<p>Yeah I just wanted to know. Colgate is a good D1 soccer school and I want to, and I can ability wise, play at the highest college level. I have not been recruited, so now I am left to walk on. What are my chances?</p>
<p>If you are as good as you say you are then you should present your qualifications to the men’s soccer coach. You will then learn more about the program’s expectations and the commitment you need to make with practice, play and travel time. Then you will need to try out and demonstrate how you can contribute. Simple as that.</p>
<p>For now I am curious: Why have you not contacted the coach given that you were not recruited and therefore are under his radar screen? </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“Then you will need to try out”</p>
<p>Try out? I’ve not heard of “trying out” for DI. Can you say more about this?</p>
<p>If you are not a recruited athlete (which means that the coach has no idea of your individual skills and/or ability to work with his team) then you need to demonstrate what you have offer. I would think that’s a reasonable expectation of any walk-on.</p>
<p>What’s next? If you make the cut and then participate in summer preseason practices you may or may not make the team. That’s up to the coach who is managing enough depth per position and year in terms of his budget and NCAA regulations. It also applies to the players given that the commitment the coach demands may be too much for them. All this becomes clear through the process. </p>
<p>I would think that this is true at any division level of college and university soccer.</p>
<p>Are these “try outs” group or individual? When do they usually occur? Is it made public? I’ve heard of “recruited walk ons” being invited to try outs</p>
<p>My advice would be that whatever the walk-on wants to do should be discussed with the team coach. This is about intercollegiate athletics; we are not talking about the NFL here.</p>
<p>Do you have to be enrolled at the school in order to tryout? Or can i just see how the tryout goes, then decide whether or not to attend?</p>
<p>Tryouts are, at least for field hockey, towards the end of summer. Which means that if I wanted to tryout, I’d need to commit to the school either way. I assume it’s the same for soccer. </p>
<p>You’re asking a lot of questions that really could be solved by a simple email sent to the coach of the school you want to play at, and not some people online most likely not involved in that soccer program…</p>
<p>E-mail the coach. Seriously. He knows the best. And if you can play at the highest level in college soccer, shouldn’t you be be recruited at several places already?</p>
<p>I haven’t taken any initiative to contact anyone, or even make videos. Colleges normally don’t just travel to schools randomly to watch, they already have someone to watch. I’ll contact the coach one of these days.</p>
<p>Many college coaches don’t respond to unsolicited emails or website recruiting forms. It helps to get advice about the best way to approach this.</p>
<p>I completely disagree that most colleges don’t respond to unsolicited emails. That has not been our experience at all. My son is a recruited athlete and plays hockey at a college in the mid-west. When he was in high school, he was not a superstar but definitely had the ability to play D1. He made a list of the schools he wanted to attend, contacted the coaches, sent game tape, and followed up with a telephone call. All of the coaches were very receptive to him. You sound like you are not very motivated, or you would have done something by now. That’s too bad. If you want something, you have to go for it. Not wait for the world to come to you.</p>
<p>Further to the above, look at Colgate’s website for the Class of 2014 statistics within the Admissions and Aid section to see if you have the profile of admitted students. Given that you sound as if you are concerned about how you get yourself in front of coaches, you might as well be fully prepared when you do so. Your GPA, SAT, class rank and other details will be the first thing the coach will ask about.</p>
<p>“I completely disagree that most colleges don’t respond to unsolicited emails.”</p>
<p>I did not say most, I said many. </p>
<p>“contacted the coaches, sent game tape, and followed up with a telephone call.”</p>
<p>THAT is what makes a difference.</p>
<p>“look at … website for the Class of 2014 statistics within the Admissions and Aid section to see if you have the profile of admitted students.”</p>
<p>Exactly. And if they mention a club that athlete played for, check their regional and national ranking. That gets you into the tournaments that DI coaches go to scout and watch. </p>
<p>I also think the response to “recruited athletes” might be different than those NOT recruited. And that soccer might be different from hockey. I am describing my sons experience, but also that of kids on other recruiting and soccer forums.He has been on a highly ranked team in N. Cal but has not been recruited, and has filled out recruiting forms, and sent emails to many DI, DII, and DIII schools on the west coast. Soccer is REALLY competitive in California. He DOES get lots of generic invitations to expensive camps.of course, it could be just him.</p>
<p>Nevermind Nevermind</p>
<p>Agreed…</p>
<p><a href=“ESPN - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.”>http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/articles/Honors/verbal-commitment-list/2011-Boys-Soccer-Verbal-Commitments.aspx?pursuit=BoysSoccer</a></p>
<p>COLGATE 2011
Name Pos. Hometown High School Club
Frankie Bergonzi D Westport, Conn. Staples Beachside
Christopher Campbell D Huntington, N.Y. Friends Academy Albertson Academy
Evan Heroux D Westfield, N.J. Westfield Match Fit Academy
Ben Kerley MF Leawood, Kan. Kansas City Christian KCFC
Jimmy McLaughlin MF Malvern, Pa. Great Valley FC Delco Academy
Tony Panayides D/MF Palo Alto, Calif. Palo Alto DeAnza Force Academy
Tanner Schilling F Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City West Eastern Iowa SC</p>
<p>Shrinkrap,</p>
<p>Just to be clear… The admissions stats I referred to are about academic achievement, not about club experience. My point was that applicants to Colgate might as well have the academic credentials that are reflected on that page of the colgate.edu website if they intend to contact the coach of any sport. Needless to say if you are familiar with Colgate’s admissions standards, there is no point in contacting the coach if you don’t have the scores, grades, recommendations etc.</p>
<p>Good luck to prospective Colgate student-athletes!</p>
<p>I see. And to be clear, I was not realizing this was a Colgate thread when I initially responded; I know nothing about Colgate, and I was thinking Div I soccer in general. My son, and many of his teammates here in California, struggle to get the attention of DI coaches on the west coast if they are not playing “academy”. </p>
<p>Trust me when I say would like to hear some exceptions, especially in California. So when the OP says “highest level”, I can’t tell if he means highest soccer, or highest academic.
sn’t always match up, at least not in time to make an informed decision.</p>
<p>My apologies, all around.</p>
<p>If you are a very good soccer player and can demonstrate that in some way to the Colgate coaches, of course they will be interested in you. But,if you just think you are (but aren’t) that’s a very different story, of course. The only way to know is to contact Colgate’s athletic department and ask them what they would like to know about you. Does your high school coach have any evidence he can provide to help you? It’s certainly worth a phone call to Colgate. That’s the way to do it. </p>
<p>As far as a walk-on, sure that does happen, but it’s hardly the normal or common way to play college athletics and I would not count on it. If you’re very good, then that might work, but you’ll have to be a student at Colgate to try it, and it would be more than likely you wouldn’t make the team. Walk-ons are just pretty rare, and typically they are for football kickers or other specialized athletic skills which soccer doesn’t really make use of. </p>
<p>But, if you are a good athlete, then contacting the athletic department is the way to do it. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.</p>