Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

[momofgk]

I saw this thread pop up with new posts and just wondered what advice there is these days to start the process - seems like all the traditional info is now out the window - so glad we are past that step

My daughter is a 2021 who was out last end of sophomore season and most of last fall with ACL. She returned in December and was able to play a couple games in National League. Spring was supposed to be her time. She had talked to quite a few schools prior to her ACL, then things went pretty quiet. She has been emailing and sending training film since she doesn't have recent game footage to quite a few schools and actually has gotten a great response. A few serious contenders. Unfortunately, not able to go visit any in person right now. The coaches have set up zoom calls with her, had her do a zoom call with a current player at one school and the coaching staff also did a zoom call with us.

So current advice, try to get training film, send out those emails, make sure you provide your coach's contact info in the email, many have reached out to her coach. Follow up with a phone call to the schools you really are interested in. Her coach and gk coach have also been helpful in providing advice and speaking to college coaches for her. It is a tough spot.

 

[Ellejustus]

One more “I told you so”. I was also critical of the NCAA changing the recruiting rules so that kids could not have contact until end of sophomore year or visit until junior year, as it left kids with a very compressed time frame to educate themselves and make commitment decisions. A lot of people are probably really wishing their sophomore and junior daughters could have met with coaches as freshman and possibly committed much earlier.

Seriously, when I say it’s probably gonna snow in CO in April or GDA will fail, maybe ya’ll should listen.

I will say you have some things right EOTL, but many things you are so wrong you will regret it some day. Pride before the fall........ The girls were being abused with the old rules and by so many fake Docs and abusive coaches who yell and scream and manipulate young teenage females. True asshole men coaches treating young high school females like commodities to trade in the college stock market. One girls soccer coach at Yale made over $1,000,000 in Bribes to make a few extra bucks. I have so much more I will sit on it until the right time. GDA was the one thing you got right plus HS Soccer. A true Blues boy you are and that's ok too. I am so stoked I told my dd NOT to send emails to coaches in 7th and 8th grade all so she could get a fake happy bday phone call and then verbal. 80% changed their mind in the old way that is being wiped cleaned with Bleach.

 

[Ellejustus]

Some people have given me grief for saying that playing for the handful of queen maker coaches is the best and safest way to get recruited. If you did not heed it and your kid is an uncommitted junior or senior, you may be in real trouble, as Covid-19 has closed the door on the narrow path of playing showcases, getting seen there and emailing a lot of awesome recent video. A so so player at Blues before this happened is probably in much better shape right now than a much better player at the small club who hadn’t been found yet. Oh, and now is not the time to whine about fees if you’re one of the fortunate ones at a club with a coach who only needs to make a phone call on your kid’s behalf.

If it’s that important, you might consider moving to TX or GA, hopefully getting on one of their teams there, and taking your chances with Covid-19. Or get uber aggressive with the email and phone calls, and probably end up still having to try walking where you can get in academically and isn’t a soccer power. Even walking on may be rough at a lot of schools next fall if the season doesn’t move to spring, however, because a lot of seniors will come back or play as grad transfers, leaving a lot of teams with 5 years worth of players on the team. Also don’t discount juco until roster sizes return to normal.

One more “I told you so”. I was also critical of the NCAA changing the recruiting rules so that kids could not have contact until end of sophomore year or visit until junior year, as it left kids with a very compressed time frame to educate themselves and make commitment decisions. A lot of people are probably really wishing their sophomore and junior daughters could have met with coaches as freshman and possibly committed much earlier.

Seriously, when I say it’s probably gonna snow in CO in April or GDA will fail, maybe ya’ll should listen.

http://topdrawersoccer.com:8080/usc-head-coach-ali-khosroshahin-too-young-to-recruit_vid3699

This former coach said this when 9th grade was too young. Keep in mind, in 2017 it went cray cray and 6th grader verbal to NC and then my dd and all her friends were getting told to email in 7th and 8th to "practice" with recruiting. BS, it was getting the top players to communicate with the D1 coaches so they could call the goat and wish them a fake happy bday and then they commit without meeting the team, the school and the coach. Most young girls in 8th grade are not the woman they will be at 18. Their lies the problem EOTL. This speed dating recruiting was damaging to many female players and it had to stop. Plus middleman broker dude needed to get out of the way too. Let the girls take their time and visit the school, the coach and the team is the new way if you want to continue playing past HS.

 

[EOTL]

I am so stoked I told my dd NOT to send emails to coaches in 7th and 8th grade all so she could get a fake happy bday phone call and then verbal. 80% changed their mind in the old way that is being wiped cleaned with Bleach.

http://topdrawersoccer.com:8080/usc-head-coach-ali-khosroshahin-too-young-to-recruit_vid3699

This former coach said this when 9th grade was too young. Keep in mind, in 2017 it went cray cray and 6th grader verbal to NC and then my dd and all her friends were getting told to email in 7th and 8th to "practice" with recruiting. BS, it was getting the top players to communicate with the D1 coaches so they could call the goat and wish them a fake happy bday and then they commit without meeting the team, the school and the coach. Most young girls in 8th grade are not the woman they will be at 18. Their lies the problem EOTL. This speed dating recruiting was damaging to many female players and it had to stop. Plus middleman broker dude needed to get out of the way too. Let the girls take their time and visit the school, the coach and the team is the new way if you want to continue playing past HS.

Listen to what you’re saying. You are upset about people wishing other kids happy birthday, and are glad no one wishes your child happy birthday. You are really messed up in the head. And of course you are wrong about that anyway since coaches could not initiate contact under the old rules.

You’re also claiming that kids commit without meeting the team, the school and the coach, although that only happens under the new rules. Under the old rules, you could do all of that whenever you wanted, but now you can’t do it until junior year, or now at all due to Covid-19. Even in the absence of Covid-19, the new rules give you only a fee weeks between the time colleges start making offers and you need to accept before they give away your spot.

Oh, and dumbf**k, under the old rules everything was verbal until the same time frames as the new ones, so you could change your mind at any time if your daughter had a change of heart or priorities.

 

[Ellejustus]

You are really messed up in the head.

Oh, and dumbf**k, under the old rules everything was verbal until the same time frames as the new ones, so you could change your mind at any time if your daughter had a change of heart or priorities.

Thank you EOTL. I know you so powerful and one big no it all.
Why would I change my mind?
80% of the dear daughters changed their mind, that's why the old rules were changed in the first place. It got out of hand smarty. I took my little goat to a few colleges in 6th grade and even took in a few Pac 12 games.
Do you know how many girls were injured the last 10 years? Injured is a broad word too, so let me see your guess dude........

 

[Giesbock]

My 2 cents re. the new recruiting landscape:

Put on N-95 mask and fly to multiple-school ID camps. If you choose carefully with multiple schools that your kid is interested in, and schools where your kid has a realistic chance of getting attention of some coaches, they can be a good jumping off point.

Player needs to want it for themselves, email coaches, send functional training videos (not tricks).. Repeat so coaches get to see you in person a few times.

Be sure to carefully review and comply with inbound travel restrictions and quarantine guidelines cause that could obviously make a particular location a non starter.

i know there’s a line of thinking that multiple-school camps are a money grab and rarely are as meaningful as a school sponsored camp, but with the scarcity of tournaments and showcases, we’re looking for a multiplying efffect.

Innovative camps are letting registered players invite other coaches who are not affiliated with the camp the opportunity to watch live stream video from the camp.

Results so far are encouraging...our daughter has been contacted by more than a dozen coaches, invited to zoom meetings, virtual campus tours, and encouraged to keep them updated when the team schedule comes out. A mix of D1 and D3 programs. Not bad for an unknown 2022 grad confronted with these unusual times!

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Ellejustus]

My 2 cents re. the new recruiting landscape:

Put on N-95 mask and fly to multiple-school ID camps. If you choose carefully with multiple schools that your kid is interested in, and schools where your kid has a realistic chance of getting attention of some coaches, they can be a good jumping off point.

Player needs to want it for themselves, email coaches, send functional training videos (not tricks).. Repeat so coaches get to see you in person a few times.

Be sure to carefully review and comply with inbound travel restrictions and quarantine guidelines cause that could obviously make a particular location a non starter.

i know there’s a line of thinking that multiple-school camps are a money grab and rarely are as meaningful as a school sponsored camp, but with the scarcity of tournaments and showcases, we’re looking for a multiplying efffect.

Innovative camps are letting registered players invite other coaches who are not affiliated with the camp the opportunity to watch live stream video from the camp.

Results so far are encouraging...our daughter has been contacted by more than a dozen coaches, invited to zoom meetings, virtual campus tours, and encouraged to keep them updated when the team schedule comes out. A mix of D1 and D3 programs. Not bad for an unknown 2022 grad confronted with these unusual times!

Hope this helps a bit.

Thank you so much for the information bro. I hope your dd finds what she's looking for in all these wild times. Hopefully we can get some fall league games and then kick off high soccer with a bang

 

[310soccer]

Question! Should you email a college coach during Covid? Better question is should you email a college coach with updates on how a player (05 Girl) is progressing with there strengths they've been working on, how training is starting up, Topdrawer ranking has went up, etc. It is overkill to reach out at this time or a waste of time?

 

[Justafan]

My 2 cents re. the new recruiting landscape:

Put on N-95 mask and fly to multiple-school ID camps. If you choose carefully with multiple schools that your kid is interested in, and schools where your kid has a realistic chance of getting attention of some coaches, they can be a good jumping off point.

Player needs to want it for themselves, email coaches, send functional training videos (not tricks).. Repeat so coaches get to see you in person a few times.

Be sure to carefully review and comply with inbound travel restrictions and quarantine guidelines cause that could obviously make a particular location a non starter.

i know there’s a line of thinking that multiple-school camps are a money grab and rarely are as meaningful as a school sponsored camp, but with the scarcity of tournaments and showcases, we’re looking for a multiplying efffect.

Innovative camps are letting registered players invite other coaches who are not affiliated with the camp the opportunity to watch live stream video from the camp.

Results so far are encouraging...our daughter has been contacted by more than a dozen coaches, invited to zoom meetings, virtual campus tours, and encouraged to keep them updated when the team schedule comes out. A mix of D1 and D3 programs. Not bad for an unknown 2022 grad confronted with these unusual times!

Hope this helps a bit.

Who's holding camps right now? Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and California have no camps that I know of.

 

[Soccerfan2]

Question! Should you email a college coach during Covid? Better question is should you email a college coach with updates on how a player (05 Girl) is progressing with there strengths they've been working on, how training is starting up, Topdrawer ranking has went up, etc. It is overkill to reach out at this time or a waste of time?

Yes, still reach out periodically and/or when you have a meaningful update. Include training/skill clips when they show growth and progress.

 

[Kicker4Life]

Question! Should you email a college coach during Covid? Better question is should you email a college coach with updates on how a player (05 Girl) is progressing with there strengths they've been working on, how training is starting up, Topdrawer ranking has went up, etc. It is overkill to reach out at this time or a waste of time?

If she is a class of 2023 or 2024 then it is not a waste of time.

 

[Ellejustus]

Question! Should you email a college coach during Covid? Better question is should you email a college coach with updates on how a player (05 Girl) is progressing with there strengths they've been working on, how training is starting up, Topdrawer ranking has went up, etc. It is overkill to reach out at this time or a waste of time?

I've heard from a few insiders who said the coaches have a lot on their plate right about now. Shoot them the ranking report that shows the green arrow going up ((dont send if you have a red arrow)) and I'm sure that might grab their attention. Good luck 310 and be patient. My dd ((2022)) has not emailed yet and is looking crack the top 150 before hitting send.

 

[Copa9]

If she is a class of 2023 or 2024 then it is not a waste of time.

Reminder, check the new NCAA rules regarding contacting coaches. If you are a current Junior this school year you will be fine, if you are a sophomore or freshman double check all the rules.

 

[Kicker4Life]

Reminder, check the new NCAA rules regarding contacting coaches. If you are a current Junior this school year you will be fine, if you are a sophomore or freshman double check all the rules.

Yah thanks. I’m pretty well versed in the rules and not one of them prevent the player contacting the Coach via email.

 

[gotothebushes]

I've heard from a few insiders who said the coaches have a lot on their plate right about now. Shoot them the ranking report that shows the green arrow going up ((dont send if you have a red arrow)) and I'm sure that might grab their attention. Good luck 310 and be patient. My dd ((2022)) has not emailed yet and is looking crack the top 150 before hitting send.

A lot on their plate? I would think it slowed down a bit given the 50% of teams have been moved to the fall. Maybe there concentrating on only 04's?

 

[gotothebushes]

Yah thanks. I’m pretty well versed in the rules and not one of them prevent the player contacting the Coach via email.

How often should you email a coach during this pandemic? Just Curious. If there's no updates and training just started, why even bother.

 

[310soccer]

Yes, still reach out periodically and/or when you have a meaningful update. Include training/skill clips when they show growth and progress.

Thanks!

 

[Ellejustus]

A lot on their plate? I would think it slowed down a bit given the 50% of teams have been moved to the fall. Maybe there concentrating on only 04's?

I wouldnt know for sure, but some are just hoping their program is alive after all this is over. I was trying to get my player in the top 150 before all this went down. I know your cool with no actual soccer games and just develop this season, what about next year? No games for 12 more months or longer? Is there even going to be a girls soccer program at some of these schools?

 

[Kicker4Life]

How often should you email a coach during this pandemic? Just Curious. If there's no updates and training just started, why even bother.

I would say that’s a personal preference. My DD is a 2023 and emails her Coach list monthly as a touch base (she waits for Holidays or other “Hallmark” (think National Cupcake day) type holidays to send them).

 

[gotothebushes]

I wouldnt know for sure, but some are just hoping their program is alive after all this is over. I was trying to get my player in the top 150 before all this went down. I know your cool with no actual soccer games and just develop this season, what about next year? No games for 12 more months or longer? Is there even going to be a girls soccer program at some of these schools?

I heard top drawer is not reliable because its ran by 3 dudes in Socal and the rankings are useless because anyone can email them barking that there dd is worthy of being top 150 and then 2 weeks later there dd is ranked. Any truth to that? 2 college scouts said they don't pay attention to top drawer. I see how it can help get your player some recognition though.

 

[Zen]

Question! Should you email a college coach during Covid? Better question is should you email a college coach with updates on how a player (05 Girl) is progressing with there strengths they've been working on, how training is starting up, Topdrawer ranking has went up, etc. It is overkill to reach out at this time or a waste of time?

Yes, especially if your daughter is really interested in the schools. Now is a great time. Email is not invasive. Our coach advised we start writing freshman year (especially before showcases). Even in absence of them, it does not hurt to try to get on their radar for when they resume. Developing a relationship early may help differentiate her later when they're deciding between players that look similar/equal. If playing in college is the goal, I would NOT advise waiting for their junior year to get started. If the rules stay the same, it will be really important to write schools and send videos during her sophmore year before the June 15th date. I think that will give your daughter the best positioning and options for whatever happens.