As if recruiting isn’t stressful enough, GK recruiting is its own special kind of place. Teams only carry so many GKs, at the more academic schools, we found that they only give $$ to the GKs they think will grow into starters (versus being practice players all four years). Because my DD wanted a shot at playing and even starting by her junior year, she ended up being very, very rigorous about whether she would continue conversations with teams where she thought the year-above GK was better, or where she knew the coach was interested in a really excellent younger GK. She ended up committing, all’s well that ends well, but it was not fun. Best of luck to you and your DD!
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Still running in the hamster wheel attempting to play at the next level. At this point all 2022 GKs my daughter plays or trains with have now committed and a handful of 2023 players (1 GK and 6 field players) have committed. The whispers continue amongst her club team about who will be next. Big showcase in FL in jan and another at the end of this month. Lots of film and handful of coaches at friendlies and league games. Having 1-2 calls per week and her list is now at about 60 schools, with most communication coming from LAC D3 schools. Daughter is very picky regarding location, size, major and acceptance/grad rate. Most communication seems to be from - Brandeis, macalester, kenyon, haverford, Washington college, slippery rock, edinboro, gonzaga, st Francis, Bentley, and tampa. All have seen her play. Still finding it stressful to decipher the smoke signals.
Took her ACT last week and met with college counselor at school who think all her schools are academically within reach. Her top choices are sacred heart, Marist, tufts, Brandeis, American, William and Mary, gonzaga but honestly I think if any of the d1s on her list or any of the nescac-ish D3s offered her a spot she would take it.
She is still hoping to be done by fall, and is staying the course but anxiety and stress is high for sure
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@GKmom23
My D has narrowed it down to about 10 schools. She has a couple official visits lined up. She has a few “you are a top recruit” but I do not put much weight on that until the pre-read, likely letter, early write, whatever from the AOs in July. Coaches did a coach’s pre-read and green lights, so far. I have the feeling offers to continue the process after the OV, if everything fits.
This is after removing all of the ghosting and no responses after watching her play schools. This gets easier after the fifth ghosting. Just business.
Smoke signals are very clear when a school is really interested in your player. A different conservation versus a school who is still shuffling players and needs. A SLAC D3 coach said that they can get over 500 player email inquires. Do not go too far down that rabbit hole and fall in love with a school. I will try to circle back in a few months. Good luck!
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After a crazy busy summer with a handful of camps, lots of pre reads, test prep and prepping for her first season of HS soccer. After a few no’s from top choices, and my daughter telling some coaches no thank you a few schools she has accepted a spot at Clark in MA and is finishing up her application for ED. Clark really is a great fit in all areas and she is really excited and at peace with her decision (a relieved that she can jump off the crazy recruiting train!)
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Congratulations and good luck to her!
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Hooray, and congratulations!!! Doesn’t it feel great?!
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@GKmom23 Congrats to both your daughter, and you. When the commitment finally comes together it’s such a relief. When that commitment is also the best fit, THAT is an amazing feeling. Best of luck to her at Clark.
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I can’t wait for things to be done for my 2023. She has several offers but can’t make up her mind lol. Congrats to your daughter for finding her fit!
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Congrats! Now she (and you) can enjoy her senior year!
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I was thinking about this thread and watched some video highlights from Trace (it records games and auto-creates highlights) and have a question…
How do you show the talent of your GK if the midfield/defense is so strong that they clear the ball before the GK can “save” it? My guess is that, over enough games, you’d find enough footage of saves?
We have this superstar team (probably top national ranking) in our geographic area and in our conference and the goalie has very little to do, because most teams can’t come close. But maybe you only need a handful of clips so it wouldn’t matter?
My daughter plays for a nationally ranked club and for all the GKs, as long as the teams are playing quality opponents, over 3-4 games there was enough to put together a 2 min highlight video. You can also use training film for GKs. The highlights shouldn’t just have saves but also set pieces, distribution, and footwork. The only time we have had issues finding enough quality to make a highlights was if we were playing significantly below our level and that usually only happened when she was younger and the team was placed in the wrong division for a showcase or tournament.
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I hadn’t heard of Trace until you posted. It seems very interesting, but pricey. Did you personally use it?
I also agree with GKmom that training film is ok for GKs.
Our club purchases trace and then we split the camera and tracers amongst the teams in the club. We have four cameras/tripods/cases and the cost is part of our club fees. Quality is ok, for my GK we would download the whole game and cut her highlights from that instead of suing the trace moments. You can do the same with recording from your iPhone either hand held or with a tripod
@GKmom23 Is correct, a highlight video needs to demonstrate all of the skills a GK possesses. If the defense is strong because the GK does an excellent job communicating, and organizing the players in the back, you need to capture that. The GK could place a small GoPro in the net to record their instructions to the team. A GK like that is a very desireable asset.
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Interesting. Seems little reason to pay for Trace if you are going to cut highlights on your own!
Our team had a bad experience with Trace, they had to refund our money when most of the sensors didn’t work. Also, for the few that did work, the players looked tiny, like ants – most highlight videos were of better quality than Trace. That said, this was 3 or 4 years ago.
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Thank you for the answers. Yes, I was using saves as one example of what might be captured.
That’s interesting GKs can use training video. I had not thought about that.
Trace must have improved. It is handy. Our team is using it. We can see top speed, stamina, level of effort, and more. The player is identified in each clip with a little graphic that shows each player’s position.
I find it easy to see the players. Yet I do prefer having a small arrow over the player to show who they are. It seems like that would be simpler.
Cinnamon has a good point about the sensors. We had an issue in one game yet I don’t know if it was user error or Trace itself.
Gosh, TeamSnap and Trace seem like two excellent inventions!
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@Kombucha22 I purchased 4 HD camcorders ($200 each), a tripod, and what is essentially a bar to attach lighting to, but it worked well to attach all the cameras.
I would focus one on the goal mouth, one just outside the 6 yard box, one on the defensive 3rd and the final one on 3/4s of the entire field to capture goal kicks, punts and other long range distribution.
At the beginning of the half I would hit record on all 4, then sit and enjoy the game. It was the lazy-man system.
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I actually think the lazy-man way is great. On the keeper video, I actually think that training video is superior. Some sports/positions lend themselves better to game video and training is better for others. Taking pitching, for example, no coach wants to weed through four innings of pitches. They simply want to see control and speeds of the various pitches.
The same is true for keepers. Tape a training session with 5-6 repetitions for each skills. Best to have your keeper coach run the drills while you tape. Keep it short. A coach doesn’t need to watch 20 saves to see quickness. Make this your intro video.
Then go ahead and have fun with a cheapish tripod and video camera to tape some games, or if you have access to other game tape use that. Make sure that you edit it way, way down. This may take more time than you think it will, and full games surely will eat up a lot of storage on your computer. Use the game tape as a supplement to the training tape.
I say aim for 5 minutes of tape for each video.
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@Kombucha22 Here’s a photo of my set up. 
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