College Recruiting

[Unregistered]

Many are small (75-100) and under $350. But there is travel too. Are keepers in big demand?
How can you really tell if there is a chance for some minutes as a freshman?

Look at recruiting history to determine how many are rostered and signed at the position your kid plays. If there's 6 midfielders including 2-3 sophomores and your kid is a mid, chances of minutes as a Freshman might be low.

Lots of info available on the school's website.

[Unregistered]

I don't think, unless a D1 program is really hard up for players, they are going to send out those types of invitations to a massive amount of players. Chances are your son may have been ID'd somewhere along the way most likely at a tournament.

I would suggest he make a list of 8-10 schools he'd like to visit and go to their ID Camps. As he gets older, that list can be cut to other schools depending on different factors.

^^^ way off base.

- college coaches supplement income through camps. Most camps are NOT actually affiliated with the school, but directly with the coach. Therefore, the coach will invite anyone with a pulse to get $300 in revenue.

-sometimes in addition to the general camp described above, a coach will run a more exclusive camp with limited slots to ID recruits or start getting to know 'commits' better.

-randomly going to expensive camps is useless without the personal marketing and advance communication described by others. Coaches want players who are specifically interested in attending their school. Expressing interest and establishing a relationship is critical.

[Unregistered]

go to clinics where your kid has an interest in the school. if it is a serious interest, let the school know you are coming before you get there. otherwise, they won't know to look. we've found day clinics are the best; again, go to where you have an interest in the school. fill out the questionnaires before you go too. whoever said frosh don't play doesn't know beans. these camps are money makers, but they can be important too. you don't get official invite (paid) until senior year. if they are paying for you to come before that, it is wrong. going before senior yr is unofficial visit. they can give you tickets to their games, stuff like that, but nothing more. you can only have I think 5 official visits between d1 and d2 also.

You can contact them before hand, but unless they already have Id'd you they still may not look because everyone is contacting them ahead of the camp/clinic.

You are right they are money makers but they can be valuable. You have to do your homework before you go to find out what is what.

[Unregistered]

I don't think, unless a D1 program is really hard up for players, they are going to send out those types of invitations to a massive amount of players. Chances are your son may have been ID'd somewhere along the way most likely at a tournament.

I would suggest he make a list of 8-10 schools he'd like to visit and go to their ID Camps. As he gets older, that list can be cut to other schools depending on different factors.

If you believe that then you are in for a big surprise. We get invites from the top D1 programs in the country and they certainly are NOT hard up for players. Yet some of these schools have not been to our games.

GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD. THE MAJORITY OF THE ID CAMPS/CLINICS ARE MONEY MAKERS. You need to do due diligence to determine whether your invite is a select invite or if you are just on the mailing list.

[Unregistered]

If you have to pay for a camp visit / id camp you are not wanted. You need a campus visit or special invite.

This statement is not true, my son got an e-mail about one of these type of camps. I happened to see a coach from the school at a tournament so I went and asked him about it. He told me that the e-mail that he received was sent to about 35 kids that they had seen at various tournaments and they wanted to see more of. My son went, was known by name when he walked up at camp. He was then contacted a few weeks later about a spot on the team.

We also did get plenty of these types that I know the coaches hadn't seen him and he was just in the data base. The one piece of advice I would have is to make sure that you are looking for a school that you want first. If you are just looking to play soccer and don't care where, then there is a good chance that you won't be happy and will quit before you are done with school anyway.

[Unregistered]

Find schools that fit a criteria for your child, then look into their specific camps. Spending a few days at a camp at the school they may want to go to gives them a good idea about what the school is like. I know that my child was able to talk to players from the school to see what the coach was like, what they liked or disliked about the school, and what kind of style they play. If your child is a midfielder and the coach has them playing a direct style of play where the mids aren't play makers then it is not going to be a good fit.

[Unregistered]

Do keepers need to plan that they may need to transfer while in college? What do coaches look for in a freshman keeper given the expected physical growth in late teens?

[Unregistered]

Honestly, if you suck in club and think you are going to stand between the sticks as a freshman you are mistaken. College are seeking the experience Ussada keepers.

[Unregistered]

Find schools that fit a criteria for your child, then look into their specific camps. Spending a few days at a camp at the school they may want to go to gives them a good idea about what the school is like. I know that my child was able to talk to players from the school to see what the coach was like, what they liked or disliked about the school, and what kind of style they play. If your child is a midfielder and the coach has them playing a direct style of play where the mids aren't play makers then it is not going to be a good fit.

Spending several hundred dollars to attend a camp to see if they might like the school is SO NOT WORTH IT. More than half the time you are throwing money away.

If your kid is looking within 3 hours of where you live it is fairly simple. Reach out to them and invite them to your showcases. If they attend and you receive an ID camp invite try to attend that. ID camps usually run $100 or less. Have you club coach call ahead prior to your registering to see if there is any real interest. Then you can also take time outside of the camp by attending their games. My kids get a lot out of this. The coaches are on display. Then aren't necessarily on their best behavior, as they are in their own camps. They are behaving like they normally do. Does their style match yours? Do you like the way the team plays? Does the team appear to have chemistry amongst themselves and with their coaches.

Do a campus tour registering directly with admissions. Maybe let the coach know you are going ahead of time, but I would actually recommend going the first time without contacting the coach. You really need to put more focus on the school itself without considering the soccer. Is this where you would want to be if the soccer got taken away?

By the time you are looking to be recruited, you should no longer be doing the summer camps that run 3-5 days. You should be spreading your time and money around looking for the best school for you. A $500 to $700 investment in a summer camp is not a wise investment.