Hey, I’m a senior and I’ve already heard from all my colleges, so I’m really just curious what the procedure is for colleges to find athletes and what determines whether they want them to play at their school? Just because I played soccer for a long time at my high school and would have enjoyed playing it at the college level. I got accepted into Northeastern, and their soccer team isn’t that good, so why wouldn’t they either ask me to come try out, or email my coaches or just idk, whats the procedure for it all? Not to be salty haha, its just I go to a small, rural high school so I don’t think colleges would hear about me or my team, but like whats preventing them from just asking, or finding out. Who knows I might be good enough to play on their team. Or do they only look at the people who have gotten to championships and won tournaments with their teams? The players who have gained some sort of publicity for it?
Like you said, you go to a small, rural high school (as does my son) - they have no idea who you are unless your team wins a championship. Our neighbor’s son plays soccer - he’s gone to scouting camp over the summers for the past few years. A lot of the big schools have them - you go to get seen. Short of that, I think it’s usually up to the athlete and/or their coaches to reach out to the schools they have an interest in. Walking on is also an option, but you’d need to reach out to the coach and get details.
If you actually are good enough to play at a decent college level then you can either be a walk on or you’ll have to look up some high school show case events and travel. This is where college scouts would evaluate you. My knowledge comes from being a four year varsity baseball player in a top 10 nationally ranked team. If you don’t go to some type of showcase event or aren’t involved in any type of travel team then there is no possible way you’ll be recruited. If this is unrealistic for you to do, then like I said you’ll have to be a “walk on” (You go up to the coach and ask to try out)
Most high school athletes who want to play in college go to tournaments or showcases, send recruiting questionnaires to the coaches, post you tube videos. The coaches don’t go over to admissions to look through the applications and see who might have played high school soccer.
It’s not too late to contact the coach, but you’ll just be asking if he’s holding try out and what you need to do to be a walk on. The try outs could be early in the summer, or could be just before classes start, but you’ll want to be ready.There may be a requirement that you register with the NCAA Clearinghouse before you try out, but you would have to do that before you can play. There might be a requirement for a physical or at least medical forms. You’ll want the coach to be familiar with you and your level of play before the try outs.
Northeastern is a D1 program, my kid met the current NE assistant who had been at Bates, a really nice young guy. The new head coach comes from Dartmouth Men’s Soccer program, and has only been there a year or two. If you are choosing NE, then you should reach out to the coaching staff and ask about walk-ons as a quick search of NE’s soccer website shows that they did hold walk-on tryouts last year. That being said, D1 is D1 – it is highly competitive, even for less than successful programs, and a huge time commitment.
In terms of how the process generally works – college soccer recruiting happens from club teams generally, not high school. Broadly, a player interested in playing college soccer emails coaches at schools of interest, provides video and other background about their playing experience, and lets them know their upcoming tournament and club schedule. If the coach is interested, they may watch them play. Players also go to college recruiting camps, hoping to impress the coaching staff. It is player driven, not coach driven – the players need to get themselves in front of the coaches, as even the top programs are recruiting from their own camps and from specific national tournaments in various regions of the country. There are the exceptions, Femi Hollinger Janzen from Indiana (where I live), played soccer for his small Mennonite high school, did not grow up playing club soccer, and went on to play for powerhouse Indiana University and now plays in the MLS. He is absolutely the exception, not the rule.
@midwestmomofboys is correct in that most NCAA college teams recruit almost exclusively from club teams for soccer. It is very rare for players to be recruited from high school. It’s not as much that you are from a small, rural high school, but that you do not have experience playing a higher level of soccer. If you look at the roster for Northeastern, you will see that they have a good number of international players, and that the rest appear to have played on club teams or to have transferred in from a community college program. It is not impossible to come in to some programs and walk on with only high school experience, but it would be very rare. You might look to see if your college has a soccer club team. It might still be very challenging and there would be some cost associated with it, but many club teams are very competitive. You may have to do a try-our depending on the school.
I don’t know much about Northeastern soccer. I do know that a DI varsity program will be scouting regionally and nationwide for talent. They might not have a winning record but they still will attract elite players. It is the coach’s job to know the best prep players who have the academics to be accepted at Northeastern. If you were talented enough to be recruited, they would know about you. If you want to tryout as a walkon, it will be up to you to take the initiative.