S is a strong club soccer player and is interested in playing in college. His club team is performing well, getting some recognition, but his HS is top-ranked academics, not known for sports. Will not being at a major sports powerhouse high school impact his chances of playing in college? We are new to this whole college athletics world, and have read a lot on CC but don’t really know where to start. It would be nice for him to play in college, but he doesn’t want to go to an academically lower school than he could get into on his own, just to play soccer.
Soccer players are typically recruited out of elite clubs rather than HS. His club coach should be able to give him an idea of which schools would be a good fit for him for soccer. If they are also of interest academically, he should contact the coach to see if he fits into recruiting plans. They may want film or want him to attend an ID camp or maybe they’ll see him at a tournament.
It is possible that he will choose a school purely on academics. He can play club or intramural soccer if he isn’t recruitable at those schools. For many players, this is a calculation they need to make. Sounds like your son has his priorities in order!
No, it won’t hurt. Many high school kids are assigned to a high school that just isn’t known for sports or don’t offer the sport your child is interested in. Recruiting from club is fine.
My daughter’s high school team was just average, and her club team wasn’t well know either (her club had about 10 kids in her grade so they let younger kids play up; the other club in town had about 5 teams for just her age group). Her club coach developed a relationship with her college coach and there are 5 kids from the club on the team, and one just signed for next year.
Work your club coaches. See who they know.
Thanks! You’ve given me someplace to start!
@Midwestmomofboys should chime in.
D3 soccer parent here, agreeing that the recruiting happens out of major club tournaments, not out of high school. Junior year is when it heats up – summer before junior year for strong D1 prospects and during junior year to summer before senior year for many D3 prospects.
My kid’s sport is not soccer but a smaller niche sport. But generally I think it is true that many sports, it is the athlete’s involvement in his/her club that attracts the college coaches, then being in their school varsity team. Our school is also an academically elite school not known for sports. However, majority of the athletes who are being recruited by the academically elite Div 1 schools have never been in the school varsity. Kids with top national ranking weren’t allowed by the school’s AD to be excused from practice to train in their club to prep for national and international events. Some Ivy coach in my kid’s sport even said it doesn’t matter to him if he played in the high school varsity.
@noanswers Our club has the opportunity to go Academy, which means kids would not be allowed to play on their high school teams anymore. Good idea or no, in your view?
@Midwestmomofboys Thanks. I had heard earlier, so that’s good to know we still have some time. Hard to separate the hype and marketing from the reality. What’s your opinion on recruiting services? We tend to be a DIY kind of family, but don’t want to hurt his chances if he is good enough to play at a high level.
@ccprofandmomof2 , It’s too bad when the kids have to choose, but if the choice is Academy or HS, Academy wins. In soccer, coaches for better teams expect their players to have had that level of play before college. And there is the added benefit that kids on teams like that play big tournaments where coaches can see them all at once, playing other good teams.
New to posting, however have been following these college confidential threads for a few years and the information has been extremely helpful. My son is currently playing soccer at a highly selective D3 University. He did not play academy but did play on a club team that competed at a similar level to academy. In my opinion, if your child is starting and therefore getting a lot of PT on academy then by all means, play on the academy team. Unfortunately, because academy teams generally carry rosters that are much larger than club teams, many kids are subs or are not playing at all. We witnessed many talented kids playing academy who probably would have been better served had they played on a high level club team and in the end, these kids were never recruited. It is also important to recognize that when you enter the recruiting process, college coaches can closely follow stats online like PT on the academy teams, which can impact their opinion of your child. As far as recruiting thru a club team, your child needs to be playing on a high enough caliber club team that will qualify or gets invited to the top tournaments like Surf Cup, Dallas Cup and Disney Cup. With a few exceptions, only the top ranked club teams will be going to these tournaments. For the most part, your child has to be seen playing by the college coach at these events in order to get recruited. Lots of people talk about ID camps which may or may not get you noticed but I think most are a waste of time. Coaches want to see you play in a competitive club game. As an example, my son didn’t go to his current university’s ID camp (but went to many many others), but was recruited at these tournaments.
As for High School soccer, it was my experience that recruiting does not occur via high school soccer regardless of the level or the division. My son played at a D1 soccer school in California and qualified for the state tournament. We never saw one college coach. The kids all got recruited out of their clubs. For my child, it was a lot of fun to play for his high school. Often kids get to play positions they may never play in club, play with and in front of their friends and it offers a much needed break from all of the club soccer travel. But recognize that high school soccer is a very physical game where the older/stronger kids have huge advantage. The high school soccer game bears little resemblance to a high level club game. I often worried about injury but it all worked out for us.
Hope this helps…
I know locally, the top club, academy and NPL/ECNL players skip playing for their high school team.
Lots of good advice from @calsoccerparent. The necessity of playing Academy to get recruited can vary by region --we have 1 Academy program in our state,close to 3 hours away, so just not feasible – though if my kid had major D1 potential, maybe we would have had to figure out a way. In major markets with many more programs, it is more of an expectation. Rest assured, high school soccer is pretty much irrelevant to college recruiting. A coach may come watch a high school match if it is convenient, but is not going to make decisions based on the overall quality of high school play.
As for ID camps, from what we saw, it is rare that a school’s first exposure to a player will come at camp, usually the coaches became interested after watching tournament or Academy matches, talked with the kid there, and encouraged to come to that school’s camp. My kid looked only at D3 LACs, and it still seemed that most of the kids at camp had been seen at matches up and down the east coast and already had relationships with the coaches. Performing at camp is important, but it is not necessarily the first time a program is seeing a player.
There are lots of threads here on soccer recruiting so a search of those will pull up advice about the process, including from the dad of a female D1 GK who wrote step by step guides to the process, much of which is generally applicable to the male field player. Broadly, the player should have a soccer resume which can be emailed, can start emailing programs (copying the Assistant coach, who often handles recruiting logistics) introducing the student’s academic and soccer achievements, identifying tournaments where will be playing, and expressing interest in the program. Then, follow up to remind the coach of specific tournament game schedule once it is available, including field number, and player’s jersey number. Look for coach after match, to see if can talk. Follow up. Repeat . . . . Also, remember, soccer is an “equivalency” sport, so D1 athletic scholarships are the equivalent of less than 10 full scholarships which are then spread over the entire team. Ivies and NESCACs are financial aid only, no athletic or merit awards.
Agree with all that playing on a weak high school team doesn’t matter, and in fact in a backward sort of way, it could actually help with recruiting. No doubt being “all everything” on a state championship team is a calling card, but it also is useful to have a few MVPs and all league awards to put on the college resume. An MVP award is quite helpful to get the attention of college coaches, and it is an easier get on a non-dominant high school team. Please note, I am not advocating that recruits should drop the “soccer brotherhood” thing and set personal award goals for the sake of recruiting. All I am suggesting is that playing for a non-dominant high school team can have some recruiting benefits.
Now for the high school vs. academy debate. No doubt many will be throwing tomatoes at my old-fashioned point of view, but I think there is something very special about representing your high school in a sport – playing next to the kids you grew up with. Sure, academy has it hands down over almost all high schools in skill development, but there are other things in life.
@Midwestmomofboys is a treasure trove of D3 financial aid and soccer information. I would add that in my experience film was a critical piece of recruiting, especially for some elite D3 schools not used to traveling far to tournaments to recruit.
One final note. If you are on the D3 college recruiting trail, be clever. Look for a school that “needs” what your S brings to the table soccer wise. Almost surely, you will find a school that matches your academic expectations that “needs” your kid. It may not be the school you expected. In fact, it may exceed your wildest dreams. Keep an open mind, and don’t believe everything your high school guidance counselor tells you.
@calsoccerparent Thank you very much for all the info. I’m very new to this, so it’s super helpful. We played in Surf Cup this year for the first time. I should add my son is in middle school now, but I started asking questions because I randomly met someone at the hotel who had been a D1 and professional player and had coached extensively, and he urged me to start figuring out whether or not we wanted him to play in college. He said I needed to learn stuff now so that we could know our options, which makes sense, but I’m hesitant to make too big of a deal of the college thing for my son because I still want soccer to be fun for him.
@gointhruaphase Have to say, I’m with you on the feeling that I want him to have the experience of playing on his HS team, from the “very special” point of view. I would think he’s more D3, LAC level than D1. He’s good, and we can’t know where he’ll end up, but I’m not deluding myself.
@Midwestmomofboys His team hovers around the mid-100s nationally at this point, so I’m not sure if that’s going to get coaches’ notice.
Thank you all for this info. You’ve been so helpful. I must be somewhat computer illiterate because I typed “soccer recruiting” and “soccer” into the search box and nothing popped up, but I’ll look for those other threads. I just really appreciate how helpful everyone here is.
@ccprofandmomof2 I think there are pro’s and con’s to the high school varsity vs club/Academy Again, my son sport is not soccer, but more of a niche sport. But reading through the various thread, when it comes to recruitment, the principle is similar. Not being part of the varsity and representing your school with your classmates is something that my son will miss out, as @gointhruaphase mentioned. As well as being given the Varsity letter, etc…which he will not experience. However, being very active in his club, training with others who are also at an elite level, and competing at much higher level tournaments, attracting the attention of college coaches will be the significant benefit. Besides, the camaraderie will still be there among his club teammates, just not with his schoolmates. There is another thread which addressed how much help the high school coach or the athletic director of the school had in getting the athlete recruited in various sports. The overall consensus was there was no help at all from the school. It was the club coach who had the greater influence. Same goes with my son, and also the other athletes in his school who couldn’t participate in the school varsity due to the school’s practice rules, but got recruited to top Div 1 schools, mostly Ivy’s.
My D is a recruited D3 athlete, in another sport. No college coaches every came to see her play for her HS team. They all saw her play at tournaments with her AAU team. After they expressed interest and D decided it was a school she was interested in she attended the ID/elite camp at the college. By then, D had had several phone calls, many emails and had already met the college coach. The coaches also wanted a link to game film. We did our own film and paid professionals to take film. Most coaches were happy enough with highlights, but some also wanted an entire game.
Found the thread I was remembering! Lots of helpful info here, though remember girls’ recruiting starts and ends earlier than boys because of the differences in physical maturity. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/1291234-college-recruiting-tips-for-soccer-p1.html
For a middle school player, just keep options open. That means keep playing (as long as he loves it) and look for opportunities to improve without driving the pleasure out of the game. My D3 kid started doing overnight camps around 8th grade because 3-4 days of intense soccer was his version of paradise. Try to avoid listening to the hysteria and drama about clubs, coaches etc.
It is a big commitment, we generally heard that D1 Men’s Soccer is around 40 hours a week in season. D3 is less, but still a big chunk of time – my kid generally spends 25-30 hours a week in season and 10-15 hours out of season. Good luck!
Editing to respond to some other questions that had been raised, which I just noticed on reviewing the thread. On Academy vs. “regular” club teams – maybe find out more about whether the path to your Academy closes after the initial 13/14 entry way? Is there movement from the “regular” highly competitive club teams onto the Academy teams at age 15/16? Perhaps look for advice from families with older players who have navigated this process, whose judgment you trust. I’m a planner and a relentless researcher by nature, so a recruiting service seemed silly to me. For a player looking for admission to a top 50 university/LAC, I don’t see the value of outsourcing the process, but that’s just me.
The thread that @midwestmomofboys referred to is a great thread. Keeper Dad got us through the initial recruiting process. Even though the thread is old and some of the rules may have changed, it is well worth it to read through the entire thread. There is a lot of great advice there.
Our DS just finished his last quarter playing D2 soccer. I remember how stressful the recruiting process was and can’t believe he is now done with competitive soccer (and will be done with school in December.) Good luck to all those starting this process!
Just one example.
The D1 soccer commitment in a Power 5 conference is about 2 hours per day on the field plus travel weekends which are 3-4 weekends during the season. Travel weekends start Wednesday evenings and end Sunday nights or Monday mornings. So, you’ll have missed classes on Thursdays and Fridays when traveling and also missed classes at home on game days. Plus there will be team meetings, but this will vary.
Off season is about the same practice schedule (2 hours per day), but there are some days with weight lifting. And then there are the acupuncture and other treatment sessions which will add to your S’s schedule. 
@takeitallin is being modest – take a look at post #50 in that KeeperDad thread, where @takeitallin adds Men’s recruiting tips, very helpful!