Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

ToonArmy said:
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
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Most colleges are happy to recruit Socal girls, the key is for the player to have a genuine interest and knowledge of the school, and be able to articulate why they want to leave beautiful CA and go to college in a place with four seasons and no beach. Colleges/coaches often get burned by Socal girls showing interest but staying home, or transferring.

Many top academic small schools are D3, so money is based on financial aid, grants, merit scholarships, and not sports. It is still there, you just need to navigate that process in parallel with soccer. The NESCAC schools, Centennial Conference, and some smaller University Athletic Association schools all would fit the D3, small school, decent soccer mold, just need to research the school culture as some support sports, while others do not. There are also the Ivies with need-based aid, if your daughter is at that level academically, but many are looking at national pool players these days, and are competing with Duke, Stanford and the like recruiting players.

That being said, if you are still looking for athletic $, playing time, school spirit, smaller/medium colleges, decent alumni networks, and a D1 experience, as well as colleges often overlooked by Socal girls, I would recommend your daughter take a look at current and former colleges in the Patriot League, and some of the smaller colleges in the Atlantic 10 and the Big East.
 
D3
ToonArmy said:
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
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D3 colleges are typically small and intimate and will offer financial aid not "athletic" scholarships and aid. Some of those schools are quite wealthy and can offer generous financial aid packages depending on your family's financial profile. Some of the soccer is quite excellent and they also have the NCAA post season tournament. I do not know how academic your player is but the higher her scores and grades the more options she will have. There are tons of D3 colleges that can offer great soccer experiences. I would refer you to this link for the most comprehensive coverage of D3 soccer. You can also PM me for more detail if interested.
Here is the link: https://d3soccer.com/landing/index

I strongly suggest viewing the site from a desktop not you smart phone as the mobile version is not as robust as when viewed from the desktop.

Finally if interested in a particular school then you can do more research by watching the games online. Most of the schools stream the games for free and you can go to their archives to watch several games to see how your player might fit in or to see the style of play the coach teaches.

The majority of the schools seem to be on the east coast with some sprinkled in Texas and the upper Midwest.

Since your daughter is only a freshman and has a sense of what she prefers you are already ahead of the game. Once she identifies some schools she should immediately write the coaches of each school. Also if it's in the budget she should plan on attending her top school's soccer clinics. Many of the D3 schools travel to the Vegas College showcase, Surf Cup, November Nights and even Nomads.

With the extra time you can also see D3 soccer live at Chapman College in Orange County or Whittier College or at Pomona College and the sister schools Claremont McKenna etc in Pomona/Claremont CA. For perspective, Pomona is ranked in the top 10 in D3 in the nation this season while Chapman is not typically at the top of their conference.
 
In addition to what soccerobserver said about writing the coaches, it’s useful to know that because D3’s don’t give out athletic scholarship money, they are not bound by the same NCAA recruiting restrictions that D1 and D2 schools are. Your daughter can communicate with D3 coaches at any time and they will answer her questions directly. While some do attend showcases, some do not have the budget for that and recruit mostly from their own ID camps. They can talk to you about all of that and will send you detailed information about both their soccer program and academic requirements if you ask.
 
We have a friend at Centre in KY, just outside of Lexington.
Top 25 D3 soccer program. The kids at Centre go to Lexington and follow UK football and basketball, as most of the state of KY does.
The soccer roster is pretty large so not a ton of playing time for our friend. Not sure how much they pay for school.
But I understand Centre is a great school and they love Lexington.
 
ToonArmy said:
Does anyone know of any nice small out of state colleges that recruit socal girls? My daughter just recently told us that she doesn't want to go to a big school and would like to get out of state or socal. Doesn't matter the division. As far as soccer goes she is looking for playing time and I looking for as much $ as possible. Smaller campus in a nice college town good academics and decent women's soccer atmosphere. She is a high school freshman and still has time but we have no clue what's out there outside of the big football schools and would like to start researching before showing interest and making contacts.
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@ToonArmy the NCAA D3 Tournament selections were made today. Here is the link to the broadcast announcement: https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women

The great news for Socal is that Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA will host Claremont-McKenna vs Emory University and UC Santa Cruz vs Cal Lutheran on November 15-17. Pomona College also made the tournament but has to fly out of town for their initial games.
 
jojosoccer said:
We have a friend at Centre in KY, just outside of Lexington.
Top 25 D3 soccer program. The kids at Centre go to Lexington and follow UK football and basketball, as most of the state of KY does.
The soccer roster is pretty large so not a ton of playing time for our friend. Not sure how much they pay for school.
But I understand Centre is a great school and they love Lexington.
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I imagine your friend is happy as Centre went 21-0-0 this season and is playing in the NCAA D3 tournament as a result.

They will face Scranton ( 11-5-3).
 
eastbaysoccer said:
Less then 3% make it to D1 and certainly a percentage from that won’t even play and another percentage will only average 500 minutes per year.

IMO it’s all about education and getting some free money to pay for it.
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While those numbers are kid of low (remember every year hundreds of schools d1) have scholarships left untaken) it's not all about D1. Go somewhere where you're gonna get some money, not have loans when it's all said and done, and enjoy the college experience.
 
SoccerJones said:
While those numbers are kid of low (remember every year hundreds of schools d1) have scholarships left untaken) it's not all about D1. Go somewhere where you're gonna get some money, not have loans when it's all said and done, and enjoy the college experience.
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those numbers are posted on the last NCAA website and they're still pretty accurate, D1 is less likely to hand out "full" rides, those 14 scholarships are divided up between 14 players, D2 is about as generous however, D3 does "merit" based and is much more generous, if grades are good going in, the money is BIG, the chances are your kid plays beyond the 1.5 year average, gets a good education and can still live the dream all 4 years (because there's NOTHING after that for girls)...enjoy the ride!
 
Overlap said:
please enlighten us as to what's after college soccer (less than 1% will go pro)...
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Well, one of my players did actually go pro and got to travel europe and play in the Champions League. She parlayed that experience into collegiate coaching. Not making millions but has a nice career being involved in the sport she loves.

Not many slots in Pro women's soccer as there are in the NFL or in baseball (playing in the minors in baseball is a grind and not gonna get you rich either) but if the talent is there and the willingness to keep playing there are opportunities all over the world.
 
gkrent said:
Well, one of my players did actually go pro and got to travel europe and play in the Champions League. She parlayed that experience into collegiate coaching. Not making millions but has a nice career being involved in the sport she loves.

Not many slots in Pro women's soccer as there are in the NFL or in baseball (playing in the minors in baseball is a grind and not gonna get you rich either) but if the talent is there and the willingness to keep playing there are opportunities all over the world.
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that's great for that 1 player however, 1 in how many? My point is, the odds are not in their favor, education is more important as soccer will not last forever and they'll need to be able to fall back on something they can do later in life, don't get me wrong, I love the fact they can play on but, the reality is, it's not going to last forever
 
gkrent said:
Well, one of my players did actually go pro and got to travel europe and play in the Champions League. She parlayed that experience into collegiate coaching. Not making millions but has a nice career being involved in the sport she loves.

Not many slots in Pro women's soccer as there are in the NFL or in baseball (playing in the minors in baseball is a grind and not gonna get you rich either) but if the talent is there and the willingness to keep playing there are opportunities all over the world.
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I agree that playing in baseball minor leagues is a grind that makes no money, However, many minor leaguers got a big signing bonus out of high school of college, probably the biggest check they will see in their lives. If it is judiciously structured they can live better than those guys on their AA team that are playing baseball because they love it and/or their only alternative is driving for Uber.
 
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