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Post by soccermaxx72 on Feb 8, 2019 9:37:57 GMT -5
For the parents that have had kids who were eventually offered a college scholarship at any level:
Anyone have experience with any of the recruiting websites: NCSA.org, Sincsports . Has anyone ever found these valuable for either creating contacts and leads that eventually led to a scholarship or have most that received offers been more based on college showcases and club/school affiliation.
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Post by Keeperkeeper on Feb 8, 2019 10:36:19 GMT -5
Simply put, no. Now, we read the NCSA website articles, but those are free. Save the money, and put it into the on campus ID camps.
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Post by Strikermom on Feb 8, 2019 10:47:32 GMT -5
I will say that Sinc was helpful in our case because my daughter did not play all of Junior year. So when she she got back on the field, it was very useful during State Cup and early fall tournaments to let the coaches she was interested in to let them know she was playing. We paid the $19.99 to be a featured athlete, and did make contact with coaches through it.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Feb 8, 2019 12:00:10 GMT -5
I don't have experience with this yet (still a couple years out), but I would think it's worthwhile to have a "profile" site (whichever you choose) to include a link in initial emails (actually, include it as part of their email signature). Height, weight, position(s), school, club, GPA, NCAA qualification status, pics, etc. Have your kid do the actual work, giving them the feeling of controlling their recruitment.
It may not be worth it, but I'm going to create a private youtube for her at that time with game footage and highlight reel stuff, as well having her do as a short video introduction so that the school can get an introduction to my kid's personality.
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Post by Goalkeeper Dad on Feb 8, 2019 13:47:50 GMT -5
I have been told by some college coaches that they really don't use sites as much as they push them on you. I was told sending emails to the coaches with videos work best and also attending their camps. Was told you also have to be careful about the camps because sometimes those are money grabs.
In my situation with my daughter I signed up for Be Recruited because it was like 90 dollars for 4 years and then signed up for the free program NCSA offered. This was so we could use the 2 in tandem to put your information and videos on the site. We use these to get some of the quick info that is needed instead of looking up every situation one by one.
My daughter is only in 9th grade so the coaches can't really reach out to us directly but we are using this to get on their radar. It has worked so far because we have had coaches come to watch her play
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Feb 8, 2019 14:04:18 GMT -5
My experience and for those around me, the most effective route is through the colleges themselves. That comes in the form of communicating directly with them on your showcases, college ID and regular games if you know they will be in the area(primarily done automatically within ECNL) and of course my favorite - College Camps and ID Sessions. You get to meet the coaches, their assistants and sometimes current/former players who can give you advice and the skinny on the goings on. They give you "suggestions" that we found is highly in your best interest to follow
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Post by Strikermom on Feb 8, 2019 15:45:03 GMT -5
Have to figure out what works best for you. As you go up in age groups and level, team managers will usually create a brochure of the team to hand out to college coaches on the sidelines at the bigger showcases.These are very useful also for making contact. If the tournament is on SINC, you are able to see who looked at your profile further and make contact. For girls bottom line is what does she want to study and what school would be a good fit for both areas: sports and academics.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Feb 8, 2019 15:46:18 GMT -5
And campus life
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Post by ultimatedad on Feb 8, 2019 17:01:17 GMT -5
My daughter is just getting into all of this and it seems more like a sorority than I expected. Getting offers is flattering but I would rather have her go to a school that is better for her career than go to an inferior school or program to save in the short term on tuition. For example would you rather have your kid go to Ga Tech or UGA and play club or go to a lesser academic school to play varsity soccer and not pay tuition? The up side to going to lesser school and devoting 90% of your time to soccer seems down. I understand that many people do not have this luxury of that choice but to those that do what is your perceived balance of where you will go to play soccer for a free education? Can only do this once.
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Post by soccerfan30 on Feb 8, 2019 20:31:51 GMT -5
I was a college coach for 10 years and I often used the various recruiting websites to look for players, especially those on the west coast or internationally. The recruiting websites are valuable especially for small schools with a smaller recruiting budget. I would watch literally watch hundreds of videos searching for the "diamond in the rough".I would set my preferences based on SAT/ACT/GPA scores etc, players that matched those qualifications I would get matching profiles weekly. You would be surprised how many quality players that would fall through the cracks or colleges that would rescind an offer at the last minute leaving a player scrambling to find a place to play. Players would mail me videos all the time as well.
If parents and players know what they are doing they can navigate the process without spending all that money, however the onus is on them, not the club coach, to do the leg work. If you have a coach that for example is coaching two or three DA or ECNL teams realistically they don't have the time to email 10+ schools on behalf of every player on their teams, if they do anything at all. College coaches want to see players that are self sufficient, that goes a long way as well.
Parents- know what the coach is looking for and learn to film games/highlights accordingly. I can't tell you how many times I'm looking at potential goalkeeper recruits and its five minutes of the player punting the ball or taking goal kicks, I assume to show me how far they can kick. How about saves? How do they deal with crosses/set pieces? Vocalization/Organization/Command of the penalty area? Training video to show me their work habits at practice? The last one is important to me, I don't want a decent player that has poor work habits and isn't self motivated. Or videos shot at long distance where you can't even tell which player is which.
ALWAYS pick school based on academics first- a new coach can come in and not value the player, a player could get hurt, etc, your degree will last a lifetime even after you leave the athletic arena. Also look at academic/sport life balance. If you are going to a top D1 school chances are you aren't going to have time for sororities/fraternities, etc, frankly many coaches discourage it. If you are looking for a better academic/athletic/social balance choose a school that offers that to you.
Lastly- Many top ACC and SEC coaches overlook very good players, their egos get in the way and they believe they know every quality player, they don't as quite a few can slip through the cracks. I've personally seen it happen with a former player who I coached and went to a two year college because she wanted to stay home and needed to help her family, impeccable character and honor roll student. She scored 140+ points in her two years at the college and took them to a National Final Four. She wanted to transfer to an SEC or ACC program, I reached out to Becky Burleigh at Florida, Angie Kelly (when she was at Tennessee) and a few other schools. Most responded "this girl can't be that good or I would know about her", she went on to play at Missouri her last two years and did well. Afterwards she went on to play professionally in Europe before pursuing a career as a physical therapist.
There are many avenues to play college soccer, use all of the tools are your disposal and don't depend on someone else. If you have specific questions feel free to ask
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Post by ultimatedad on Feb 8, 2019 23:14:31 GMT -5
Thanks for that inside post. Most parents I feel are kind of swimming in the dark about college ball.
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 9, 2019 8:42:08 GMT -5
Didn't use any recruiting websites. All contact was made via email or calls directly with schools. Either went to their camps or they came to her games.
You will get a lot of emails from schools, but the majority of those are just "spam", they email all the kids because camps need to be funded. When a school is interested in your kid, they will reach out to the coach with a regular email or call.
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