College ID Clinics

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Any advice on College ID Clinics? When is a good time to start attending? What to expect? Some have multiple school's coaches at one neutral location, is it better to do those instead of the ones held at the actual school? First time trying to navigate all this, any advice would be helpful! Thanks in advance

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Big clinics with multiple schools can be a good first step to see how the process works, where you fit and who seems most interested. But only do one and make sure it's local and one day only. Now that recruiting is pushed back, summer/early sophomore year is a good time to do one before you start trying to target specific schools during prime recruiting time. Being realistic about targeting is critical for success. Closely examine program rosters to see where players came from and who gets the most PT. If your resume doesn't match up it's not a good fit.

Specific school ID events are basically a necessity now, but the trick is discerning if there is real interest. Schools will send out hundreds of invites to fill spots and their coffers, but really they're only interested in taking a closer look at 20-30 candidates at the most. The key time is summer after sophomore year. After that it's personal campus invites and hopefully offers. Coaches can't talk with you directly until June 15th after sophomore year so until then they can only send generic invites. Don't take that as "interest." Also, use your club coach to make calls to see if there's real interest. If a program is a real stretch for soccer but it's their dream school go ahead and attend so they know they did all they can. But again being realistic is the key.

[Unregistered]

Any advice on College ID Clinics? When is a good time to start attending? What to expect? Some have multiple school's coaches at one neutral location, is it better to do those instead of the ones held at the actual school? First time trying to navigate all this, any advice would be helpful! Thanks in advance

Much of it depends on what your kid's goals are, what gender they are, how physically developed they are, what connections your club/coach has, and other factors.

Regarding neutral location vs. at the actual school, if your kid knows they are interested in a particular school, going to clinic at that school is the better choice. The only reason IMHO for going to one of those multiple-coach clinics is if a coach from a desired school is participating and your kid is not available to go to the school-specific clinic. In this case, reach out to that coach and express interest to that coach so they are aware of the player (and hopefully the player gets to work with them directly).

For D1 schools, definitely start going sophomore year (or earlier). Many D1 schools start tracking their prospects early, so if you wait and junior year is the first time they've seen your kid, it's probably too late unless your kid is truly amazing. For D3 schools, you could wait til junior year because particularly for the high-academic schools, they won't really be looking seriously until they can see grades and test scores to know if they even have a shot at landing a player. But the window for high academic D3 schools is very short, so anticipate going to a lot of clinics in that junior year. For any of these, the more they see your kid (and are impressed with what they see), the better your chances.

All imho, of course.

[Unregistered]

Much of it depends on what your kid's goals are, what gender they are, how physically developed they are, what connections your club/coach has, and other factors.

Regarding neutral location vs. at the actual school, if your kid knows they are interested in a particular school, going to clinic at that school is the better choice. The only reason IMHO for going to one of those multiple-coach clinics is if a coach from a desired school is participating and your kid is not available to go to the school-specific clinic. In this case, reach out to that coach and express interest to that coach so they are aware of the player (and hopefully the player gets to work with them directly).

For D1 schools, definitely start going sophomore year (or earlier). Many D1 schools start tracking their prospects early, so if you wait and junior year is the first time they've seen your kid, it's probably too late unless your kid is truly amazing. For D3 schools, you could wait til junior year because particularly for the high-academic schools, they won't really be looking seriously until they can see grades and test scores to know if they even have a shot at landing a player. But the window for high academic D3 schools is very short, so anticipate going to a lot of clinics in that junior year. For any of these, the more they see your kid (and are impressed with what they see), the better your chances.

All imho, of course.

How do coaches coming to see kids in tournaments, play into all of this? My daughter invited some coaches to come see her at her last tournament, some didn't come but did invite her to an upcoming ID clinic. We were confused by the mixed message!

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How do coaches coming to see kids in tournaments, play into all of this? My daughter invited some coaches to come see her at her last tournament, some didn't come but did invite her to an upcoming ID clinic. We were confused by the mixed message!

Sometimes they legit can't make it, but it also means your kid was lower on their priority list. That says a lot about their interest or lack there of. If the school is a dream school go ahead, but be realistic. Most coaches will split off their top prospects in a separate group and the Head Coach will basically only watch them. The rest go in the other pool watched by the assistants, and it's very difficult to break out of that.

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How do coaches coming to see kids in tournaments, play into all of this? My daughter invited some coaches to come see her at her last tournament, some didn't come but did invite her to an upcoming ID clinic. We were confused by the mixed message!

How old is your daughter? Depending on where the college coach is in their process will impact how they prioritize who they go to see at tournaments. Also impacting their decision to come to see a specific player is how many kids at a particular game reached out to invite them; if they can go to a game and see 8 players who reached out to them vs a game where only 2 players reached out to them, they will most likely choose the game with 8 players unless they have specific info about the 2 players (eg. a known club coach tells them about the player). Given that you are asking this question, it sounds like your daughter is still pretty young, so I wouldn't worry too much about a coach not coming to see her at a specific tournament.

You will hear that college ID clinics are a money-grab for college coaches, and to a large extent that is true. So your daughter will receive a lot of invites to lots of clinics if she goes to high-level tournaments (and her email address is somehow exposed to those coaches) simply because they want the numbers. Unless the coach invite is highly personalized, I would say don't read too much into a camp invite. And honestly, I'm not even sure how personalized D1 coaches are allowed to be in directly inviting players to camps, so I would say that unless the college coach reached out to her club coach to do the invite,

Having said all of that, I can't imagine a college coach deciding to offer a player a spot on his/her team without both seeing the player at a tournament and having the player at a clinic. Sometimes the coach sees the player at a tournament and invites the player to the clinic to learn more about the player. Sometimes the coach likes a player from a clinic and wants to see them at a tournament (or league game) to verify what they think they saw in the clinic translating into a competitive game situation. As I said before, the more the coach sees a player (and likes them), the better the chance of getting a verbal commitment.

Again, all imho of course.

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^agree with above. Coaches want a few opportunities to see a player in action and that will include an ID event more often than not. They are whittling down their list and there's $ on the line.
The trick is figuring out if the interest is genuine. If the player is of prime recruiting age, they reached out to a program but a coach didn't come watch you play? Not a good sign. Even if they did there still may not be genuine interest or they're on the fence. This is when you should utilize your club coach to suss out interest.

Keep in mind these events are also good for players too. They spend time with the coaching staff (are they jerks?) and usually with a few of the current players. They see if they fit soccer wise. They spend time in campus and try and imagine themselves there. Parents should watch for a little while to also assess fit, but don't stay the whole time. Spend time on campus and the area. Time to let go.

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How do coaches coming to see kids in tournaments, play into all of this? My daughter invited some coaches to come see her at her last tournament, some didn't come but did invite her to an upcoming ID clinic. We were confused by the mixed message!

A lot of it depends on age...2003s are wrapping up, 2004s are in full swing, 2005s are ramping up. If your daughter is a 2003 and she's invited a certain coach several times and they've not shown at all, they are not interested. If your daughter is a 2004 and invited a coach for the first time to her most recent showcase and they did not show, eh, not a great sign but not a complete dead end. If she's a 2005, again not a great sign, but I wouldn't really be too worried...the new rules are allowing coaches to spend a little more time on their focus age group (2004).

As far as attending an ID event "cold" so to speak, with no prior interest from the school's coach...it's most likely going to be a rough go. Not impossible, but definitely tough. The coaches know who they're interested in and many of the others in attendance are there because their check cleared. Schools don't cattle call and pick the best out of dozens, they have the kids they are interested in and have them play with against current players and commits, that's what they're looking at.
If you can get your daughter's coach, DOC or if she trains with a supplemental program (ODP, PDP, Red Bulls) and can get a rep from there to get in touch with the coach running the ID event, that might be helpful in getting their attention.

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Regarding above post

- 2004s will get a better sense of interest as the spring season ramps up. Make sure to keep coaches informed of your league schedule (if they're local and interested they should come watch a game) and showcase schedules. Lots of nail biting as June 15th approaches. Not hearing much is worrisome but it doesn't mean all is lost and there's still some time to aim for different targets

- if you can't get in front of a coach before an ID event make sure to reach out prior, send video and information, have your club coach do a pre sell.

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Keep in mind these events are also good for players too. They spend time with the coaching staff (are they jerks?) and usually with a few of the current players. They see if they fit soccer wise. They spend time in campus and try and imagine themselves there. Parents should watch for a little while to also assess fit, but don't stay the whole time. Spend time on campus and the area. Time to let go.

This is a really good point. The player will learn a lot about the coach at these school-specific clinics (note that they might not learn as much about the coach at a multi-school clinic since the environment is different from how the coaches might do things on their own).

Also, particularly for the younger players, these clinics can be a bit intimidating at first with lots of good players attending. This is particularly true for players who have been with the same club for a while and have not attended a lot of tryouts. Good to go to a few just to get comfortable with being in these kinds of settings even if the coach has not expressed interest.

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A lot of it depends on age...2003s are wrapping up, 2004s are in full swing, 2005s are ramping up. If your daughter is a 2003 and she's invited a certain coach several times and they've not shown at all, they are not interested. If your daughter is a 2004 and invited a coach for the first time to her most recent showcase and they did not show, eh, not a great sign but not a complete dead end. If she's a 2005, again not a great sign, but I wouldn't really be too worried...the new rules are allowing coaches to spend a little more time on their focus age group (2004).

As far as attending an ID event "cold" so to speak, with no prior interest from the school's coach...it's most likely going to be a rough go. Not impossible, but definitely tough. The coaches know who they're interested in and many of the others in attendance are there because their check cleared. Schools don't cattle call and pick the best out of dozens, they have the kids they are interested in and have them play with against current players and commits, that's what they're looking at.
If you can get your daughter's coach, DOC or if she trains with a supplemental program (ODP, PDP, Red Bulls) and can get a rep from there to get in touch with the coach running the ID event, that might be helpful in getting their attention.

Also important to check the rosters and social media of the team. SM usually has the bios of most recent recruits (HS Seniors). Would your kid's bio read similarly?
If not, it may be a very tough sell. If it's your kid's dream school, eh-give it a shot but keep expectations managed. If they just think it would be cool, probably not worth the $.

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This is a really good point. The player will learn a lot about the coach at these school-specific clinics (note that they might not learn as much about the coach at a multi-school clinic since the environment is different from how the coaches might do things on their own).

Also, particularly for the younger players, these clinics can be a bit intimidating at first with lots of good players attending. This is particularly true for players who have been with the same club for a while and have not attended a lot of tryouts. Good to go to a few just to get comfortable with being in these kinds of settings even if the coach has not expressed interest.

Totally agree - get your feet wet with a program you're not as interested in but maybe is of a similar level. With so many schools in the area it isn't that hard to find something that fits your schedule and budget. Getting rid of butterflies can really help, and you also get a better idea about where your skill level fits - or not. One of the biggest mistakes players can make is over shooting their target.

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Also important to check the rosters and social media of the team. SM usually has the bios of most recent recruits (HS Seniors). Would your kid's bio read similarly?
If not, it may be a very tough sell. If it's your kid's dream school, eh-give it a shot but keep expectations managed. If they just think it would be cool, probably not worth the $.

Another good piece of advice - if a team has multiple international players and NT picks and your kid isn't? Probably won't happen or even if you got a spot would you ever play? You can also go to games if they're local and almost every school has games on line too. Doing your homework upfront means a better chance of picking the right programs to target. That = great success.

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Question-is it common for players to be separated at these ID Clinics? My daughter went to one recently at one of her top choice schools. They separated the kids into 2 separate groups, one that seemed to be playing with current college players and/or recruits (they all had gear that said "name of college" women's soccer) and the other amongst themselves. My daughter was in the 2nd group. She only invited the coach to one showcase so far and they didn't show, so we assumed the other group of players were kids they had already seen. Can anyone lend any insight into this situation?

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Question-is it common for players to be separated at these ID Clinics? My daughter went to one recently at one of her top choice schools. They separated the kids into 2 separate groups, one that seemed to be playing with current college players and/or recruits (they all had gear that said "name of college" women's soccer) and the other amongst themselves. My daughter was in the 2nd group. She only invited the coach to one showcase so far and they didn't show, so we assumed the other group of players were kids they had already seen. Can anyone lend any insight into this situation?

Hate to tell you but she was in the "for profit" group. Coaches often separate players into one with their top prospects (who usually scrimmage with current players) and one with all the rest. Group two helps their budget. Sometimes a stud in group two shines and gets moved up. If they hadn't seen her play yet it's not surprising she wasn't in the top group. But the fact that they never showed up to watch her and never moved her at the event isn't a good sing. Sorry to be a bummer, but the reality it the process will usually have a lot of disappointment