Recruiting during normal times is brutal. Recruiting during Covid is punishing. If he’s checking out on the process I say don’t sweat it and let him dictate his own path(unless you think he’ll regret not chasing soccer in the end).
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We have been working on getting my daughter recruited at D3 schools, some of which you have named. My sense is that the coaches that want you are fairly unambiguous and will say they want you. The ones that maybe you are chasing, but have been more non-committal, I would say hang in there. It sounds like your son has outstanding grades, which really helps clear that hurdle. My daughters grades were not as strong and there were schools that wanted her athletically that she couldn’t squeak past the admissions. But I do believe the best laid plans of these coaches get overturned at the 11th hour when players they hoped to get opt to go elsewhere. You could maybe do yourself a favor by providing your transcripts in advance and be persistent so if something comes up you are fresh in their mind. For what it’s worth, we also tried to do a lot of this in the background without involving my daughter as much because it can be a time consuming and stressful ordeal for a kid and we preferred that she just focus on school instead and her friends. That’s my two cents from experience. I do believe something will break for your son because it sounds like he can handle the level of competition at these schools and even if he walked-on, at D3 I would expect that is quite common and wouldn’t much hurt his chances of playing. D1, probably a completely different story.
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Checking back in on this thread after a couple of weeks to see how the 2022’s are doing. My son is in the same boat, and for what it’s worth, so are most of his friends, including those that play sports other than soccer. Maybe they’re just focused on enjoying their senior season (which they really didn’t have last year) but the parents I’ve spoken to have said their boys are mostly resigned to the fact that this is all mostly out of their control. They did all the right things - emails, ID camps, video, more ID camps, more emails - but with a year erased from recruiting and so many fewer spots… ugh. I feel for them.
That said, I’m sure some kids will have some luck going forward - I’ll keep my fingers crossed for us all. Personally, I hope you’ll share any good news so we can celebrate with you!
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My son is going to focus on where he wants to be academically and if the soccer falls into place, then it falls into place. I’m just shocked that no one has picked him up yet and thankfully… He doesn’t care one bit. Soccer season doesn’t start until January here.
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A new player showed up to practice with my son’s U18 club team. Come to find out, he’s from down south and came to New England because he was recruited to play soccer at a NESCAC. He didn’t make the team. He’s practicing with the club team with the hopes of making his school’s team next year. I had no clue NESCACs made cuts. It’s something to keep in mind.
This is something we are just hearing about too - heard cuts to date through the grapevine in D1 men’s crew, baseball and women’s soccer. I thought once you were in as a recruited athlete you were vetted enough - but guessing skills and team dynamics were harder to fess out with covid. It is heartbreaking for these kids and having a recruited athlete it is a question we never thought to ask.
Definitely always need to ask the coach if a spot on the team is guaranteed. Some schools’ policies require coaches to hold tryouts every year too.
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On a more positive note for those targeting NESCACs, there are a total of 43 New England 2022 players that have announced their soccer commitments thus far. Only 4 are to D3 schools, and of those 4, only 2 are NESCACs(Tufts & Connecticut College). New England traditionally sends a lot of players to these schools. My son’s club sent 6 players to NESCACs last year. It’s still early enough not to panic, but it’s likely time to ramp things up even more and go all in. The only downside at this point may be that the window for getting a “tip” or “slot” is likely closing.
On cuts, I can share, my kid’s D3 coach said he generally gave recruited athletes 2 years on the team, and then after that, if they hadn’t worked themselves into the rotation, then there would be hard conversations about whether it made sense to continue – after which, guys generally chose to leave the team. Another issue was the difference between suiting up for the “travel squad” or not – as the whole team didn’t always travel for away matches.
But yes, it does raise the issue of specifically asking – as a recruit, do you cut 1st years or am I guaranteed a roster spot for 1st year.
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This can vary a bit. My son had already verbally committed by the time they could do an official preread so he only did one, but all they looked at was his transcript, and self reported test scores. That was at an Ivy, so it may vary a bit from D3 in the sense that they weren’t really looking for any well-roundedness, just on the right side of the line academically and an athletic contributor.
When we were waiting in line for ice cream in Williamstown, we overheard some students talking about soccer cuts on the men’s team. My husband asked one of them who said that there was a new coach and too many players (probably due to students taking off last fall BC of the pandemic) so he was making cuts that included recruited players.
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We know a boy who was recruited by a NESCAC but was cut before the season started. I agree that this is probably happening because of covid and kids taking extra years. My son who plays at a D3 just played a team with 39 boys on the roster. My son’s team has 28 kids on their roster, so this other college had a whole extra team on the bench.
There were cuts of recruited players on my son’s college team this year too, though none were freshmen. I notice my son’s team loses 2-3 players every year, players who weren’t getting much playing time in previous seasons. I don’t know if they were cut or saw the writing on the wall and quit.
I don’t think this is unusual.
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This boy is a freshman, not sure what happened.
Not to say that this is what happened in this case, but there is an expectation that players will show up in shape and ready to play. Those who do not are cut. It can take an awful lot of self-discipline to push yourself through the summer without the peer pressure and camaraderie of teammates.
I think it’s normal for kids to drop off, especially if they aren’t getting a lot of playing time. For a freshman, the “instant friends” part of being on a team can be a godsend, but as the years pass, the desire to break loose from that can also be quite enticing. Non-athlete friends will have a lot going on that simply isn’t compatible with an athlete’s schedule, and the tradeoff may not feel worth it.
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Agree – the fitness test the 1st day of pre-season training was a hard marker between those who were ready to play and those who would sit on the bench. My kid trained hard, every summer, for conditioning, strength, and soccer, to come in ready to compete. It was clear not everyone had the same summer priorities!
My S22 goalkeeper just put on another inch — 6’3”. My guess is he’s going to top out at 6’4”. (He was a late bloomer). He is thinking right now that he doesn’t want to play in college. I’m feeling a little blue about it, but at least he has given fair warning so I can enjoy every last minute over the next few months. How is everyone else doing?
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Similar situation with my 21 daughter. Field player who didn’t want to let recruiting drive the college selection. She was probably marginal at the schools she liked the most. She also didn’t want to make the time commitment.
Of course she is rowing now, so still has 18 hours a week of practice…
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Oh man, I wish I could get my son to consider rowing — he’d be a beast! How fun for your D.
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@dadof4kids , that was my kid’s story. And it turned out great for him… The redirect into a new sport really energized him. And it helped that he turned out to be a very good rower…
And, fwiw, he did get opportunities as the years went on to play his old sport again recreational, so it wasn’t truly the end…
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