Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

Beyond the academics of an institution, what would be the best ways to evaluate the quality of the various soccer programs? Let's say that a player really does have potential for a professional soccer career, but wants to obtain their degree & play college ball on the way to a professional contract. I would think that not just the coach, but the assembled set of trainers need to be savvy enough to know how best to work with the students to help prevent injury. How would one best assess the overall strength of the soccer program?
 
Juggling said:
Beyond the academics of an institution, what would be the best ways to evaluate the quality of the various soccer programs? Let's say that a player really does have potential for a professional soccer career, but wants to obtain their degree & play college ball on the way to a professional contract. I would think that not just the coach, but the assembled set of trainers need to be savvy enough to know how best to work with the students to help prevent injury. How would one best assess the overall strength of the soccer program?
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My DD has post-degree aspirations of playing professionally in Europe for a couple of years (hopefully not France), so we looked at the roster of the universities that she liked. The ones that have a couple or a few European players on the roster likely have contacts or a pipeline to programs in Europe and can help match her to an appropriate team/league. I also think that playing in a Power 5 conference (ACC) will help prepare her for a professional career.
 
CaliKlines said:
My DD has post-degree aspirations of playing professionally in Europe for a couple of years (hopefully not France), so we looked at the roster of the universities that she liked. The ones that have a couple or a few European players on the roster likely have contacts or a pipeline to programs in Europe and can help match her to an appropriate team/league. I also think that playing in a Power 5 conference (ACC) will help prepare her for a professional career.
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Agreed.... we found Acc/east coast uni's seemed to be well connected with euro pro leagues.
 
Juggling said:
Beyond the academics of an institution, what would be the best ways to evaluate the quality of the various soccer programs? Let's say that a player really does have potential for a professional soccer career, but wants to obtain their degree & play college ball on the way to a professional contract. I would think that not just the coach, but the assembled set of trainers need to be savvy enough to know how best to work with the students to help prevent injury. How would one best assess the overall strength of the soccer program?
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Is this what she has in mind?

http://thepioneeronline.com/29758/opinions/womens-u-s-soccer-struggles-to-break-ground/
 
Zerodenero said:
Is this what she has in mind?

http://thepioneeronline.com/29758/opinions/womens-u-s-soccer-struggles-to-break-ground/
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Thanks, it does make sense to look at how well players do coming out of various college programs as a way to assess quality.

Would there be a way to get a sense of how many injuries the players suffer, relative to other programs, as a way to see if their athletic training is good? I'm asking in part because there are certainly examples of highly promising athletes who unfortunately suffer career ending injuries, and in some cases one wonders if those injuries could have been avoided if the training had been different.
 
Juggling said:
Beyond the academics of an institution, what would be the best ways to evaluate the quality of the various soccer programs? Let's say that a player really does have potential for a professional soccer career, but wants to obtain their degree & play college ball on the way...
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The response maybe gender dependent, because if this is a male player, the four years in college leaves player so far behind his peers, that it may not be a good path. If the player truly possesses pro caliber skills and dedication, go to professional team trials in Europe or South America and skip college. I say this knowing the value of education in life (have two Masters degrees).

There is a VERY small window in one's life for doing this sort of things. One can always get a degree in mid 20s+, but the window to turn pro is very small and the age will be against you. And career ending/limiting injury is not uncommon in college style game.
 
mirage said:
The response maybe gender dependent, because if this is a male player, the four years in college leaves player so far behind his peers, that it may not be a good path. If the player truly possesses pro caliber skills and dedication, go to professional team trials in Europe or South America and skip college. I say this knowing the value of education in life (have two Masters degrees).

There is a VERY small window in one's life for doing this sort of things. One can always get a degree in mid 20s+, but the window to turn pro is very small and the age will be against you. And career ending/limiting injury is not uncommon in college style game.
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I agree. For talented males professional soccer is a viable path. For women it is a path that isn't for the faint of heart with literally a dozen or so players that can do it and live a middle class or better lifestyle.
 
MakeAPlay said:
I agree. For talented males professional soccer is a viable path. For women it is a path that isn't for the faint of heart with literally a dozen or so players that can do it and live a middle class or better lifestyle.
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The women who have any chance at WNT are obvious from about age 14. For the rest, prepare for college -- and that starts with academic grades.
 
mirage said:
The response maybe gender dependent, because if this is a male player, the four years in college leaves player so far behind his peers, that it may not be a good path. If the player truly possesses pro caliber skills and dedication, go to professional team trials in Europe or South America and skip college. I say this knowing the value of education in life (have two Masters degrees).

There is a VERY small window in one's life for doing this sort of things. One can always get a degree in mid 20s+, but the window to turn pro is very small and the age will be against you. And career ending/limiting injury is not uncommon in college style game.
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Decisions, decisions! Its too bad that the professional route is so limited for women, but its obviously not easy for men either. Would keepers be just as behind as field players if they chose to do college first, or would there be yet another set of variables to weigh for them?
 
espola said:
The women who have any chance at WNT are obvious from about age 14. For the rest, prepare for college -- and that starts with academic grades.
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I disagree. I've seen the names change a lot from U14 to U17 and than again to U20. You have the top 2 or 3 that are untouchable, but the YNT camps seem to constantly shuffle names. This tells me that U14 is not the end at all, but only the beginning. If you mean by "obvious" possibilities, I agree, but I can't think of ONE U14 that I'd bet $5 on to make the senior WNT in 5 years. Not because they aren't good enough today, but because it's simply too soon to tell and a lot changes in that time frame as does the competition, which cycles in constantly.
 
CopaMundial said:
I disagree. I've seen the names change a lot from U14 to U17 and than again to U20. You have the top 2 or 3 that are untouchable, but the YNT camps seem to constantly shuffle names. This tells me that U14 is not the end at all, but only the beginning. If you mean by "obvious" possibilities, I agree, but I can't think of ONE U14 that I'd bet $5 on to make the senior WNT in 5 years. Not because they aren't good enough today, but because it's simply too soon to tell and a lot changes in that time frame as does the competition, which cycles in constantly.
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The reason the names change from u16+ is 95% politics and 5% play style. Also, the top player in each age group is the only one that has any real chance at the WNT. The rest are just chasing the dream or have parents that are chasing it for them.
 
My DD used collegefitfinder.com to narrow her search. No sense in wasting time looking at a school that doesn't have your kids major.

She took the ACT three times (raising her test score) after she committed. This raised the level of her academic portion of her scholarship to highest the school offered.

Concentrate on good grades.

In regards to soccer? Learn to use both feet as soon as possible.

Study and get good grades. Take AP classes and get good grades...
 
Unless your kids is super academically gifted and wants to attend an Ivy league school, forget about AP and honors classes. It is not worth the rigor. The majority of colleges and their respective scholarships only consider your unweighted GPA. I can tell you story after story of false prophets (i.e., high school counselors) exposing the philosophy of "rigor" and then the painful reality hits at scholarship award time when the general education student (e.g., who never took an honors or AP class) with a 4.0 earns the award. Another important consideration is how does your high school calculate class rank. It is either weighted or unweighted. Oh, and don't pull-up middle school grades if your daughter's GPA is 3.9 and her high school calculates class rank with weighted grades. Middle school grades are always on a 4.0 scale so pulling up her A will end up decreasing her GPA and will definitely impact her class rank.
 
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Multi Sport said:
My DD used collegefitfinder.com to narrow her search. No sense in wasting time looking at a school that doesn't have your kids major.

She took the ACT three times (raising her test score) after she committed. This raised the level of her academic portion of her scholarship to highest the school offered.

Concentrate on good grades.

In regards to soccer? Learn to use both feet as soon as possible.

Study and get good grades. Take AP classes and get good grades...
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Great post and very true!
 
ECNL said:
Unless your kids is super academically gifted and wants to attend an Ivy league school, forget about AP and honors classes. It is not worth the rigor. The majority of colleges and their respective scholarships only consider your unweighted GPA......
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Every college I know look for students that challenge themselves academically and taking AP, IB, and Honors class demonstrates that.

The reason most colleges use unweighted GPA is because different schools give weighted values to different types of classes. By taking the weighing out, it give them level view for evaluation. That should not be confused with its not important nor not needed.

To advise someone, who is less than "super academically gifted" (whatever that means) not to take any AP or Honors classes to avoid rigorous classes, would be a mistake in my mind.

Another reason to take AP classes, then the AP tests, is to gain college credit. One can argue if its one for one or if they accept just passing score versus 5/5 score on the tests, in most cases, some credit is given to the students for doing so.

I know many students that took AP classes and passed with 3/5 and gotten UC and Cal State school credits, and entered their freshman year with sophomore class standing. In other words, the likelihood of them graduating sooner is greater (i.e., less tuition due to shorter time spent=lower costs).

As for Ivys and other top 20 academically ranked schools, one is definitely at a disadvantage without APs because all others, including soccer players/athletes, all have plenty of AP classes. One of the key criteria for many of those schools is that the athletic population should be representative of the entire college. Meaning that should be close to the non-athletic general population.
 
mirage said:
Every college I know look for students that challenge themselves academically and taking AP, IB, and Honors class demonstrates that.

The reason most colleges use unweighted GPA is because different schools give weighted values to different types of classes. By taking the weighing out, it give them level view for evaluation. That should not be confused with its not important nor not needed.

To advise someone, who is less than "super academically gifted" (whatever that means) not to take any AP or Honors classes to avoid rigorous classes, would be a mistake in my mind.

Another reason to take AP classes, then the AP tests, is to gain college credit. One can argue if its one for one or if they accept just passing score versus 5/5 score on the tests, in most cases, some credit is given to the students for doing so.

I know many students that took AP classes and passed with 3/5 and gotten UC and Cal State school credits, and entered their freshman year with sophomore class standing. In other words, the likelihood of them graduating sooner is greater (i.e., less tuition due to shorter time spent=lower costs).

As for Ivys and other top 20 academically ranked schools, one is definitely at a disadvantage without APs because all others, including soccer players/athletes, all have plenty of AP classes. One of the key criteria for many of those schools is that the athletic population should be representative of the entire college. Meaning that should be close to the non-athletic general population.
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Great post!
 
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