My son has just completed his SAT test in New Zealand and is now looking for Colleges to apply to for a Soccer Scholarship. Being ignorant of which are the better Div 1 level colleges can anyone suggest possible Colleges that may be worth applying to? He wishes to study economics as his major. He is a very talented mid-fielder/striker, with an impressive CV. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Try the University of Notre Dame. Head Coach Bobby Clark is a former coach of the New Zealand National team. Check your Private Messages.
Ranking soccer programs and rankings academic programs are completely different things. for soccer rankings: www.soccerratings.com Academic rankings might be harder to come by. In the US, you should be able to go to your local bookstore and buy a US News and World Report Magazine. Don't know if they sell it in New Zealand. But, I should tell you, regarding scholarships, they are hard to obtain for men's soccer. Even if your son is a quality player, it will still be difficult. I'm sure talking with a few coaches will clue you into this fact.
some options.... one path towards achieving the goal of getting your son a scholarship at a d1 school in the US is to network with the college coaches through your son's club team coach, or if his resume is good enough to include national team experience, then have the national team coach make recommendations to college coaches in the US. make it known that your son wants to come to the US to study and play soccer. also, it would be good to have a 10-15 minute video that can be sent to college coaches of your son's highlights. it can be in the form of an mpeg file so that it can be emailed to US coaches and their assistants. many times, assistant coaches do the majority of the scouting and recruiting. the more professionally the tape is done, the better chance of catching the attention of decision makers. college coaches receive tons of these tapes, so make your son's short and effective. if your son is traveling to any international tournaments where the US team may be, then have him network with the US players and coaches who can give a good reference of his skills. sit down with your son, and chronologically put together a resume that includes teams, tournament results, international experience, awards, leadership, work ethic, etc. from the time he was 14 years old. freshman college players are notorious for being immature and selfish, so try to get the resume to show organization skills and a good thought process. there is also the possibility of selecting a school and then attempting to make the soccer team through tryouts as a walk on. it is a more difficult path, but one that teaches good life lessons. in this case, notify the coach as early as possible to get scheduling information, and have good references for your son ready (video highlights, resume, references, etc.) don't let the first rejections by some colleges diminish your son's motivation. any small contact could spark the momentum needed to get your son a slot. good luck....
undefined Does he play for a club team? St. John's is starting 2 freshmen this year from New Zealand. Hopefully he knows one of them and they could be of assistance.
Yes he currently plays for Christchurch United Premier mens team in the Mainland Soccer Premier league. I am aware of one of the players going to St John's but my son does not know them that well. I am impressed tho at the replies by members offering assistance and information. A couple that have replied have been very positive and hopefully something will come from one of these leads. We have put together a resume, which has now been forwarded to some of the leads, and in the near future will have a video ready for sending out. Thanks to all who have helped so far.
consider coming for the Spring term that starts in January.....This gives your lad 6 months to impress the coaches before the season starts
Stanford is another university with a history of New Zealand student-athletes. In recent years, Ryan Nelsen, Mike Wilson, and now Mark Bartlett have attended and competed there.
One of the smaller D-1 programs might be willing to take a chance on him. If nothing happens with a larger school. www.collegesoccer.com has a listing of current schedules and links to team websites. It could be useful.
The #1 team in the nation, UC Santa Barbara, has two members of the NZ national team that star for them in Tony Lochhead and Neil Jones.