[dasoccerplayafosho]

hello all-

I'm a player, 14, and I've been working my but off to get some recognition around here from scouts and stuff, but truth be told, in utah- there is none. I made the mistake of not trying out for ODP, and I will in the fall. Does anybody have any suggestions to get recognition in the meantime?

Thx all-

Austen

[ADIKeeper]

Get on a successful club team. I thought there was some kind of Nike tournament up in Utah somewhere. And if you think it's hard getting recognised in Utah...try getting a scout out to Hawaii. Barely anyone knows we even play soccer here. We go to Surf Cup every summer and thats where a lot of the scouts are. That's about the only time they see us...when we're getting spanked by some So. Cal. team. Find a club team that travels. That's your best bet.

[dasoccerplayafosho]

Originally posted by ADIKeeper
Get on a successful club team. I thought there was some kind of Nike tournament up in Utah somewhere. And if you think it's hard getting recognised in Utah...try getting a scout out to Hawaii. Barely anyone knows we even play soccer here. We go to Surf Cup every summer and thats where a lot of the scouts are. That's about the only time they see us...when we're getting spanked by some So. Cal. team. Find a club team that travels. That's your best bet.

haha. I bet

[cazdaspaz]

Originally Posted by dasoccerplayafosho

haha. I bet

I'm also 14 but I live in London, England. I'm obviously lucky enough to have a lot of pro clubs around me and I've played for a few academy teams before which you probably wouldn't have heard of. Leyton Orient FC, and Barnet FC. Anyway, I've realised the quality around my area as I live not too far away from Arsenal FC, and I wondered why I'm not playing for any pro youth teams at the moment. I want to become a pro more than anything but I guess my game isn't good enough at the moment. Hopefully I'll get scouted in the near future, good luck Austen!

[hawk_claw]

your telling me....im 14....live in appleton WI....the ODP team in wi has pracitces in madison and milwauke...both 2-3 hours away..so im not doing that.....scouts ar nowhere....best places are probably bigger cities.
good luck

[jammybastard]

This is the same in any buisness where you want to get ahead of the rest of the pack...

Waiting for a scout to show up is a waste of time. Scouts aren't the only way in. You have to sell yourself and that means networking with anyone who can help you get where you want to go.

A normal step is to an agent, or better yet find a lawyer who deals with the club you want to play with. You'll need the help of an insider to sell yourself. It really, really helps to have a personal connection with someone a club trusts or who is a known entity to the management. They will usually have the ear of someone who matters. Players always come through some sort of pipeline, an established one or oen they create with the help of someone else.

Remember that you have to network with people who are not on the bottom of the food chain. That means you have to find or create connections to the people you need to see your skills.

You can also create a *press pack* like bands do, that features a 5 min video or dvd of you playing, some stats, newspaper articles, coaches testimony, etc...anything that can sell you to a perspective club.
Send it out. Call and bug the the hell out of them for a tryout.
Persistance pays off. You may get a walk on because you were relentless in your pursuit of a the club.

In the meantime you better practice your ass off because you are probably only going to get one shot to impress someone and you'll need to be on your game.

[The Canandien WizKid]

Originally Posted by hawk_claw

your telling me....im 14....live in appleton WI....the ODP team in wi has pracitces in madison and milwauke...both 2-3 hours away..so im not doing that.....scouts ar nowhere....best places are probably bigger cities.
good luck

I can talk about up here in the north. The best way to get recognized depends on your position. If your a stricker you'll want to be playing in the highest level you can. If your a defender or mid, you'll need to a) find a successful club, clubs that have had noticable numbers of proffesionsal players, or have a regular starting position on a higher level team. My club goes on a university trail into the states every march break, a couple of us got some calls off of that. The thing about soccer is that the window of "noticement" is smaller than others unless you live in a soccer community. I'd say your best bets are at the ages of about 16-20.

Also you should make an attempt to go to profession team camps, i've been attending the lynz camp every winter for a couple of years, and other camps with wolrd connections, and scholarship oppurtunities.

I also have a coach who is a graduate and ex-professionsal in the nationwide, so he's sent a few players to england for the summer, and such.

[DSRW7]

In my opinion if you want to get noticed then you got to be a busy c*** at all times, on and off the field. Hopefully everyone will know the term 'busy' in this context? If you don't then just ask and i'll give a quite honest but amusing example. Apart from that i suppose primarily you've got to be playing at a reasonable standard, semi pro is a basis for old stars, ones who didn't quite have that x-factor and most importantly late developers. Its obvious great players get noticed as kids and play their way through the acemdemies and 'schools of excellence', at the end of the day its just a matter of defining the difference between great and good players!

[erictheking]

You could get your dad to bore everyone in the bar about how good you are and how good you're going to be.

[cazdaspaz]

Originally Posted by DSRW7

In my opinion if you want to get noticed then you got to be a busy c*** at all times, on and off the field. Hopefully everyone will know the term 'busy' in this context? If you don't then just ask and i'll give a quite honest but amusing example. Apart from that i suppose primarily you've got to be playing at a reasonable standard, semi pro is a basis for old stars, ones who didn't quite have that x-factor and most importantly late developers. Its obvious great players get noticed as kids and play their way through the acemdemies and 'schools of excellence', at the end of the day its just a matter of defining the difference between great and good players!

True, I was in an out of a youth school of excellence team for a while untill recently, although I heard Rio Ferdinand was not at a proffessional academy side untill he reached 17!