Need HS soccer advice

Athletic Recruits
21

ODP is a shell of its former self in the vast majority of the country. While there probably isn’t any harm in trying out for your state ODP, I wouldn’t count on it to help very much, if at all with exposure.

One thing that ODP is still good for is as a filter. A lot of parents (and coaches) have very little clue as to how much talent there is out there and how strong the big fish in the little pond effect is. If you try out for ODP and don’t get selected for a Regional side, then you are likely going to have a difficult time finding a spot on a top d1 roster.

22

Our state has a soccer organization that runs extensive annual lists of college recruits. The past 2 years are posted, but it is possible to google years further back. They list all the recruits at all the state public/private universities, both from within the state and out. Also they list destinations of state grads who are going out of state. Each student listing contains their position and history, all the clubs and schools they’ve played at and also if they are a walk-on, which happens now and then, even at our big ten flagship(!!). If you look at a few years of those you can learn quite a bit. Perhaps there is something like that in your state.

If these higher level teams are located in a city, you might be able to find carpool drivers looking for gas money to drive your S to practice, if you could find someone you feel safe with. Our state Dept of Transportation runs a free online service to connect people looking for carpool opportunities. You post your ride needs online. We live in a city and I am always amazed to find how far people drive to work here. Beauticians, grocery baggers, store clerks, etc. So many of them live way out in the country where cost of living is low, but there are no jobs. They work at relatively low wage jobs, so the gas cost is a concern, even with these temporarily low gas prices. I suppose you’d need 2 different drivers. One going into the city for an evening job, and another coming back to the country from a late ending day job. It would be a hassle, but probably could be managed, especially if there is any centralized ride-sharing service.

In our state there is one USSDA club, and it is not in our city, but in the city 1.5 hours away. We have 2 pretty good clubs in town that do regional league play, travel up to 2 states away, and lots of tournaments like Disney, etc. Still, a few families do want a higher level of play and go for the long drive to USSDA. Since we are in a city, there are enough people choosing that route that it is possible to carpool with other soccer families going to the same fields. Some people do, while others want a quiet car for HW and do the drive alone. Noone seems to let the kids drive when they are old enough. Partly safety concerns, partly because the kids spend so many hours in the car they need to do their HW then, can’t be driving.

Results are mixed. I know of kids who burned out and quit soccer completely, but don’t know how much of it was the drive. There is one boy who played with my S’s club in town for several years before leaving for several more years with the USSDA team and committed as a HS junior to a decent D1 private in-state. My S knew exactly who from his HS and club teams would be able go D1, used to tell me all the time, and he was right. Many more hoped to do the same, but were not at that level.

I can’t bear to think of how much driving we did. And the number of cheap hotels we paid for. It was a lot of fun for the boys, but it seemed like our whole family life revolved around the soccer. We were never seriously thinking of college soccer. At least I wasn’t, just wanted to give him opportunities to play as much as he wanted since during those years, it was all he cared about. Maybe my kid was dreaming of college soccer, not sure, but he ended up with a variety of injuries that lessened his ability to play intensely enough to continue at that level.

He plays rec soccer/futsal at our flagship with several of his friends from HS /club soccer. They worried about university club soccer interfering with academics, so didn’t even try out. A couple of other buddies are on the university club team. 2 of his super star HS/club teammates actually play on the university’s D1 team. Another is on a D1 team at a regional state university. Some of his former teammates are playing for the local community college’s D2 team. Others are playing at a variety of D3 teams in our state or neighboring states. An older club friend who was playing D1 at a neighboring state’s regional state university got injured and couldn’t play anymore, so returned to our flagship for better academics and plays rec ball with my S. There was one boy at another local high school, a stellar student, who is playing for an Ivy, who did not do USSDA, just played in my S’s club. Everyone who ends up D1/D3 at least played in our good in town club. Don’t know of anyone who only played at the rec league level growing up who is doing that.

The 2 talented GKs who played with my son are now playing at 2 small D3 privates in a rural neighboring state along with a couple of his other club teammates.

I started tracking down kids I hadn’t heard about. So many of them had 2 sports. One is playing D3 golf for a school across the country

23

As you know, being a keeper can be tough at the high school and college levels – I think tougher than at the club level. At club, your team has chosen you with a backup. You will be playing plenty. But at the high school and college levels, there can be several keepers, but pretty much only one plays. At least at college, none of the keepers will be bad. Worse still, because they are all good, politics can come into play. It can be tough redshirting and watching for several years. I knew an extremely talented high school keeper who transferred three times. I know of an absolute superstar who played one year D1 after redshirting. If I were you, I would look at a couple of D1 rosters and see how many keepers they are carrying. I would also try to track the gk recruits for a couple years back and see how many are still there after 4-5 years and how long it took them to get on the field.

And, keeper development is very different than for field players. I knew one high school soccer coach who always recruited his keeper from the high school baseball team (usually the shortstop). While field players truly benefit from a very high level of practice and competition, keepers do not get the same benefit. Please, not saying they don’t benefit, just saying the returns are not quite as high. In my neck of the woods, kids are told they wont be on the varsity high school team if they are not on a club team – the exception is keepers.

IMHO, you should do what is right for your family. If that means driving 3 hours for practice, by all means do it. If not, don’t do it. But, in either instance, you should get your S the best private keeping instruction you can find.

PS, tell your kid, the best (and I mean very best) way to increase his odds of being recruited by colleges is to have great grades and board scores. Tell him to work as hard off the field as on.

24

Yeah, one of our local soccer talents never took any interest in school. He could have gone D1 easily, but grades were bad and couldn’t even get his ACT up to an acceptable level for our D1 regional state school, which has 20-25 mid 50 range. They wanted him for soccer, but he couldn’t get past admissions. I think he ended up at a junior college. The 2 boys I mentioned who are playing for our D1 flagship both were honors HS students. I don’t know what it is like in general, but in our area most of the kids in soccer are good students, playing 2 or 3 sports while on honor roll in AP classes. So perhaps this is a sport where colleges don’t need to compromise their academic standards in recruiting as much as in certain other sports(??), just guessing. Oftentimes to me it seems the other way round, players compromising their academic standards in order to continue playing soccer in college.

S has a couple of friends who are playing D3 soccer at good LACs, enjoying the academics and other aspects of college life, but miserable sitting on the bench, which is souring their overall experience. That is a possibility that kids are not prepared for. If they are good enough to get into college soccer, they were starters (or #1 GK) in HS and club.

25

Went through this with our GK who is now a senior. He had an offer for a DA spot that was still a big travel commitment but not as much as yours. But the club is coached by total jerks and we decided it wasn’t worth him being unhappy (and giving up high school soccer) just to do DA. We chose to keep him on a high level premier team that plays regionally and has great GK training. DA can help a kid land a college spot, but it isn’t the only path. Top D1 programs are almost always DA and foreign players. Lower level D1 has more opportunities for non DA kids along with D2 and D3. There is no “shame” in not doing D1. In fact D3, while still a big commitment, gives the student athlete (because they are students first after all) something that is more typical of a college experience. Playing D1 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Nearly 40% are out by junior year, either because they were cut, got injured, never played and quit, or left because they wanted to focus on school/work on their next life chapter. Again - DA also means no HS soccer. That’s a lot to give up for something that might not work out. And if you don’t like the school and get cut, then what?

So since he’s still very young I wouldn’t go rushing into DA for now. If he’s that good he should end up on varsity and get good PT (mine did as a freshman on a HS team that goes well into states every year - got some awards too which gets the attention of coaches). HS soccer is sloppy so it’s great keeper experience. Also, you have no idea where his academics interests will end up 2-3 years from now. Some majors (especially science) are nearly impossible to pursue as a D1 athlete. Give it a little more time and see where things shake out. Keep him training a lot, camps, etc. In the end grades matter far more - it opens more doors and makes a player more desirable to a coach and the school. In the end it’s the school that matters more. No one is going pro, but they will have to find a career they are passionate about.

26

My initial reaction was that 1.5 hours is crazy. However, you may find - as we did - that having a lot of time alone in the car with your teenager can provide space for them to actually talk to you. You may find that investment of time well spent, both for his athletic goals as well as your relationship.

27

You have some great comments here. The only thing I’d add is that grades and test scores are super important regardless of the division of soccer. My son has many friends that play through the USDDA that had a hard time maintaining grades with all the time/travel requirements. Playing for your high school/local premier club allows the player a bit more time to focus on academics and extracurriculars.

Every student-athlete might be one injury away from applying as a regular student.

Also, the video highlights, as mentioned, are so important if you choose to play locally.

Best of luck to your son.

28

You have gotten some great advice, but I think even for a GK, having a high level of talent on the field is important to development. He may make a lot of saves as the defense is not great, but he may be able to make at least some of the saves because the strikers on the other teams are not all that great either. Playing keeper in a fast-paced, high level game with great field players is very different than being in goal against a weaker team. Not trying to say your son is not off the charts great and won’t stay that way playing for HS and the local team, but that he may need good competition to keep that edge.

You have to decide what is best for your son and your family. There are very few D1 players that don’t come from academy or very high level club teams. There are lots of families that drive for 1.5 hours a few times a week so their kid can play for a top team. Clubs that are affiliated with MLS teams often are free of charge to the players. Are there any of those within driving distance? Can you hire a college kid to drive him some of the time? Would the club allow him to continue his goalies training and miss some of the Club training (might be possible for a highly desirable player)?

Unless he is going pro, however, playing for a D3 school may provide just as good a soccer experience as a D1 school. Many of the boys on my son’s club team thought they wanted to play in college, but most decided against it - and most realized D1 was not going to happen. One exception is a very tall keeper who started as a freshman at a small D3 school.

Good luck!!