USYS National Championship Livestream

devupa2.0 said:
- To give you a sense of level, my dd is not a national team pool player. She was invited to the ODP pool (last year), but didn't make the final cut. She has been involved in a run of US training centers, but nothing more than that. She'll be playing DA this fall. I guess I would say she is very ambitious, she is a very strong player, but she hasn't reached the "elite" level (yet ;-))

- Funadamentally, the unicorns are a little different than what you will read below. If she is a regular national team player, then she may have people coming to her, but most of our DD's are not in that situation.

- My dd is going into 8th grade this fall. It was clear that this is a good time for her to start the process of thinking about how to get noticed. Beyond the performance on the field, she needs to be looking into the type of schools she might be interested in (academically) and then considering among those which programs play soccer in a way that interests her. She has to start her scouting of the schools now and we as parents need to help with that. I must admit I was a bit surprised by this. It just seems early to me. I thought the girls that get noticed at the early ages were all unicorns. However, the feedback from this session was all about the player taking the initiative to get on the radar screen at schools of interest.
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8th Grade???Is that an '04? Isn't that U14?? The youngest age for the national teams is U14, it's promising that she's been in some TC's. As for ODP, I know plenty of elite players who didn't make the cut of who weren't even invited until later in the game, and are now playing at an extremely high level. @MakeAPlay 's DD is a great success story about not always being on top for the minute you have opportunities to be the "highest". It sounds like you were with an older age group, honestly, because of course it's important to start the process early, but all the talk about being a more consistent YNT players and more elite doesn't seem to coincide with her age.
 
devupa2.0 said:
Striker -

I've been wondering about this process myself. Unlike MAP and others, I am going through this for the first time with my DD and trying to learn as much as I can to help her reach her goals.

Last night our club put on a very informative college info night. It was designed to get the players info about the steps they should be taking to prepare for the college recruitment process. I came away from this with a few observations I'll share:

- To give you a sense of level, my dd is not a national team pool player. She was invited to the ODP pool (last year), but didn't make the final cut. She has been involved in a run of US training centers, but nothing more than that. She'll be playing DA this fall. I guess I would say she is very ambitious, she is a very strong player, but she hasn't reached the "elite" level (yet ;-))

- Funadamentally, the unicorns are a little different than what you will read below. If she is a regular national team player, then she may have people coming to her, but most of our DD's are not in that situation.

- My dd is going into 8th grade this fall. It was clear that this is a good time for her to start the process of thinking about how to get noticed. Beyond the performance on the field, she needs to be looking into the type of schools she might be interested in (academically) and then considering among those which programs play soccer in a way that interests her. She has to start her scouting of the schools now and we as parents need to help with that. I must admit I was a bit surprised by this. It just seems early to me. I thought the girls that get noticed at the early ages were all unicorns. However, the feedback from this session was all about the player taking the initiative to get on the radar screen at schools of interest.

- Lot's of info about what can and can't be done in the recruitment process at the early ages. Geeze these rules seem arcane! However, the general theme was that my DD needs to be taking her own initiative to develop her list of schools now based on criteria we will discuss together. She needs to reach out to programs of interest over the course of this year, just to let them know she is out there and interested in them. Get on their radar screen. At this age, she can't expect much back and forth in that communication (with some minor exceptions), but she can register her intent with them, which can make a huge difference.

- There was a panel of college coaches at the event (they are here this week in prep for Surf and Silverlakes). They gave a lot of interesting feedback. Lot's of attention being paid to the intangibles. Social media presence, off field behavior, interactions with the player and her coach/parents/other players. All these are observed and considered as a quick tool to cross someone off the list or give them a plus in a coach's mind. The numbers are staggering in terms of available players each year compared to the number of spots colleges have to fill. So, they use everything they can to make quick decisions that whittle down their list.

- The thing that I thought was interesting was the comments about seeing a player at events. The discussion was not about ECNL, DA, Surf, Disney, etc. It was much more about using a network of feedback to quickly evaluate whether they should watch a player. Overwhelmingly, the college coaches all spoke about the importance of the discussion with a club coach/DOC. Apparently, college coaches will reach out to clubs to enquire about a player that is on their radar screen. This is an important interaction. I found the comments very interesting. The clubs want to make honest recommendations because if they recommend players that are a waste of time for a college coach, then that college may not ask again. Similarly, the college coaches rely on that feedback as part of their process to whittle down the list of players they are considering.

- Given the comment in the paragraph above, colleges will find a way to watch players that may fit their needs. This gave me a sense that the league/playing circuit/tournament schedule matters much less than the quality of club/coach that your DD is with. While their role is only a small part of the recruitment process, it is important.

- There were lots of great comments about the way my DD should initiate communications. I won't get into those details other than to say this: I'm sure your club will provide a similar college info session(s), if they haven't already. I highly recommend your active participation. My DD's eyes were opened and so were mine (which kind of the intent of the whole thing). This is going to be a lengthy, challenging process, but I think we have the resources to help our DDs make this happen, if they are committed.

Hope this helps!
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Great post and very true.
 
PLSAP said:
8th Grade???Is that an '04? Isn't that U14?? The youngest age for the national teams is U14, it's promising that she's been in some TC's. As for ODP, I know plenty of elite players who didn't make the cut of who weren't even invited until later in the game, and are now playing at an extremely high level. @MakeAPlay 's DD is a great success story about not always being on top for the minute you have opportunities to be the "highest". It sounds like you were with an older age group, honestly, because of course it's important to start the process early, but all the talk about being a more consistent YNT players and more elite doesn't seem to coincide with her age.
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That's why we are asking you all as you have been through it. Our 04 are either 7 or 8 graders many have TDS ACCOUNTS, Instagram showcasing them, emails , etc .
I think we all understand YNT players would go first and those of us who had girls in ODP or USTC are in the radar but it's a whole new world that's why we asked you!
Did you start emails in 8th grade? Did you do videos?
 
PLSAP said:
8th Grade???Is that an '04? Isn't that U14?? The youngest age for the national teams is U14, it's promising that she's been in some TC's. As for ODP, I know plenty of elite players who didn't make the cut of who weren't even invited until later in the game, and are now playing at an extremely high level. @MakeAPlay 's DD is a great success story about not always being on top for the minute you have opportunities to be the "highest". It sounds like you were with an older age group, honestly, because of course it's important to start the process early, but all the talk about being a more consistent YNT players and more elite doesn't seem to coincide with her age.
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Colleges will trust their evaluations and they may not align with what the YNT or rating services see. There are some positions that are impossible to evaluate without watching a player. Also position changes matter too. In my player's case she switched positions towards the end of her U14 season and at her current position their are certain desirable attributes that come out at a later age.
 
Striker17 said:
That's why we are asking you all as you have been through it. Our 04 are either 7 or 8 graders many have TDS ACCOUNTS, Instagram showcasing them, emails , etc .
I think we all understand YNT players would go first and those of us who had girls in ODP or USTC are in the radar but it's a whole new world that's why we asked you!
Did you start emails in 8th grade? Did you do videos?
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My DD started sending emails at 8th grade only becuase she was on the ODP team and Region IV ODP team for her age group. Also, at Region IV ODP tryouts there was a list of college coaches who attended the camp to evaluate the players and a few of those schools she would consider attending after we discussed it as a family.

IMO, ODP pool invite and US Training Centers should expect committing by the end of their HS Jr year, so sending emails as HS Freshmen is more realistic. When researching universities, make sure you read the players bio's on their roster and see what type of individual player accolades they achieved. It will give you a good basis, if you are wasting your time with that school. Example: No YNT experience and your DD wants a chance to play in college....then UCLA, USC, Stanford are most likely off the list.

Another example: My DD's freshmen incoming class teammates...5 of the 7 field players all played on the same ODP Region IV team. The other 2 players, U20 YNT player and a Cal South ODP pool player top 36.
 
Thanks for all the information I have no desire for what the "traditional wishes are" of soccer parents. I have a very academic high achieving DD who wants a smaller exclusive school so I am pretty sure I am stuck in limbo until Junior year anyway
 
PSS love
NoGoal said:
My DD started sending emails at 8th grade only becuase she was on the ODP team and Region IV ODP team for her age group. Also, at Region IV ODP tryouts there was a list of college coaches who attended the camp to evaluate the players and a few of those schools she would consider attending after we discussed it as a family.

IMO, ODP pool invite and US Training Centers should expect committing by the end of their HS Jr year, so sending emails as HS Freshmen is more realistic. When researching universities, make sure you read the players bio's on their roster and see what type of individual player accolades they achieved. It will give you a good basis, if you are wasting your time with that school. Example: No YNT experience and your DD wants a chance to play in college....then UCLA, USC, Stanford are most likely off the list.

Another example: My DD's freshmen incoming class teammates...5 of the 7 field players all played on the same ODP Region IV team. The other 2 players, U20 YNT player and a Cal South ODP pool player top 36.
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PSS love the accolade rec I have been doing that. With ODP changing though I will be watching what happens to the 02 and 03 closely
 
Lots of good info. Thing to remember @Striker17 is every players journey is a bit different. My DD was recruited by top P5 and mid-major programs and she gave her verbal during her freshman year. No accolades along the way other than she performed consistently well in league and NE play against those players that were getting special invites to camps (NT, id2, ODP, etc). What made it a fairly stress-free ride was that we started visiting schools early with zero pressure. Walked around the campus. Visited the fields. Occasionally talked to players, administration, etc. Just going about our business building a "catalog" of experiences along the way so that when she felt ready (and it's different for EVERY player) and the offers were at hand, it was an exciting but informed decision. We could not be happier.

Again, everyone's story will be different (and hopefully personally amazing for your DD) at the end of the day. MAP, NoGoal, etc offer some great advice so read, re-read and learn from their experiences and the experiences of others as you move through the recruitment process.

Wish you the best of luck along the way!
 
Striker17 said:
Thanks for all the information I have no desire for what the "traditional wishes are" of soccer parents. I have a very academic high achieving DD who wants a smaller exclusive school so I am pretty sure I am stuck in limbo until Junior year anyway
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You're correct about the Ivies and D3 schools.
 
NoGoal said:
You're correct about the Ivies and D3 schools.
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We are also dual sport so it's odd how soccer is 8-9 grade and the other one is later.
For the record you guys are so helpful and I know we ask some dumb questions like who in the role does the recruiting video, how do you write an email, what's the difference between touching base and looking like an idiot?
My DD is specific but it's related to the other sport and also my alma mater. I am stress free about that to be honest.
With all this technology now it's kind of annoying so I for one appreciate your smack downs, reality checks and the occasional "hey it's gonna be ok talks " :)
 
Striker17 said:
Thanks for all the information I have no desire for what the "traditional wishes are" of soccer parents. I have a very academic high achieving DD who wants a smaller exclusive school so I am pretty sure I am stuck in limbo until Junior year anyway
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I may be wrong but I think Princeton, Yale and Brown recently "added" a few sophomores to their verbal list of commitments.
 
GoWest said:
I may be wrong but I think Princeton, Yale and Brown recently "added" a few sophomores to their verbal list of commitments.
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It could be that those players took the SAT/ACT early and did well. Harder for the Ivies, since they admit based on grades and test scores.
 
Just curious... A question for those parents who have had their dd's commit early, let's say, prior to junior year,if there were any regrets either way, or if everything worked out according to plan. We are starting to go through the very beginning process, but we hesitate to let her verbally commit too early. Is it becoming more commonplace to see so many 8,9,early 10th gr. commits, or has it always been this way? =)
 
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