Understanding the College Soccer Recruiting Process

If you're the parent of a serious youth soccer player you've probably already felt or feel the anxiety: Are we doing enough? Are we behind? Is this showcase really worth it? Is that ID Camp worth going to?   After years of scouting players and helping families through this process, I can tell you the answer is both simpler and harder than the industry wants you to believe. Context is everything, what's good for one family may not be good for another.   Let's start by clearing up what I think are the three most common and costly misconceptions in the recruiting process:   Myth #1: The more exposure, the better.   This is the most expensive mistake families make. The instinct is understandable, if coaches need to see your child, then more tournaments, more showcases, more ID camps and more events must mean more chances right? Wrong. Exposure without strategy just burns through money and can wear players out. This can lead to doing more damage then good to your child's chances. No player is firing on all cylinders every time they step on a field let alone a child.   Myth #2: Coaches will find the talent. If my kid is good enough, they'll come to us.   I include this myth or misconception because it was the biggest mistake that my family and I did during my recruiting process. I think in extreme cases this is can be true. If your kid is on the youth national team, you're not going to have too many issues getting recruited. A player of that caliber is having a totally different recruiting process than the other 99% of prospects. Talent matters enormously yes, but getting recruited and ultimately committing to play collegiate soccer is always easier for prospects who have made themselves findable. This happens through genuine outreach, organized and easily accessible film, as well as relationships built over time with Coaches, Scouts, Technical Directors, and Agents. Making sure the right people know you exist is of vital importance.   Myth #3: A verbal offer mean its done.   This is the one that breaks parents' and players' hearts, so I want to be direct about it. A verbal offer is not binding; not for the coach, and not for your family. Verbals can be withdrawn. Coaching staffs change. Rosters need shuffling. Player's start to relax after a verbal commitment and let their game slip. Budgets get cut.   A verbal commitment is a genuine, exciting and encouraging step, but it is not the finish line. Until there is a signed National Letter of Intent the process is still alive. My advice would be to treat the verbal as a strong signal to keep building the relationship, keep improving your game and not as a reason to stop everything else.   What actually matters underneath all the noise are three processes that move the needle more than anything else:   The first is development over everything. The single best thing you can do for your child's recruiting is to help them become a better player. Coaches recruit ability and fit for their team's system. A player who fits that mold in whatever system is being played, or whatever position on the field a team needs to fill, helps their chances tremendously. A player isn't getting any better if they are sitting on a 4 hour plane ride to yet another ID Camp after just finishing another one. Technical players are built on the field, fluid and durable athletes are made in the gym and maximum speed is taught on the track. To be the most successful soccer player one can be you have to sufficiently fill all of these buckets to the best of your ability.   The second process I want to discuss is fit beats prestige every single time. All these girls want to go to Duke, UNC, Florida State or Stanford the reality is only a small percentage of them actually get there. The program where your child will develop, compete for minutes and be genuinely happy for the next 5 years should be the questions getting answered.   Lastly, good academics is leverage in the negotiating process. This is a very under rated process in recruiting. Fantastic grades expand athletic options drastically. Programs have the ability to help players with high educational success more than one's who don't. More prospects get shoved to the side based on their academics than you'd think. If a coach is able to save scholarship money on a player because that player is receiving academic dollars and not using his or her athletic scholarship budget, they become incentivized to get that player to their program. If it's a tie between two prospects in term of projected ability the one with the better grades wins every time.   The recruiting process rewards families who stay calm, invest in real development, and make informed decisions rather than fearful ones. Your child's ability is the product. Everything else is just how you present it. Do that well and the opportunities will follow. Good luck to everyone currently in the midst of this process please feel free to reach out if you would like some guidance on how to best game plan for what's to come.

If you're the parent of a serious youth soccer player you've probably already felt or feel the anxiety: Are we doing enough? Are we behind? Is this showcase really worth it? Is that ID Camp worth going to?