<p>My friend is looking for guidance in helping her daughter (9th grade) play college soccer at a high level. There doesn't seem to be much support or knowledge at her child's high school. </p>
<p>I learned so much from the "musical theater" forum here on CC. Is there something similar for parents helping their kids get into high-level college sports?</p>
<p>All suggestions welcome! Thanks :)</p>
<p>Yepper. Right here: [Athletic</a> Recruits - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/]Athletic”>Athletic Recruits - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Depending on where you are in the country, there will be very little “help” from high schools, although some high school soccer coaches might have some connections with college coaches. The main connections will be made through her club team, especially if you can play in college showcase tournaments, etc. If you don’t have a club team, you can still contact area clubs to see if they need guest players for the showcase tournaments.</p>
<p>The “athletic recruits” subforum on here is very helpful and you can search for soccer items. Also, be sure to look at the guide for college athletes on the NCAA website; it has lots of info about what GPAs and high school courses are required to play at the different levels in college. </p>
<p>You can also create her own web page on websites such as BeRecruited dot com. We did that for my son; it was only $60 to create a page where you could post pictures, videos, academic and athletic stats, etc. Not only can coaches search for potential players, but then you would also have a handy link to send to colleges that she is interested in. Good luck!</p>
<p>There are also camps at colleges/universities that are “known” to attract top talent, where coaches go to scout for high school players.</p>
<p>Your friend may want to look for a neighboring club team that has a more supportive and/or connected coach. Her high school coach may be just as valuable a resource as the club coach.</p>
<p>We made a video, which was quite an adventure. After interviewing a ton of people and finding it was very expensive and that none of those doing it were very professional, we made one. You can also divy up the labor with somebody you hire. There are basically two parts - the time you spend at the field taping, and the time you spend editing. Each coach has different time limits and types of play he/she is interested in seeing.</p>
<p>Have the player establish a relationship with the coaches by frequent contacts. Beware of coaches that give false promises and hopes, and those are many.</p>
<p>Thanks! I was searching for “sports” rather than “athletic” so I guess that’s how I missed it! I appreciate all the information and will be sending my friend to the Athletic Recruits forum.</p>
<p>I my (vicarious) experience, there are many more 9th graders who look like they might be able to play college soccer “at a high level” than there are 11th and 12th graders. Going from being a great 9th grader to being a great college player, or even a good one, involves just a ton of work on a base of great genetic material, and a little luck to boot. The burnout rate is high, and the coming-up-a-little-short rate is also high, especially in a game where high-level recruiting is global, not national.</p>
<p>So . . . all I am saying is don’t put all your eggs in that basket, and don’t count the chickens in the basket until they have hatched.</p>
<p>Make sure your student realizes how few soccer scholarships there are. I believe most Div i and 2 schools have only 9 or so scholarships available, and that those are often split/shared among players on the roster according to some formula that each coach devises…there are very few full rides.</p>
<p>Most players are noticed by college coaches at high level club tournaments…a lot of the club coaches have connections with the schools and are instrumental in getting their players watched by certain coaches. Players often attend several college camps starting early in their high school careers as well.</p>
<p>Be sure to emphasize good grades for the student athlete. Coaches, even if very supportive of the player for the university team, must be sure that the player can clear the admissions committee. There may also be merit money for the student when there is little athletic money available. Many outstanding players do not play in college if their grades are poor.</p>
<p>Hi Francesca- We are going thru this right now with our HS junior son, and also happen to have a D who is in her 3rd year in a BFA MT program. You are right in that the MT forum is invaluable in figuring out the audition process for MT programs. As difficult as that whole process is, I have decided that the athletic recruit process is even more so!!! The athletic recruits forum does have some information, but it is difficult to weed thru and not as clear cut as looking for a program for MT’s. If she is not already, your friend should be looking at some high level soccer clubs for her D. Colleges don’t really recruit out of high school, but rather from soccer clubs for the most part (of course there are exceptions). In addition, most of the recruiting process is done by the athlete- coaches will not ever see the athlete if the athlete doesn’t promote him/herself. We do a LOT of college ID camps to get my son’s profile out there, he maintains a profile page thru a recruiting company, he emails at least 10 coaches a week and follows up with phone calls. He just did an ID camp where they spoke to parents during lunch- the college coach recommended contacting at LEAST 100 coaches and following up with those contacts.</p>
<p>I would say the most important thing that everyone we talk to emphasizes is grades!!! One coach told us he doesn’t consider anyone under a 3.5 weighted. That may not be the norm, but they all seem to agree that playing college soccer takes up so much time that they only want athletes who can handle themselves in the classroom. I notice that you say the D wants “to play college soccer at a high level.” Playing college soccer at ANY level or Division is a high level! Only 5% of athletes who try to play college soccer are successful. Those athletes who will only look at Div. 1 programs are really limiting
their chances to play college soccer. </p>
<p>Now that my S is a junior, college coaches can finally talk to him. His club team has done 2 showcases on the opposite coast in the last 4 months as well as a number on this coast. We have taken him to a number of ID camps and are spending spring break talking to coaches. This is all on top of his club fees, training fees, uniforms, etc… It is an expensive process and most likely won’t even result in any athletic scholarships- there are very few! For your friends freshman D, it is definitely not too early to start, even if it just means exploring the process and getting her D onto a competitive club team. It is a very confusing and complicated process, and best of luck to her!</p>
<p>If she’s not playing at a high club level by this age, she’s already at a big disadvantage. Our soccer club has sent dozens and dozens of kids to the U.S. on soccer scholarships, and these kids were all playing competitive ‘rep’ level by the time they were 10 or 11. Two friends of my Ds who ended up playing for the national team, in the World Cup and the Olympics, were heavily recruited at a young age, even though, yes, I know, colleges are not supposed to do that. They were both very good students and one ended up at Princeton and the other at UCLA.</p>
<p>My daughter is a HS junior, currently without a commitment, but is a prospect for a few schools. Here’s what I have learned thus far in this process:
Club team is the most important factor. Be on the best, highest ranked (see gotsoccer.com) team possible; ECNL team if possible.
Attend the showcase tournaments. Change teams if club team doesn’t go to good tournaments.
Do ODP, although ODP seems to be waning in importance relative to ECNL. My daughter recently did ODP championships and there were so many college coaches it was ridiculous. Oftentimes the local college coaches actually coach the ODP teams. Can’t get much better contact than that.
Make profiles on line - BeRecruited, CaptainU, NCSA. One DII school and one DIII school contacted her just as a result of her having profiles up.
The grades really are important. D’s club coach was just telling us parents that due to lack of athletic $$ our girls may have to take little to no money, but a guaranteed roster spot, the first year, so its critical their grades are good enough to get some academic money.
Club coach recommendations and ID camps can help make up for late entry into the recruiting game. My D just got on a good team (nationally ranked in top 100) this past spring. Before that she was on ok teams, but had not possibility of playing in college if she stayed on that kind of team. The recruiting process seemed to be going nowhere, so she went to a number of ID camps and got on the radar with some programs. Still wasn’t chugging along as we had hoped, then her (very successful) club coach wrote to her top 8 schools. Now it seems she is a genuine prospect with maybe 4 DI schools, and 3 DIII schools. It was like magic; all of a sudden these college coaches are actually responding to the emails and agreeing to come watch her play at these showcase tournaments.
Anyway, that’s what I have to offer.</p>