Hey guys,i know you're probably all sick of hearing these kind of questions from foreign students/players, but what exactly are these uni camps? Can anybody literally turn up with the slight chance of eventually being offered scholarships etc... What kind of standard of player attends,do you have everything from potential MLS players to sunday league pub team players? Thanks guys
Yes, camps will range from potential MLS players to some really bad players. Overall one of the best recruiting tools for a player or college. Many of the rosters of top teams are littered with former campers.
when are they generally on?..are they free to attend or what is the story?..what methods are used?..is it trial games etc..sorry for all the questions!
Camps are run during the summer and cost money to attend. You also have to be within the ages specified for the camp. Usually they are only up to the age of 18.
My son just went to an "ID" camp this weekend. I was impressed with the level of players that were in attendance. They had a lot of top quality juniors and seniors from CA. There were also international players, players from back east, AZ, and IL. That is just the ones we know of from talking to other parents or my son telling me about players he met. They started on Saturday with a 2.5 hour training session. Saturday night they spent 3.25 hours playing 7v7 games. Sunday they came back and played 3.25 hours of 11v11 games. It was 9 hours of fast, hard soccer in a 24 hour period. They also had their current team participating as "counselors" so you were able to gauge yourself against some current D-1 players. I did think the coaching was excellent and they even had a former USMNT head coach there. I thought it was an excellent experince. It gave us a chance to see what level of player is looking to play D-1 soccer. There were a few lower level players attending, but for the most part it was a very high level crowd. It was by invitation only and I know that players were turned away.
Well if it was invitation only that would be an NCAA violation since you are not allowed to turn players away from camp based on ability.
Well if it was invitation only camp run by a college coach that would be an NCAA violation since you are not allowed to turn players away from camp based on ability.
That shows how little I know about NCAA rules. It was advertised on their website, so I guess it was "open". I know they filled up quite awhile ago. We had emailed the coach earlier in the year when we visited the campus so we received a "reminder" about the camp.
I was just answering the guys question from the initial query as to how the camps are operated. I stand corrected on the "invitation only".
lots of recruiting done at the Notre Dame camp every summer. Lots of college coaches attend. sign up early!