1st visit - freshman year - already "made" the team? D3 women's soccer.

Athletic Recruits
1

Hello all,

My wife and daughter went to tour a local D3 over spring break, just to start looking at some schools. My daughter plays soccer at a high level and I think she is a good, but not nationally ranked player. E.g she made the state then the regional ODP (Olympic develop program) pool, but not higher.

Prior to the visit, we had a college showcase and had contacted the coach and asked him to watch her play, if he had the time. He watched her play one game (stayed the entire game) and told our volunteer dad (hands out team paperwork to any coach who stops by our games) that he was very impressed with her play, liked her smarts, etc.

A few weeks later we emailed coach saying we’ll be on campus for the standard tour and coach replied back and asked to meet with them after the tour is completed.

After the tour, the coach gave my wife and daughter a personalized tour (golf cart!) of the school, facilities and then talked with them for over four hours about the team, the players, his play style and how he needs a player like her.

4+ hours of one on one time with the head coach seems very long. Our daughter is an excellent student, already taking AP classes, 4.0 etc. so maybe that helps? Our daughter really liked the coach, his philosophy and his personality.

When asked if she should attend one of the coach’s upcoming ID camps ($$$), he said it wasn’t necessary, he’d already seen her play and after to our daughter and getting feel for her personality, that he wants her on the team. That we just let him know if she wants to play for him.

Is this normal? She is only a freshman and this was our first meeting with any coach. My wife and daughter are very excited, but it seems odd to be that wanted, so early, especially for a D3 school.

Thank you for any thoughts, I feel I know academic college admissions fairly well (our son is in his first year at Princeton), but don’t know anything about athletics or recruiting. Our daughter is looking at schools for academics, but would like to play soccer while going to school. She doesn’t care D1, D2, D3, but does want decent playing time and to get a good education as first priority.

Thanks!

-psy

2

Girl’s soccer and lacrosse have very (very) early recruiting times, especially for D1. D2 and D3 usually can’t be that quick on recruiting because their recruiting budgets are low (or non-existent) and many athletes are looking for a D1 situation first, so wait on the D2 and D3 schools until the D1’s give out the offers (some only want a D3, small LAC, and that recruiting is handled a little differently). Our D2 coach would do the same, would be thrilled to identify a young recruit who fell into her lap, but spends most of her time looking at rising seniors. At a national tournament, our coach spends most of her time looking at juniors, but if a sophomore had sent in a recruiting questionnaire, she’d take a look at her either at the tournament or online later (all games are available to the coaches, but the recruit would have to send in her playing times and a brief description like ‘I’m #5 and have a yellow stick’) A year ago she had a sophomore recruited, but that’s because her sister was a junior recruit (neither came to our team, BTW, and the rumor was the older one couldn’t make grades). D1 coaches are hustling after the sophomores but a good freshman would also be of interest. The Ivy coaches can only ‘commit to the process’ while other D1 coaches try to get a ‘verbal commit.’

The student is, of course, free to change her mind but so is the school. They can’t offer anything until she’s a senior, and even then at a D3 it’s only admissions support.

I’d keep looking but keep this school on the short list if it is where she wants to go. She’s smart to want to explore playing time, type of play, methods of coaching. Things could change a lot in 3+ years. The coach could leave, the team could implode or become top ranked, the coach could find 10 other players like your daughter and she’d be fighting for a place on the team. Playing time was very important to my daughter so she was willing to go to a team that might not win as much but where her skills were toward the top of the charts. She picked a new team (where everyone played because we didn’t have enough players!) and it worked out very well. She’s in her third year and plays 100% of the time, and it turns out they are a lot better and win a lot more than we expected. Of course she picked the school for academics, and that’s been a good fit too.

3

agree with @twoinanddone – women’s soccer recruits early, D1 programs are very much done by sometime sophomore year whereas D3 continues into junior/senior year. While it is wonderful to get such strong affirmation of her ability to play D3, I agree that there is a lot of of movement in the next 2- 2 1/2 years. A student “commits” to a D3 program by applying ED, usually as part of the conversation with the coach who offers a roster spot, no tryout required. So, this particular coach gains everything by expressing strong interest now, and loses nothing, because who knows what will happen between now and November 2019 when an ED application would be submitted. For your daughter, having the first “offer” is a great confidence builder, and can allow her to explore schools more broadly. Stay in touch with this coach, perhaps sending an email update after high school and club seasons. In fall of junior year, since it is a local area school, she can watch some of the team’s matches to observe the team dynamic, and get a feel for where she might fit in terms of position and role on the team. All in all, a huge relief to get that first “nod” that it can happen.

4

Agree with previous posts about the early recruiting in girls soccer. Although don’t entirely agree with MWmom that D1 is done by soph year. I have a friend who is head coach at Directional State and he said he is typically “wrapping it up” halfway through junior year. Certainly the top 20 programs recruit early but there are 325 D1 programs. We are hearing from the Ivys and top LAC D1’s that they wait until junior year as they need to see a more detailed transcript. (but then again, we know a girl who committed to Yale as a soph so who knows!).
From your description, your daughter is playing at a high level and will be highly recruited. Regional ODP is considered very strong.
My D is a soph and we have had a similar experience with D3. We were at one of the national showcases and a D3 coach - a Top 20 program - she invited came to see her. We had previously met with him and toured campus as we were visiting a friend who works there. I am the volunteer who hands out the brochures and I saw him walk up. He watched for literally 10 minutes and said he “really wants her on his team. She will be an impact player.” All that after 10 minutes. So if this coach watched an entire game, and then dedicated 4 hours of time, he is definitely interested.
Everything I’ve read says to play on the best team you can, attend the top showcases, invite coaches beforehand and thank them after. Show interest, show interest, show interest. Coaches want players that want to attend their school. Honestly, IMHO there is not a whole lot of difference between players after the top 100 or so. I’ve heard a D1 coach say, “At this point we are just identifying players that want to come to our school.” They start there, then determine the athletic/academic potential of the player.
There is a great description of the entire process posted by a dad from CA on this board somewhere. Has been a year so ago so may have trouble finding it. Good Luck!

5

It is wonderful to get that first coach’s attention, but your daughter will find that there are other coaches interested too. Our first on campus interview also lasted 4+ hours (it was scheduled and included a tour, meeting with admissions, and then a tour of athletic facility), but my daughter was a rising senior (very late to the game). I couldn’t WAIT to get out of there, but hadn’t planned an escape route. Loved the coach but that was about it. I knew immediately that my daughter wasn’t going there, even though it would have been practically a free ride D1 school. Too small, no engineering. But it was our first rodeo. We learned to ‘have another appointment’ if it wasn’t clicking.

In this month’s Lacrosse Magazine, there is an article about early recruiting and the bill before the NCAA to restrict early recruiting in lacrosse (each sport can have its own rules). The coaches are trying to restrict it to NO (no, none, zero) contact before Sept 1 junior year, and wouldn’t allow even informal tours with the coach like OP’s daughter took. It won’t happen, but at least the students won’t be able to announce a commitment and other coaches will feel free to go after that student. The coaches could just informally not recruit 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, but they don’t want anyone else to do it either. Even the Ivies and service academies have ‘commits’ from sophomores.

The new men’s coach at Virginia (came from Brown) has said he’s not committing freshmen or sophomores, and that he IS going to go after students who have committed (because they haven’t really committed to anything). No honor among thieves, but at least he’s announced that he’s going to go after them. The previous Virginia coach not only recruited freshmen, he had the entire team committed by sophomore year, didn’t even look at the juniors at tournaments. Two years ago 2 Virginia recruits were featured in an article about ‘The First 4’, as they were the first 4 boys to commit for that year. Two at Virginia and I think the other two were Hopkins and Duke. They were 13-14 years old.

I hope the tides are changing.

6

How do you feel about ID camps at a school your are interested in? Is it only money making for the coach, or is it a good way to be seen and see the coach in action? Thank you all for your input! It will be an exciting next two years.

7

Depends on your reason for attending the camp. If she is doing it to meet other people, to improve, to have fun then it is worth it. It she is doing it just to be noticed, probably not worth the money as they can get a lot of recognition at tournaments.

My daughter did some camps at D1 and a lot of tournaments on the club circuit. She ended up in D2 but we don’t regretted camps or tournaments. If I could have afforded it, I would have sent her to more. She usually learned a lot at the camps from different coaching styles and personalities.

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I feel like we have good luck attending the ID Camps - both positive and negative.
When my D was in 7th or 8th she attended a Power 5 sleep away camp and came away knowing that she never wanted to play at that level. The coach told them (her interpretation) that being a soccer player was your #1 priority when on my team. She also attended a 3-day camp at one of the Ivys and decided she really did not like their style of play, or could not see herself fitting in with their style.
She attended a 1-day camp at a different Ivy and loved it, and they have been actively watching her since. She had no contact with them before, went in green, and now they are showing interest.
As my handle says, any camps are a significant travel expense for us. I agree with twoin. Would do more if could afford - and fit in her hectic schedule.

9

Those college camps can tend to be driven by money if the program is already successful enough that top talent is piling up at the coach’s door. Smaller programs have to settle for whatever the top teams don’t take, so the further down the food chain you look the better the chance they are sincerely looking for talent. Large programs with recruiting budgets already know the kids at the better clubs, so unless your kid is not playing at a prominent enough club to get seen chances are your team was scouted and you didn’t get a call. That said, my daughter did attend a college camp in her sport the summer before senior year and it did help get her on the coach’s radar. He’d been to practices at her club a few times the previous season, but she’d been on crutches when he was around and he never saw her play. Late in the recruiting season of senior year (Feb for fall sport) he offered her a partial scholarship, but by then she’d decided D3 was a better fit. So it can work, but you need a specific reason why you think attending will help your case. (Or your DD may just want to play with that group of kids in a college setting and not treat it as a recruiting mission – that’s totally valid as well.)