My high school soccer coach resigned unexpectedly. Other than contacting schools directly what do I need to do to get recruited? Does it make sense to hire an athletic recruiter to assist in this process?
Are u REALLY sure u want the time commitment for playing soccer in college, just to maintain a scholarship?
High school soccer coaches are not typically much help in getting recruited for college. Colleges don’t recruit out of high school for soccer, but out of higher level club teams. Are you currently playing on a club team and if so could you use that coach to help you? When my son was going through this process, most of his recruiting came from either playing at higher level tournaments that college coaches were attending, or from his own contact to colleges that he was interested in. He used his club coach and the club staff occasionally for help with contacts, and for references, but they really didn’t have much to do with the recruitment process itself.
What @takeitallin is 100% accurate.
d1 colleges are recruiting almost 100% from kids who play for high level club teams year round. There is very little HS involvement in the process.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the timeline for women’s soccer commitments is very early compared to many other sports. Almost all scholarship money is already promised for the HS class of 2016, much of the money for the class of 2017 is gone, and 2018’s have already started to commit.
Appreciate the replies. My high school coach was contacted last month by a Div 3 team that was interested in me, I know they don’t give athletic scholarships but they mentioned a merit scholarship. She said that is how Div 3 goes around it. Anyway I will follow up with the coach of that school. Yes I do play on a club team but it’s not very strong. Also I am not skilled enough or have had enough exposure to play D1 or 2. If aspiring to play Div 3, does it make sense to hire someone to help or should I just contact Div 3 coaches of the schools I am interested in?
The process for d3 players is similar. There is still relatively little contact with HS coaches. Because contact rules for d3 are much looser, there is less contact with club coaches too.
My suggestion is that you find schools that you are interested in attending academically and contact coaches there - emails and/or phone calls. Also find camps and clinics the coaches will be running and working - this will be an opportunity to get to know coaches and for coaches to see you close up.
As for aid money, it is very rare for d3 schools to circumvent NCAA rules in packaging merit money in place of athletic money for athletes who are otherwise ineligible for aid - the risk is just too great. Coaches will help you find merit money and need based money that you are eligible for - but this is the same money you could get if you weren’t an athlete there.
Your question is misleading. Scholarships for soccer implies you want athletic money, yet you want to play D3. Your soccer can help you get a little help to get into some D3 schools, but of course no money. If your academics are tops, then look at any school. Some might have club teams too. If your soccer skills are good but not great and your academics are solid, look at some D2 schools too. Go to web pages and fill in the recruiting apps. Are you playing in any recruiting tournaments? Those are a good way to get noticed, especially by D3 coaches. They don’t have the funds to go to all the little schools but many will go to a recruiting tourney.
^^agree as far as finding schools that are a fit academically and then contacting those coaches. We did not hire a recruit coach as we felt that with a little time investment, we could do anything they could do. It would be helpful if you have a highlight video that you can post on YouTube. Once you have that, you can start sending a short introductory e-mail to the coaches from schools that interest you. My son’s club had some pretty experienced coaches and administrators involved and here’s what they recommended: Your email should be short and sweet, should always include a picture of you, as well as your current club or school schedule, any awards or tournaments you have won, and academic stats. It helps to look at school websites for each school so that you can include something specific to that school…“I notice you have 7 seniors graduating this year”, “congratulations on your team’s success this year in advancing to the 3rd round”, etc. Send your emails to the coach and all assistants as sometimes the head coach will designate an assistant to handle recruiting. Also check the current coach roster each time before you send any emails as coaches come and go from schools fairly often. You should reference your video so they can watch. A few days after you send emails, follow-up with the coach by phone. Keep calling until you can talk to them, ask if they’ve had a chance to see your video and if they can come to any of your games. If any do come to your games, follow-up with a phone call again. It’s a lot of work but can really pay off. Also, while D3 can’t offer athletic scholarships, you might look to see if any of the schools you are interested in are maybe NAIA. In any event, there probably won’t be much scholarship money. Women’s soccer is extremely competitive and scholarships go quickly and to the players that schools are trying to recruit.
@takeitallin Perfect! Thx for thorough details of how to proceed.
Great advice. I emailed around twenty coaches in the past couple of days and have already heard from a few. One of the local coaches will be attending my next game. I am now figuring out which ones would be a good fit and then plan to visit.
(Gotta “like” a kid who gets solid advice and follows it promptly!)
I’m glad you are getting some results ssjr! Keep us posted…
I got into Stanford REA. I hadn’t contacted the coach to play for them. How does the “walk on” process work?
Congratulations! Stanford is one of the top women’s programs in the country. Their walk-ons probably could play at most other D-1’s. Try contacting the coach realizing it’s a stretch. Also realize that if you do make it, you will put in a ton of time and extremely hard work with little likelihood of playing time. I was a 4-yr walk-on at Michigan State and actually worked my way into a fair amount of competition, but the effort put in definitely hampered my studies…like regularly falling sound asleep from exhaustion in the middle of studying…
ssjr16, congratulations on getting into Stanford! That’s a big achievement regardless of whether you end up playing soccer there or not.
As chargerparent noted, the recruited athletes there are generally among the best in the country but if you’re interested in walking on I would just call up the coach, let him know you’ve been admitted and are interested in walking on, and see what he says.
I’m not as familiar with soccer, but there are definitely walk ons on some Stanford teams.
Thanks for the replies @chargerparent and @bluewater2015 I looked up their program and I would not be competitive. I think I’ll join the women’s club team as it seems like an active program.
Sounds like a good plan ssjr16 and enjoy Stanford!