ID camps are usually one day clinics hosted by one coach, or a group of coaches from different schools, where kids show up and perform in front of the coaches. It lets the coaches see the kids in action and a chance to meet them briefly.
A lot of coaches will host ID camps in the summer, good way to boost their personal ncome,lol.
On ID camps, coaches may do one day ID camps in winter or long weekends before their college season begins. These dates usually appear on the team webpage, under Recruiting, or some link such as “more information.” The one day campus often cost about $50, the multi-day summer camps which include staying in a dorm, usually getting a panel discussion about recruiting etc., typically are several hundred dollars. It is useful for a younger player to get a couple camps under their belt before they hit the camps where coaches at schools of real interest may be. Then again, if a player is looking at schools which don’t so much recruit as they build a team from the athletes who come in, then the camps are less important, and just scheduling a meeting with the coach during a visit to campus (email coach directly requesting it), can give you a feel for the program. For example, my D3 soccer kid had a few schools which were both admissions and sport safeties – based on emails and 5 minutes of film, the coaches said he had a spot on the team, without having to be seen in person. If your daughter is looking at schools with those kinds of lax programs, it is a much less intense process.
Positive Results in athletic recruiting, particularly at the lower levels, are a function of effort. If your D wants to play on the college team, she will need to exert effort. Effort should not be confused with being a star or natural talent. There are many high school stars who go no further – not because they don’t have the talent – but because they assumed the coaches will come to them. Put simply, coaches do not come to athletes. They don’t have the money in their recruiting budgets. And, the less competitive college teams have the least in the line of recruiting budgets. So, I will suggest that, yes, if you and your daughter do not exert effort you will be shooting yourself in the foot.
Effort can be pointed, however. For example, filling out college recruiting questionnaires is a huge pain in the neck, but you need go no further than your home computer to do so. Sending out emails to a large group of college coaches is work, but it can be done in the off season and again from home. You say there is no video, and that it will have to wait. It is possible, however, that your high school has taped games. Some times they do, some times they don’t. Sometimes a parent of a kid on the high school team tapes games. It doesn’t hurt to inquire. If you live near a college, go with your daughter to watch a game or practice. This can be very informative. By all means set up an appointment to talk to the coaches in your area about recruiting.
This will help you put your big toe into the pool. If it inspires your daughter, then you can move forward with additional work.
I was able to get film from another parent. He, of course, focused on his daughter but mine was in enough of the videos that we could use them. We then copied them and directed the recruiting coaches to ‘look at the block at the 16:20 mark’ or ‘I have scoring plays at 7:15 and 20:13’.
It also helps to point out something about a player that makes them stand out, like my daughter had gold and maroon tape on her stick, or had red cleats when everyone else had black. I’ve watched a lot of games and often had trouble picking out my own kid, so anything you can do to help a coach looking at film helps. Picking out the goalie is a lot easier! 