My daughter is going into her senior year. At the end of her sophomore year, she had a nagging knee injury. While minor, docs couldn’t pinpoint it so treatment/rehab/dealing with insurance was tough. Because she only played a bit in the fall, and not at 100% or knew when she’d play again, she was not sending coaches emails to come see her in the fall. We found the right PT mid spring of junior year and went to PT for a couple of months and on the road to recovery.
She hasn’t played a club game since the fall. She plays for a top ECNL team who are headed to a college showcase next week (but she won’t play), Surf Cup in July which she hopes to get some playing time in and an ECNL showcase in the fall which she should be close to if not at 100%.
Her original goal was to play at a smaller D1 (or at least not a top 25) and possibly a D2/D3. She was going to send emails for the upcoming July tournament and eventually the fall showcase.
I know D3 recruit late, but are the D1s now completely out
of reach?
If she sends an email to the D1 schools (or any D really) she was originally interested in, how much should she go into her injury/recovery process so they understand why she is not reaching out until now if it was a top choice?
She will not play in the college showcase next week so she is not mentioning that to coaches, but should she mention the July tournament if she won’t be close to 100%?
Thanks!
We know ‘23 soccer kids who just committed to d1 schools a few weeks ago. I assume they had been in constant communication with the coaches up to that point though.
I think it never hurts to reach out, send emails to every coach you’d consider. I’d say “I hope to play at the X showcase in July and will update you when I’ve finalized my plans.”
I think you need to be realistic at the same time. Maybe follow up with questions about open try outs/walk ons if coaches tell you they are done with 2023s.
Is she in contact with any coaches now? If so, what are they saying?
Where (at what level) do her current club coaches see her playing in college?
She is in a tough situation. Coaches will likely see her at the July tourney and fall showcase whether she contacts them or not…and if she’s not 100% that’s not great. Some college coaches will understand because she hasn’t been at 100% for over a year, but some likely won’t consider her. How long does she (or her current coaches) think it will take for her to be physically at 100%, and then at 100% in games (obviously she will probably be rusty)?
She could be the perfect candidate for PG year, because she has previously played at such a high level (good enough to make a top ECNL team)…is that an option for her?
A PG year is a great idea, @Mwfan1921 , if playing in college is super important to her. On the other hand, playing club soccer at college might satisfy her playing urge.
This also might be a situation where a well connected coach could put in a word for her with some college coaches. It wouldn’t hurt to ask her ECNL coach, or even the Director of Coaching at her club.
There was a coach who reached out to her last year, but it’s not somewhere she wants to go so she did not pursue past the first phone call. Because she was hurt just about the same time coaches could contact her and when she was going to start sending emails for upcoming showcases, she has not had communication with any.
Before she stopped playing, her coaches believed she could play D1 - she was interested in Cal Poly, UC Irvine, as well as a couple of the Ivies. She is happy to play at a smaller school or a D3 school - she wants a good balance with academics.
She needs to have a conversation with her coach about when he thinks she’ll be 100%. She’s been going to a personal trainer for 3 months now to build back some muscle. Her coach says stamina is really her only issue now.
Does your daughter have highlight film? She needs to reach out to to coaches at schools she would be interested in attending!
My 2023 daughter has a couple offers that want an answer by August. A couple of more are definitely pending. These are D3 and NAIA, and two are high academic, smaller schools.
Be honest about the injury, coaches know they happen. Send intro emails and link to film asap!
She may have to be flexible, but there will likely be coaches still looking for one reason or another. If she really is mid D1 caliber a coach may find a way to get her on the roster. I’ve said it many times, they keep and lose jobs based on performance.
There are coaches out there who will take her even if they are “full”, you just have to find them. But she may need to cast a wide net, and not be too picky about location.
Sorry for the late post if anyone is still following but came across this thread as my 2023 DD is in a similar position as OP. Admitted student to a D3 but was not on the recruiting radar/list of schools as she thought it was going to be a coin flip to get in. She emailed to inquire if they were still recruiting but got the “full” comment but after a call, they were open to considering. She’s played in the national letter leagues since u14. Missed the key recruiting years due to injury and recovery but was close with a D1 and major D3 but was too late. Is it unusual to add to the roster this late (April 2023)? I assume the incremental cost is not material as no athletic money is involved. Prob gonna attend. There’s club soccer so still can play if she wants to really continue but certainly has the ability to play at this level.
She’s really asking to be granted a tryout for the team, right? And that’s up to the coach…is that what they are ‘considering’? Did they give you a time frame? Did your D say that her decision to attend the school hinges on that decision (if it does)?
Pretty much how we view it as a tryout. Coach asked for film which DD provided. DD attended the admitted student tour and asked for a meeting that day but she arranged an athletic facility tour with their assistant coach. They were having an ID camp next week (couldn’t attend but wasn’t asked to attend), and the the coach said she would contact thereafter. I know it’s a long shot but at least it’s not a hard no at this point. She followed up with a call but hasn’t heard back (been a few days).
If she is accepted and has committed to the school, I would communicate that with the coach and share her schedule. Gotta get in front of the coach either at a showcase or ID camp but only the coach can tell you if she will be invited to join the team - anything else is just opinions and assumptions at this point.
Many D3s require open tryouts, although whether they are really “open” is up for grabs. You might want to ask someone in admissions or the AD about whether there are open tryouts.
The problem for fall sports is when would she tryout. Usually, the teams arrive at school a week or two early for fall sports and dorms may be available only for sports teams. If she isn’t on the team, she may not be able to stay on campus. Some schools skirt pre-season rules by having a “voluntary” camp to further prepare the team. If so, that might be an option for trying out, if you can convince the coach.
I would keep the communication going and flat out ask the coach if it is possible to try out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But, it may be a good idea to ascertain if there is a hard limit to the roster. In other words, if she makes the team with a tryout, will someone else now on the team need to be cut. In any event, you should be prepared that the result not be positive, even if she is much more skilled than others on the team. Coaches invest time and effort in recruiting and you may be swimming cross current to demonstrate that the coach missed a talented athlete or that the coach might have to go back on his/her word with other players.
I’m a parent of an athlete who is a rising senior and this is my first rodeo with college recruitment, so take that for what it’s worth. My rising senior just had his first official visit at a D3 school and another official visit that was not sport specific (so not part of the athletic recruitment process but still paid for by the school) at a D1 school. Two coaches reached out today and asked for phone interviews with him. One D3 coach dropped him that had been talking to him because he can target more academically competitive schools and the coach made the assumption that he was only talking with him as a safety once his test scores came in. (He pressured him and kid didn’t sound committed enough to that one school, apparently. Not sure how he got that, but he did.) He didn’t want to waste the roster spot on a kid with those stats (they have a low matriculation rate). So it’s not over until they’ve committed, and even without a commitment or recruitment, walk-ons are still a possibility depending on the school and the team. It’s always worth it to ask. The worst they can say is no.
D1 scholarships are obviously awarded years before enrollment, but I’ve heard stories of DII and below issuing offers/roster slots near the end of senior year and even as late as the summer before enrollment in non-revenue sports. (Sometimes spring sports playoffs provide added visibility and give a recruit some an added wind.) These tend to be schools that have open seats past the traditional Winter-Spring admissions cycle, which may or may not line up with one’s target schools. Most schools, and some D1’s, will hold tryouts for walk ons in the fall (which is how the first D1 female baseball player made the roster at Brown) depending on whether roster spots are available.
I’m not an expert on the rules here, but formal tryouts aren’t allowed in D3 per this: from the NCAA: “Division III schools are not allowed to hold practice tryouts with college-bound student-athletes.”
However, informally, a potential walk-on could be allowed a workout with the team to evaluate them:
“Division III schools are not allowed to have practice tryouts with potential student-athletes. However, the unofficial work out rule still applies for Division III, so you may be asked to work out with just the team during a visit.” (from a recruiting website)
With soccer being a fall sport, the team will start practices approximately 3 weeks before classes start (for D3). First game will be about two weeks after first practice.That, of course, complicates things as another poster mentioned.
If the coach is interested in your D after watching the highlight reel, they will let you know. For the D3 school that my D23 will be playing soccer at in the fall, they just held their one NCAA-allowed spring season “play day,” so things are busy with the coaches/team at the moment. might be similar with your D’s school.
@YoLo2, I do not believe this is correct. It is true that Rule 13.11.2.1 prohibits tryouts for “prospective student athletes,” but “prospective student athletes” are defined for the rule as students who have finished ninth grade, but are not enrolled in the institution. The definition specifically states that for “incoming students, the limitation of [the rule] do not apply preseason participation if the student has been accepted by the institution for enrollment in a regular, full-time program of studies . . .” Therefore, there would be no prohibition for tryouts for enrolled students. Any other result would not make sense. It would mean that tryouts are okay for upperclassmen but not for first years. In any event, I suspect that the difference between a try-out and walking on is one of semantics. The NCAA prohibits any type of physical workout designed to test skill for prospective student athletes, and this certainly would include working out with the team for a walk-on position absent the exclusion of incoming students from the definition of “prospective student-athlete.” Rule 13.11.2.1. and .1.
I have been told by more than one NESCAC coach that their team has open tryouts, and one NESCAC coach told me that since his was a spring sport, the fall captain’s practices had to be open to anyone who wanted to participate. But, this surely is not a universal practice.