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Post by guest on Aug 21, 2015 10:36:43 GMT -5
Curious to know where you need to be at in order to get looked at/receive offers from colleges. RPL? ECNL? NL? State Cup winners? What about high school, does that matter? What if your team wins HS state? And how does where you 'rank' on your team affect this? Does the worst player on a great team get looked at too?
While I am asking about girls I suppose this could apply to boys as well. Even though due to T9 there really isn't much boys soccer, or any other sport for that matter besides football. Certainly in relation to scholarship availability.
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Post by volunteercoach on Aug 21, 2015 11:24:33 GMT -5
I have seen girls from ECNL to Athena B/C get recruited. Lots of factors in play here...the big one being where your kid would like to get an education and what the realistic level they could play at would be.
Typically, ECNL is going to be the route to bigger D1, maybe even D1 in general. Yes...there are those outliers who get recruited without playing there but they are the exception not the rule.
I coach HS and most college recruiting is done at the club level. Yes, I've had smaller schools contact about juniors/seniors that may be interested in playing (I have all club players on my team from ECNL to Athena C), but they aren't typically schools you would even know existed. I can say pretty confidently that every girl that has graduated out of my program could have played somewhere, now whether its where they would want to go to school is a different story.
The athletes should do a little work to get on a coaches radar (unless they are they next mia hamm of course). If they are interested in a school, reach out, try to watch some games to see if they could realistically be part of the team, go to the school camps if you think you could contend for a slot on the future squad. Its about being realistic about your current skill.
That being said, I spoke with a D2 coach in Georgia earlier this year, said half the roster was ECNL. He said now the talent pools are so spread out its hard to get out and see talent. He wasn't even sure if they were going to watch the State Cup semis that year, as he didn't know if it would be worth the time...
In my day, there was no ECNL. Just Athena, RPL and ODP. At that point the best kids were ODP/RPL followed by Athena A. It made life a lot easier.
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Post by rifle on Aug 21, 2015 11:30:42 GMT -5
I imagine the select table was much more hierarchical when there weren't multiple leagues. Promotion and relegation probably were a much better indicator of talent/team strength. Now, it's all over the road.
So I sympathize with that coach.
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Post by zizou on Aug 21, 2015 11:39:16 GMT -5
I think these numbers are still accurate; pretty close regardless:
Women’s Soccer Scholarships/School
NCAA D1: 14 NCAA D2: 9.9 NAIA: 12 NJCAA: 18
Women’s Soccer Programs
NCAA D1: 314 NCAA D2: 223 NCAA D3: 409 (no athletic scholarships, but academic allowances for top level athletes for sure...which allows Harvard to compete with top D1 programs every year, for instance). NAIA: 221 NJCAA: 276 Total: 1,443
This means there are, on average, about 1100 D1 (Full) scholarships available/year (assuming 4 year recruiting cycles). But NCAA soccer is an equivalency sport, meaning partial scholarships can be given. Here are numbers on scholarships (Full and Partial) given to members of the ECNL Graduating Class of 2015:
ECNL Class of 2015: 1,357 College Bound ECNL: 1,236 Total # Playing Collegiate Soccer: 1,203 Division I: 920 Division II, DIII, NAIA: 283
That is a pretty high hit rate for D1, and that is from only 78 clubs (the number of clubs in the league last year). This year that number is 80 clubs. If your player is interested in playing D1 soccer in college, this one league really cuts into the scholarship numbers. There are obviously still quite a few spots left, but there are also a lot of players at the many hundreds of other clubs trying to get their players seen.
I do not have statistics bearing on your other excellent questions. There are certainly lots of people with opinions, though!
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Post by paterfamilias on Aug 21, 2015 13:08:03 GMT -5
Let me chime in anecdotally here.
Girls recruiting starts much earlier (freshman, sophomore years) than boys recruiting. My guess is this primarily occurs due to the size of the talent pool (there are so many boys playing than girls), the fact there are so many more scholarships to fill on the girls side, and boys mature later in life therefore a freshman boy has a lot more physical development ahead of him than a freshman girl.
The thing I would stress is to find a school that your child wants to attend regardless and then email the coach to see if there is fit. In my experience and observing the interaction of my kids' teammates, the coaches are more than happy to hear from the players and they like to see that there is an interest in the particular school. Coaches might be on the sideline watching (we've had up to 30 watching a game of ours before), but they like to be approached. Whether they are D1 or NAIA or in-between, the coaches are generally gracious when you approach them.
Also, consider visiting the school simply as a student without regards to the athletics. I would be interested in the statistics about the players that get a scholarship and then quit after the first year.
One last thing about the level of soccer in college. Whatever level your kid is playing at, each game they play is important to your child. Don't get hung up on the D1, D2 or D3 aspect of it.
Soccer is fun and interesting and a great learning tool, but it is really only one part of the process in the journey of life
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Post by spectator on Aug 21, 2015 20:44:14 GMT -5
Recruiting goes both ways - the player needs to 'recruit' the school he or she wants to attend too by emailing their profile/soccer resume to coaches at schools they're interested in attending/playing; watching that team play - go to a game or try to find video - you'd be surprised (or not LOL) what you can find on YouTube. Search out their social media pages - if the team has a Facebook/Twitter account -follow it. Keep up with what is happening at the school/team they want to attend.
Schedule visits when you can - unofficial (you pay) or official (they pay for the player to travel and stay). Don't hang around the hotel if you're at an out of town tournament -see if there's a school nearby you're interested in.
But above all, academics trumps all. It's no good to go play D1 soccer and get a degree in Ancient Civilizations because that school may not have a good business or nursing school. It's highly unlikely your kid will earn his or her living playing soccer - playing in college is just part of the journey as stated above,
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Post by atlcoach84 on Aug 22, 2015 10:16:15 GMT -5
With so many players trying to play at the next level, it is definitely a two-way street. If you are interested in a school, you should send a personalized email to the coaches with specific information about you the player: class year, test scores/grades, and obviously all of the soccer-related information. Including a video is a good way for colleges to see how he/she plays and give them an idea if it may be a good fit for the program.
At all levels, the better the grades, the more academic money the school is able to give you, and the more attractive of a prospect the player becomes as he/she doesn't cost as much to bring in for the program.
With respect to where you are most likely to be seen, it's about bang for your buck with respect to most school's recruiting. For example, this weekend is the RPL U17/U18 Boys weekend in Hampton, so a lot of us will be down there watching games today and tomorrow. Large showcases (Disney, Jeff Cup, DA, CASL etc) are good bets because coaches can see teams from all over in the same weekend.
If you're in a lower level (CI or CII/ATH A/B), just be sure to keep reaching out to the schools if you are playing in the general area. If it's a single game weekend (at home), we usually will try to get out to a couple games locally just to look for players that might not make it to the aforementioned tournaments. We have generally found a couple kids each year in CI/CII who have flown under the radar and turned into contributors quickly, so it's not just all about RPL/ECNL/DA level teams.
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Post by soccerpapi on Aug 23, 2015 8:35:01 GMT -5
Agree with some of the stats above...Here are some additional thoughts from personal experience with girl D1 player:
1) If your kid is not USWNT team material (have been invited to national camps, etc.), and have no desire to play professional, focus on academics first & soccer second 2) Even if she is, most would say, you should probably still focus on academics first 3) League you play in does not matter as much as team you play for (if D1 is your goal, be on a top 2-3 team in age group that will get accepted to top showcases, etc..) 4) Result is based on how much work you put in off the field (just because you email Coaches does not mean they will come or will respond - call, ID camp, etc.)
Here is an another post from "yellow card" that has some helpful responses on similar topic (enjoy the process).
gasoccerforum.com/post/4218
gasoccerforum.com/post/4218/thread
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Post by silverback on Aug 23, 2015 14:53:58 GMT -5
Ditto on many comments above. You and your kids absolutely need to do your research on schools and plan for your son/daughter to write lots (and lots) of letters/emails, regardless if your kid plays DA, RPL, ECNl, etc. And one letter may not do it, he/she may have to send several emails and/or ask your coach to put a call in on your kids behalf. As one college coach told me, they get over 100 emails a week so you need to make sure your kid differentiates and sells themselves. As you can imagine, it is incredibly competitive, even if your kid plays DA (or ECNL) so there are no guarentees.
Also, when you start speaking to colleges, there are so many questions you need to consider/ask. For example, what positions are they recruiting for, when would your kid realistically expect start, what is their style of play (and compare to your kids style), etc. Also, review rosters, what positions they've already recruited, how many Jr & Sr.s are on their current roster, etc. and try to speak with the head coach as early as possible- good indicator of how interested they are in your kid.
And at some point, you will need to understand how much recruiting dollars they have available to spend. My kid spoke to one coach for about 6 months and when we finally got around to dollars, they had much less to offer than expected, especially considering the cost of the college was > 50K per year. And when it's time for those unofficial visits, they cost you money and time so you need to pick wisely and make sure its a good fit before you shell out dollars for travel (planes, hotels, etc).
Lastly, although a lot of fun and a great experience for you and your kid, expect a lot of stress.
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