It cost the USSF roughly $10 million a year to run the DA. Not sure what’s in that figure, but I can’t see the MLS owners being happy about having to fund whatever portion of that expense on top of increased travel costs and the $1-3 million they have been paying. Would MLS fans notice a drop-off in quality if clubs signed enough homegrowns to make it worth the expense of academy teams?
None of the US sports leagues wants to be funding minor or developmental leagues (maybe the NBA pays for the D-League?). Whatever the case, ECNL looks ready to make a go of it, and the MLS league might struggle to remain “free” for players.
@AmBuddha I highly doubt the MLS clubs will maintain their fee free model. I’m positive that the new league will be anything but free. I should know for certain in about a week, maybe two tops. The MLS is done with developing players intent on heading to college. The rumor is that the MLS league will only include teams up to, and including U17 for that very reason. Homegrown players are rarely difference makers. Signing them serves more of a PR purpose than anything else.
@GKUnion I agree - that’s why I can’t see MLS owners keeping the DA funded at any sort of significant level. Though if I were them, I’d have a U17 team only, poaching players from other clubs (and no solidarity payments). “Outsource” for no cost to MLS owners the development of players, especially as the conventional wisdom is the US players do well vs international competition until U15 or so.
As much as I like college sports and college soccer, I’d also like to see a more robust professional pathway that doesn’t include college so that the US might someday have a chance at the World Cup. Maybe more like MLB/minor leagues and college baseball co-existing rather than college football being a necessary (evil?) step towards the NFL.
For all of those considering the NESCAC schools - which are great - make sure to consider UChicago (which gives likely letters - actually deferred admissions - in October after a full app is submitted), WashU, Pomona, etc.
I thought I’d circle back to give an update. My daughter had a positive pre-read at Swarthmore and committed. Weird year but a truly happy result for her. Thanks to all for the advice and guidance! Fingers crossed that there are no surprises in store.
Yes. Rising senior. Send coach grades after 10th grade, he looked at them and he knows with his or her support what will work and won’t…told us it looked good …obviously he doesn’t make the decision but he knows what they are looking for. Had a preread in July it went exactly as he said. Good luck.
A girl on my daughters team committed the spring of her junior year to a top nescac. I thought that was normal timing? She is a good player, not great, not a good teammate. Shows VERY well, game results are not great. Excellent student. Top grades from a HADES school.
I have once again noticed that recruting coaches see players way less than the parents who have watched every game.
@one1ofeach I’m sure it depends on the sport, e.g. girls soccer players commit earlier than boys. That said, I’m still a little surprised b/c committing to a NESCAC before July 1 after Junior year means that Admissions has not yet done a preread. If by “top” NESCAC you mean Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, then personally I would be a bit more nervous without Admissions’ sign off (no matter how experienced the coach) given the super low admit rate of those schools. But, to each their own, and if it worked out for your daughter’s teammate then clearly she knew something and congratulations to her!
@1ofeach, I think your post demonstrates the truism of athletic recruiting. It isn’t the best players that get recruited, it is the players who follow a plan and then engage in the hard work to get the plan accomplished. Most folks need to do more than just sign up for a showcase or ID camp and hope that someone calls your name.
There are some flashy players that show well at camps. For them, the plan should be to attend camps and be flashy. For others, tape will be an important component. If your player doesn’t do as well under the pressure of a camp, then it makes sense to start them out at small regional camps and work your way up to the camps featuring target schools. While most coaches do want to see a recruit play, it it critical to have a dialogue with coaches so that they know the athlete really wants to attend the school.
Most importantly, no one should underestimate the value of good academic standing. With great grades (and in a normal year great scores), NESCAC schools can tip in a recruit if the recruit’s academics are on par with the typical admitted student. The colleges may have a limit on tips because they don’t want a student body composed entirely of athletes, but the league limit is on slots, so a number slide by.
Interesting - it was one of those three actually. It’s possible that exact timing of true firm commitment was garbled in the process of kid to kid (my daughter doesn’t like her so they weren’t talking all the time). Frankly I wish that team good luck with her, she’s the type that constantly swore at and berated freshman girls on the team (even when they were doing their job).
We certainly knew of families who publicized that they had “committed” to XYZ school on the basis of only conditional positive feedback from a coach after closely questioning them on exactly what “commitment” entailed. There are also for profit travel organizations which encourage this for their own marketing purposes.
In D3 Men’s Soccer recruiting, our experience was that, as students moved deeper into the recruiting process, the college coaches got to know their “athlete personality.” You could see that certain schools favored certain types – whether it was high intensity, in-your-face kind of athletes or lower key, steady, types. Finding a team culture which matched the athlete was part of the recruiting process.
So, for the 11th grade female soccer play who “committed” early (and I agree that is illusory until after positive pre-read and commitment of ED and roster spot) – may be that team culture emphasizes that kind of intensity.
And I agree that the kids who get the roster spot may not be the “best” athlete out there, but may be the right athlete for that team’s needs, either in terms of position or culture.
Having an advocate for a player is a factor I didn’t realize might have an impact. Coaches at every level have limited resources (time and money) and even more so now. Word of mouth from other coaches, I think, weighs more than anyone would like. Similarly, have a “rating” or “ranking” from some source helps even if those can seem fairly random.
I’m thinking about how soccer agents would lobby to have players make an appearance on the national team at some level and use that to help sell the player on in another country.
So having someone tell a coach, “He/she is good” (in not so many words) can be a valuable stamp of approval for sports where there aren’t times (T&F, swimming) or individual head-to-head results (tennis).
@cinnamon1212 Your posts are so helpful. I have a soccer son a few years behind yours (S Florida here) and I have followed you for awhile. Is there a way I can contact you privately? I can’t figure out how to do that.
For those who have likely finished the process, any info about timelines would be helpful. I have a 22D lacrosse player. Has been told by two coaches she is a top recruit Android to send transcript this spring. Since everything is shut down, any ideas on if this means she’s likely to get a preread from these schools? She has other interest, but the Nescac schools are her top choices. Just trying to gauge if that is likely. July seems a long way off.