Tournament advertises that 180 college coaches would be attending. On Saturday, zero coaches showed up to watch my daughter's U17 team play. On Sunday afternoon, two coaches showed up. On Monday morning, just three coaches showed up. If the coaches are not watching U17 girls play, who are they watching?
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I assume that all of the players on your daughter's team that want to play at the next level wrote or called the college coaches to give them their schedule for games during WAGS, correct? Two coaches for one U17 game would tell me that none of the players really are good enough to play at the next level except possibly one or two (two college coaches showed up). Remember, college coaches do not just show up at games and look for talent unless they are watching ODP games, ID2 games, or some of the ECNL or National League games. Basically if your daughter will put forth the effort to get in touch with a college coach about coming to watch her play, the coach or their assistant may put the effort into coming to her game. Also, college soccer is in full swing right now. Coaches are not traveling to see youth tournaments due to their own team commitments, but they may show up if they are in the area of your game and time permits.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post -
They usually have a plan for which players they're going to go see and do very little watching games at random. If you weren't in contact with coaches before, there's your answer.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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If you're going to out of state tournaments blind, just hoping to be "seen" by any one of 180 advertised coaches, you're wasting your time and money. At best you may be helping to defray the cost for some of the kids who did put forth the effort ahead of time.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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If your not playing ECNL or national league the coaches don't come. These tournaments like wags are dying off every year.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Really? And you think that there would be kids otherwise during the middle of the season? I would think that college coaches would focus on the 2016 and 2017 class after the new year when their season is over. Plus the top 50 D1 schools focus on ODP, ID2 and ECNL. My guess is that the regional pool players get looked at a lot, as well. But that doesn't mean that the D2 and D3 schools don't look at other players.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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My daughter wrote to 15 coaches. About 10 wrote back asking her to submit a response to a form questionnaire. None of the 10 showed up to any of her games. Not even coaches from the schools for which she is academically overqualified for.Comment
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In looking at the history of WAGS, it seems the level of competition has been reduced over the past few years. It may becoming irrelevant, and the college coaches know it.Comment
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But what about athletic qualifications? Did she play college? At the level of those schools? And were those coaches in the area/attending tournaments where she was or was it out of their geography?Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Typically these events have more college coaches attend than are registered. I do not know your daughters team and what level they are playing at but coaches have their list of players to watch and will attend those games first. Did the girls on the team email or call the coaches asking them to attend? Did your club coach reach out to any of his contacts asking him to come see certain players?Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
I agree with you in that only a few coaches on the sideline is not a good sign, but if your daughter will be attending CASL or Disney that is likely to change especially if the girls are proactive reaching out to the right level program. The problem with WAGS is that it occurs during the peak of the college season. Most coaches are focused on the current team and will pick up recruiting when their season ends. So many of these coaches may have only gone to a few games on one of the days.
Good luck! It is a stressful process, but can be very rewarding at the end.Comment
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Has your daughter or her club coach spoken to any of these 10 coaches? It really sounds like she is very late in the recruiting process. Questionnaires should have been filled out long ago. Contact should have been made last year or this past spring and summer for a U17.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Academics are important but in this day and time, academics are a given to play college soccer. There are so many recruits that have a 3.5 gpa and above that it is assumed any more. If you are below that threshold (3,5gpa) then you had better be a SUPER soccer player. Recruiting is very competitive. I bet those coaches had literally hundreds of questionnaires filled out and requests to go see players months before this tournament.
A player needs to talk to these coaches if they are really interested. It is just like trying to get a job by just mailing out resumes. You can't just send resumes out to employers and expect a phone call to come in for an interview. You have to be persistent. You have to let them know why you can help their soccer team and then show them on the field. Your daughter needs to go visit the schools. Weekend trips are the norm for senior age soccer players. Contact the coaches and let them know you want to visit the school. They will be more than happy to show your kid around the school. Good luck!Comment
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My daughter is just entering 11th grade. Is she really that far behind in the recruiting process?Comment
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no, not at all. College coaches are constantly recruiting at all grades of high school. my daughters team as seniors was still receiving interest/offers, even as late as February of their senior year for those that had not committed.Comment
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Lady it's mid-October. She's just entering 11th grade? What is she, slow? My kid finished 1st qtr already.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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