My interesting story for this weekend... My son's club teams have been doing college showcases since he was a HS freshman or sophomore (I can't remember exactly and don't feel like going back through my records). Ever since the first one, I've been the one responsible for making the "brochure" (a list of all the players, contact info, pictures, grades, etc). With the exception of Disney's college showcase, and our disastrous season in the National league, we had very few college coaches show up at the showcases. And (I think) we were playing in the top flights of the age group. This is from fall 2019. Spring 2020 season was cancelled, spring 2021 season we went to showcases and no coaches attended. This weekend my daughter's team attended their first showcase. They're U16 (so freshmen and sophomores). They were in the 2nd flight of the age group. There were nine coaches watching the first game and three more at the third. I was really surprised. This wasn't a "big" showcase. I'm not sure if the difference was because it was a women's showcase or covid is finally "ending", more than likely a combination. I just found it interesting.
That is interesting. I'd love to hear from people who actually know the answers, but a guess: The larger number of women's programs (about 350 DI women's programs vs. roughly 200 on the men's side, for instance) and more scholarship availability might push coaches to work harder to find players (the market on the girls' side favors players much more than the boys' side). My impression is that international players aren't yet quite the force in women's college soccer that they are on the men's side, either, so there might be even less reason for coaches to go scout domestic boys than girls. I know two people who coach in college, one on the women's side and one in men's soccer. They don't coach at the same level but, fwiw, the coach working on the women's side goes to showcases and ID camps and (at least pre-COVID) even attends some combines outside the US. The one working on the men's side scouts some games locally but his budget limits him to mainly Youtube and clips that players send him. FWIW, coaches have been at at least some of the showcases my son's team attends.
I did see coaches at the Florida showcase I went to with my son earlier this month, but the team didn't choose to do brochures (I offered since I have the form). I'm not sure how many watched our games though.
I'll be honest, the Florida showcase we were at said there was a number of coaches attending, but I don't recall seeing any of them at our games. Granted, I wasn't looking very hard, but I don't know how they decide what games they choose to go watch, since there's usually 12-15 going on at any given time.
The recruiting pools are different for boys and girls. As the US is the (IMO) the best youth training spot for girls probably in the world as of now, coaches don't have to look beyond the premier girls clubs for quality players. Boys, its a much more worldly search and in the US a couple 'private' pipelines exist.. I used to go to my son's showcases (not that he was a college prospect) and yeah, rarely a coach. Or if there was one, they were glorified HS programs. Even the better clubs attact only a handful of DII and III coaches. College coaches probably spend more time watching MLS Next (formerly Development) Academy teams and/or the prep school programs. Both of these pipelines turn out MUCH stronger players than your local 'premier' clubs. In recent seasons, I've been able to referee in invitational events put on for benefit of prep school players and MLS Next league. There, you notice a lot of college coaches paying very close attention on the field.
In addition to the pool of D1 college women's soccer programs with money being much deeper than men's programs (perhaps there are 100 more D1 women's programs) and the pool of top girl's players possibly being smaller, girls mature physically much earlier. That's why they used to get recruited in 8th grade and they moved back the date when D1 coaches could speak with players until June 15 after sophomore year. On that date,a lot of top girls players get snapped up, which means college coaches have been watching them all through freshman and sophomore year. Far fewer boys do. For boys, many college coaches really don't spend a lot of time looking at players until junior year and better players get offers and sign in spring of junior year. The other factor I've heard, which is only anecdotal, is that girls seems to do a better job contacting coaches, sending highlight videos, using social media, keeping in touch, etc. Parents mistakenly assume that coaches just randomly watch these games at showcases. They go to see someone who they know has an interest. This is especially true at high academic schools and D3 schools, where they need to know someone has academic ability to get in and potential interest. The coach might see other kids while they are there, but someone has to get them there first. If girls do a better job getting the coaches there, then there are going to be more coaches even if it's only a handful of girls doing the contacting on each team. My son has been active contacting coaches and he had a game at U16 where a college coach he had contacted came specifically to see him, but that coach ended up contacting his club coach after the showcase to ask not only about my son, but also about three other kids he saw on my son's team who had not contacted that college coach.
Good post. Yes, many more girls programs. And the extra programs are all in the big conferences with their big football/sports budgets. I know one of the top U16 girls in the country (10th grade), she has heard from many of the big programs due to her participating in the coach's 'camps' that they hold You are correct that girls are generally physically ready. But even the boys, for D-I they still want to ID them by 10th grade. DII and III is usually 11th/12th grade. Also, boys are starting to do that prep year that hockey players have been doing for years with junior hockey by going to the prep school and finishing academies to allow them to mature more.