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Girls College Recruitment-Ups and Downs

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    Girls College Recruitment-Ups and Downs

    Hey, after attending my kid's first real college showcase, I wanted to start this thread for everyone to share their experiences. This goes for all age groups, leagues, showcases and tourneys.

    I would love for at least one thread on this forum to be information and discussion based. If you're only interested in bashing other teams, please visit the other threads to spew hate filled venom. Thanks!

    #2
    - First help your child determine what kind of school they want to attend, programs they're interested in - big, small, rural urban....go to visit some schools locally on days off to at least give them things to think about. Be frank about your kid's ability to get admitted and keep up academically. We all want top schools but then there's reality. You don't want your kid to struggle (which is different than being challenged). Some schools will not budge on admissions standards for athletes, other will budge some but not cave.

    - Talk with your club/coach about what levels of program are appropriate to target. If you overshoot you're bound to be disappointed. If you target well, the odds of success are much better. An easy way to target is look at rosters and compare player resumes to yours. If you're not at the same level as most of the starters you're not likely to get a spot let alone play much

    - Overlay the soccer piece with the academic piece to come up with a list of schools to start reaching out to. Find out what events they go to, when their ID events are (you'll probably have to go if it's a top contender) and fill out their online interest forms

    - Always keep in mind the odds of playing all four years isn't great. Ask yourself as you tour schools if you can see yourself there without soccer. Don't compromise on what you want just to play. It isn't worth it.

    - Also keep in mind coaches change frequently. You may not like a new coach, or he you. Another reason to make sure you love the school

    - Unless you're a super stud be prepared for some rejections, or really no response at all. It's like job hunting - sometimes you'll never hear back from coaches.

    - As a parent, step back. Let your kid do the heavy lifting. Not only do they have to want it but coaches can smell over-involved or crazy parents a mile away. You can help behind the scenes by doing practice conversations, coming up with questions to ask, give advice. Beyond that you basically get them to schools, be polite, ask a few innocuous questions.

    There's more of course but that's my introductory lesson

    Comment


      #3
      My daughter plays for an NPL team, but has friends on both ECNL & GDA teams. We're hearing that there have been a lot of college coaches at their showcases and there were very few if any at the tournaments she's played in recently. She's an 03 player and reached out to several coaches with her schedules, but none of them came. She was kind of OK with it until she talked to her friends on other teams.
      I've always read that coaches don't care what team or league you play, but I'm starting to think that's just lip service from her coach who doesn't want her to leave. Any thoughts?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        My daughter plays for an NPL team, but has friends on both ECNL & GDA teams. We're hearing that there have been a lot of college coaches at their showcases and there were very few if any at the tournaments she's played in recently. She's an 03 player and reached out to several coaches with her schedules, but none of them came. She was kind of OK with it until she talked to her friends on other teams.
        I've always read that coaches don't care what team or league you play, but I'm starting to think that's just lip service from her coach who doesn't want her to leave. Any thoughts?
        A few reassurances: with new recruiting rules the timetable for recruiting is getting gradually pushed back. As an 03 she's most likely a sophomore. She may have reached out to schools that can get stronger talent. Lower level programs won't be looking at players her age quite yet. That age will be be more active with stronger players in GDA and ECNL, but at her level she probably wouldn't ramp up until spring and into the summer and fall.

        Now the bad news: NPL is now a distant #3 so it will be harder for her, but not impossible. Coaches have limited budgets so now that they're splitting time between ECNL and DA guess what level gets scaled back? Everything else. The key is that she target the right soccer level for her. She also can get in front of coaches at on campus ID events. But pick and chose those carefully - only go to ones that seem like a good fit soccer wise otherwise you're wasting your money.

        Comment


          #5
          What is a good age to start looking at College ID camps? 8th grade (seems too early)? 9th or 10th grade?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            What is a good age to start looking at College ID camps? 8th grade (seems too early)? 9th or 10th grade?
            If your child is top of their DA or ECNL 9th grade to start 10th grade to verbally commit.
            If your kid is mid pack you can start in the 10th.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              If your child is top of their DA or ECNL 9th grade to start 10th grade to verbally commit.
              If your kid is mid pack you can start in the 10th.
              What about for strong players targeting high level academic D3 institutions and hoping to get admittance edge through soccer talent. Is the schedule similar?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                What is a good age to start looking at College ID camps? 8th grade (seems too early)? 9th or 10th grade?
                8th is too early even before the rule changes for almost all players.

                If you can swing it do a one day event at a school you're not very interested in but is about the right soccer level. It gives you an idea of how it works and what the competition is like.

                Also don't do ID camps unless you have some indication the coach is interested (mass emails don't count) and you think you're a good fit. Coaches are really only interested in 20-30 players and others are there to pad their recruiting budget.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  What about for strong players targeting high level academic D3 institutions and hoping to get admittance edge through soccer talent. Is the schedule similar?
                  Most D3s are later. Your grades still have to be very close to admission standards. There isn't much wiggle room and coaches don't have the same pull

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    Most D3s are later. Your grades still have to be very close to admission standards. There isn't much wiggle room and coaches don't have the same pull
                    Anything might help at such competitive schools. They have way way too many academically qualified candidates applying and they turn down most. Hoping other stand out talents can assist with an admittance.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      What is a good age to start looking at College ID camps? 8th grade (seems too early)? 9th or 10th grade?
                      My 2¢ on ID camps -

                      They're a lot more useful when the college coach actually reaches out to the player for an "invite" to the camp. Every kid or kids' parents will get email about camps and they might actually look like an invitation. They're not. Keep in mind that the camps are big money makers for the soccer programs at the schools. They want kids to attend even if they're not interested in them. If a coach is known to be interested in a kid the camp is much more productive for the kid.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                        Anything might help at such competitive schools. They have way way too many academically qualified candidates applying and they turn down most. Hoping other stand out talents can assist with an admittance.
                        Same is true for the Ivies. Let's say that a school has a 10% admittance rate. A coach at an Ivy is interested in Little Suzy. Little Suzy is a good student, had good grades, good test scores, and a good amount of involvement. Her scores and grades qualify her on the Ivy Academic Index. If the coach supports Little Suzy via a likely letter (the Ivy equivalent of being offered a scholarship though there is no athletic aid offered). I believe that Ivies offer seven likely letters for women's soccer though I am not 100% sure about that. The number used to be seven. Anyway, if Little Suzy is supported, her chances of admission just went up to 90-95%. Other top academic schools, outside of the Ivies, schools like Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and obviously Stanford but being a National Team member seems to be a current prerequisite also, are going to be similar. Even schools that are not in that top tier of schools but are still very competitive, a lot of Big 10 schools like Michigan, Ohio State, etc, an SEC school like Florida, and others, may give an edge to a recruited athlete in the admissions process.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Like someone said - athletics can help but at most top academic schools your grades have to be close. More so with top D3 than top academic D1. Also, D3 has no academic support so if your student might struggle because they reached a little too far that's something to consider. D1 athletes get a ton of academic support as required by the NCAA.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                            Like someone said - athletics can help but at most top academic schools your grades have to be close. More so with top D3 than top academic D1. Also, D3 has no academic support so if your student might struggle because they reached a little too far that's something to consider. D1 athletes get a ton of academic support as required by the NCAA.
                            Lots of kids with rock star academics still dont get into these colleges. They are way more students that can do the work then they have seats for. Taking about the strong athletes scholars that use athletics to differentiate themselves from the too big pile of straight A students with great test scores.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              8th is too early even before the rule changes for almost all players.

                              If you can swing it do a one day event at a school you're not very interested in but is about the right soccer level. It gives you an idea of how it works and what the competition is like.

                              Also don't do ID camps unless you have some indication the coach is interested (mass emails don't count) and you think you're a good fit. Coaches are really only interested in 20-30 players and others are there to pad their recruiting budget.
                              Should you bother going if you are really interested in a program but the coach has shown minimal interest? Is it a long shot to go to the ID camp to try and make an impression? Or is it a waste of time and money because they are only focus on the kids on their list at the camps? Would this be considered a case of over shooting your target list?

                              Comment

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