Hello all, has anyone attended or has had their son attend the Yale men’s soccer ID. Clinic and could you give me your thoughts on it? Approximately how many players attended when your son attended?
Thank you!
Since you haven’t gotten much traction on this, and with the caveat that I do not know the Yale clinic specifically – I’d suggest these sorts of considerations in deciding about/prioritizing recruiting camps.
Has your student been in touch with the coaches before the camp invitation, and if so, was it a conversation that included your student’s specific details – academic and athletic record? After such an exchange, did the coaches suggest your student attend the camp?
Many camps are income-boosters for coaches, so they want to bring in as many campers as they can, all while making sure they see the specific players they are interested in. We’ve known the coaching staff at a top D1 program and we understand from conversations with them that maybe 1 unknown player every few years gets found at one of the camps. Otherwise, most of the players who wind up with recruiting offers have already been seen by the coaching staff at tournaments (though in covid, that model is up in the air) and have been specifically encouraged to attend camp. So, for anyone considering registering and showing up “cold” to a D1 camp, keep in mind that your player may well get some get great coaching and training, but is not likely to be swept up by the coaching staff as a hidden gem of a player. Of course it can happen, but it’s not likely.
My D3 player saw that unfold at some NESCAC camps. At one, he’d met with coach and had been encouraged to attend camp, but the coach did not seem strongly interested. We figured it was worth the “bet,” but found that it was not - the coach only paid attention to the handful of guys he was already in conversation with and did not look at anyone else. That camp was a bust in terms of recruiting for that school, though my kid did get interest from the assistant coach who moved to D1 program and reached out to him for his new program.
So, I’d suggest thinking about the nature of any conversations with coaching staff carefully, to parse what was said. Coaches are used to direct questions, so families should not hesitate to ask – “am I on your recruiting list? If so, where, top 10, top 5?” (knowing that can change – my kid certainly had “you’re my #1” until, suddenly, he wasn’t." )
And, read through old threads on Men’s Soccer recruiting – there is lots of knowledge here, including some great “how to” posted within the past 5-10 years. The process itself has not changed that radically, so a lot of the advice is still good (again, subject to pandemic craziness). Good luck, and hang on, it’s a wild ride. Many parents here have shared the pleasure in watching their high school athletes mature from a tongue-tied 15 year old into confident young adults who handle difficult conversations with coaches with grace.
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can’t speak of that camp specifically but my Daughter is a 2023 and has been attending a ton of camps this summer. My opinion is that as long as the camp is at a school you are actually interested in and you have been in personalized conversation with the coaching staff (not just emails or attending a showcase game, but phone call/zoom/text type discussions) then it is worth it. Check the current roster and recent games and make sure you child will be competitive by seeing what types of leagues the current players played in and their size and stats, Biggest camp my daughter has done was at a D3 school with about 50 players but there were coaches from five programs and only 4 players in her position (GK) so it worked out. We look at camps as business trips and not really ways to improve skill and haven’t been disappointed but do know that many players who attended 3rd party camps or registered without any connections with staff have been disappointed.
Yes, my reference about players not relying on camp alone for recruiting was specifically in relation to elite D1 programs, since the OP had asked about Yale. Our understanding from our friendship with coaches at a highly ranked D1 program was that recruits were rarely identified for the first time as a camper. Almost all of their recruits came to camp, but that was because they had already been seen elsewhere, spoken at some length with the program, and specifically been encouraged to attend camp if they were interested in being considered as a recruit. Are there exceptions, yes, of course.
In contrast, D3 programs with radically smaller recruiting budgets and much less ability to travel to see players around the country operate in a very different recruiting environment. My kid felt he got a fair shake at most of the school-specific camps he attended. The one disappointment was the one NESCAC camp I described, where he’d visited the school, met with the coach, coach had seen film, invited him to camp, but we knew coach was not jumping up and down about him. Attending camp did not convert that luke warm interest into anything else, and it was clear from the coach’s communications during camp that he had his list of guys before camp and it wasn’t changing, no matter what he saw at camp (for what it’s worth, that coach is no longer there).
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My son went to the one-day camp at Yale over Thanksgiving weekend. As @Midwestmomofboys notes, going in relatively “cold” probably isn’t advisable, especially if you’re budgeting time/money because it would be a long shot.
My son was a junior at the time and captained/started for a non-MLS DA club so we had some notion that he might have some technical abilities. The camp had maybe 80-100 boys there. In his coach eval I’m 99% certain the coach mixed up my son with the only other player who had a similar ethnicity but a very different playing style. Really rather disappointing from Yale, and if I thought anyone there would care, I would have provided that feedback. It was like, dude, they have numbered pinnies for a reason.
On the plus side, a HC from a NESCAC reached out, and began to actively recruit my son. Stellar coach, nothing but positives from him.
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