My son received some information to use this site to help him get on a college soccer team. he has only played JV in high school. i’m not sure that he is good enough to play college or that he has enough time to commit.
Has anyone used this site with any success? they claim guaranteed success but with my mediocre player i’m not sure it’s worth it.
not worth it, even with a player that’s not mediocre. That’s coming from parents who have used it and college coaches who disregard it.
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Agree, not worth it.
Not worth it
We used the free part just as a place to post a public profile and stick a couple video links to Youtube. If you’re reaching out it gives you something concrete for coaches to look at, but I’d never pay for any of these services in the hopes they’d draw any attention.
My daughter, who is a volleyball recruit, was told by her travel club to register on the University Athlete (UA) site where coaches go to view stats for her sport.
It’s fine to use the free portion but I certainly wouldn’t give them any money. Coaches have told us the completely ignore messages from recruiting services.
Agree with GKUnion - we used the free portion to download a preliminary list of top academic/athletic D3 schools. They confirmed that his times were competitive for those schools. When NCSA explained their services, my DS18 confirmed to us that he could contact the coaches on his own (running does not require videos) and did not required additional help for the $1K service fee
What year is your son? Most recruitable kids have played varsity 4 years. Don’t waste $$!
Curious where you live @onelofeach. I know tons of recruitable players who didn’t play 4 years. Very few athletes in our area play 4 years of varsity. 15 yr old “boys” simply can’t compete with 18 yr old “men”. And I know women’s lacrosse is different, but I know of one girl who was a varsity player, but she was the back-up goalie and NEVER played except in garbage minutes. And she ended up at a Top 3 program in the country.
@eb23282 my experience echoes @one1ofeach 's. The rough statistics are that you have to be in the top 1% to play d1 and top 5% to play d3. Very few freshmen make varsity, but there are usually one or two that do at my son’s prep school (so, higher level soccer than public school), and those are the best players over time. Those 15 year old boys do compete successfully with 18 and 19 year old men. And the best players are the ones being recruited.
To answer the OP’s post…no you don’t have to pay NCSA to do your recruiting, generally they don’t have ‘special’ relationships with coaches or other offerings that are worth the $.
You can do your own recruiting: do your research to see if your skill level fits in and where, create a video, fill out online recruiting questionnaires, contact head/asst coaches, continue to follow up with coaches and see if you are getting interest, or not.
At my kids’ high school, sports are highly competitive. There are certain sports where a younger student might be able to make varsity early on, but other sports where it would be highly unlikely. Both types of students can be and have been recruited athletes who played in college.
We have also had JV’ers and students cut from the HS team (especially junior year when the opportunities decrease…all sports don’t have JV here), who have gone on to play in college, including a female who was cut junior year who earned a D2 volleyball scholarship recently (of course she did play club).
Thanks @cinnamon1212 - that’s interesting. I just looked at our school’s “signings” and the only 4 year varsity players were some of the girls. None of the boys played 4 years in football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or even track/cc - and many are going D1. I’m guessing we’re just in a more competitive school than you and OP? I’m finding it interesting how things are different all over the country in terms of athletics and academics (i.e. “band” is a class, gym is not required, etc.)
I just know boys soccer, not any of the other sports. I actually think prep school soccer is more competitive, because they recruit internationally, and have players from Africa and Europe on teams (as well as kids from all over the US. And, soccer recruiting is a thing). It is rare, but a couple of players have gone pro recently: Jack Harrison, who has been signed by Man City, and Jacob Schaffelberg, who passed up UVA to play for Toronto directly from high school.
Do you really have male soccer players going d1 without having played varsity all 4 years? Can you share the programs? (Because maybe I’ll have my son reach out! ??)
I would guess there are high schools that do not allow freshmen to play varsity, and those clearly would be an exception to the 4 year varsity benchmark.
Michael Jordan was cut from his varsity team in high school…
^^there are always exceptions. MJ is everyone’s favorite exception in my experience!
@eb23282
I’m in New England. Generally most strong public varsity teams & good privates will take ~two freshman players. They might not get a lot of pt but they get experience playing against the bigger kids. My experience is similar to @cinnamon1212 - the BSs around me recruit male international players. I guess I can see a 3 year varsity player being recruited but even that would surprise me.
I guess the level of school matters too. Around here most kids are aiming as high academically as possible so ivies, and top nescac schools. Those schools generally are recruiting players that played 4 years varsity & won Gatorade player of the year. If a kid targets bottom of the athletic ranking maybe it’s a different story?
I can see exceptions for say football in Texas. Maybe soccer in CA?
And, as I asked OP the grade of their son matters. If he’s a junior who has only played JV he’s unlikely to be recruited. If he’s a freshman who played JV this year but had a big growth/skill spurt and will make varsity next year those are two very different scenarios.
Yes, but they also played club ball, on good teams. And more males from our school end up at selective D3s than D1s. Here we are seeing the best athletes (making broad brush strokes) choose other sports than soccer…notably lacrosse.
Some of the very best soccer players by us opt out of playing HS, and only play club…some of those have gone on to play d1 as well. I know a couple of those families, and part of the reason is that, although probably good enough to play varsity as a freshman, the coach would be unlikely to let that happen. But that’s boys soccer…again, it’s so different by sport here, and I assume elsewhere.
Choosing not to play high school is very different from not being able to make varsity. Also the theoretically highest level of US soccer (DA) forbids high school sports. But we aren’t talking about those kids, we are talking about a player on the JV team.
I second everything @one1ofeach has said. S/he has done a great job explaining the New England/prep soccer world.
Some sports are more physical than others, and many boys don’t grow early enough to stand with the men on varsity. Think of the simple physics of basketball or football or even soccer versus the more skill or quickness related requirements of baseball or running or tennis. So in many sports at most high schools with high quality programs it’s extremely rare to see four year varsity players.
Agreed. And two points I was trying to make:
- My school has a bunch of football, lax and baseball kids going D1. They definitely did not play varsity as freshman, and some didn't even play as a sophomore.
- We don't have D1 soccer players because those kids chose the DA instead. But in any event, around me there are very few freshman who play varsity, and if they do, it's at the small enrollment schools (I'm at a large public and we are usually 70% seniors on varsity).
Pingry is a very good private in NJ that turns out a handful of D1 soccer players every year. Those players are not always 4 year varsity players. Pranav Jha played 3 years, started 2 and is going to Georgetown. William Bugliari also played 3 years and only started 2. He’s going to Colgate.