Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

Players can still email coaches. That did not change. They can begin talking to each other June 15th after sophomore year.
There can be zero communication prior to June 15th after sophomore year. This is only for D1 schools.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/di-council-adopts-rules-curb-early-recruiting

“We feel strongly that it’s an incredible enhancement to our current situation and how students are being recruited,” Sell said. “At the end of the day, these changes will eliminate students in the ninth grade and younger being recruited while still providing access to our campuses early enough to make informed financial and educational decisions on where to go for college.”

The proposal for most sports would allow communication — either from or to a coach — June 15 after the sophomore year of high school and would allow visits beginning Aug. 1 before the junior year of high school.

A friend of mine also received this from Recruit Chute which sums up the new rules:

As of 5.1.19 all Division I college soccer recruits will be affected in the following ways:

✔️ Communication to and from a coach can only start after June 15th after 10th grade

✔️ Prior to those dates, zero communication is permitted between a college coach and club coaches or players. That includes any offers of a verbal scholarship

✔️ Visits can begin August 1st before 11 grade begins

✔️ Players can still visit schools before June 15th after 10th grade with no contact with coaches at the school

✔️ Players can still use RecruitChute for research and to build a list of schools their freshman and sophomore years

These regulations have been put into place to curb the early recruiting and provide athletes with more time to create an informed decision at which school is the best fit for them.
 
interesting. I can see the part about keeping a normal relationship with your kid! What do you mean by a mentor? was this in addition to NCSA's platform?
Yes, I ended up hiring Kim Smith from Varsity Sports Institute (I think their website is go-vsi.com), that was our daughter's summer of her Junior year going into her Senior year, she signed that summer before school started. She was getting a lot of interest from several of the recruiters at the time but, I had no idea what was legit and what was just trying to sell their services although, you do figure that out pretty quick
 
Great read.
Going through the SAME thing here.
Came into camp fit, then got hurt freshman year in training camp. She couldn’t travel with the team that season and was on campus while everyone was away during her first year. The blessing was that she met friends outside of soccer, joined a sorority and did some volunteer work, and had an outstanding GPA.
But her heart was broken that she couldn’t play and we were distraught she was away from home without us or soccer.
God does have a plan and she knows it.
 
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
 
If you want athletic scholarship money then you will need to stick to D1 or D2. . There are so many schools and different environments that I would suggest she figure out a few things like geographic region, weather, area of study, then go on a few trips to get a flavor of some of the schools to start getting more of a focus. You can also use tools likeCollege Fit finder to sort the schools to what you are looking for (area of the country, majors, urban vs rural, size of school etc)
 
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.

Most colleges are happy to recruit Socal girls, the key is for the player to have a genuine interest and knowledge of the school, and be able to articulate why they want to leave beautiful CA and go to college in a place with four seasons and no beach. Colleges/coaches often get burned by Socal girls showing interest but staying home, or transferring.

Many top academic small schools are D3, so money is based on financial aid, grants, merit scholarships, and not sports. It is still there, you just need to navigate that process in parallel with soccer. The NESCAC schools, Centennial Conference, and some smaller University Athletic Association schools all would fit the D3, small school, decent soccer mold, just need to research the school culture as some support sports, while others do not. There are also the Ivies with need-based aid, if your daughter is at that level academically, but many are looking at national pool players these days, and are competing with Duke, Stanford and the like recruiting players.

That being said, if you are still looking for athletic $, playing time, school spirit, smaller/medium colleges, decent alumni networks, and a D1 experience, as well as colleges often overlooked by Socal girls, I would recommend your daughter take a look at current and former colleges in the Patriot League, and some of the smaller colleges in the Atlantic 10 and the Big East.
 
D3
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
D3 colleges are typically small and intimate and will offer financial aid not "athletic" scholarships and aid. Some of those schools are quite wealthy and can offer generous financial aid packages depending on your family's financial profile. Some of the soccer is quite excellent and they also have the NCAA post season tournament. I do not know how academic your player is but the higher her scores and grades the more options she will have. There are tons of D3 colleges that can offer great soccer experiences. I would refer you to this link for the most comprehensive coverage of D3 soccer. You can also PM me for more detail if interested.
Here is the link: https://d3soccer.com/landing/index

I strongly suggest viewing the site from a desktop not you smart phone as the mobile version is not as robust as when viewed from the desktop.

Finally if interested in a particular school then you can do more research by watching the games online. Most of the schools stream the games for free and you can go to their archives to watch several games to see how your player might fit in or to see the style of play the coach teaches.

The majority of the schools seem to be on the east coast with some sprinkled in Texas and the upper Midwest.

Since your daughter is only a freshman and has a sense of what she prefers you are already ahead of the game. Once she identifies some schools she should immediately write the coaches of each school. Also if it's in the budget she should plan on attending her top school's soccer clinics. Many of the D3 schools travel to the Vegas College showcase, Surf Cup, November Nights and even Nomads.

With the extra time you can also see D3 soccer live at Chapman College in Orange County or Whittier College or at Pomona College and the sister schools Claremont McKenna etc in Pomona/Claremont CA. For perspective, Pomona is ranked in the top 10 in D3 in the nation this season while Chapman is not typically at the top of their conference.
 
In addition to what soccerobserver said about writing the coaches, it’s useful to know that because D3’s don’t give out athletic scholarship money, they are not bound by the same NCAA recruiting restrictions that D1 and D2 schools are. Your daughter can communicate with D3 coaches at any time and they will answer her questions directly. While some do attend showcases, some do not have the budget for that and recruit mostly from their own ID camps. They can talk to you about all of that and will send you detailed information about both their soccer program and academic requirements if you ask.
 
We have a friend at Centre in KY, just outside of Lexington.
Top 25 D3 soccer program. The kids at Centre go to Lexington and follow UK football and basketball, as most of the state of KY does.
The soccer roster is pretty large so not a ton of playing time for our friend. Not sure how much they pay for school.
But I understand Centre is a great school and they love Lexington.
 
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
@ToonArmy the NCAA D3 Tournament selections were made today. Here is the link to the broadcast announcement: https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women

The great news for Socal is that Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA will host Claremont-McKenna vs Emory University and UC Santa Cruz vs Cal Lutheran on November 15-17. Pomona College also made the tournament but has to fly out of town for their initial games.
 
We have a friend at Centre in KY, just outside of Lexington.
Top 25 D3 soccer program. The kids at Centre go to Lexington and follow UK football and basketball, as most of the state of KY does.
The soccer roster is pretty large so not a ton of playing time for our friend. Not sure how much they pay for school.
But I understand Centre is a great school and they love Lexington.
I imagine your friend is happy as Centre went 21-0-0 this season and is playing in the NCAA D3 tournament as a result.

They will face Scranton ( 11-5-3).
 
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