Every day, I give thanks that my kids weren't college-level athletes. Actually not even too sad that they weren't high school players.
I wouldn't doubt it. I would not count anyone out who is pursuing their thing. But its impossible to predict the path of any one player. Just too many moving variables. And so much competition.
This is good advice. While somewhat dated, my oldest son played a couple of years in an Academy Program in late high school fifteen years ago. They had a good team and three of his teammates had been part of the US Youth Program. Marc Pelosi was one of his teammates who went on to play for Liverpool youth teams and MLS, but retiring after never fully recovering from an injury suffered at Liverpool. This was prior to MLS Academies and more youth players going to USL. There was two tier of players on the team: those who were on the path to college and those who could go straight to pro's at some level. It didn't mean that the college kids wouldn't make pro's (another teammates plays for the Oakland Roots in USL), but it was a just a longer/different path. So, it depends. What will be your son's goals after soccer? Does he want to stay in the sport? How realistic are his chances? Most players will level off at some point. My son leveled off at 16 (didn't have the mental side) and ended up not playing college (he had some limited opportunities at non-D1 schools). In the end, he was interested in the competition and attention, but didn't really love the sport.
This is understandable. My oldest son has a tough time with the competition and process and it impacted his mental health through college and post-college. His brother had a great experience as walk-on and ended up playing/starting fours years of D1 Football. Dealing with money, parents, coaches, etc. You need to be prepared for all kinds of outcomes.
If your goal is to pro, then its best to try it first. If you fail you can always do college and then try pro again. Unfortunately it seems that college is becoming less of a good route to pros though. It seems that a decade ago it was a more decent route, and there were more routes in general that didn't go pro academy --> pro first team. Look at the 30 something MLS guys and they were from all over. Gyasi Zardes played at Cal State Bakersfield. Christian Ramirez played NAIA then USL then NASL with Minnesota United FC, which then became a MLS team and kept Ramirez who then scored the team's first ever MLS goal. Fast forward a few more years and he's an MLS champion with Columbus Crew in his 30s. Will we ever see a path like that again? I highly doubt it. Now it seems that the path to pro in the USA is trending to mirror the same pathway that Europe uses, which is namely pro academy to first team, with maybe some loans here and there, or signing the player and then selling him to another pro team. With MLS Next and all of their various tournaments, and what looks like a trend in homegrown contracts... it seems to be the new pathway for most players, which I think is kind of unfortunate.
One more good example: Will and James Sands. I would rather have my son take the Will Sands route, going to Georgetown first, even though James Sands has been on the national team and played briefly in Scotland and is now a highly paid player. But if my son still loves soccer and wants to trial first, I'll support him, as long as it doesn't affect scholarships.
The recent NCAA ruling will definitely affect college soccer in some way, especially because college soccer doesn't generate revenue. More scholarships / smaller rosters? Cut programs? Will parents be as willing now to pump so much money into youth soccer?
do you think it’ll affect D1/D2 only or will it have a trickle down effect on D3 as well? I wonder if more talented kids will try to go D1/D2 for $ especially at big programs or will they flock to D3 instead.
To the OP... I have a 19 yo going the alternative route so Ill share our experience but theres sort of two answers here as you describe your kid as borderline pro caliber (homegrown). In our case, my son has no interest in college as he will pursue something blue collar, soccer wise he has a ton of raw talent and a bit of a late bloomer so he is not ready to call it quits . Firstly if your son is at that level I think you should be shopping for an agent where options short of homegrown contract would be MLSNext or USLC. If higher education is in the plans you should be looking at the best power 5 conf teams and those coaches who will develop your kid and has a scheme that your kid will fit into. If you dont have schools pursuing him currently, I'll have to call B.S. on your evaluation... sorry. now, our experience.... I'll preface this with the bottom line after two years... At this time, college is the better pathway I believe. You're instantly in a structured program with a steady roster where you are scheduled pretty much year round (if your doing a spring-summer league). If you make a good selection on school/coach, your going to flourish. But again, college never was his plan. We live in midwest, CHicago area, so I have become very familiar with several leagues and many teams first hand and I've also done a lot of studying of the lower levels of US soccer. Biggest problem is finding a steady club and having a year round program. We didn't quite make the leap to NISA or USL1, and everything below that your scrambling for opportunities in the Fall and Winter. What I've learned studying this years Open Cup, there is talent all over but the lower the league the less deep clubs are. USL2 is getting watered down , it's not as solid as even three years ago and having that on a resume isn't what it used to be. NPSL I think is better run and their are some good clubs, most clubs seem to be run very professionally, probably moreso than even NISA. Clubs are deep but I call it a D2 league where USL2 is a D! league. UPSL is all over the board, some very good former D1 players and everything else mixed in. In our local division, none of these clubs run very professionally, can't get people in the seats and players scramble from one team to the next each season. Kind of a high level mens league...ouch. They do have a Fall season, which is a plus. This is a good league to get into young while playing youth, even if its just practice sessions, to play older faster bigger guys. We also have Midwest Premier League which I'll classify as a D2/D3 league by and large. We are in NPSL this Spring. It has been a great opportunity at a professionally run established club. It is stable but we are struggling to find an opportunity for Fall. I'm not concerned about Winter... stopped worrying about the winters... I don't know if there are much development benefits playing indoors over a cold winter. I will have him in the weight room and working FAQ but no pressure of soccer this winter. I think the day is coming when there is a meaningful path from 18-22 besides college but there is nothing inherent as of now in any of these leagues for that to happen. I've seen a few scouts at certain USL2 games, thats it. Regardless of pathway, no one is looking out for your kid. You'll have to get good at knowing what he needs and coming up with your own path and then figure out what out there in the market place can possibly facilitate that. At some point you'll need to know someone to get his foot in the door. I know a pro coach and so I get to hear his prospective on may things. One last thing, I must mention coaching. Most are absolute shite. players 18-22 still need development. This means the staff must understand all their players, in all aspects of the game, and work with the player to maximize their potential. By 22 that player should be able to self coach really only needing occasional feedback. Overall we are not getting this in USA. He's had several college coaches, with them , a few, it kind of happens, in the lower leagues, no. I don't think coaches are being brought up or certified properly and we have a lot of burned out coaches. It was different when I coached as a young man for stipends and basically part time pay. Enough on that rant... Everyone, go check out a lower level soccer league, find a team to call your own, and support it! LAstly, OP asked about if 22 is old and trialing and gap years... Not too old, should be trialing whenever you can. real trials, invites, not open tryouts (also shite), gap year should be a serious consideration if it meets your needs
It's wild how this landscape has begun to develop the past few years, isn't it? So little of this existed even 8-10 years ago. Granted, what you describe sounds like the wild west, but seeing teams pop up all over where we live (downstate Illinois) the past two years is eye opening. Two of my son's former club teammates opted for gap years at some kind of soccer-centric, post-high school prep program -- one because he didn't like his potential college landing spots, I think, and one after a serious injury his senior year. I'm curious to see where that gets them.
How many of his NPSL teammates are college players? NPSL and USL2 are primarily summer leagues, but I know some NPSL clubs are trying to stretch their seasons a bit longer. UPSL is strong in some areas. In others, it's literally a men's rec league that applied to join as its own division. Where I live, I often see frantic calls for referees on the day of a UPSL game, like it's a U-19 game or something. More generally, I think college is a great experience for anyone, no matter what career path they're following. Plenty of "blue-collar" jobs include some business management. And broadening one's mind is a great thing as well. There has to be some reason why basketball players generally opt to go to college instead of playing in Europe or the G-League (excluding a handful of players who are going to declare for the NBA draft one year after leaving high school and decide to spend that year in the G-League instead of college).
All his mates playing college,with a few having graduated this or last year. Personally I'd like to see NPSL and NISA Nation merge , combine with NISA pro to create maybe a 2 tier league and solidify a broad third tier competing with mlsn... I think UPSL is good on paper but the league really needs to help teams with marketing showing them how to run a club. Also feel these lower leagues need to protect players from being overly commoditized. I'm sure this is impossible but having player and club say, committing to like two calendar years at a time might create a stability that helps player development, certainty for management, and maybe even a situation where a crowd base gets attached to players... Just spit alling after a pint