Recruiting experience/questions

It's likely that soccer is not going to pay the bills for most kids/adults so if there is a D1 college where he would play little but has a program where he could degree in something that will support him in the future - that's what I would do.

If he is uncertain of what he wants to be then don't be afraid of D2 schools where he may see more play time.

 

You'll likely get much better information from the college forum.

I personally think the services are a waste. The parents and player should be directly involved. The general landscape is that the top schools and top players (top 50 - 100 players) start committing end of the sophomore year and other programs and players start filling in after that. Scholarship money tends to be more weighted to more toward good players (compared to the type of players a program usually gets) that commit early.

Started end of freshman year

No - aimed at the 30 schools that were the best fit and adjusted, based on academic grades, changes in level of play, likes and dislikes of visited schools and feedback from coaches.

Starting too late. Failing to realize you need to seek out programs, rather than waiting for kids to be "seen" at random tournaments. You should have your kid visit a variety schools (big, small, rural, urban) and have them get a feel for what they like and dislike.

You should look at the programs rosters to see what type of players they recruit and get an honest assessment of your sons level play (keeping in mind their physical development - if you're 6'4" and your kid is a 5'9" stick, there is an almost certain chance he's going to improve quite a lot versus his peers as opposed to a kid that is filled out and stopped growing) from several coaches you can trust. For example one well know local recruits top players from top academies along with foreign transfers but sends out mass mailings for their camps. As a result some kids and parents of kids that had no shot of playing at a D1 level actually thought this program had some interest. Then have your kid call the coaches from schools he is interested.

Let coaches know where your son will be playing. Even if they can't attend, they all have friends and contacts that will take a look. Also get game film. If you have done your homework and have explained why your son is a good fit they will take a look. Since you are from a more limited area, you may have to send your kid to some college camps he's really interested. Again - make sure it is good fit with potential interest so you are not wasting money and opportunity to vet out an appropriate school.

 

Nice post!

 

You might go to one of these camps to get an idea of what college level is like, but you don't go to these camps for training - you go if you potentially interested in the school. They typically play for too much (its about recruiting) in a short period for good training. In addition to the main school, you should also see what other coaches are going to be there. Typically a top D1 school will have D2 and D3 schools of a similar type of academic profile. Not only is the a way for these coaches to make a buck or two but it is also a great source of players for them.

One thing I cannot stress enough is to do your homework and be exceptionally proactive. My niece was not on an ECNL team or a big name club team but knew what she wanted. She contacted the coaches at schools she was interested in and went camps where many would be and visited the schools. Looks like shes going to turn down two Ivy programs to play D3 because she wants to go to a school with a better engineering program.

 

Thanks scoachd1 for the info.

Any tips for an international (girl) player?

 

The issue is not that the people running the camps are trying to work with the players, but instead the volume of work is too high to be effective. Its a lot like playing a 5 game tournament over a weekend. After the first couple of games kids are toast. It also depends on the type of regular training the player gets. If the player does not have strong coaches and teammates, it could be a good learning experience.

 

Wow - I'm way out of my depth on that one. I'd probably look for rosters with some international players as a place to start and ask how they found those players. I'd try to find which of your domestic coaches that have sent some girls to play in the states.

 

You should always try to test the waters. Do the camps at his age provide exposure to college coaches of all levels? Having him go to different camps is a great way for your son to interact with different coaches and find what fits for him.

 

It's easy enough for a decent player, state ODP level in an average state, to play in college.

All you need to do is:
- not care about the academics
- not care about the level of play of the college team

My son has played with kids who have gone to Super Y Nationals and the Region 1 ODP team. One is at a top 50 D1 program, the rest are middling to low D2. At least the first is at a decent college, and it is local so they have seen him a lot. One kid is at a D3 program at a very small school, and he was captain of (and played almost all minutes for) a club team ranked in the top three in the nation regularly. A team that went overseas, and around the US and won a few national championships.

My son ended up picking academics over soccer, and will play club soccer. If your son has what it takes, he has to combine that with being willing to travel NOW to ID camps and recruit days and case a wide net. He has to consider pursuing a major that is very common (business is often the choice as many colleges offer it).

When would be freshmen year, pick the top schools he is interested in and go to a few of them. By sophomore year, he should be at least taking the PSAT to get an idea of his future test scores, and going to more colleges. He should be emailing and calling coaches; they aren't allowed to call back yet so he needs to keep trying. Junior year, they can call him and he should be finalizing a spot.

If he:
- isn't flexible about where to attend
- isn't flexible about what major he wants to choose

his chances go WAY down to be playing varsity soccer in college. Of course, there is an occasional player who is very very VERY good and hasn't been in the academy program or on a top team, and does make it to a top D1 program. But even a top D3 program, with no scholarships, has a coach who is looking for academy and four year HS starter. Some just don't even consider kids unless they have a pedigree. And from personal experience, top/highly sought after programs DON'T care if an unknown kicks butt against their knowns, because having the "best recruiting class" in their conference is a plum for them.

I wouldn't go with a recruiting service either. My son went to a TDS combine and you get a free year of premium TDS access, and you can put up videos there, plus they put up an evaluation for your son that is rather detailed. Very cost-effective compared to recruiting services.

 

I'm a little late to the discussion - just saw it this morning. Although our child is a girl, I still think there are aspects to the approach we used that can be applied to boys. You've received some great advice already. I especially like scoachd1's advice and the focus on a more targeted approach than you typically see - choosing schools that will be a good fit from a variety of perspectives, not just soccer.

You might like these specific tips we share on our website. And to make sure there's no misunderstanding - we are definitely not a recruiting service (we didn't use one and I agree with scoachd1's opinion that they are generally a waste of time - I do think in the case of international players that they may have some benefit, but in general a lot of research and a lot of hard work on the part of the family will accomplish as much as and even more than a recruiting service can offer). We developed the website as a way of sharing our experience - to give back to the online soccer community that helped us immensely through the process. We started just where you're starting - asking lots of questions and trying to apply what we learned - and once we were on the other side of the experience, we wanted to share our experience as a way of helping other families who were about to enter the process.

One thing I would share about ID camps - in addition to what has already been said - is that I think it will be important for your son and/or his club coach to contact the college coaches in advance of the camp and tell them specifically that he wants to play at their school and that's why he's attending the camp (and he will have to do the research scoachd1 recommends before being able to say that). In our daughter's case, we believe an ID camp was the first place the coaching staff of the school she plays for now saw her play (although we're pretty sure they knew about her before the camp) - her club coach called the recruiting coach at the school before the camp and told him that our daughter would be at the camp and wanted to play for them (she had actually dreamed of playing at the school since she was 9 years old). Our daughter also sent the coaching staff emails about her attendance at the camp and told them she wanted to play for them.

I do know one thing - your family is in for an exciting ride. Sometimes thrilling, sometimes not so thrilling, but never boring!

 

Depends on how old your son is.

In general, you can't go wrong if you...find ID Camps, try to get your kid to play in some showcases (if his club team doesn't play in any, there are often "house teams" at showcases for players who don't have their team participating).

A lot of recruiting services are a waste of time. Best you can do is provide opportunities to be seen by college coaches. ODP is a good step as well.

Lots of coaches don't waste time with videos, but IMO it's not a bad call to have a video that you can link a coach to if they don't have the means to see you in person immediately. At worst you can rule out their interest (and save you both time), at best you can cause increased interest and maybe they'll make time to come see your kid play a club/ODP/showcase game. Do you need to pay someone hundreds of dollars to make a "professional" recruiting video? Probably not, just make sure the player is actually visible or put an arrow pointing him out at the beginning of each clip so the college coach doesn't watch for 30 seconds and get tired of trying to figure out which one he's supposed to be watching.

In terms of how high to aim, what types of schools to go for. That's up to your family and what the long-term goals are, but something I always encourage high school players in is finding a school that's the right fit, not just a team. If a blown out knee ends a career, you want to be in the right place with the right type of major rather than just on a team that gives you playing time. A lot of coaches see things differently on this, and it ends up revolving all about $$$, but I think right fit is a huge deal.

I'd also encourage your son that scholarship money is scholarship money, whether it's athletic or academic. Doing well academically can oftentimes open up possibilities that wouldn't otherwise be there due to the limited number of athletic scholarships so take academics seriously prior to college (and in college too of course). You don't want to limit your opportunities because of grades. If you can get a partial academic and a partial athletic that adds up to the same as a teammate who gets a full athletic and nothing academic, who cares? Money is money, and the opportunity to play is the opportunity to play.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

I had a daughter who was recruited. I will try to keep this short, to the point and only add to what has not been said or emphasize. As a military brat my daughter faced some of the same challanges.
The club does matter. Most college coaches would not give my daughter the time of day until she switched clubs and started for a one with a good reputation. Now if your child has flashy video this may not matter, but in my daughter's case it did. She is a wing back, not big, but knows how to break down a striker and can create as well as destroy. It is hard to show off ball play in video.
Look at guest playing. Gotsoccer is pretty good with this. My daughter got exposure to some college coaches by guest playing. If he is picked up as a guest player he is guaranteed a certain amount of playing time and you normally only pay your travel expenses. My daughter had a blast doing this and played for some great coaches as well as some unusual teams (Spanish team, Nigerian team).
Camps can be a good experience. My daughter attended the UNC camp and loved the experience. She learned. She came away knowing that she might be able to go there and make the roster, but would probably never make it off the bench. She attended a few other mid D1 camps and got offers soon after.

This part is the most important. Have your child figure out what they want. My daughter decided: 1. She wanted to play D1- not sit the bench or be on a practice squad, but play. 2. She wanted an engineer major. This helped her in the college decision-making process. A coach she loved made her a great offer, but the school did not offer what she wanted. Another coach made her less of an offer, but the school offered what she wanted. Tough call, but she went with the latter. She was also recruited by some top D2 and elite D3 schools, but decided early that she wanted to go D1 and see if she could play at that level. We did not push this and asked her on numerous occasions if she would prefer 2/3.

Coaches are inundated with emails. If you don't have the right connections even DIII coaches won't give you the time of day. One D1 coach just happened to see my daughter because she would drive by a field where my daughter kept playing soccer by herself or pick up against anyone who showed up. The D1 coach finally got curious and wanted to find out who this young blond girl was who was playing against the "undocumented" guys. She ended up getting an offer because a men's college coach I knew saw her playing in these pickup games, called a new D1 coach he knew and told him he needed this girl. She went to this coaches camp, performed poorly due to an injury, yet still got an offer based upon recommendations from other coach and the club she played for.

Above all, remember that soccer is a game and remind your son. Have fun in the process and try to develop memories that will last after you are gone. The time will go by in the blink of an eye.

 

When my kid was looking at schools, my child's 3 top schools all had coaching changes and two of them were very long tenured and successful coaches that gave absolutely no indication of leaving. That is why you pick the school first and foremost as you never know who will actually be the coach. This isn't to say you don't pay attention to who the coach is. What you want to do is avoid coaches that are a bad fit for your child.

 

Agree wholeheartedly with scoachd1. Coaches come and go, and playing careers can end in one tackle. IMO a player should always pick a school knowing he will be happy whether he plays or not. Most 17-18 year olds do not think about their soccer days ending early, and most feel invincible, so a parent/mentor needs to help them focus on keeping a balanced set of criteria when selecting a school.

 

1. Show your personality in interviews with coaches. When interviewing with college coaches, players need to be the ones doing the talking and asking questions. Most coaches will be nice and accommodate parents, but they really prefer to hear from the player to get to know them better and get a sense of how the player thinks.
2. Be strategic about what you’re conveying in highlights. Pay attention to what you are telling coaches about your mentality and tactical understanding when sharing your game video. For example, if 60% of a midfielder’s passes are negative or square, coaches will have questions about whether that player is creative and can create opportunities on the field.
   
3. Do NOT use slow motion when sharing highlights. This is a “no duh” piece of advice, so why do so many players do it? Slow-motion makes you look slower. It makes the play look easier. It allows coaches to tear apart every movement frame by fame. Players, stop with the SLO-MO and the SLO-MO instant replays.