<p>I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's trying to figure out how to manage the next four years.</p>
<p>His son is a freshman player, starting on varsity, playing for the best team in our state. The catch: we're a low-population state, far from showcase tournaments, and our best teams rarely make it past regional competitions.</p>
<p>What would be the best way for this young man to proceed? He plays on a very good club team that will take him to a few showcase tournaments. He will play ODP. Should he be trying to guest play for clubs in other states? He's in the west, but not Cali or Washington. What would be the clubs to connect with to ask to guest, and what's the right way to go about asking for that? Money is a bit of an object. Does the player always pony up the entire cost of travel if they are a guest?</p>
<p>What's the timeline for contacting college coaches? I assume he would be trying to let college coaches know which showcase tournaments he'll play at. Do soccer players do this as early as freshman year, or does that happen later? Since he's so unlikely to be seen locally, is it too early for him to create a film and put it out there? </p>
<p>College coaches won’t be able to talk to him for another couple of years, but any athlete is allowed to contact college coaches at any time. Due to the distance factor, he is probably doing all he can, for now. I know some of the showcases here in Texas allow you to sign up as in the “guest player pool” and other teams can select you if they need a particular player. Yes, he should start collecting some video; it can be taken by a parent but it’s really better if you can use a tripod, instead of a hand-held camera. You can do some highlight-type videos and also get at least a couple of full-game videos. Since he is just a freshman, he has a couple of years to start gathering this up, which will help (you never know what the weather is going to be during soccer season and there may be some days when you don’t want your video camera freezing or getting rained on!). </p>
<p>We used the website BeRecruited dot com which allows you to upload photos, videos, athletic and academic stats, and it’s only $60 a year. It makes a convenient place to keep all this info and then you can send the link to college coaches too.</p>
<p>He might also want to check out if any colleges in the area have summer camps or weekend “combines.” A local D-2 university has both a winter and a spring weekend combine for players ages 14-22 (so, junior college kids are also welcome). The two coaches for that school run the weekend, but then there are 10-12 coaches from other schools that come work as team leaders. It’s a good way to meet several coaches at once.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great information, cgpm. I know a lot about athletic recruiting in general so can help with NCAA rules, resume writing, coach contacts, etc., but do need help with the soccer timeline/process. My impression is college coaches go to showcase tournaments but they always have a list of preselected recruits to follow. My sense is a kid like this needs to market himself to coaches so that on the few trips he will be able to make, a coach he cares about will actually see him play. Am I getting this right? Thanks for the berecruited info. I had wondered about their cost and effectiveness.</p>
<p>riverrunner, here’s another option:
National Collegiate Scouting Association [NCSA</a> - NCSA Home](<a href=“http://www.ncsa.org%5DNCSA”>http://www.ncsa.org)
As I understand it, you set up an account with them (not free), they verify your athlete (GPA, SAT, etc.), and put your athlete in front of the coaches s/he is most interested in connecting with. NCSA does the legwork. I’m not sure how berecruited.com works, but if all you do is just post a profile and hope coaches see it, I’m not sure that’s worth it.</p>
<p>We’re in a similar situation with S2, who is an excellent soccer player (HS freshman), but we live in CA, so lots of competition here, 3 soccer teams at his HS (frosh, JV, V) with LOTS of kids trying out. The state ODP team will not be a slam-dunk for him, as there are tons of kids trying for that too. A little harder for us…</p>
<p>There is a lot that you can do with Be Recruited. There are lots of college coaches who are registered members on there, so once you do your profile, you can “invite” them to view it, send them a letter, etc. Plus, you can even find information for colleges that aren’t signed up with BeRecr, although pretty much anybody can google a college and find that website . . . but still, there’s a lot on BeRecr. The cool thing is if a registered coach looks at your profile, the next time you log in, that coach’s information will be there. </p>
<p>The difference is you do the legwork yourself with BeRecr, whereas NCSA will do all of it for you (at varying degrees of costs).</p>
<p>I guess what I’m really looking for, and this is soccer specific, is when should a soccer player who wants to play in college start contacting coaches and seriously working toward guest playing at showcase tournaments?</p>
<p>I know very well that athletes can email a coach today, even if they’re 12 years old, and do some self-promotion. That would be crazy, but I’m sure someone has tried. I’m looking for information about when the ideal time would be. </p>
<p>If I had to guess, it would be that a sophomore might want to create a highlight tape, do some guest playing in the spring and summer before Junior year, and then update the coaches during the Junior year, adding in the academic components of GPA and test scores. The athlete should also try and attend some college camps after freshman, soph and junior year. I assume for most college programs, coaches let students know that they are a recruit well prior to the “legal” contact date of July 1 after junior year. It seems like most soccer players around here have a verbal for college by the end of junior year.</p>
<p>Riverrunner, you are on track. Sophomore year in the fall is a good time for a male soccer player to start making contact with coaches (females should start freshman year). Starting his sophomore year, he also needs to find a way to either play ODP or Academy or play on a high level club team that plays in big tournaments. Summer college camps can be great if the coach already has the player on his radar beforehand but will not help him get recruited if he attends without making contact first.</p>
<p>Sometimes big tourneys let a player register as a potential guest player and then a team that needs an additional player may pick them up. Example: Surf Cup in California does this most years.</p>
<p>If he has someone who is experienced helping him stay organized, he will not need help from an outside consultant. A lot of D1 soccer players commit fall of senior year on the boys side but of course the coaches identify them in 10th or 11th grade.</p>
<p>Just tossing out that in Virginia soccer is a spring sport so recruiting is essentially complete by the end of junior year. If you are in a state where soccer is a fall sport, that would allow for the fall season to be in the window. Soccer seems to have some variance around the country, and in some areas it can be in season for public schools and on the opposing season for private schools. (Which NCAA signing period is designated for soccer?)</p>
<p>Hi Mom22039
HS Soccer is fall out here in the west, and the club cycle begins in the spring. Aren’t all the regional/national tournaments for club held in the spring/summer? The attitude in the west seems to be that HS soccer is for “fun” and club is for development and true quality play. </p>
<p>Also, (limited knowledge here) are all showcase tournaments also held in the spring and summer? I think that makes sense because the college season starts in August and ends in November. The college coaches would have to be too busy for recruit-related travel, I would think.</p>
<p>mom22, the loi signing date for soccer is February.</p>
<p>riverrunner, in socal high school season is winter, roughly late November to late February/early March. You are correct that most coaches do not actively scout high school games but sometimes they will come watch a player high on their list. Other western states might play in fall or spring.</p>
<p>The showcases happen all year. In the next month there will be big showcases in Phoenix (Academy) and San Diego (Nomads and Surf tourneys). But you are right, most are in the spring/summer. Also ODP regional tourney in January.</p>
<p>Since he is only a freshman, he has a lot of time to get coaches’ attention. I would budget for college camps after sophomore year but not after freshman, unless money is not a factor.</p>
<p>Is there a USSDA (US Socer Development Academy) team he could try out for? If he is an excellent player and hoping to play DI, these are the teams the schools follow now. Many USSDA events coincide with ODP events and other showcases, and the top soccer schools will go to the academy events. That is really the most helpful thing he could do at this point…then proceed as other posters have said -early contact with coaches is crucial.</p>
<p>Meant to say, you can go to the USSDA website to find a listing of all the teams in the country and see if there is anything near you. They generally have tryouts in the late summer/early fall in the northeast, but players can be added to the roster until April, I believe.</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend Academy, if possible, and if not, ODP at least…Academy seems to be the way that soccer recruiting is moving these days. My brother is a jr who will probably get recruited for D1. He started playing for his U16 Academy team last year and stopped doing ODP at the same time.</p>
<p>His Academy team is sponsored by a European soccer club which takes care of a lot of the expenditures, so I think the costs aren’t too much, if any, higher than his former club.</p>
<p>Well, USSDA doesn’t exist in our state! The closest team is 500 miles away, so that’s not going to be an option! </p>
<p>ODP is alive and well here, and kids do go to the national level camp/tryout every year. On rare occasion, a kid makes the team. </p>
<p>I’m exploring the guest player pool option at showcases. I suspect that may be the way to go, but those trips are going to have to be carefully orchestrated with good communication with the college coaches the kid wants on the sidelines before making any trips. </p>
<p>I’m still looking in to other ways to market kids like this outside of our state. Anyone care to comment on berecruited.com? This looks like an affordable way to present an athletic profile, including a video link.</p>
<p>One of the problems with guest playing is that the player won’t necessarily show his best when playing with a bunch of strangers - much less get enough playing time that he’ll be lucky enough to be seen by the coaches he wants to have see him. A team my D used to play on started with major showcases in 8th grade, and I’d say those first few years seemed like kind of a waste - and this was even as a full-time team member. My sense is that by sophomore year the real stars are being looked at, and junior year is when it really starts to happen. </p>
<p>If this boy has any idea of the kind of league/level/colleges he might be interested in, it seems like attending college camps would be a good idea. For girls, the Dartmouth camp has lots of coaches from excellent DIII colleges, so it’s not as limiting as one might guess.</p>
<p>I imagine there are several, but I don’t know them. Maybe keylyme will have some ideas, as she has a son. I noticed on topdrawersoccer dot com there’s a map that allows you to search for camps. I’d say the most direct way to find a good camp is word of mouth, but what is “good” will depend on what kinds of coaches this player wants to be seen by. NESCAC? Ivy? West Coast DI uni’s? If he has some ideas, he can google the coaches and see what camps they regularly participate in.</p>
<p>I think for the top ten percent or so of premier level players, freshman year is early to know where this is going. You can grow a lot, or not much in thsoe years, and it matters. For the top one or two percent, perhaps it is never too early. Ball handleing and experience can outweigh size, at least at the college level. For boys, sophmore year is a really important time to be on the right team, to get to the right tournaments, etc. There is a great link somewhere that I will try to add, about what to expect at each level at each year, but there are exceptions.</p>
<p>The Dartmouth camp is equally good for boys and also attracts many DIII coaches - I don’t know if they are all listed, but when my son attended, his high school coach mentioned there would be many NESCAC coaches there. You could always call and ask. The Boston College camp is also good as it attracts lots of the top New England schools. I would have had my son attend that one as well, but he was at a tourney in West Virginia at the time. I don’t think freshman year is too early at all. Freshman and sophomore are important years to get coaches interested and make them want to follow your progress.</p>