<p>i'm a sophomore in high school and i'm interested in playing college soccer. i'm not looking for schools like UNC or UVA where it's a pretty huge deal...i'm just looking for a college that's relatively good in academics and has a soccer team. </p>
<p>you see, this year i came to the realization that i can't live without soccer. i honestly can't see myself...at least in the near future...without it. i love everything about the game with a burning passion...but i've never been one to take it seriously until now. it was just something i did for fun. i truly regret that now because it's a little too late to make something out of myself. but i wanna keep playing for as long as i can, in whatever team that'll accept me. </p>
<p>so my questions for you all is:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>do you think i'll have a chance in getting accepted to a team even though i've only played in a rec league all my life? (i will be trying out for my high school team in the spring. it's pretty competitive at my school, so chances are slim...but you never know...)</p></li>
<li><p>what's the college life like when you're playing on a team? is it hard balancing your school work? do you miss classes because of away games? or are the games like on the weekends or something? i'm really curious on how it works because academics is important to me. </p></li>
<li><p>what colleges would you recommend for me to go to? i'd also prefer to be in the east coast...</p></li>
</ol>
<p>that's all...for now.
any other advice would be great as well!</p>
<p>trying to help son get recruited. The girls game is different. I think a bit more competitive, and a bit earlier. But don’t rule out “club soccer” at the college level.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your high school coach, and have him hook you up with a competitive soccer club that plays at the right tournaments and showcases. You will need to try out to make such a team, and a good team may not have many slots open on the roster.</p>
<p>Another route is to identify some of the schools you are interested in academically, contact the coaches at these schools, and then attend their summer camps to see if you can get them interested in you.</p>
<p>And, as Shrinkrap said, there is always club soccer, which is a lot of fun and a lot less pressure.</p>
<p>My son had the opportunity to play soccer at a high level in college, and chose to go the club route instead because he wanted more freedom and free time. He has been asked to walk on to the team at his university but so far has resisted…he still gets to play at a high level with a lot of kids who made the same choice he did.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a lot of recruiting for girls soccer has already happened by sophomore year. I am sure that’s for the most demanding programs.</p>
<p>Hard to know how competitive you are, but it would be REALlY unusual for a girl to make a college varsity and not have been in a pretty good club soccer program by freshman year. I know a boy who plays for an NAIA ( small college league) team, and only played one year of comp soccer. OTOH, my son was MVP in our HS league, and played on a pretty competitive team for his last two years of club soccer, and he couldn’t even get most coaches to respond to his emails. He did get some attention from DIv 3 and NAIA though, so who knows. I think he just didn’t make the move from travel to comp early enough. but he is VERY happy with how things turned out.</p>
<p>BTW, you will be mucher better informed by the folks on the recruited athletes link above.</p>
<p>You rally have no idea how competitive soccer can be without playing at some major tournaments. It may not be as much of a pleasure for you at that point. WAY more pressure.</p>