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Post by cornerkick on Mar 30, 2022 10:30:42 GMT -5
Are there any soccer camps you would recommend? On campus ID Camps? DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, etc... any third party run camps?
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Post by 04gparent on Mar 30, 2022 10:41:25 GMT -5
My answer is based on girls
The answer depends on the child and how close they are to recruiting start time (June after Sophomore year). Answer also depends on your budeget. In my experience the 3rd party camps didnt do much and seemed like a money grab. UGA, Clemson, South Carolina, Vandy, and Auburn all have nice camps. I have heard, not experienced myself, that 3rd party camps for the Ivy's are pretty good too.
If you just want to expose your child to the high pressure environment choose an on campus camp at a school she doesnt want to attend to get their feet wet.
If your daughter is a couple of years before recruiting age and wants to get the most out of the camp try to find the camp that the current committs are coming to. Most schools have one summer camp that they ask the current commits to attend. Try to attend that one. Your daughter will get a chance to see the level of player the school wants and will be able to compare her skills to theirs and maybe even compete against them...
This approach worked for us. My daughter is committed to a SEC school.
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Post by roki12 on Mar 31, 2022 9:07:57 GMT -5
I have a question about camps. I read some comments that some camps are a waste of time if the coach didn’t personally invite your child. A friend received some camp invites for her daughter, some which are clearly generic (unsubscribe here), and others which say “I would like to personally invite you”. Is it all still a marketing ploy where they get your name off of some list? Also I thought coaches couldn’t reach out “personally” until summer of Junior year? Does this apply to a camp invite?
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Post by bogan on Mar 31, 2022 11:27:12 GMT -5
I think it depends on the age/gender of your player(s)and what you want to get out of it. I will say the cost of the camp doesn’t necessarily indicate its quality. My son has gone to many camps and he liked the ones that kept him moving and that challenged him. I would be suspicious about the mailing list invites-do a little research on the camps.
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Post by newposter on Mar 31, 2022 11:31:46 GMT -5
This information is readily available online. Sophemore athletes can call any coach they want and if the coach answers they can talk. However coaches cannot call them. Unlimited unofficial visits and questionnaires from coaches are permissible. Junior year coaches can call athletes. Official visits can start in September. Senior year official visits, private communication and receiving materials are all permissible.
As far as camps, it is readily obvious which invites are blanket emails and which ones are personal ie they will say I saw you play at (insert place and time). We would like to have you come to our summer camp. My son received a personal video invite from the 2 captains from the soccer team from one school.
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 31, 2022 11:36:12 GMT -5
I have a question about camps. I read some comments that some camps are a waste of time if the coach didn’t personally invite your child. A friend received some camp invites for her daughter, some which are clearly generic (unsubscribe here), and others which say “I would like to personally invite you”. Is it all still a marketing ploy where they get your name off of some list? Also I thought coaches couldn’t reach out “personally” until summer of Junior year? Does this apply to a camp invite? They can still get your name off of a list. My kid got invites to camps before the first GA showcase that she did that clearly came out of nowhere meaning they had never seen her play and she had never contacted the school. These were some big D1 schools like Michigan and Notre Dame. She is not power 5 level. They got it off some list...maybe a list of attendees of the showcase? She has also gotten letters and email invites to other camps that came from nowhere. I do not think all ID camps are a waste if you were not "personally invited" as she got interest from one school after going to their camp. She has also gotten interest from schools that attended big D1 school's camps. I do think the mega camps are a waste except maybe to gage where your kid fits. |
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Mar 31, 2022 15:00:13 GMT -5
I have a question about camps. I read some comments that some camps are a waste of time if the coach didn’t personally invite your child. A friend received some camp invites for her daughter, some which are clearly generic (unsubscribe here), and others which say “I would like to personally invite you”. Is it all still a marketing ploy where they get your name off of some list? Also I thought coaches couldn’t reach out “personally” until summer of Junior year? Does this apply to a camp invite? We found this advice to be true and this applies to girls: There is a huge difference between a camper and a recruit. If it’s after June 15 of. your sophomore year, only attend camps that the coaches have some level of connection with you. The “diamond in the rough” philosophy that your players is going to randomly show up and stand out above the other 40 girls attending the camp will almost never happen. The coaches are focused on the girls at camp they already are looking out for and evaluating. |
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Post by roki12 on Mar 31, 2022 15:12:45 GMT -5
Thanks! Being that she’s not a junior, was curious if it was real interest or marketing. The invites that seemed to be personalized are from coaching assistants, and she thinks they got names off a showcase list since she doesn’t think those coaches saw her play.
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Post by 04gparent on Apr 2, 2022 7:27:40 GMT -5
Thanks! Being that she’s not a junior, was curious if it was real interest or marketing. The invites that seemed to be personalized are from coaching assistants, and she thinks they got names off a showcase list since she doesn’t think those coaches saw her play. The hardest thing about this process is every player has a slightly different path. Please keep in mind most schools have recruiting coordinators. Many times the recruiting coordinator is sending the email or using the mail system to send many emails. Many times at showcases the coaching staff will split up and then compare notes after. In our experience the emails or camp invites came from the recruiting coordinator. To find the recruiting coordinator go to the school soccer website and read the bio of the assistant coaches. Most of the time it is listed. Personally we didnt dismiss all emails and didnt believe all of them. I would recommend going on the offensive and attempting to discover the schools that fit your player. The list should start big and include area of the country and academic fit among other things. From that list attend the camp or open dialogue with the coaching staff. |
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Post by hotspur1 on Apr 2, 2022 9:14:19 GMT -5
My thoughts on this and the whole recruiting thing. My daughter (playing D2) had decided when she was 14/15 that she didn’t want to play in college. She turned down an ECNL spot that year instead Playing between an RPL and Athena A then later SCCL squad. Two years later, after playing for a good coach/great man that helped her love the game again, she decide she wanted to play. Passing up that ECNL spot and just ignoring camps and recruiting altogether put her behind. So she and I quickly put together a plan.
She played every showcase she could possibly play between her club, and any other team she could guest on. When we guest played we reached out to every coach listed as an attendee. Our team mgr for her regular club team also put together recruiting notebooks for every coach and along with our club coach actively communicated with every college coach that would respond.
This got her personal invitations to camps. But don’t sweat it if you just sign up without being invited. The best results from any camp she attended came from Lagrange college. She did amazing and outplayed a few top level recruits. From this she got on a few more radar screens and invited to other camps and campuses.
Her favorite camps were Lagrange, Middle Ga, Berry, her least favorite was KSU. (There were two coaches at the LaGrange camp that really challenged her and gave her some great advice, introduced her to drills she had never seen before.)
Some camps are a money grab - some are great. Any camp your club puts together, or neighbor club, do it. It only takes one strike, one great defensive play to grab someone’s attention.
We prioritized small college camps d2/d3/naia (that had multiple colleges running the camp). she was borderline for a decent d1 school and knew it so she knew where her focus should be.
But the biggest part of the equation is always your outreach to schools.
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Post by roki12 on Apr 2, 2022 10:05:47 GMT -5
My thoughts on this and the whole recruiting thing. My daughter (playing D2) had decided when she was 14/15 that she didn’t want to play in college. She turned down an ECNL spot that year instead Playing between an RPL and Athena A then later SCCL squad. Two years later, after playing for a good coach/great man that helped her love the game again, she decide she wanted to play. Passing up that ECNL spot and just ignoring camps and recruiting altogether put her behind. So she and I quickly put together a plan. She played every showcase she could possibly play between her club, and any other team she could guest on. When we guest played we reached out to every coach listed as an attendee. Our team mgr for her regular club team also put together recruiting notebooks for every coach and along with our club coach actively communicated with every college coach that would respond. This got her personal invitations to camps. But don’t sweat it if you just sign up without being invited. The best results from any camp she attended came from Lagrange college. She did amazing and outplayed a few top level recruits. From this she got on a few more radar screens and invited to other camps and campuses. Her favorite camps were Lagrange, Middle Ga, Berry, her least favorite was KSU. (There were two coaches at the LaGrange camp that really challenged her and gave her some great advice, introduced her to drills she had never seen before.) Some camps are a money grab - some are great. Any camp your club puts together, or neighbor club, do it. It only takes one strike, one great defensive play to grab someone’s attention. We prioritized small college camps d2/d3/naia (that had multiple colleges running the camp). she was borderline for a decent d1 school and knew it so she knew where her focus should be. But the biggest part of the equation is always your outreach to schools. Love this, thanks for sharing! |
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