June 15th

[MMMM]

On my DD’s 2004 team about 2/3 of the 2022 graduates were committed by end of March this year. Only three 2022 grads still to commit, and they’re struggling both with not getting the looks from their favored schools and with the idea that this might not work the way they want it to. The 2023 grads are starting to have serious conversations now. FWIW this is a good, strong team, but not a perennial powerhouse.

For the 2023 parents, being really, deeply honest with yourself and your kid about their potential level of play in college is key. We brought my DD to an out-of-state coach to give us an honest assessment during DD’s sophomore year of HS because we knew the local coaches who wanted to recruit her to their club would blow some smoke. We wanted to enter the recruiting fray with a more grounded perspective than we’d get locally. It was priceless.

 

[Soccerfan2]

Didn’t see this coming…our daughter (2022) wants to play D1 soccer and she probably will..somewhere. She’s a solid student with high grades, AP, good test scores, etc etc.

Challenge we’ve run into (that I didn’t see coming) is that excellent schools around the country are dropped off her list only because their soccer roster has filled out.

I hope she doesn’t visit a campus, fall in love with the place, and then strike it from her list because she doesn’t get an offer from them.

I’m sure she’ll find the right academic / competitive fit, but meantime, I’m watching her put a strike through some great schools…

Some incredible D3 programs are also in play but for the moment, she’s turned her focus on playing D1…

Hopefully this Dad’s observation helps folks with younger players..

Players need to be reaching out to schools at different levels starting freshman year and understand that if they don’t have an indication of interest leading up to June 15, they should be adjusting expectations and pivoting. By the time June 15 before junior year comes, they should have a good idea about what level/schools are actually going to recruit them.
I wish clubs did a better job educating on the process. Too often I see them shirk responsibility for helping and allow players to think things happen at D1 schools later than they actually do.

 

[Messi>CR7]

Players need to be reaching out to schools at different levels starting freshman year and understand that if they don’t have an indication of interest leading up to June 15, they should be adjusting expectations and pivoting. By the time June 15 before junior year comes, they should have a good idea about what level/schools are actually going to recruit them.
I wish clubs did a better job educating on the process. Too often I see them shirk responsibility for helping and allow players to think things happen at D1 schools later than they actually do.

How do you gauge interest from schools before June 15 before junior year if you cannot have contacts with coaches/schools prior to that?

 

[Giesbock]

How do you gauge interest from schools before June 15 before junior year if you cannot have contacts with coaches/schools prior to that?

That’s one of life’s big mysteries!

 

[Soccerfan2]

How do you gauge interest from schools before June 15 before junior year if you cannot have contacts with coaches/schools prior to that?

They tell your coach that they like you or have general interest, social media likes or follows, a generic email response that says “we can’t contact you before June 15 but here is info about our school and camps”.

 

[myself]

June 15 is 2 days away (yay). Do east coast teams get to take advantage of time zone differences and email at what would be 9pm PST? Just curious!

 

[socalkdg]

We got off to a late start last year as the first email as a 2023 that she sent out was in August 2021. I urge everyone with 2024's to get started now, hopefully you already started a few months ago with emails. Most schools are trying to finish up there 2023's in the next couple months but are also looking at 2024's. Big camp this past weekend that my daughter watched her best friend in(she committed last Wednesday so skipped the camp) had 2/3 2024's, very few 2023's.

Timeline works both ways. If you have visited a school and you really like it and the coaches really like your kid, waiting for something better can result in losing that spot and getting something worse. If it is a great match, a great offer, and they want you to commit now, go for it.