How does the process work?

[WCA Soccer Fan]

Parent of a U16 player wondering how does the recruiting process work... would love to hear any advice or insight to this process. What are some good resources to learn more?
Thanks!

[Admin]

Parent of a U16 player wondering how does the recruiting process work... would love to hear any advice or insight to this process. What are some good resources to learn more?
Thanks!

Unless you are a Top Flight National ODP or Regional ODP Pool Type player, most likely you will not get "Recruited" as how it's depicted on TV or in movies for football players and other athletes. Reality just isn't like that unless you are lucky, especially in soccer. Even the top flight players must do the work to try and get a spot on a quality team.

The only way for the process to work is take steps to start the ball rolling for your player. Don't depend on your Club Coach, HS Coach or ODP Coach. Educate yourself about the different steps and tools in the process in order to help your athlete. If your Coaches help out, great, the right coach is a fantastic tool and contact. But, I know too many families and tremendous players who were college level type athletes in various sports and they simply got looked over because they didn't do anything and thought the College Coaches/schools would come find them and that their HS, Club, or ODP Coach was doing this work for them. Only to find out that sometimes the College Coach does want them but doesn't think they have a good enough shot at the athlete, so they don't bother to contact them and it's too late.

There are several steps in the process, I am going to be listing 5 links below to help get you started. Sorry for the homework, but if you read these sites carefully, it will give you a good base to work with to ask even more detailed questions.

1) http://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net - If you want to play D1 or D2 athletics, your athlete must be registered, meet certain criteria and etc. It all starts at the NCAA Clearing house. Get yourself familiar with it and the rules. It's an easy process, but it's something usually overlooked sometimes forcing players to not be able to play.

2) US Soccer Player Recruiting Guide (http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/resource_center/resource_center_topics/getting_started/323592.html) - This site is a good information source overall, but it's recruiting guide does a good job of breaking things down to get you started.

3) Bruce Brownlee's Recruiting Info (http://www.brucebrownlee.com/college/recruiting_process.htm) - Bruce is a friend of mine, so hopefully this link doesn't crash the server. But he wrote up some good stuff and added some more helpful links. He used to be a coach at GA's Tophat Club and had a daughter who was an excellent player and he passes along some of the info he went through. Be sure to click on the links to other pages on his site for more info.

4) Buy the Sports Source Guide (http://www.thesportsource.com/) - This is the only "Official" collegiate athletic guide and it lists a ridiculous amount of information, even detailing how many scholarships each school offers and etc. My advice is simple, BUY it and read it and make your player read it. Men's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=1720) - Women's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=73759)

5) John Grimm's Online Guide (http://members.aol.com/jonagrm/soccer/womens.htm) - This guide is mainly for Women's Soccer but it does give a good tool for navigating the different States to actually see what programs are available. Most people if asked think there is only 5-6 College Soccer Teams in FL when there is actually 27. All at various divisions and levels (NCAA, NAIA). Learn the difference between the two Associations and all of it's divisions so you can find the correct fit for your player.

Good Luck!

www.manhattansoccer.net (http://www.manhattansoccer.net)

As part of our College Prep Camps we spend some time with the kids talking about their college search and how to communicate with coaches, etc.

As a college coach myself (New York University), I see it first hand. The botom line is, the kid has to do his/her homework. Only about 2% of kids will get a DI scolarship so it makes sense to find the school that fits best with them, both with sports and academics.

Communication is the key, put together a player profile and start sending it to the coaches at the schools you are interested in. Again, do your homework . . . don't waste a coach's time it you know up front you don't have the grades to get in to the school. At NYU we get e-mails constantly from kids that have no chance of getting in. If they would have done some research about the school they would have save both them and us a lot of time.

If your clearing house form is finished, can you email coaches and get them to come out to your games?

What are the chances of getting looked at by any colleges if you only play school ball and don't play travel, but do play on a rec team? Is it possible, just alot more work getting tapes seen, etc?
I'm asking because my son, who is a junior, is very involved in school and other activities, and although he has club coaches wanting him on their teams, and college coaches have told him he should be playing premier, he still wants to keep things like they are. I told him he's wasing his potential, to no avail.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, so we know what we have ahead.

Sadly, the answer is slim to none. College coaches do not go to rec games. They rarely attend hs games unless the team makes the state finals. College coaches are looking for players that play on top club teams, play on state, regional and national teams, and above all go to the top tournaments in the country. In order to get into these top tournaments, teams have to be at least runner-up or state club champions. NO college coaches are going to watch rec game highlights, since they are going to assume that the player was not good enough to play club ball. They might watch the highlights of your son if he makes the state high school final. (There are lesser tournaments in the state that are attended by more local or smaller schools, but then again you have to be playing club ball, not rec.)
Unless you tryout and join a top club team now, your sons chances are nil. But, you could do the following, since it appears that there are clubs that want your son, and that is to have him go to a top tournament with a top team, where there will be college coaches in attendance. He could go as a "guest player". He probably would not start, since club coaches want their own players seen above all, but he could see some minutes, especially of the team has experienced some injuries, or their roster is on the low side. Or, if your son knows a few colleges where he might want to go, then attend the summer camp this year. The college coaches will be there. One last option, is just get into the best school that he can attend, and then "walk-on" and try out. Good luck.

[Unregistered]

Unless you are a Top Flight National ODP or Regional ODP Pool Type player, most likely you will not get "Recruited" as how it's depicted on TV or in movies for football players and other athletes. Reality just isn't like that unless you are lucky, especially in soccer. Even the top flight players must do the work to try and get a spot on a quality team.

The only way for the process to work is take steps to start the ball rolling for your player. Don't depend on your Club Coach, HS Coach or ODP Coach. Educate yourself about the different steps and tools in the process in order to help your athlete. If your Coaches help out, great, the right coach is a fantastic tool and contact. But, I know too many families and tremendous players who were college level type athletes in various sports and they simply got looked over because they didn't do anything and thought the College Coaches/schools would come find them and that their HS, Club, or ODP Coach was doing this work for them. Only to find out that sometimes the College Coach does want them but doesn't think they have a good enough shot at the athlete, so they don't bother to contact them and it's too late.

There are several steps in the process, I am going to be listing 5 links below to help get you started. Sorry for the homework, but if you read these sites carefully, it will give you a good base to work with to ask even more detailed questions.

1) http://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net - If you want to play D1 or D2 athletics, your athlete must be registered, meet certain criteria and etc. It all starts at the NCAA Clearing house. Get yourself familiar with it and the rules. It's an easy process, but it's something usually overlooked sometimes forcing players to not be able to play.

2) US Soccer Player Recruiting Guide (http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/resource_center/resource_center_topics/getting_started/323592.html) - This site is a good information source overall, but it's recruiting guide does a good job of breaking things down to get you started.

3) Bruce Brownlee's Recruiting Info (http://www.brucebrownlee.com/college/recruiting_process.htm) - Bruce is a friend of mine, so hopefully this link doesn't crash the server. But he wrote up some good stuff and added some more helpful links. He used to be a coach at GA's Tophat Club and had a daughter who was an excellent player and he passes along some of the info he went through. Be sure to click on the links to other pages on his site for more info.

4) Buy the Sports Source Guide (http://www.thesportsource.com/) - This is the only "Official" collegiate athletic guide and it lists a ridiculous amount of information, even detailing how many scholarships each school offers and etc. My advice is simple, BUY it and read it and make your player read it. Men's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=1720) - Women's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=73759)

5) John Grimm's Online Guide (http://members.aol.com/jonagrm/soccer/womens.htm) - This guide is mainly for Women's Soccer but it does give a good tool for navigating the different States to actually see what programs are available. Most people if asked think there is only 5-6 College Soccer Teams in FL when there is actually 27. All at various divisions and levels (NCAA, NAIA). Learn the difference between the two Associations and all of it's divisions so you can find the correct fit for your player.

Good Luck!


Anyone know of an updated link for John Grimm's online guide?

[ElBrody]

Unless you are a Top Flight National ODP or Regional ODP Pool Type player, most likely you will not get "Recruited" as how it's depicted on TV or in movies for football players and other athletes. Reality just isn't like that unless you are lucky, especially in soccer. Even the top flight players must do the work to try and get a spot on a quality team.

The only way for the process to work is take steps to start the ball rolling for your player. Don't depend on your Club Coach, HS Coach or ODP Coach. Educate yourself about the different steps and tools in the process in order to help your athlete. If your Coaches help out, great, the right coach is a fantastic tool and contact. But, I know too many families and tremendous players who were college level type athletes in various sports and they simply got looked over because they didn't do anything and thought the College Coaches/schools would come find them and that their HS, Club, or ODP Coach was doing this work for them. Only to find out that sometimes the College Coach does want them but doesn't think they have a good enough shot at the athlete, so they don't bother to contact them and it's too late.

There are several steps in the process, I am going to be listing 5 links below to help get you started. Sorry for the homework, but if you read these sites carefully, it will give you a good base to work with to ask even more detailed questions.

1) http://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net - If you want to play D1 or D2 athletics, your athlete must be registered, meet certain criteria and etc. It all starts at the NCAA Clearing house. Get yourself familiar with it and the rules. It's an easy process, but it's something usually overlooked sometimes forcing players to not be able to play.

2) US Soccer Player Recruiting Guide (http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/resource_center/resource_center_topics/getting_started/323592.html) - This site is a good information source overall, but it's recruiting guide does a good job of breaking things down to get you started.

3) Bruce Brownlee's Recruiting Info (http://www.brucebrownlee.com/college/recruiting_process.htm) - Bruce is a friend of mine, so hopefully this link doesn't crash the server. But he wrote up some good stuff and added some more helpful links. He used to be a coach at GA's Tophat Club and had a daughter who was an excellent player and he passes along some of the info he went through. Be sure to click on the links to other pages on his site for more info.

4) Buy the Sports Source Guide (http://www.thesportsource.com/) - This is the only "Official" collegiate athletic guide and it lists a ridiculous amount of information, even detailing how many scholarships each school offers and etc. My advice is simple, BUY it and read it and make your player read it. Men's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=1720) - Women's Soccer Guide (http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1521&pcount=&Product_Id=73759)

5) John Grimm's Online Guide (http://members.aol.com/jonagrm/soccer/womens.htm) - This guide is mainly for Women's Soccer but it does give a good tool for navigating the different States to actually see what programs are available. Most people if asked think there is only 5-6 College Soccer Teams in FL when there is actually 27. All at various divisions and levels (NCAA, NAIA). Learn the difference between the two Associations and all of it's divisions so you can find the correct fit for your player.

Good Luck!
Excellent information I wish my parents knew all of this back when I was in middle/high school.:(

goalkeeper gloves (http://www.goalkeepergloves.org)

[Unregistered]

In addition, if a player is interested in NAIA schools they can train with the teams during the season. You would need to contact the coach at the college directly and there are forms etc. that need to be filled out. Some colleges and Junior Colleges also offer "tryout" camps that are one day or weekend camps and are often very affordable ($50-$75 for the weekend and include meals). I know Jacksonville University is offering a one day session April 11 and is going to have several college coaches from the Florida/Georgia area.

[Unregistered]

What are the chances of getting looked at by any colleges if you only play school ball and don't play travel, but do play on a rec team? Is it possible, just alot more work getting tapes seen, etc?
I'm asking because my son, who is a junior, is very involved in school and other activities, and although he has club coaches wanting him on their teams, and college coaches have told him he should be playing premier, he still wants to keep things like they are. I told him he's wasing his potential, to no avail.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, so we know what we have ahead.

Our situation was similar. My son played select, but due to alot of other activities went back to rec. He had a training session with a new trainer and the first thing the trainer said was "I can't believe you are playing rec! If you go back to select I guarantee you will get to play in college". So he hunted down a team after tryouts that gave him a shot, took the starting spot, had some help from a coach (not his own) contacting colleges, and got not only a tryout but some money also. Took the starting spot there, and had a blast.
Point being, a college coach will automatically think his skill is lower if he is not playing select, so if playing in college is in his plans he should play select, and it is a lot of work getting coaches to see you, most will want you to go to them unless you are in a major tourney that they might come to.
Good luck to you!

[Unregistered]

What are the chances of getting looked at by any colleges if you only play school ball and don't play travel, but do play on a rec team? Is it possible, just alot more work getting tapes seen, etc?
I'm asking because my son, who is a junior, is very involved in school and other activities, and although he has club coaches wanting him on their teams, and college coaches have told him he should be playing premier, he still wants to keep things like they are. I told him he's wasing his potential, to no avail.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, so we know what we have ahead.

If he does not want to give the time needed for a club team, what makes you think he will want to give three times that amount to a college team? It's like a full time job, let him enjoy high school and keep his grades up so he can go to college the old fashion way. My son did that and enjoys playing intramural in college.

[Unregistered]

Finally, the voice of reason. And I noticed the writer said "some" money.