Recruiting Tips & Blog

The statistics say that only 5% of high school soccer players make a college roster. Many high schoolers struggle to decide where to spend their time and money in order to get recruited by a college coach. There are a number of strategies for getting recruited including College ID Camps, but are they really worth it? The goal of a College ID camp is to bring players and coaches together so that coaches can watch, coach and ultimately evaluate and recruit players for their college rosters.  But why are they so important? Let’s look at it from a college soccer coach’s perspective.

Evaluating your own level of soccer ability is often a difficult, but important process. As a soccer player about to begin your college recruiting journey it is important to understand where you fit in, how good you are, and what divisions and schools you should be looking at. Usually parents don’t have a clear idea of what levels of ability are required at NCAA DI, DII and DIII schools. Even if you know what NCAA Division you should be aiming for. Following the 4 steps below will greatly assist you in evaluating what types of schools you should be applying to, based on your ability.

40% of student-athletes transfer after their freshman year. Of these, another 40% transfer schools more than once. It is extremely important to spend time eliminating schools from your college search. In order to help you eliminate schools, read the list of schools you shouldn’t go to below. 1. The School That is Too Close or Too Far from Home The data says that 58% of students go to college within 100 miles of their home town, and only 11% venture further than 500 miles for college. Decide which type of person you are, and eliminate all schools that aren’t in the desired geographical location.

Aspiring college soccer players sign up for ID Camps in order to get recruited by college coaches. ID camps put players in the spotlight, allowing them to play in front of college coaches and ultimately, get recruited. An often understated, but extremely important component of a good college ID camp is how the schedule is organized. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating an ID camp schedule: #1 – Are players training or are they playing games?  #2 – How much are the players playing? Are players playing too many games and burning out in the process, or playing too few to be seen by college coaches?

Email is an extremely important tool during the college recruiting process. Thinking strategically about how to email soccer coaches can be the difference between a successful recruiting conversation and a lack of response. Here are 7 things to keep in mind when emailing college coaches. 1. Don’t make the email all about you If you want to stand out when you email coaches, don’t send a long list of your achievements, that is what your resume is for. Instead, tell the soccer coach about his/her school and program! Send a personalized email that makes it clear to the coach that you have researched the college and are familiar with both the team and the academic programs.

Communicating with a college coach in person, over the phone or through email is a great opportunity to make a good impression, as well as to ask questions that will help determine whether the college is a good fit for you academically, athletically and socially. You can also use this opportunity to find out more about the steps you need to take to be recruited to play at the college. Before we get started – In order to get to the point where you are asking these questions to a college coach you usually have to stand out from the crowd and get identified by the college coach.