Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

[LetThemPlay]

I remember reading the earliest posts in this thread about 5-6 years ago. My girl started her recruiting activities (sending out emails to college coaches) about a year ago (in the spring prior to starting her high school junior year), and although it was quite intense and stressful for 5 months, she was offered a verbal commitment from one of her "Top 3 Dream" D1 schools (consistently ranked in the Top 20 in various annual "Best Colleges" lists) that she never thought she would be able to get into with academics alone. So, of course, she accepted their offer! I feel very proud and very lucky that it worked out so well and so quickly for her. Meanwhile, other players on her team are now starting again to go through another recruiting cycle that's even more intense because it will coincide with college applications later this year.

Since I got so much useful info simply by reading many of the posts in this thread, I will do my best to reply to relevant posts (even from years ago) to highlight them or respond to any new questions.

A few bits of insight that I'm happy to share after being on this soccer journey with my daughter for 10+ years:

1. Appreciate every minute when you can watch her play or have a conversation with her (about soccer or anything else) -- the years go by very quickly, especially as she gets older and then starts to drive herself to trainings and games
2. Capture game videos rather than game photos if you can -- videos are much more effective for sharing with college coaches or just for replay to reminisce
3. Don't sweat the small stuff -- a bad ref call, a tight game that ended up a loss, she had a lousy game? These petty events don't matter compared to #1 above in the overall scheme of things. I used to be "that parent" during her U12 games -- pacing back and forth on the sideline, yelling "send it" (the 2nd most stupid thing a parent can say besides "push her back"), getting frustrated when she didn't start or got subbed out, etc. My best decision as a soccer parent was to "just shut up and enjoy watching the game" starting at U13. And I almost cried when she told me that she prefers having me drive her to games and be on the sideline rather than her Mom because she "yells too much."
4. Oh, did I mention appreciate every minute when you can watch her play?

 

[LetThemPlay]

Daughter has done two unofficial visits. One was close, organized, and made sense to go unofficial. One could have been official, our choice, the school mentioned they like to bring in all verbal commits in September of their senior year for an official visit that they use for team bonding. If she chooses that school she will go back again on their dime, without a parent. You can also walk the campus of schools on your own to see if you like them.

All 4-5 schools that were very interested in my daughter had the same approach with unofficial vs. official visits -- that is, they wanted to reserve the official visit only for the verbally committed players, and they strongly prefer to have as many of those players do the official visit during the same weekend.

A couple schools also arrange to have the unofficial visit happen on the same weekend for interested players -- even though the players could be competing for the same roster spot, my daughter said she actually enjoyed meeting and talking with other players during these unofficial visits.

 

[crush]

I remember reading the earliest posts in this thread about 5-6 years ago. My girl started her recruiting activities (sending out emails to college coaches) about a year ago (in the spring prior to starting her high school junior year), and although it was quite intense and stressful for 5 months, she was offered a verbal commitment from one of her "Top 3 Dream" D1 schools (consistently ranked in the Top 20 in various annual "Best Colleges" lists) that she never thought she would be able to get into with academics alone. So, of course, she accepted their offer! I feel very proud and very lucky that it worked out so well and so quickly for her. Meanwhile, other players on her team are now starting again to go through another recruiting cycle that's even more intense because it will coincide with college applications later this year.

Since I got so much useful info simply by reading many of the posts in this thread, I will do my best to reply to relevant posts (even from years ago) to highlight them or respond to any new questions.

A few bits of insight that I'm happy to share after being on this soccer journey with my daughter for 10+ years:

1. Appreciate every minute when you can watch her play or have a conversation with her (about soccer or anything else) -- the years go by very quickly, especially as she gets older and then starts to drive herself to trainings and games
2. Capture game videos rather than game photos if you can -- videos are much more effective for sharing with college coaches or just for replay to reminisce
3. Don't sweat the small stuff -- a bad ref call, a tight game that ended up a loss, she had a lousy game? These petty events don't matter compared to #1 above in the overall scheme of things. I used to be "that parent" during her U12 games -- pacing back and forth on the sideline, yelling "send it" (the 2nd most stupid thing a parent can say besides "push her back"), getting frustrated when she didn't start or got subbed out, etc. My best decision as a soccer parent was to "just shut up and enjoy watching the game" starting at U13. And I almost cried when she told me that she prefers having me drive her to games and be on the sideline rather than her Mom because she "yells too much."
4. Oh, did I mention appreciate every minute when you can watch her play?

Congrats on dream school for dd and 100% you did a super job dad and so did dd I knew some mama bears who yelled a lot and the dads were chill. I was a yeller until U16....lol! My dd has three more matches that she has committed to and then no more club. I watched a U10 game the other day for a few minutes after my dd U18/19 match up and I saw two dads that were pacing the sidelines hoping for a goal and a win. One of them was screaming at the ref and I saw my past self. I forgave myself for being way too into it, the winning part and the yelling at ref. It was `100% wrong on my part. U14 and younger was by far my most cherished times with my dd. Soccer changed after that. It became too much about the college deal and showcases, my poo I wish I could say I just kept my mouth shut after U13. Now I just sit and watch and cheer. I'm driving her to her last practice

 

[LetThemPlay]

I don't think it is too long. They can stop watching it at anytime. If what you put on their is quality, then it is fine. But, if it is a lot of the same stuff over and over, then I would eliminate the redundacy.

My daughter used a somewhat hidden feature of YouTube (only available in full website) which allows sharing a video link that starts at a specific timemark. This is much easier/faster for her to put together a list of 5-6 "highlights" (each with a timemarked YouTube video link) to share with college coaches vs. downloading YouTube videos, clipping them, and joining them into a single highlight video.

A few of the coaches told her that they liked having the full video because if they wanted to see a bit more of the gameplay leading up to the highlight timemark, they can easily do that. Another fascinating insight I got is that coaches actually reacted to how my daughter would celebrate a goal she had scored or assisted vs. a goal that happened without any involvement from her -- she gets just as excited for her teammates to score/assist by running to them and hugging them as she would jump for joy and open her arms to receive hugs from her teammates after she scored/assisted. These "qualities" of a player, showing their love for the game and they camaraderie with teammates, are almost never in any highlight reels that I've seen nor would my daughter or I even think about putting into her highlight reel if we were to create one (fortunately, we never had to).

 

[Simisoccerfan]

I remember reading the earliest posts in this thread about 5-6 years ago. My girl started her recruiting activities (sending out emails to college coaches) about a year ago (in the spring prior to starting her high school junior year), and although it was quite intense and stressful for 5 months, she was offered a verbal commitment from one of her "Top 3 Dream" D1 schools (consistently ranked in the Top 20 in various annual "Best Colleges" lists) that she never thought she would be able to get into with academics alone. So, of course, she accepted their offer! I feel very proud and very lucky that it worked out so well and so quickly for her. Meanwhile, other players on her team are now starting again to go through another recruiting cycle that's even more intense because it will coincide with college applications later this year.

Since I got so much useful info simply by reading many of the posts in this thread, I will do my best to reply to relevant posts (even from years ago) to highlight them or respond to any new questions.

A few bits of insight that I'm happy to share after being on this soccer journey with my daughter for 10+ years:

1. Appreciate every minute when you can watch her play or have a conversation with her (about soccer or anything else) -- the years go by very quickly, especially as she gets older and then starts to drive herself to trainings and games
2. Capture game videos rather than game photos if you can -- videos are much more effective for sharing with college coaches or just for replay to reminisce
3. Don't sweat the small stuff -- a bad ref call, a tight game that ended up a loss, she had a lousy game? These petty events don't matter compared to #1 above in the overall scheme of things. I used to be "that parent" during her U12 games -- pacing back and forth on the sideline, yelling "send it" (the 2nd most stupid thing a parent can say besides "push her back"), getting frustrated when she didn't start or got subbed out, etc. My best decision as a soccer parent was to "just shut up and enjoy watching the game" starting at U13. And I almost cried when she told me that she prefers having me drive her to games and be on the sideline rather than her Mom because she "yells too much."
4. Oh, did I mention appreciate every minute when you can watch her play?

Sounds like your ready for the next chapter, the battle to travel and get playing time. This is where you fully lose control since most coaches never talk to parents. No matter what her playing experience is try to stay positive through the process and enjoy the ride.

 

[LetThemPlay]

Making a video serves a purpose in the right circumstances, but anyone who relies on video really far behind the eight ball. What simisoccerfan said is the best advice anyone has given yet in this thread. Recruiting can be very easy and straightforward if kid plays at a solid ECNL club for a respected coach. College coaches show up in droves for good teams at showcases and will almost always pay close attention to a kid who has shown interest, at least if the club coach has recommended the player in advance and is respected enough for the college to know they don't oversell players.

Every dollar I paid for soccer was earned back 10x over when her coach sat us down to talk about her future, specifically college. We talked about her interests, grades and test scores, and the colleges we were interested in for and their educational programs. We discussed how he anticipated she would fit in with different college coaches given their respective personalities and styles of play. He knew everything, including the educational programs at every school we were interested in, and each of the college coaches personally including their personalities and style of play. We discussed the schools he thought she might have a hard time getting playing time and the extent to which that even mattered to her if, for example, soccer was just her way to leverage getting admitted to Stanford. He made calls to coaches at the schools we agreed were the best fits, every single one of them watched her team at a showcase a few weeks later and, in fact, 100 college coaches came to her team's games that weekend. Within a month she had unofficial visits to two Ivies, two Pac-12s, and the one WCC that interested us. There were no videos. There were no mass emails to college coaches. This is not how things were done at her club because it was not necessary. All it took was my daughter's hard work, excellent daily training and development, and a phone call.

It is painful seeing dads complain in the other thread that a club deserves to be in ECNL because it has a U14 team that beat a pre-ECNL team at Mustang. They have no idea what ECNL is about. It isn't about 14 year old girls winning as many soccer games as possible. Many of their daughters are 11, 12 or 13 and have the potential to leverage soccer into college opportunity that it beyond their parents' wildest dreams and the path is right there in front of them, but they will squander it. When they claim a club in Modesto should be in ECNL over one like Santa Rosa United that has not won much for a long time, they have no clue. They don't understand that any 13 year old girl with potential who plays at Santa Rosa who is committed will develop into a solid college recruit even if they lose all their games. They don't understand that this club has respected staff with a long history of developing kids who have ability, and who are respected by college coaches who will answer the phone and listen when they call based on mutual respect that has been earned over decades. They fail to understand that there has been a single family connected with that club for so long, and who have contributed to developing and putting so many girls into high level programs that it is ridiculous, so much so that a kid is 75% of the way to an offer just because one of them made a phone call. Whereas college coaches have dealt with unknown yahoo coaches trying to oversell players and waste their time their entire careers, and it is unlikely they will even listen to the voicemail when some unknown phone number pops up.

I would agree with all of the points above and the intricacies of the recruiting process because my daughter's team coach as well as her club's ECNL Director were instrumental in preparing her and her teammates for the recruiting process, in mentoring her to refine/optimize conversations with interested college coaches, and in helping to "clinch" the offer for a verbal commitment that she happily accepted. Game videos had only supplemental value in the entire recruiting process.

 

[LetThemPlay]

Sounds like your ready for the next chapter, the battle to travel and get playing time. This is where you fully lose control since most coaches never talk to parents. No matter what her playing experience is try to stay positive through the process and enjoy the ride.

I still have another year of her club and high school soccer to enjoy in person before she leaves the nest, and I'm going to cherish every minute of it.

Fortunately, her would be college has had most of their games available on ESPN+ (hope it'll remain the case going forward), so I'm expecting to be able to watch her virtually while she's in college. Regardless, my wife and I are already planning/budgeting to make at least 1-2 visits to watch her play in person (hopefully, she'll get some playtime at least pre-season if not during the season) and enjoy some vacation time while we're there.

 

[GT45]

All 4-5 schools that were very interested in my daughter had the same approach with unofficial vs. official visits -- that is, they wanted to reserve the official visit only for the verbally committed players, and they strongly prefer to have as many of those players do the official visit during the same weekend.

This is a spin for the schools/coaches to save money. They only have to fly in the players who end up committing there, rather than spend their recruiting dollars on someone who may turn them down. If it is a flying trip and they are serious about you, they should be paying for an official visit. If you end up committing there, you can pay for an unofficial on the weekend that all of the commits go in her senior year.

For those that do not know, you can only take one official visit per school, and five total. So local schools make sense in many cases to take unofficially.

 

[LetThemPlay]

This is a spin for the schools/coaches to save money. They only have to fly in the players who end up committing there, rather than spend their recruiting dollars on someone who may turn them down. If it is a flying trip and they are serious about you, they should be paying for an official visit. If you end up committing there, you can pay for an unofficial on the weekend that all of the commits go in her senior year.

For those that do not know, you can only take one official visit per school, and five total. So local schools make sense in many cases to take unofficially.

Fair point about schools holding back official visits to save money. It's never a mistake to ask for an official visit if the school seems to be very interested in the player. However, if the player is very interested in the school, then I wouldn't wait for the official visit if the cost for the unofficial visit is manageable, especially if there are other schools offering unofficial visits. In the recruiting process, it's helpful to experience as much of the school, coaching staff, and team -- in person -- as soon as possible in order to make comparisons and pros/cons.

 

[socalkdg]

Sad news my daughter never got a chance to do an official visit with any colleges.

Great news she accepted an offer today. Had two showcases the past two weekends, one where she guest played with another team at ManCity Cup, then with her club team at Legends Showcase. Between all the videos she has on her YouTube channel, keeping her Instagram updated (with my videos), our club coaches helping out, and constant badgering with emails (until they say they aren't interested, keep coming up with reasons to email).

She thought she wanted to go out of state and visited on school and they liked her a lot, but she realized she felt too far away from home, plus summers would cut dramatically with "Optional player led training starting in June". Additionally coming from socal she loves the diversity of our great state and didn't feel that at the school. About this time she also felt she had a clear number one locally.

Fast forward to her sending out about 25 emails before the first showcase (then having field times and numbers changing so she had to send out emails again.) She also opened up about the possibility of playing D2, and wasn't as high on her number one because she didn't feel any love coming from the coaching staff. Some new schools joined in on the pursuit, including Cal who she had some wonderful conversations with their keeper coach. One school had three coaches watch her this past weekend, spoke with her club coaches, and then spoke to her and another player on her team. She really liked them. Also turns out they had ECNL games there this weekend as well, so many of the coaches had a chance to watch their games besides showcase games. This was important because the school that had watched her was able to see other keepers during the same weekend.

Monday after the tourney they texted and asked if she could come for a tour Wednesday (today). It was separate from her teammate who will come see them next week and it makes sense as they don't want players knowing what other players are getting, plus each player has different needs. She did a two hour tour with 3 current players, then 1 hour with the head coach and my wife. (I never get to go to these, probably for the better). They told her she was the best keeper they had seen, they want to sign immediately, and they expect her to compete with the senior keeper her freshman year. They then made a great offer(better than I expected). For some reason they said they wanted to talk to me. They called, told me everything, and I asked my daughter if there was anything about the school she didn't' like. She said everything was great and wanted to say yes but mom said wait for dad.

After hearing all the details my daughter texted him, he called back, and she accepted the offer.(FYI kids and parents should not share exact details, my wife was going to tell her Dad and I had to remind her that he will end up telling everyone on the team at one of the games). He then called her club coach to let him know. Haven't seen my wife and kid this happy in a long time and great to know we still have 1 more year of club, 1 year of High School, and then 4 years of college. Thanks to everyone that has given advice on her and I'll continue to share as well.

 

[Dubs]

Sad news my daughter never got a chance to do an official visit with any colleges.

Great news she accepted an offer today. Had two showcases the past two weekends, one where she guest played with another team at ManCity Cup, then with her club team at Legends Showcase. Between all the videos she has on her YouTube channel, keeping her Instagram updated (with my videos), our club coaches helping out, and constant badgering with emails (until they say they aren't interested, keep coming up with reasons to email).

She thought she wanted to go out of state and visited on school and they liked her a lot, but she realized she felt too far away from home, plus summers would cut dramatically with "Optional player led training starting in June". Additionally coming from socal she loves the diversity of our great state and didn't feel that at the school. About this time she also felt she had a clear number one locally.

Fast forward to her sending out about 25 emails before the first showcase (then having field times and numbers changing so she had to send out emails again.) She also opened up about the possibility of playing D2, and wasn't as high on her number one because she didn't feel any love coming from the coaching staff. Some new schools joined in on the pursuit, including Cal who she had some wonderful conversations with their keeper coach. One school had three coaches watch her this past weekend, spoke with her club coaches, and then spoke to her and another player on her team. She really liked them. Also turns out they had ECNL games there this weekend as well, so many of the coaches had a chance to watch their games besides showcase games. This was important because the school that had watched her was able to see other keepers during the same weekend.

Monday after the tourney they texted and asked if she could come for a tour Wednesday (today). It was separate from her teammate who will come see them next week and it makes sense as they don't want players knowing what other players are getting, plus each player has different needs. She did a two hour tour with 3 current players, then 1 hour with the head coach and my wife. (I never get to go to these, probably for the better). They told her she was the best keeper they had seen, they want to sign immediately, and they expect her to compete with the senior keeper her freshman year. They then made a great offer(better than I expected). For some reason they said they wanted to talk to me. They called, told me everything, and I asked my daughter if there was anything about the school she didn't' like. She said everything was great and wanted to say yes but mom said wait for dad.

After hearing all the details my daughter texted him, he called back, and she accepted the offer.(FYI kids and parents should not share exact details, my wife was going to tell her Dad and I had to remind her that he will end up telling everyone on the team at one of the games). He then called her club coach to let him know. Haven't seen my wife and kid this happy in a long time and great to know we still have 1 more year of club, 1 year of High School, and then 4 years of college. Thanks to everyone that has given advice on her and I'll continue to share as well.
vm

Congrats! It really is a fantastic moment that you will all hold close as a family memory. Now the REAL works starts. Stay focused cause it only gets tougher.

 

[justneededaname]

I feel like we am just starting out, maybe we are in the thick of it, but here is what I have learned so far. I guess I am sharing it in case there is something that is just wrong, or there is something obvious that I am missing.

1. You're kid has to know what they are selling. Are they a soccer player who is decent academically, or an academic who also is decent at soccer. Different schools want different things.

My kid is selling a soccer player who is good enough academically that most coaches will feel comfortable they can get them through admissions.

2. Figuring out what your kid is looking for is important because the task is simply too big to not have a way to narrow it down. Do they:

Want to play soccer at any school that will take them
Want to play soccer at any school that will pay them
Want to play soccer, but only at specific schools
Want to go to a specific school or region and would prefer to play soccer if they can

My kid wants to stay in a specific geographic region. If they can play soccer, great! But they are not willing to go outside that region for soccer only. The one caveat being they "want to go somewhere unique. I don't know what that means but I think I will know it when I see it."

My kid's desired region made it easy to make a list of all the soccer schools in the region. There was the email list. Because of the "unique" thing, I have also added some places to the list that I think might fall into that category, based on 16 years experience with my kid.

3. You have to be honest about your kid's soccer resume and what level your kid plays at: DI, DII, DIII ... nowhere. I don't think you really know that until you start emailing and see who responds back. For my kid it became clear pretty fast.

4. The email subject line matters. It has to give them a reason to want to learn a little more.

5. Unweighted GPA seems to matter more than weighted. Every coach knows exactly what an unweighted GPA means. Weighed needs to have a lot of questions answered. The response rate went up a lot when my kid made that change.

6. Camps are pretty much worthless unless you have been invited. And like a personal invitation directed right at your kid and not from the list they got on for filling out the recruiting form. The biggest reason the camps are worthless is not a lot of people are honest in their answer to number 3.

7. The team they play on matters. I wish it didn't matter as much as it does, but it does. It isn't a deal killer, but it is definitely a deal starter.

8. Your kid can take time off and it will be OK. At the end of middle school my kid took 6 months off completely and another 12 months away from playing at a high level. It is working out.

9. If you have a boy, they are lying when they say you can't play high school. Sometimes that opens more doors than it closes. You have to evaluate your situation.

 

[KJR]

I feel like we am just starting out, maybe we are in the thick of it, but here is what I have learned so far. I guess I am sharing it in case there is something that is just wrong, or there is something obvious that I am missing.

1. You're kid has to know what they are selling. Are they a soccer player who is decent academically, or an academic who also is decent at soccer. Different schools want different things.

My kid is selling a soccer player who is good enough academically that most coaches will feel comfortable they can get them through admissions.

2. Figuring out what your kid is looking for is important because the task is simply too big to not have a way to narrow it down. Do they:

Want to play soccer at any school that will take them
Want to play soccer at any school that will pay them
Want to play soccer, but only at specific schools
Want to go to a specific school or region and would prefer to play soccer if they can

My kid wants to stay in a specific geographic region. If they can play soccer, great! But they are not willing to go outside that region for soccer only. The one caveat being they "want to go somewhere unique. I don't know what that means but I think I will know it when I see it."

My kid's desired region made it easy to make a list of all the soccer schools in the region. There was the email list. Because of the "unique" thing, I have also added some places to the list that I think might fall into that category, based on 16 years experience with my kid.

3. You have to be honest about your kid's soccer resume and what level your kid plays at: DI, DII, DIII ... nowhere. I don't think you really know that until you start emailing and see who responds back. For my kid it became clear pretty fast.

4. The email subject line matters. It has to give them a reason to want to learn a little more.

5. Unweighted GPA seems to matter more than weighted. Every coach knows exactly what an unweighted GPA means. Weighed needs to have a lot of questions answered. The response rate went up a lot when my kid made that change.

6. Camps are pretty much worthless unless you have been invited. And like a personal invitation directed right at your kid and not from the list they got on for filling out the recruiting form. The biggest reason the camps are worthless is not a lot of people are honest in their answer to number 3.

7. The team they play on matters. I wish it didn't matter as much as it does, but it does. It isn't a deal killer, but it is definitely a deal starter.

8. Your kid can take time off and it will be OK. At the end of middle school my kid took 6 months off completely and another 12 months away from playing at a high level. It is working out.

9. If you have a boy, they are lying when they say you can't play high school. Sometimes that opens more doors than it closes. You have to evaluate your situation.

I don't think there's one path for recruiting, so I appreciate that your experience is yours. I will say that ID camps (hosted by schools, not the big ones that promise "lots of coaches") were incredibly valuable to some of the girls on our team, who walked in unknown and ended up getting commitments--and these were at top-20 DI programs.

But I totally agree that you and your kid have to be objective about what level they can compete at--and also what level they want to compete at. Otherwise you're setting yourselves up for disappointment. Maybe your kid could play DI but wants the chance to do a semester abroad in college, or not have soccer be, essentially, a job. DII or DIII isn't "less" than DI if that's what will make your kid happy continuing to play.

This was our club's first year going through recruiting, and we're continuing to learn a lot that will, we think (hope), help our next teams to go through it. I've thought about sharing some of it here, but--again--every player/team/club is different. And I don't want to pretend to be an expert about it. But no coach (no matter what they say in the parking lot when they're trying to poach you after a game) is going to talk a college coach into taking player they don't believe in. There's no magic wand the club can wave (no matter what they have on their website about their "college pathway") to get their players recruited. We've played plenty of ECNL/GA girls who haven't had any contact with a college yet. The team and the club can offer a platform, a coach can put a kid on a college's radar, but the kid has to play their way onto the short list (and then have the grades to get through admissions.) Ultimately the process should be a partnership between the player, the club, and the team.

 

[GT45]

I would love to know more about this because I am struggling to beleive it. Your club's 'first year of going through recruiting' is curious in itself. Then you tell us that you have players "who walked in unknown [ID camps] and ended up getting commitments--and these were at top-20 DI programs.

Would love to know which Top 20 D1 programs are recruiting unknown non-ECNL GA players at random ID camps. Pretty unheard of for one kid to get such an offer, let alone multiple ones.

 

[KJR]

I would love to know more about this because I am struggling to beleive it. Your club's 'first year of going through recruiting' is curious in itself. Then you tell us that you have players "who walked in unknown [ID camps] and ended up getting commitments--and these were at top-20 DI programs.

Would love to know which Top 20 D1 programs are recruiting unknown non-ECNL GA players at random ID camps. Pretty unheard of for one kid to get such an offer, let alone multiple ones.

Would love to enlighten you but I'd rather not share recruiting information about girls who may not want it public yet (or whose schools are not letting them announce on social media yet). We'll be announcing our commitments when it's appropriate. We started our club in 2017; our 2005s are our first (and oldest) team--hence the first to go through recruiting. So: not very curious.

When my daughter went to a top 20 school's camp on the East Coast last summer, the coaches thought her club training shirt was an LA streetwear brand. They had no idea who she was or who we were. Eight months later she committed to them.

As I mentioned above, our experience may not match everyone else's. I'm not saying that all non-ECNL/non-GA players are being recruited at top programs (or being discovered in ID camps.) But if you can develop players who are good enough to compete on those teams, you don't have to be ECNL or GA to get on coaches' radar. It's... kind of the whole point of our club.

 

[GT45]

So your club is Tudela. Let's be honest then. You have an outlier team, and a coach with connections. I still doubt you have multiple players who showed up randomly at ID camps and received offers from them. Top 20 programs do not offer kids without watching them in games for starters.

 

[KJR]

So your club is Tudela. Let's be honest then. You have an outlier team, and a coach with connections. I still doubt you have multiple players who showed up randomly at ID camps and received offers from them. Top 20 programs do not offer kids without watching them in games for starters.

Yes. Our club is the logo in my profile picture--congratulations on figuring it out. The fact that you think a commitment to developing players makes us an "outlier" is part of the problem with youth soccer, and (again) kind of the whole point of our club. The fact that the only thing you can imagine is that a club coach needs "connections" to generate interest in his players is both predictable and, frankly, disappointing.

As for your other doubts? I never said that girls received offers at the ID camps--only that the camps were helpful. They got our girls on coaches' short lists, which started the process that led to offers. In my kid's case (as I wrote) it was eight months later, after seeing her play--and after she got offers from two rival programs. The reason I brought it up was to respond to someone else's impression that camps are useless unless a kid has been specifically invited to attend. In my experience, I don't necessarily agree and wanted to share that, because this thread is called "Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process."

Feel free to start another thread called, "I Don't Believe What People Say." But don't misrepresent me just because there's a narrative you want to cling to.

Best of luck with the rest of your youth soccer journey.

 

[GT45]

Yes. Our club is the logo in my profile picture--congratulations on figuring it out. The fact that you think a commitment to developing players makes us an "outlier" is part of the problem with youth soccer, and (again) kind of the whole point of our club. The fact that the only thing you can imagine is that a club coach needs "connections" to generate interest in his players is both predictable and, frankly, disappointing.

As for your other doubts? I never said that girls received offers at the ID camps--only that the camps were helpful. They got our girls on coaches' short lists, which started the process that led to offers. In my kid's case (as I wrote) it was eight months later, after seeing her play--and after she got offers from two rival programs. The reason I brought it up was to respond to someone else's impression that camps are useless unless a kid has been specifically invited to attend. In my experience, I don't necessarily agree and wanted to share that, because this thread is called "Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process."

Feel free to start another thread called, "I Don't Believe What People Say." But don't misrepresent me just because there's a narrative you want to cling to.

Best of luck with the rest of your youth soccer journey.

I am not on a soccer journey. I have been doing this a long time though with multiple kids going through the process. I don't look at logos on here. I read the threads and comment. Your post was misleading to people, and that was why I commented. 99% of the players who go to these ID camps in search of a top 20 Division I offer are not going to get a legit look. So let's be honest with parents on here. The first person who detailed how ID camps can benefit was right. Your response was giving false hope to people in my opinion. ID camps can benefit. But showing up as a random person at University of Top 20 program, is not likely to work for almost everyone.

When I said your club is an outlier, it is. It is a strong club that doesn't play ECNL or GA. That is an outlier. 99% of the top 20 college level female youth players play in those leagues. So your team/club is an outlier. That is not a negative term so not sure why you are defensive about that. My kids club is a top ECNL club. They develop players too.

 

[KJR]

I am not on a soccer journey. I have been doing this a long time though with multiple kids going through the process. I don't look at logos on here. I read the threads and comment. Your post was misleading to people, and that was why I commented. 99% of the players who go to these ID camps in search of a top 20 Division I offer are not going to get a legit look. So let's be honest with parents on here. The first person who detailed how ID camps can benefit was right. Your response was giving false hope to people in my opinion. ID camps can benefit. But showing up as a random person at University of Top 20 program, is not likely to work for almost everyone.

When I said your club is an outlier, it is. It is a strong club that doesn't play ECNL or GA. That is an outlier. 99% of the top 20 college level female youth players play in those leagues. So your team/club is an outlier. That is not a negative term so not sure why you are defensive about that. My kids club is a top ECNL club. They develop players too.

Apologies to anyone who can't read and was misled by: "I don't think there's one path for recruiting, so I appreciate that your experience is yours. I will say that ID camps (hosted by schools, not the big ones that promise "lots of coaches") were incredibly valuable to some of the girls on our team."

Sincerely regret not being honest with parents on here when I wrote: "I totally agree that you and your kid have to be objective about what level they can compete at--and also what level they want to compete at. Otherwise you're setting yourselves up for disappointment."

Maybe I was distracted by noticing users' logos instead of just commenting on posts I sort-of read. That's clearly the way a veteran youth soccer parent does it.

Is your big "gotcha" point that it's difficult to get recruited by a top DI program? Because that's blindingly obvious to everyone. It's just numbers. Pretty sure I didn't promise people that they could just roll up and have things work out, no matter what club they come from (btw, I saw plenty of kids from "top ECNL clubs" trudging off the field after ID camp scrimmages, complaining to their parents that they'd been put on bad teams and hadn't been able to show well.) Most of our girls weren't looking for top-20 teams, but they found it useful to target the ID camps of schools they were interested in and go--even if they weren't explicitly invited by the coach. It shows interest in the program and can get you on the coach's radar more effectively than emails/highlight videos (which coaches often go back and look at after they've seen you at their camp, even if they missed it the first time.) So, for Parents Just Starting the Process, consider that. Or don't. It's different for everyone, as I stated above, for those who missed it the first time. Or second, third, or fourth times.

Have a great Sunday, everyone. I'm off this thread.

 

[FilpoFutbol9]

Apologies to anyone who can't read and was misled by: "I don't think there's one path for recruiting, so I appreciate that your experience is yours. I will say that ID camps (hosted by schools, not the big ones that promise "lots of coaches") were incredibly valuable to some of the girls on our team."

Sincerely regret not being honest with parents on here when I wrote: "I totally agree that you and your kid have to be objective about what level they can compete at--and also what level they want to compete at. Otherwise you're setting yourselves up for disappointment."

Maybe I was distracted by noticing users' logos instead of just commenting on posts I sort-of read. That's clearly the way a veteran youth soccer parent does it.

Is your big "gotcha" point that it's difficult to get recruited by a top DI program? Because that's blindingly obvious to everyone. It's just numbers. Pretty sure I didn't promise people that they could just roll up and have things work out, no matter what club they come from (btw, I saw plenty of kids from "top ECNL clubs" trudging off the field after ID camp scrimmages, complaining to their parents that they'd been put on bad teams and hadn't been able to show well.) Most of our girls weren't looking for top-20 teams, but they found it useful to target the ID camps of schools they were interested in and go--even if they weren't explicitly invited by the coach. It shows interest in the program and can get you on the coach's radar more effectively than emails/highlight videos (which coaches often go back and look at after they've seen you at their camp, even if they missed it the first time.) So, for Parents Just Starting the Process, consider that. Or don't. It's different for everyone, as I stated above, for those who missed it the first time. Or second, third, or fourth times.

Have a great Sunday, everyone. I'm off this thread.

yo i appreciate you sharing your teams experience. the dude went from not believing you to acting like you'd hidden your identity to saying you misled everyone. i got what you were saying and have heard the same thing from other people. anyway congrats to your dd and her teammates. no jealousy here! ok maybe a little but i've seen yr team play