We are soon to go through the college search process for the first time. Can someone give us a quick summary of how the soccer piece works? Meaning, should our kid be initiating contact with coaches at schools of interest? Or, do we sit back and wait to see which coaches, if any, inquire about our kid? How does the process work?
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Sit back and wait.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post -
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What worked for us was to narrow down what schools that your child is interested in depending on size of school, inner city v suburban, campus feel, major-if known, Div 1,2,3, distance from home, coach, team feel, style of play and then email those coaches and give them her schedule. Invite them to come watch your child play whenever possible. Go to those school soccer camps and then see how interested they are in your child.Comment
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Concur. The real trick is not being passive and taking your child's interest right to the college coaches. If you treat this all like a sales call you will be miles ahead in helping your child find an appropriate landing spot. What that means is doing all of the things described about to narrow choices down to a list of "likely" schools EARLY and then actively working to open a dialogue with the coaches at those schools. Just showing up at an ID camp and hoping the coaches notice your child is usually not enough. You want that coach to have some heads up prior to them showing up so they are actually are looking through the other attendees to specifically see your child play. It really comes down to the work you put into networking with coaches.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Your club coach can also help after you narrow down your list by making those connections with those coaches.Comment
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Again, concur. Your club coach should be giving your child a sense of where they might be able to play as early as the summer before they enter high school. Any club coach worth a damn should be able to forecast a range of soccer programs that would be appropriate for them by that point. The high school experience will then more or less confirm that opinion. That range doesn't have to be pinpoint accurate but they certainly should be able to tell you if they project your child to be a top 20 D1, top third D1, middle third D1, bottom third D1, or D2/D3 prospect. It is up to you then to refine the choices in that range.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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OP here. Very helpful responses. Thank you all! We never would have thought of asking the club coach his thoughts so early on, but it's probably a good idea to start getting a sense of where our student athlete might fit into the college soccer spectrum. Also, it's good to know that it's acceptable to reach out to coaches directly at those schools we determine are of most interest for our player. We will for sure try to attend the soccer camps at those schools as well.Comment
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Some early steps:Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
1. Ask your child whether they think they want to play soccer as part of their college experience. They can always change down the road from yes to no, but it's harder (not impossible) to change from no to yes.
2. Gauge what level of player you have, d1 or d3. If attending a soccer camp this summer, make it one where a written evaluation is provided, because that can help and typically includes the coach's projection of college level.
3. Gauge your child's academic level. You don't need to know exactly to have a sense of whether they are top 5%, top 25%, lower half, etc.
4. Note how things go at HS tryouts. If you're at a big high school, AND the team is good against other good big schools, it says something if your child makes varsity as a frosh or soph and starts. If you're at a small school, how your child fares in the school season isn't as helpful.
5. The way to think of it is, your child has to be doing the college search steps about a year ahead of when their classmates are doing them. If your child is on board with that, let them know that you'll be using travel to soccer tournaments as a way to make side visits to some colleges, and your child can start educating themselves that way, even it's just forming general impressions.
It's a challenge, but it can be enjoyed if approached with a good and realistic attitude. Have confidence that many before you have navigated these waters and lived to tell about it.Comment
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The start date of recruiting really depends upon the gender of your child. Girls can start getting recruited now as early as the 9th grade though most will be active during their sophomore year going into junior year and even then their process can string out all the way until the fall of the senior year. Boys are still on the more traditional recruiting time frame with most players being active in their junior year going into senior year.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
All the early heads up really does is help you target schools so you can spend your time wisely helping your child acquire the information they will need to make an informed college decision. You do want them to make the decision so the more ground work you lay early on the less pressure they will feel. Whatever you do, I would strongly recommend that you don't push a child too fast into making a college decision. My recommendation is to let them feel their way in and build to a decision. It could take your child a long time for them to even feel comfortable enough to even think about attending college, never mind picking one. That is actually normal, so don't push it if they show signs of not being ready.
A great way to expose your children to different campuses and size schools is by attending soccer camps at them. Summer time is really a great time to do all of your research and the more lead time you have to feel out schools the less pressure your child will feel. While you might be thinking of it, I wouldn't tie going to a camp with the college decision. Keep it more casual and focused on picking camps to attend.
There is no pressure when you send you send your child to the soccer camp of a potential fit "school" during the summer between their 8th and 9th grade. The coaches aren't really looking at them yet but the experience could have a profound impact on their thinking later. Later on that situation will change if you are going to a camp later say in their junior year. Once kids around them start committing a panic can set in that really ups the pressure so my advice is start early and slow.Comment
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Not the OP but am interested as well for a boy. Will be a sophomore this fall. Doing just one college camp that's nearby to get his feet wet and get a feel for how that all works, but it's not really a school he's interested in (too close to home lol). Planning on doing more this year and next summer for sure. He had already been dragged around looking at schools for his older sister so he's kind of thinking about what type of school he wants to go to.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
I know athletes need their testing done earlier, but how much earlier for boys? And how soon do you start contacting coaches? This year coming up?
TIA - very different process than with our nerdy academic daughter. Same genepool. Go figureComment
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The testing issue is variable and really depends on the kid as well as what the target schools are. The SAT's are designed to be taken in the second half of the junior year and are based upon a curriculum that a junior should have been exposed to by that point. When you go early the chances of scoring lower increase. That could have an impact on school choices, especially if they are looking for really aggressive scores. The parents who push taking the SAT's early are usually trying to get early reads. That can just as easily backfire.Comment
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We've been through it once and are ramping up for another. Our son is going into his 2nd year D1. Most coaches we talked to were looking for his scores mid winter junior year. We scrambled to get them done in March and thank the stars he did well enough the first time. He took it again later and did about the same but he had an offer at that point at his first choice school. I recommend taking them in the fall at least to benchmark and see where weaknesses are. Then there's still some time to work on them. But that's our D1 experience. D3 is probably a bit later.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Be persistent, these coaches have lives outside of soccer too, and in some cases they may be getting tons and tons of letters, videos, and emails each day. Just because a coach doesn't respond doesn't mean they aren't interested, so keep trying until a coach actually says no to you.Comment
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Even among younger players, it's recommended that all correspondence with coaches come from the players, not parents.Comment
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