, BE HONEST. Coaches want to know both your strengths and weaknesses.... they know you want to cover only your strengths, but if you lie about either, and they come and see you play, they are going to know the truth anyway. Which would you rather have on your team, a decent player who knows how to play to his strengths and is working on his weaknesses? Or a self centered, cocky brat who thinks the team should revolve around him? Coaches are going to want to know what you can add to the TEAM, not what a great dribbler you are. Talk about what your teams accomplished while you were playing for them, and what your part in their success was..... don't frame your individual success as more important than that of your team.

Good luck

[dasoccerplayafosho]

when would be about the right time to contact them?
I'd tell other high school boys the colleges would contact them just so I could beat em to the punch. I kid, I kid.
Austen

[all_conference]

First of all, you can not wait for college coaches to come looking for you, that is just not the way it happens no matter what myths high school boys like to tell each other. Unless you are high school all american material, or at least all state, you are going to have to research schools and contact them - telling them you are interested in their program. You can research them very easily with a book that my soccer store sells called The Sports Source Official College Guide. They have a guide for men's colleges and womens, and list every school, JUCO through NCAA Div 1 that has a soccer program in the United States. They give details about the school such as student population, curiculum, tuition, and of course - male to female student ratio!
They detail the recent history of the team, say how many scholorships are available, and who the coach is and how to contact him/her.


So many books to choose from, which one would fit me more as a senior in high school?

[uclajames]

when would be about the right time to contact them?
I'd tell other high school boys the colleges would contact them just so I could beat em to the punch. I kid, I kid.
Austen

I'd recommend contacting schools as early as possible so you can get your name into their database/records. If you want to take some time to establish yourself, gain accolades, develop your "resume", I'd still say no later than the end of your soph year.

[soccer4life_7]

Any advice for sum 1 who lives in canada ?? i would like to play in the Us. Duno what i could possibly do ?

[dasoccerplayafosho]

I'm going to start my freshman year this fall. Is this too early?

[gimpy]

I as well will be starting playing for my highschool this year(in 1 weeks if i make the cut). But this is my freshman year and i was wondering the same thing if it would be wise to write to coaches now. Do you think that it would seem to them you really wanna play if you write to them this early on in your career? Also if i did write coaches should i send a picture so they can spot me out?

[uclajames]

Any advice for sum 1 who lives in canada ?? i would like to play in the Us. Duno what i could possibly do ?

It might be hard for US schools to hear/read about you because you live in Canada so you're just going to have to be proactive in contacting schools you're interested in. The internet is a great resource. You can go to the sites of the schools' athletic departments and find out how you can contact them. goyoureddevils has a lot of good advice in his post. You should tell the schools about your interest in playing in college and give them information about you as a player, your experience, awards you've received, grades, and information on how to contact you and your coaches.

Be realistic in the types of schools you're contacting. Not everyone will be able to play on scholarship for high major Division I schools, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't set your sights high either. Walking on (playing for a school without a scholarship) is always a good option too. If you're interested in walking on at a school, you should let them know this in your letter.

[CC05]

Any advice for sum 1 who lives in canada ?? i would like to play in the Us. Duno what i could possibly do ?

Being from Canada I can give ya some advice.
First, if ya hear of any tryouts for higher leveled teams, those would be a good thing to attend as most of them attend showcase tournaments.
There are also provincial/national team camps you can tryout for (in ontario at least). A couple of my friends went out for tryouts for the NTC in eastern ontario and made it on (I didn't know about these camps until AFTER they went to the tryouts and by then, they were over :\. Might head out to it next year!). Of course, those do cost a bit of money to just tryout for but if you make the teams they have showcase tournaments. It's probably best to get involved with those as early as possible.
As others have said, you're going to have to go out and contact them yourself. If you find that you don't have enough time to do that (but if you're serious i'm sure you'll make some ;)), then you could always contact a company that assists athletes by sending all your info out to tons of universities... but for a price of course.

[uclajames]

For the guys starting as freshman this year, I think after your season is over would be a good time to start contacting schools. Like I said before, it helps to get your name in their records early so they know you're interested and can monitor your progress. By your junior year or maybe the end of your soph year, many coaches will already have a good idea of who their targets in your class will be. Unless your letter blows their socks off, they might not even bother with you. Why take that chance? If you're worried about your resume not being big enough as a freshman, you can always keep contacting schools to keep them updated of what's happening with you.

Some schools will start making early contact with potential recruits as freshmen if they hear about freshman standouts in the local newspapers, on the internet, etc. However, you can't count on getting your name out this way so that's why contacting schools yourself is a good idea. However, like I said in the last post, be realistic about your talent level. Let's say a kid contacts a school where he has absolutely no business playing. The coaches will probably take one look at his letter and file him away as someone with no chance of playing there. I don't want to get your hopes down though. If you have a school that you've always dreamed of playing at, it can't hurt to contact them. If you work hard at it, anything can happen. There have been numerous instances where walk ons have become the stars of their teams and gone on to play professionally.

A picture is a good idea, but keep in mind not all coaches will have the time to come out and watch one of your games. In your letter, you can give them your # and even your uniform colors for home and away. A highlight tape is also a good idea, but you might want to talk with the schools and make sure they're interested so you don't waste time and money sending a tape to a coach that won't watch it.

One big piece of advice: Have a great time in high school, but keep your grades up. The higher your grades, the more options you'll have among schools. Talk to your school counselor about your goals of playing in college and what type schools you're interested in, and they will help you get the classes you need to be eligible. Find out about the NCAA Clearinghouse. Your counselor will know what this is. Also talk to your coaches about playing in college. I'm sure they will be able to help you a lot.

Good luck with your freshman year in school and with your season. If you have any more questions, let me know and I'll do my best to help you.

[CoachCoach]

If you want more information on college teams, check out this website....no need to buy a book. www.soccerratings.com.

Read about the coaches, read about the players, what their accomplishments were in HS, Read about the school, the majors offered, the student body, student life, etc.... Really with the internet you have everything right there for you to make an educated decision.

Ok, I'll start by telling you that I'm a former college player and current high school coach.

Let me tell you what I know. First, most college coaches only go to major tournaments becuase of budget constraints. This allows the coach to see the most talented kids in a highly concentrated area. You know, the most bang for your buck. Since college season is during the fall, coaches mostly go to tournaments other times of the year.

Second, I've talked to coaches and generally they have a database with as many as 100-400 recruits. The coaches get these names by the students submitting resumes and by the coach attending a tournament and finding players he/she thinks will make a fine addition to his college team. In the end, of those 100-400 prospective players, only around 8 might be on the roster the following year and of those, maybe 4 might get a scholarship (maybe just 1/4 scholarship) in a given year. That's like a 1 out of 100 chance of getting a soccer scholarship. I hope the picture is becoming clear. Getting a soccer scholarship is so much harder than people think. Most would agree, the better way to go is to make sure you have good academics. Academic scholarships are plentiful for the good student.

My suggestion is if you want to play Div. 1, unless you are all-american, national team exposure-type talent, I would tell you to get accepted to the school and then walk-on to the team and go from there. Really, Division 2 has become so competitive recently that even very good players, (first team all-county type players) may still have to walk on. Division 3 schools are usually more expensive, private schools. The talent level varies, but I would say a decent high school player would be a good fit.

One idea I can offer that hasn't been mentioned is, if you know what college you want to go to, you should attend the college's summer camps each year. This will give the coaches a chance to know you, see your sparkling personality, watch you grow as a player, and see that you are a motivated player who really likes the school. If nothing else, this will probably secure you a spot as a walk-on when you come out for the team Freshman year....assuming you have the talent to hang in the college game.

One last thing, make sure you have good ACT or SAT scores. If you don't get over a certain score on those tests (I think the ACT minimum is 18), you can't play. You will be forced to go to a Junior College if you want to play.

[dasoccerplayafosho]

can someone give us a sample resume or letter to college coach? and thanks for all the great responses so far. If I keep up my work ethic, I could be all state, and possibly more, so I'm looking at BYU and Div. 1 colleges, and if that falls apart, Div. 2
Austen

[ConorM]

Funny most of the best soccer players on earth are not 'college material' so they miss out in the US. Kinda sucks.

[socrgoli18]

i wouldnt try to contact coaches just yet because they have thousands of players trying to contact them all around the country so their probably to busy to answer back and there are lots of rules for coaches contacting players so just wait till ur late sophmore or early junior year

[ranova]

i wouldnt try to contact coaches just yet because they have thousands of players trying to contact them all around the country so their probably to busy to answer back and there are lots of rules for coaches contacting players so just wait till ur late sophmore or early junior year

???? You are responding to a 2004 request for advice. The op has probably graduated from college by now.

[socrgoli18]

oh wow i didnt notice that sorry thanks