<p>Thank you. I think that was very valuable advice . I have been trying to play devils advocate and look at the other alternatives however sticking to the harder way seems to be the way to go. My DS is the mode of the classical CC student an overachiever but also one who has to work hard for every test and grade - and this would be very encouraging for him to hear. He wants to continue with IB and I was frankly concerned about burnout. There are by default lesser number of kids who are in the category of playing at a high level of sport and also academics and so that is a good thing to be in that group (for now anyway). Hopefully it work out - fingers firmly crossed. Good luck to your daughter as well sounds like she has fantastic family support going for herâŠ</p>
<p>My D is a college freshman playing Div 1 soccer in a top school. Her club team played ECNL, ODP, state cup, regionals, and nationals. The high school girls on her team traveled extensively both nationally and internationally. She and a couple of her team mates were in the preIB track during the first two years of high school However, when it came time to make the commitment to IB at the end of sophomore year, they were very hesistant. It was mandatory to attend all practices, games and tournaments for the club team. Instead they did the AP version and aimed to get the highest GPAs they could. This is truly a challenge. I remember the day of the calculus review for the final in her math class was the same day they had to leave for a national tournament. Tutors were helpful and she uses them in college as well when she has to travel during the season. Many of the teachers were extremely understanding. All of the girls who ended up playing Div 1 soccer (most are in top 30 programs) did not do the IB program. The one girl who juggled everything and completed the IB program went Div 3. There were a few All Americans in this group.</p>
<p>@indi18
My S is also a sophomore in a top IB program. He swims about 25 hours a week, plus traveling for meets in and out of state. There are many days that he is out from 5 am till 7 pm and then come home to work on his schoolwork. I know how hard it is to watch your child looking tired and drained. But I feel that the lesson he is learning is beyond any recruitment advantage he will have. He is learning time management, making sacrifices for what he values, what it means to challenge himself to the limit. and what hard work feels like. He is also ranked 1st in his class. It can be done. But it is tough. We take it one day at a time. You never know how capable you child is until they are in the mix of it and surprise you with their incredible resilience. Give him a chance, trust him and support him. Then take it one day at a time.</p>
<p>We live overseas (US Embassies) and our daughter is playing high school varsity soccer for the American School. Here, varsity soccer is year-round. The tips on profiles, video clips are very helpful. Last year (age 14) she attended a summer âcollege prep soccer campâ at a Div 1 school and plans to continue this (perhaps a different camp - but not sure). However, the showcase tournaments and US clubs arenât possible. Any tips on how to get noticed by recruiters or strategies for those living overseas but will attend university in the United States? Thank you.</p>
<p>sccroverseas:</p>
<p>I canât be definitive (since weâre not living overseas), but hereâs my sense of it (Iâm going to ramble a bit):</p>
<p>1) At her current age, I think the most important thing to do is to spend as much time as possible researching schools and thinking about where she wants to attend for academic reasons (plus things like school size, rural vs. city life, weather, etc.). The challenge will be that sheâs only 14 or 15 years old and her mind may change by the time she really needs to make the choice. If she has a few different possibilities as far as academic pursuits, it might make sense to find schools where more than one of her possibilities can be pursued. I know - easier said than done.</p>
<p>2) Is there someone where you are who is not a family member and who has a good handle on the level of play in womenâs college soccer in the US? I ask because it would probably be helpful if someone other than a family member could give you an honest appraisal of her skill level and what level she could play at. You also have to take into consideration whether or not her current academics will allow her to be admitted at the colleges she comes up with in her original lists. The answer to those two questions (her skill level and her academic level) will help her formulate realistic lists.</p>
<p>3) I would take as much video as I possibly could.</p>
<p>4) If she is able to narrow down her school choices and youâre fairly confident that she will be able to be admitted and be able to play college soccer at those schools, then you have a list of colleges where she can attend ID camps in the summer. Or it might make the most sense to find camps where coaches from multiple schools will participate. Search on âWhere Players Playâ - thatâs one example of that type of camp. Iâm sure there are others. The key would be finding a camp where the coaches from more than one of the schools on her list will be attending. That may not be that easy and you may have to consider her attending more than one camp (or a series of shorter, less expensive camps). On the west coast, the Cal Berkeley coach runs a camp where coaches from 5-6 schools attend. Itâs only 2 days long. If you could string together a series of those types of camps, she would get maximum exposure - at least in terms of the number of coaches who see her. That might be more beneficial than a week-long camp at one school. Although some schools bring in coaches from other colleges to their ID camps.</p>
<p>5) I would tend to think that when sheâs at a camp, she will want to be up-front about her situation (that she plays overseas) and ask coaches how she should go about continuing to stay in touch. If you contact the administration of the camp (either coaches or a central administrator) in advance of the camp, they may be able to pave the way for her a bit in talking to coaches about these issues.</p>
<p>6) As she gets closer to the time when colleges will be more aggressive in recruiting (maybe 16 years old?), I think she will also need to be more aggressive in calling coaches and talking to them about her specific situation. She could send emails, but D1 coaches wonât return those emails until September 1 of her junior year (the NCAA Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete says they can start sending recruiting materials on that date, and in our experience, that was interpreted by coaches to mean they could initiate emails to her) - it would be better if she calls, because if the coach picks up the phone, they are allowed to talk to her as much as they want - they just canât initiate the phone call until July 1 after her junior year. If she is aiming for D2, D3, NAIA or junior colleges, the rules for contact by coaches are different, so it may be easier. The advantage of talking to a coach on the phone is that she can ask them questions about her specific situation, and they can tell her the best way for them to see her play (I would guess they will ask for video and suggest their ID camp).</p>
<p>7) Even now, she might want to try to call coaches from the schools on her list and ask them if they will be in attendance at camps of the sort I mentioned in #4 above.</p>
<p>Hope that helps - as I said, I rambled and itâs a bit of jumble of various thoughts, but again, I hope itâs helpful.</p>
<p>Frank</p>
<p>Frank - Thanks so much for the advice! Youâve given us some valuable direction on where to start and focus our efforts.</p>
<p>KeeperDad</p>
<p>This is the best post regard soccer program. I wished I did find it earlier as my son is junior in the college now. He is not playing at the school but did play college team the last semester in UK while study aboard.</p>
<p>One suggestion maybe you should bump your post from time to time so other parents can locate this info much easier.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips! My son is currently a freshman in high school and is interested in playing in college. We have a bit of a challenge, as we live in a remote rural area and our opportunities for exposure are limited. Our town only has rec soccer - about 2 years ago, we started commuting 65 miles each way to play Club soccer, and this year my son tried out for and made the state ODP team. This whole process is very new to me, and Iâm looking for all the advice I can get. Iâm glad I read your post now - this gives me some ideas where to get started.</p>
<p>Can you also send me a private message with the link to the NorCal forum? Iâd be interested in reading what people have to say.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing this valuable info. I really want to tell people to skip the athletic recruiting services such as NSR. My daughter is an excellent student who also is an athlete. She plans to attend a small D3 college where she can play without soccer being a job. The right academic match is a priority over playing varsity. NSR asked us to fill out a list of our top 100 colleges. We made a list of maybe 60, but it made no difference. We heard from so many little colleges where she would never attend. It wasted their time and ours. She did get recruited by one excellent school through NSR that is a possibility for my daughter. For players in our situation, the best thing to do it make contact with the coach on your own, and attend the âeliteâ (recruiting) camps held at the school of your choice. I know another family whose daughter attends Vassar. She didnât try to be recruited beforehand, but ended up being a walk-on anyway. Good luck, all!!</p>
<p>Hi KeeperDad- I am checking out this thread again after taking a lot of the tips you posted to use for my son and his team almost a year ago! Again, this is still the best post out there regarding soccer recruitment- thank you again for sharing your experiences in order to help our the rest of us.</p>
<p>We have learned a LOT over the past year, and the good news is that my son will be playing for a large Div. 2 school next year- his top choice! It was a lot of work, and we still donât know exactly what advice to pass on to others (my son is 1 of only 4 seniors on his club team, so now the junior parents are asking us for advice-lol). A few things we have learned:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The recruiting process for boys is quite different than that for girls. If you look at the coaches attending big tournaments (Dallas Cup, Surf Cup) 90% of them are for womenâs programs. Very few menâs coaches attend, so it is a little harder to get seen at tournaments</p></li>
<li><p>For us, since Academy players may not play high school in Calif., my son opted not to play at the academy level. He loves high school and wanted to play with his friends. He did play on a Premier level team, but found that some coaches do only recruit from Academy- it was something he was willing to live with, but definitely something to weigh in the whole process. In any case, you should always play at the very highest level possible- teams that play at the elite, invitational tournaments have the best chance of being seen.</p></li>
<li><p>2 different large D1 programs ârecruitedâ him, but with no promise of any athletic money. While we have never counted on any athletic scholarships, the coaches both wanted him to apply ED. Both programs were well above our spending limit, so we nixed the idea of applying ED- if he were accepted and then did not receive adequate academic scholarships, he would not have been able to attend anyway- it was way too big a risk! Both coaches recruited others who were able to apply ED and while one of them still says he will take my son if he gets adequate academic money, we have moved on.</p></li>
<li><p>I canât emphasize enough the importance of grades!!! The first thing most of the UC coaches (and other coaches also) talked about was that if you donât have the grades to get into their schools, donât waste time looking at their soccer programs. They can not pull strings to get a student into the school if the grades are not up to par. Obviously this varies state to state, and program to program- I am not saying that there are not coaches who would be able to get a player with sub-par grades into their programs, but why limit your choices? Definitely it has been a big plus to have good grades and test scores. And do not count on athletic scholarships for soccer. Most menâs soccer programs do not have a lot of scholarship money. I am not saying it is never going to happen, but again, it will limit your choices. You are much better off going for academic money!</p></li>
<li><p>Do not choose a school bases solely on the athletic program. We had a hard time convincing our son of this- he was looking at schools bases solely on soccer, and then making everything else fit. He finally realised that if he got hurt and couldnât play anymore, he wanted to be at a school that he loved. He finally narrowed down his choices to top academic programs that he was interested in, and then went after the soccer coaches.</p></li>
<li><p>Be relentless in your pursuit of your top choices. My son picked his top 5 choices, and e-mailed and called those coaches constantly. When he first met the coach where he will be attending, the coach kind of laughed and said âso I finally get to meet the infamous ____ ______â. We were worried at first that maybe our S had gone overboard and irritated the coach, but you know what???- the coach knew who he was and came to watch a tournament as a result. I donât think you can overdo in this regard.</p></li>
<li><p>For boys, it is a little tough sometimes to start looking in junior year- our son is a young senior (still 17 when he starts college) and had not physically matured when he was a junior. He was going to ID camps and playing against 20-22 year old transfer students who were men, while he was still pretty scrawny. It made it hard to stand out. Fortunately he shot up to well over 6â this year and put on a lot of weight so this year when coaches saw him, they were much more interested. </p></li>
<li><p>We had a hard time with ID camps. Every coach wants you to come to their ID camp, but we found many had already finished recruiting and were just using the camps as a money maker. Soccer budgets at colleges are not usually good these days, and some coaches do whatever it takes to make money. In the interest of affordability, we were very discrete in deciding which camps to attend- you could literally spend thousands of dollars attending camps if you are not careful. Be very direct in questioning coaches about the function of the camps before committing to them.</p></li>
<li><p>Be very aware of environment at various programs. One of my sonâs top choices was a school located in a very cold area. They wanted him, he loved the coach, they gave him money, had a highly regarded academic program that met his needs. In the end, he decided against the program because he said that here, he can go outside at 10pm in Dec. and kick the ball around without a jacket. He didnât think he could adjust to such drastic cold weather. This may not be a problem for others- our D is currently attending an east coast school and loves the weather- but for him it was not an option. JUst be very aware of your own needs before narrowing down programs.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the end KeeperDadâs posts were a wonderful starting point for us, and we canât thank him enough!! Menâs soccer programs generally have a lot less money than womenâs and coachâs are often very limited in their travels. Be prepared to make sure you are where the coachâs are in order to get noticed- they may not be able to come to you! Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>^^^^^</p>
<p>takeitallin, this is a really good post for any menâs soccer recruit to read. Your sixth point, which is to be relentless in contacting and following up with the coaches at a few favorite schools, is the most important IMO. Like all of us, coaches want to be wanted and enjoy being pursued; that pursuit can tip the balance in favor of one recruit over another if itâs a close call otherwise.</p>
<p>Thank you Everton - I wish I could say we know what we are doing now, but so much of it is plain persistence. In the end for my son, it all just kind of fell into place just when he had decided he would probably play for a college club and then try to get picked up by Varsity eventually. If anyone has specific questions about this process I will be glad to relate it to our experiences, but I am far from an expert still!</p>
<p>takeitallin - sorry that Iâm just now responding. I donât check the forum quite as often as I used to since my daughter is now through the process.</p>
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<p>Congratulations! Thatâs great news.</p>
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<p>Agreed. Much more work than we had anticipated, but well worth it!</p>
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<p>Interesting. As you allude to below, they are probably using Development Academy for their recruiting. Our daughterâs club is an Academy club on the boyâs side and they have had a fair amount of success with college recruiting.</p>
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<p>In general, I agree, although I think it can be a bit different for goalkeepers. One team in our local area recruited our daughter for years, but we knew that with the quality of their field players, if she joined them, she might not have gotten many shots - which we thought would have been detrimental to her development in some senses.</p>
<p>The other thing I would say is that if you use a volume approach to the college recruiting process (try to be seen by as many college coaches as possible), there is no doubt that elite showcases are the best way to go. But if you use a targeted school approach, that may not be the case.</p>
<p>Our daughter did not participate in Surf Cup, Disney, PDA, etc. Vegas was the highest-level showcase in which she participated (she guest-played for the aforementioned team who tried to recruit her for so many years <grin>). Other than that, she participated in a few second- and third-tier showcases. But the head coach of the school to which she eventually committed saw her play at one of those second-tier showcases. When you target schools, the question is not how many coaches will see you, but will the coaches of the schools you want to attend (for academic and athletic reasons) be at the showcases in which you participate? It doesnât do you any good to participate in Surf Cup if the coaches of the schools you want to play for wonât be there.</grin></p>
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<p>Agree completely! Iâve lost count of the number of times the recruiting coach at the school our daughter will play at has asked for her current classes and her transcripts. He is very on top of her academic progress. We know he has been in frequent contact with the engineering department (her major) at the school, making sure she is taking the right classes, getting high enough grades, etc.</p>
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<p>This is tough. Our daughter was the same way - she had dreamed of playing soccer at a particular school since she was 9 years old, so she was very much in the mode of âmaking everything else fit.â In the end, it all worked out because she changed her mind on a career path (not because she wanted it to fit with soccer, but because she became very passionate about a particular branch of engineering) and the school she will attend has a very good engineering program.</p>
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<p>I tend to agree. Our daughter was fairly relentless as well. Emailed numerous times. Called more than once or twice. Made sure she participated in venues where the coaches would be watching. Attended lots and lots of home games (we live 35 minutes away from the school she chose) and sat in strategic spots so they would see she was there. Etc., etc.</p>
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<p>We found ID camps very helpful, but we tried to be well-prepared in advance. Our daughterâs coach at the time called the recruiting coach at one school and told him he should pay special attention to her. She sent emails to the coaches at the ID camps she attended and told them specifically why she was there. Some would say you should wait until a coach has watched you at a showcase and expressed interest in some fashion (usually through the playerâs coach unless they are old enough for direct contact) before attending an ID camp. We didnât follow that approach, but understand the reasoning and think it is sound.</p>
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<p>Entirely my pleasure - thank you for all the kind comments. And itâs great to hear your story!</p>
<p>KeeperDad, this was a great post.</p>
<p>takeitallin, we need help on point #7 LOL, my son is 5â6" as a sophomore but likely will be over 6â - canât convince him or any coaches of that.</p>
<p>Agree 100% that boys and girls are different. USSF academy programs get a lot of college coach exposure for boys in that program, but many tournaments seem to be at least 3:1 or even as high as 10:1 womenâs to menâs coaches.</p>
<p>A funny twist for us is that academically, my son really like U. Marylandâs computer science and engineering program, but all of us feel that even if he plays on a USSF academy team next year, his chances of playing soccer there are slim to none. </p>
<p>One thing we hope is that college coaches will be more respectful than club coaches. Many of the latter will lead players on until they get their âfirst-choiceâ commits, and then drop them like a rock. I am wondering, if there is not any scholarship money, like at an Ivy, do they still give commitments to players to be on the team?</p>
<p>^^^That was tough for us as well. My son was a late grower and was worried even though we kept telling him he would catch up. My son was 5â-8" as a junior, started out at 6â as a senior and is now at 6â-2". He is a lean build and still has trouble building up âmassâ even though he works out with weights relentlessly. I can tell he is starting to âthickenâ a bit now, but his older brother was around 20 before he really filled out. It will happen eventually, but it is hard to tell coaches that!</p>
<p>I agree that it is difficult to mesh schools that are attractive academically with a soccer program that is a realistic fit, along with all of the other factors. My son wanted a large school, which are typically Div. 1, so it limited his choices somewhat. He was not necessarily set on playing D1, but did want the big school experience. We ended up listing what he was looking for in a school, with academics first, and coming up with a good list of schools. He was not interested in the Ivys so Iâm not sure how that works. I do know one of his teammates who is a rising senior supposedly just committed to Harvard for 2014. I am sure there is someone here who is more knowledgeable about IVY recruiting. I believe IVY coaches are allowed a set number of slots by admissions, and can issue LLâs to athletes they want. ONce they hit that number of slots they can only tell prospective athletes that if they are accepted to the school, they can play on the team. HOwever, there are no guarantees in that case. I am sure there is way more to the process than that, so hopefully, someone will pipe up on this subject.</p>
<p>rhandco, you stated:</p>
<p>âOne thing we hope is that college coaches will be more respectful than club coaches. Many of the latter will lead players on until they get their âfirst-choiceâ commits, and then drop them like a rock.â</p>
<p>Your concern is valid. First, most soccer coaches will be generally honest if they donât think the player is good enough to ever play at the school, and they definitely will be honest if the player is a #1 or #2 recruit. However in the middle/gray areas (the player is a legitimate recruit but down on the depth chart) the art of interpreting a coachâs words and behavior is paramount. </p>
<p>The coach has a vested interest in keeping as many recruits interested as possible because, after all, he likely will not land all of his top recruits. So, a recruit needs to ask direct questions to the coach and then evaluate the coachâs response by listening carefully and also being brutally honest with himself. If the coach regularly deflects direct questions about admissions help, or about scholarship money, or about where the recruit stands on the depth chart, then the recruit needs to realize he is at best a lower level recruit. This doesnât mean he should give up or abandon hope, but it does mean that he should be working diligently on alternatives.</p>
<p>By asking hard questions and listening closely, you should be able to evaluate where most coaches stand. Having said that, some coaches can appear interested one week, then drop out of communication, so your son should never assume that any college program is a lock until heâs admitted (Ivies and DIII) or signs a letter of intent (DI, DII and NAIA).</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with being recruited to play soccer in a different region than where you live? We live in the northeast. Son wants to play soccer in the south, preferably at a big sports school. He does play DAP so he has the advantage of playing before dozens of college coaches at the two annual showcases, but southern coaches are unlikely to see him at his regular games in the northeast. Local college coaches are frequently at his practices and games, so local coaches can see a player they are interested in multiple times. Is being seen by a coach a couple of times enough to get recruited?</p>
<p>Tyberious - In my experience, yes. I am in California. My son is a junior in high school and recently made his commitment to a D1 program. His experience has been similar to many of the players on the local premiere level club teams. He got a lot of exposure to coaches from the west and most of his offers came from coaches in the west. However, he did get three offers from coaches outside our region who saw him play only twice.</p>