As Orangecard pointed out, 90% of the recruits pre-Junior year are from the 3 big clubs on the girls side. The reason is simply exposure. When the DA has one of their showcases all the DA clubs must go. Therefore any game a college coach goes to watch will have 20+ D1 level prospects on the field. So every D1 school will send all 3 of there coaches to the event. Almost every game will have 50+ coaches watch some portion of the game. And the DA puts there schedule on-line so coaches can watch league games as well. So at U14/15 if you get 150 ish pairs of eyes on you during the season your recruiting exposure increases well beyond what Galaxy, TC, CSA, etc. get.
Totally agree. That said I am just surprised that the draw is not there for more players and families at those clubs. We liked (like) our team a lot. We attended games prior to joining and spoke with the coach more then a year earlier - and kept on speaking with him. One of my worries was that many of the top players would leave for Sockers or Eclipse. That has not been the case - no interest at all. Likely a culture difference with many of the parents having solid means for college as well as soccer being a big draw at the high school level for the Fox Valley area.
As I understand on the Campton/Strikers deal... The merger would introduce an entirely new club - both Campton and Strickers would drop their names. That is supposed to provide for a fresh start and better marketing. However It's coming down to who controls the club and it does not look good. Shocked
Five years ago it would have been impossible because of personalities, but I believe with Campton having relatively new Board President, Executive coaching director, and Girls technical director it is possible (though likely still difficult)
Yeah - it happens. I coached boys and girls u10 for Live 3v3 and the other 3v3 shin dig (forgot the name). We always got our own gear. Sometimes we saw dads out there from Sockers Palatine coaching teams with for Sockers gear on I would not do that! At u12 Sergio only approved this if I asked all the players from the team first. At u13 it was strickty prohibited at any level for anything and I hear for this year they are even telling teams - no outside summer programming because they intend to book some summer tourneys and thusly will have some training during that time. This is on the girls side - where they need to maintain players in order to keep PDA teams - like Campton they are having to move up players to make full teams and many ages. I think for the boys at the u-littles - likely not a problem. That said - why not offer outside play with current coaches instead of mom and dad coaches? I know many of those guys only get off time in the summer so it's hard to keep them around. But if there is a demand - why not make a buck off it? I once suggested an open play evening - no coaching or refs - just let the kids play. Charge $10 a game.... Seems like a no brainer too me.
Fire City sent out an email yesterday stating that one of their coaches “ F. C” has been suspended and the “proper authorities” have been notified. Anyone have any idea what happened?
There is some interesting discussion in the ECNL thread. I would agree the viable path for high level pathway to college is through ECNL/DA. That could shift however as some of the younger clubs such as Galaxy, CSA offer strong younger teams who may not want to move to a finishing club or play for a very rough RG. Based on Soccer Drawer's list of recruits, Team Chicago and Chicago Inter are clearly doing things right. Some of that is coaching influence and connections of course. Team DOC at TC is highly respected, plus Nielson coming back as Director of Recruiting is huge. TC has a number of D1 commits to midwest schools so that network exists. Clubs outside of the ECNL/DA must have those networked coaches or provide a path via a structured college process (videos/emails etc,showcases,). Or continue to lose girls which long term benefits no one (american soccer) and creates a further gap where the playing field is not level.
Again, many of the 2019 commits were made pre-DA, etc. Of the 27 committed girls 2020 and younger from Chicagoland, only 5 are on non DA/ECNL clubs. With the creation of another "A" ECNL team, I would expect the numbers to skew more that way in the future. It's not talent or connection of the non ECNL/DA coaches but logistics. There are only so many games/show cases colleges coaches can attend, and unfortunately they tend to gravitate to those of ECNL and DA. Yes, if a kid is outstanding at TC, she will get noticed and an offer, but if a kid is lower talent, I think they would be better served as player number 8 on a stacked ECNL team.
I agree with you on all your points. My general observation is some of the big profile tier 2 clubs haven't produced as many D1 commits as I thought they would have. That is a talent gap or a system that caters to the Elite so to speak? If it'sa logistical issue, the club is failing or a parent needs to take more of aprocative approach in the recruiting process. My kid is young btw, but I'm planning just in case she continues.
Possibly the amount of money offered? WIU is a low level team and maybe a full ride? Said player is a terrific kid btw. Former FC united player from the W burbs. Having a parent able to watch most of the games may be a great perk also.
From what I hear college recruiting is about to change. This month the NCAA is putting to a vote for no early recruiting or verbal offers before June 15 following Sophomore year of high school. It does not allow a school to initiate or receive calls. Currently the colleges get around this by asking a coach or recruiting coordinator to have the player call them. This closes that loophole by stating that it includes the individual and his or her family members. This is going in place for all sports other than baseball, basketball, football and mens ice hockey, which I believe already have recruiting policies. So this will impact all uncommitted freshman and younger. It is Division 1 Proposal - 2018 - 93. Apparently the consensus is that it will pass this month.
On NCAA recruiting Vote the only thing I would add is I have heard the "contact allowed" date has been under debate and has shifted multiple times. The last I heard was August 1st before there Junior year(after Sophomore year) . I am not sure if the June 15th date is more recent proposal or older proposal as it keeps moving?
I believe it is June 15 for phone calls, August 1 for off-campus contact. But the one I am looking at is pretty redacted so I think it keeps moving.
Looks like the Sockers u18/19 have added two national team players from the Eclipse. I wonder what influence US soccer had on that movement. Maybe it was the opportunity to play spring soccer since not much of that in ECNL. Not knocking the decision to allow players to play high school but for some truly elite talent it must not be appealing.
Who knows. The eclipse have claimed many players as their own that only played a season or two at the club. Galaxy was the club that developed this pair.
Without turning these two phenomenal talents (and others of their caliber) into pawns in our discussion, I'd be curious to get thoughts on why is it that sports such as baseball and basketball are so different when it comes to competing in high school. I remember regularly seeing videos of Zion Williamson absolutely destroying high school competition. In baseball, the same thing, HS phenoms throwing 90+ in their high school games throwing no-hitters and racking up 15 k's. Both basketball and baseball have super-competitive, super-elite, super-expensive national leagues, viable paths to pros as teenagers, but their clubs shut down during their respective high school seasons. What makes soccer so different, that for the highest level players, high school doesn't seem to be an option worth choosing? Is anyone ready to say that 'posterizing' dozens of under-sized suburban kids really stunted Zion Williamson's game, or desire to play at a really high level? He certainly looked to be having fun, gaining confidence, and developing creativity in his game. Lastly, I had a friend who's kid was told by a P5 coach that he preferred his recruits play high school because he wanted his recruits "to experience playing for something before getting to college". Again, I'm not trying to make it about these two kids mentioned above. Certainly "playing for your country" ticks that pre-college box of playing 'for something'. I just think it is unfortunate that so many other kids who are very talented, but not playing for their country anytime soon, aren't playing for their home town either. Baseball and basketball players don't take that path, why do soccer players?
A few points that I think may contribute: 1. A lot of the club coaches did not grow up in the States so they do not understand the importance of school sports to the kids because they did not experience it themselves. 2. The middle of the pack in most “American” sports seems to be closer to the top than it is soccer, hockey or individual sports. The average baseball player on a high school team probably has been playing the sport at a decent level most of their life while the average soccer player may play club at a low level. Again that all depends on the school and area of the country. 3. The quality of coaching is much better for “American” sports. Most high school coaches were college athletes in the sport they coach. The soccer coach at my old high school used to be a former basketball player. She hadn’t played soccer since grade school AYSO
My 2 cents… Soccer is not organically popular in this country… US Soccer is desperately playing catch up with the rest of world… As a result of both, things like HS state championships or even [meaningless] national championships have little value in the eyes of many…there is no appreciation of the journey (collectively), “low” level accomplishments have no value, bring little reason for celebration, and might even be counterproductive to the overall goal of being a world soccer powerhouse…youth soccer, in many ways, is just a means to end, whether a college scholarship or a World Cup trophy; the idea that soccer is an actual sport that we could and would enjoy, in and of itself, is too often lost… Zion Williamson’s 3 consecutive HS State Championships would never be poo-pooed in by anyone in the basketball community…if it was soccer, it would be like, well, it just high school, or it was only 2A… We are so caught up in being something we ain’t, we likely never will…
I think Illini is on to a big part of it... On average, there may be a bigger drop off in coaching quality club vs hs in soccer than other sports. I'd buy that as being a contributor. But Wulfy points out another truth that soccer isn't organically popular. But with that said, do you grow that popularity by designing a framework that whisks kids away from their community teams when they turn 12, and keeps them from returning to their communities when they enter high school? I could be wrong, but doesn't high school club lacrosse shut down around here in the spring, and everyone plays hs? I know baseball and softball do, and I think that helps keep these sports (kind of) front of mind. At the recent infotainment night for North Eclipse, Rory kind of boasted that he hasn't seen a local high school soccer game in many many years. He hears Barrington is good, that is about it. I know the guy is super busy and all, but I'm not sure I'd wear that fact as a badge of honor if your goal is to grow the popularity of the sport, and in doing so give yourself a bigger pool of young kids interested in playing and appreciating a love for the sport, and maybe showing up at Red Stars games.
Another point to consider is that highly competitive interscholastic and intercollegiate sports are strictly an American phenomenon. In the rest of the world, school-based sports is more akin to recreational level, while the highly competitive sports are all played in Club -- not just for soccer, but for all sports. While US Soccer attempts to emulate what the rest of the soccer world is doing, it often amounts to trying to stick a square peg into a round hole.
Or put another way (and I'm just guessing at the motivation), the rest of the world doesn't send its top players off to play for school teams coached by coaches who may or may not be very good for the half the year. So US Soccer, trying to improve the quality of American players and national, team performance, (again, just guessing) might think the national teams and pro-level players are best served by year-round club or academy soccer.