Exact Sports Soccer Camps

[Mystery Train]

My email inbox is getting flooded with soccer camp invites. It's really hard to know which ones are money makers only and which ones offer some legit opportunities to network and connect. I know there is another thread on camps in general, but wanted some feedback from those in the know or experience with Exact Sports. I keep getting emails from them and each one is more personalized than the last. I'm naturally a skeptic, so I tend to delete most of these ID camp invites. Is it just really well done, persistent marketing? Or is an Exact Soccer ID camp something my kid should take advantage of?

This latest one is the Academic 50 ID camp.

 

[DefndrDad]

My email inbox is getting flooded with soccer camp invites. It's really hard to know which ones are money makers only and which ones offer some legit opportunities to network and connect. I know there is another thread on camps in general, but wanted some feedback from those in the know or experience with Exact Sports. I keep getting emails from them and each one is more personalized than the last. I'm naturally a skeptic, so I tend to delete most of these ID camp invites. Is it just really well done, persistent marketing? Or is an Exact Soccer ID camp something my kid should take advantage of?

This latest one is the Academic 50 ID camp.

I’m in the same boat. But one of the exact camps is actually local so I was wondering the same thing.

 

[mirage]

......wanted some feedback from those in the know or experience with Exact Sports..........

This latest one is the Academic 50 ID camp.

Exact Sports ID camp was the very first ID camp our older son did during December of his sophomore year. It was our way to be able to communicate easily with coaches since he was not yet eligible for coaches to directly contacting him.

Our experience was that the camp at the time had 3 of his interested schools involved and was able to get assigned to one of them as the primary coach for the two days (they breakup the kids into small groups led by coaches). Additionally, they are taught about attitudes, importance of clean social media, do's and don'ts as well as parent session to discuss what to expect in the journey.

The scrimmage based camp is conducted by breaking up the entire group into by graduating year. They play against within the graduating year only (except freshman and 8th graders - they are the smallest group and usually set aside for the boys so I would not bother to send 9th grader or younger).

Now the bad side. You have to keep in mind that these coaches are paid to be at the camp by the organizer. Its sort of a rubber chicken banquet circuit in that the same coaches make the rounds and often they are distracted by their smartphones. Not all coaches behaves this way but many do.

So, after all that, it was good for our kid's first exposure to an ID camp. After that, he only attended targeted school's own ID camp. What we'd found was that if the coach liked the player at Exact, they'll invite you to their own camp (which by the way, anyone can attend anyways but...). The advantage of being invited is the continued dialogue and group sorting at the school's camp (Yes schools ID camp usually divide the groups by those that they know and are interested in, and those that are unknown to them).

I think the Academic 50 label is to get the parents to pay more for the same camp. Most of those coaches are there at other events too.

Hope this helps... Cheers!

 

[Mystery Train]

Exact Sports ID camp was the very first ID camp our older son did during December of his sophomore year. It was our way to be able to communicate easily with coaches since he was not yet eligible for coaches to directly contacting him.

Our experience was that the camp at the time had 3 of his interested schools involved and was able to get assigned to one of them as the primary coach for the two days (they breakup the kids into small groups led by coaches). Additionally, they are taught about attitudes, importance of clean social media, do's and don'ts as well as parent session to discuss what to expect in the journey.

The scrimmage based camp is conducted by breaking up the entire group into by graduating year. They play against within the graduating year only (except freshman and 8th graders - they are the smallest group and usually set aside for the boys so I would not bother to send 9th grader or younger).

Now the bad side. You have to keep in mind that these coaches are paid to be at the camp by the organizer. Its sort of a rubber chicken banquet circuit in that the same coaches make the rounds and often they are distracted by their smartphones. Not all coaches behaves this way but many do.

So, after all that, it was good for our kid's first exposure to an ID camp. After that, he only attended targeted school's own ID camp. What we'd found was that if the coach liked the player at Exact, they'll invite you to their own camp (which by the way, anyone can attend anyways but...). The advantage of being invited is the continued dialogue and group sorting at the school's camp (Yes schools ID camp usually divide the groups by those that they know and are interested in, and those that are unknown to them).

I think the Academic 50 label is to get the parents to pay more for the same camp. Most of those coaches are there at other events too.

Hope this helps... Cheers!

Yes, thank you. That's what I was thinking. My DD has done camps like that. She's also getting invites from schools, and I think it's better than she focus on those at this point.

 

[mirage]

Yes, thank you. That's what I was thinking. My DD has done camps like that. She's also getting invites from schools, and I think it's better than she focus on those at this point.

Just to be clear - I think you already know. The invites I'm referring to is a personal invite from the coach, and not the mass mailer. Usually, the mass mailer is long and features how great their camp is. The personal invites usually doesn't have a long sales pitch, like the mass mailer. Also it helps if the player keeps the coach up to date on tournaments, any awards (CIF, if playing HS) and so on, so that the player's name is coming across the coaches mind every so often.

 

[Eagle33]

Coaches normally will not personally invite unless it's a camp in THEIR own school.

 

[mirage]

Coaches normally will not personally invite unless it's a camp in THEIR own school.

Correct - that's exactly what we're talking about. I guess you'd missed that part of the discussion...

 

[Dubs]

If a coach personally reaches out to a player, says they have seen them play and invites them to their specific camp, does that mean they are up on their recruiting list? How can you decipher if they are really interested absent communication with the club coach?

 

[mirage]

.....does that mean they are up on their recruiting list? How can you decipher if they are really interested absent communication with the club coach?

First and foremost, not all college coaches reach out to the club coach. In two of the four recruitment for our older son, his coach was never contacted. I would not put a lot into club coach being contacted as a vital sign, if they can communicate with the player directly. If not, perhaps its more important but really, they do their own due diligence.

In our experience the club coach was used as a check the box supporting data at the very end for the other two of the four. I'm sure others on the forum probably would disagree based on their experience so you'll have to do little digging. Maybe ask around if the coach from U of X calls club coaches on the regular basis or not.

As for the personal email, it does mean, most likely, that the player is on their radar of interest. Most keep a list of candidates by graduation year and by position far greater than what they end up recruiting. I would not construed to mean the player is preferred; rather, they are interested enough to find out more.

 

[Dubs]

First and foremost, not all college coaches reach out to the club coach. In two of the four recruitment for our older son, his coach was never contacted. I would not put a lot into club coach being contacted as a vital sign, if they can communicate with the player directly. If not, perhaps its more important but really, they do their own due diligence.

In our experience the club coach was used as a check the box supporting data at the very end for the other two of the four. I'm sure others on the forum probably would disagree based on their experience so you'll have to do little digging. Maybe ask around if the coach from U of X calls club coaches on the regular basis or not.

As for the personal email, it does mean, most likely, that the player is on their radar of interest. Most keep a list of candidates by graduation year and by position far greater than what they end up recruiting. I would not construed to mean the player is preferred; rather, they are interested enough to find out more.

Makes sense. In DDs case, she is finishing up freshman year so contact has to go through coach unless it's for something like camp. She gets camp mails daily... some are personal and others not. Her coach has been contacted quite a few times, but was curious if folks had any experience in terms of how to read into an email when they technically can't do much more than send the info. I will say that a group of the same schools send her emails all the time...