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!
