Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process
- Thread starter MakeAPlay
- Start date
SoccerJones
SILVER
I'd reach out to the schools your interested in, send a video and a welcome letter. Then if she's gonna be playing in any big showcase tourneys send them the schedule to ask if they'd be attending. much better chance than going and spending money on an id camp. unless your daughter is a standout player, there's a good chance she'll get lost in the mix with the rest of the peeps.
I appreciate the feedback. We're going to be on the East Coast this summer anyway, and I'd like her to have the experience of attending an ID camp regardless of its effectiveness in any recruiting process she may undertake. So I'm wondering which camp would give her the best experience.
Soccer Masters just held and excellent camp in Vero Beach, FL. Head coaches from top tier schools (both soccer and academics) were actively working with and teaching the girls. More of a teaching camp than recruiting per se and as you say, just getting out there gets them used to not worrying who’s watching!
Definitely follow through with thank you notes, remind them what bib # you wore, etc.
Definitely follow through with thank you notes, remind them what bib # you wore, etc.
My DD back in the day did a one page resume with her photo, height, weight, positon(s), dominate foot, club, coach contact number/email, accolades (pdp, id2, ODP, National training centers, yrs as team captain, etc) and imbedded a table with her showcase schedule and future scheduled showcases. It worked well for us when she was a freshman and sophomore just spit balling interest on her top 10 list. It was easily printable for a coach to put in a binder. Eventually we imbedded into the email with an intro and left as a PDF attachment also for printing.
Definitely aim for the camps that are specific to one school assuming your DD has a solid list of places she wants to go. They are more pointed adn focused in terms of having less girls and more girls interested in that specific school + whole coaching staff will be there. The buffet style camps (as many have said on this forum) are more a money maker for the coaches rather than an actual ID camp although there are success stories. Make sure your DD and her coach reaches out to each of the coaches at the school's camp alterting them that she will be coming. As far as resume...most are added as part of the highlight video. Send video link along with your intro email...
Few Question for all of you Vets and those smack dab in the middle of it out there....
(1) In terms of registering interest with a specific school when did you start? How many did you target...5, 10, 15 - did you pick by conference or locale, majors, etc.? Grade 7, 8, 9..., U13, U14, U15?, Does it make a difference Boy/Girl, Field Player/Keeper, etc? When is too early a
This will vary incredibly I'm sure, and sure things change a bit year after year. Just interested in people's approach and learning from others successes/opportunities.
(2) Frequency of interaction...I'm sure that info is encouraged to be shared from the player, dates of showcases, game updates, etc.? How often did your player send updates as I know there are rules regarding when the schools can make contact.
(3) What tools did you use? Instagram, Hudl, Personal Page....just curious.
(4) Video - Did you do Highlight Reels? How often did you update? Fall, Spring, every few games, etc. I have heard coach's say they watch 30 seconds - minute tops, I have heard people say don't waste your time, and I have heard keeper families say to incorporate training vids in the reel. Just curious about peoples experiences.
(5) ID Camps for schools you registered with or cattle call, destination ID Camps? I see both options referenced on this thread, but it seems "wait for personal invite" seems to be majority, but other routes have worked for others.
(6) How involved was your club/coach, trainer, etc.?
(7) How did you know they were interested prior to the allowable contact date after the end of the Sophomore year?
Just looking hear some recent stories from those that have been there, done it, or are in it, and I am sure it is pretty unique across the board. I promise to share our family's experience if we to that point.
(1) In terms of registering interest with a specific school when did you start? How many did you target...5, 10, 15 - did you pick by conference or locale, majors, etc.? Grade 7, 8, 9..., U13, U14, U15?, Does it make a difference Boy/Girl, Field Player/Keeper, etc? When is too early a
This will vary incredibly I'm sure, and sure things change a bit year after year. Just interested in people's approach and learning from others successes/opportunities.
(2) Frequency of interaction...I'm sure that info is encouraged to be shared from the player, dates of showcases, game updates, etc.? How often did your player send updates as I know there are rules regarding when the schools can make contact.
(3) What tools did you use? Instagram, Hudl, Personal Page....just curious.
(4) Video - Did you do Highlight Reels? How often did you update? Fall, Spring, every few games, etc. I have heard coach's say they watch 30 seconds - minute tops, I have heard people say don't waste your time, and I have heard keeper families say to incorporate training vids in the reel. Just curious about peoples experiences.
(5) ID Camps for schools you registered with or cattle call, destination ID Camps? I see both options referenced on this thread, but it seems "wait for personal invite" seems to be majority, but other routes have worked for others.
(6) How involved was your club/coach, trainer, etc.?
(7) How did you know they were interested prior to the allowable contact date after the end of the Sophomore year?
Just looking hear some recent stories from those that have been there, done it, or are in it, and I am sure it is pretty unique across the board. I promise to share our family's experience if we to that point.
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
We started when she hit HS. She spent several years righting coaches to attend her tournaments/showcases and attended multiple camps both school specific and camps with multiple colleges. We created a video and used the free part of various online services. I believe all of this was a complete waste of time because she was not playing on a top team until her Junior year. It did not matter how good she was since she was not playing with other top notch players nor was she playing against the top opponents. She got in front of probably 100 plus coaches before her Junior year but it did not matter since it is so hard to evaluate talent if they are not playing with/against top talent. Once she hit the DA things changed dramatically. We had a crazy amount of coaches watching games. Also our assistant coach was talking to these coaches and relaying interest to us. The sidelines were like a feeding frenzy. She ended up with multiple offers and most were from coaches she never had written too.
So my advice is get your kid playing for the DA or ECNL. Let your coach know what schools your kid is interested in. If they have game they will get recruited. Once a coach is watching your kid play and they are on a top team, if they want her they will reach out to you.
So my advice is get your kid playing for the DA or ECNL. Let your coach know what schools your kid is interested in. If they have game they will get recruited. Once a coach is watching your kid play and they are on a top team, if they want her they will reach out to you.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
We are in the middle of it. I've learned a LOT from people that have already been through it, especially on this board.
For one of my DDs (top level DA player), we started spring of 8th grade. She wrote pre-showcase emails to about 10 schools and attached her highlight video (I made it myself using her DA game film) and her player profile from CollegeFitFinder (supplied by our club). She also attended her first ID camp that spring. For my younger DD (mid to lower level DA player) we will wait until her freshman year to start anything (that might even be earlier than necessary for her level, but I find the practice writing emails and talking to coaches at camps helps them grow as people). I don't have a boy so I can't speak to specifics, but in general it seems boys get recruited later than girls.
So far we have updated the video every 6 months. My daughter and I do the editing and select clips together as a team. We keep collegefitfinder updated regularly. DD also has a twitter and keeps a topdrawersoccer profile updated. I don't know how important any of these things actually are, but we wanted schools to be able to find information about her easily should they want to. It's also an opportunity for her to learn to manage her messaging, and I think that's a valuable job seeking skill for later on.
We attend school specific ID camps only of schools that she actually wants to go to. The goal of attending is to experience the campus and coaches to see what she thinks, and to get her on the radar of that school. I do not wait for an invite, but I do know how to target what level she'll get notice from. I'm not going to take my kids to a camp where they don't fit the profile of the typical player. One way to check this is to look through a school's roster and see what the bio looks like for college players on the roster who start or play a lot. Do your kid's accomplishments at least sort of match those of the players on the current roster?
So far, the club's involvement isn't a lot. Club liaison will contact ahead to let a school know my player is coming to ID camp. Club coach relays messages (including general interest) back to me that he's gotten from college coaches about my player (either directly or via club liaison). They are very supportive in those two areas.
Until June 15 after sophmore year, contact is just emails before games, showcases and ID camps and thank you's afterwards when a coach has seen her play. She includes and updates or new accolades in these emails. If she's emailing a coach that doesn't yet know who she is, she includes a list of highlights and gives reasons she wants to attend the school and actions she will take to follow up with them later. If she's already on the school's radar, the email is just any new updates and when and where she will play.
We know a school is interested when they tell our coach. Sometimes we suspect a school is interested when we get an email that doesn't look like it came from a subscription list and says something like we saw you play, but we can't talk to you yet, but here's info about our school and camp. This is new territory for everyone that gets these because it's the first year of the new rule - so I guess we will all find out come June 15th after sophmore year how much of this perceived interest is real. We have no way to know what "interested" means (ie we might want you but we have no money for you vs. you are our #1 recruit) but it helps us have feedback about what kind of schools are finding her to be a potential recruit.
Good luck! Lots of people shared with me to get us to this point, and we are still learning each step along the way as we go.
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
Our experience is that all of the endless camp emails from coaches was garbage. Once your kid can be contacted, coaches will contact them either through your coach or directly to you (they even may call you on your cell). I do think writing coaches to attend your events is a good practice but since your kids play DA they will have the opportunity to play in front of hundreds of coaches. A better practice would be to get the list of coaches that attended and have your daughter write them a thank you letter. That way she is showing interest to coaches that actually saw her play and if they were interested enough they might just respond.
MakeAPlay
DA
I am officially retired from this website (my player just graduated from college in December so she isn't a youth player anymore) but this is great advice to listen to. Good luck to your players. You have them on a great path and you are very pragmatic about the process which is the key. I started this thread right before she started college 4 years ago in order to try and get some useful info out there that had helped me during my daughter's process.
Enjoy the ride it goes fast. Now I have to fly to DC to see her play. Now back into exile...
Come on MAP! Don't leave us. I need you until at least my kid signs her NLI
You are defintely asking all the right questions....many of which can be answered on this forum, however, as has been mentioned, each journey is unique. With my DD (and before the rule change), she was getting interest Spring of 8th grade year and actually started to have conversations that summer. If your kid has been identified through competition (in our case top team in ECNL and she has always played PDP) the process becomes about casting a broad net to figure out exactly what/where your DD wants and understanding where the interest is. I believe she had about 30 schools on the initial list. She started with intro emails. She had a highlight video that she would include in the email. That video had all her relevant info + her soccer resume. I would say video is only important for establishing first bit of contact. After that it's only important if a coach that is interested requests more recent footage.
By the time her Freshman year came, she had already been on a few site visits, as well as gone to a couple camps. In my estimation, camps are only effective if there has been interest established prior to attending. I'm sure there are others that maybe have a different opinion. If you plan on going, have your DDs coach send a note or call them to inform them she will be coming.
Another important thing is to establish with your kid's coach what they think is realisitc for them... mid major, power 5, D2, D3, etc.. You're going to need that frank feeback. Once you have that, you can start pairing down the broad list. By end of first semester Freshman year, DD had her list cut to 10. She would email this list of 10 with showcase info. Another thing I thought was very helpful in gauging interest was looking at the local schools of interest, as well as who they were playing during the season and inviting those coaches to regular league games if it was potentially drivable for them during that week since games would be played on Thurs or Fri and then on Sunday. Example, in the PAC 12, both Washinton teams will come play the SoCal teams through the course of 1 week. Check these schedules and invite them to come see you play. Everytime my DD reached out in this way, someone showed up at the game. Toward the end, they were showing up to practice. You just never know, but I was always shocked at her success rate and then realized all the schools were looking at her hard.
Once DD got her list down to 5 end of her Freshman year, we became focused on making sure she understood the ramifications of going to these institutions. All had interest in her and had spoken to her on a semi regular basis. Academics, financials, etc... basically what impact this would have on the family. In the end, when she decided where she really wanted to go, there was some back and forth and some uncertainty on offer. Uncertainty meaning...when exactly it would come. It ended up coming Oct of her Sophomore year. That period of time before the offer can be stressful, but patience is key as had been advised to me by some folks on this forum who I am eternally greatful to.
Hope this is helpful. Keep connected to this forum. It has been immensely helpful to our family on a number of fronts. All the best to you!
The Outlaw *BANNED*
PREMIER
Come on MAP! Don't leave us. I need you until at least my kid signs her NLI
Going back to run interference for his kid. Washington Spirit is also known as Stanford East.
Map, thanks for coming back to catch us all up. TY again for helping me see the truth of where soccer is truly at. BTW, UCLA is making a nice little run to the NCAA tourney. Its hard for me to get excited for the Madness if no Bruins. This coach wants defense first and with that attitude, you can win it all. Go Bruins in Hoops!!!!
Yeah this is a super helpful thread! We’re in the thick of it and I have a question:
My daughter attended an excellent multiple school ID camp recently and within a moth, got invitedby three different coaches to attend their on-campus camps. One of the invites is Stanford. Are the schools sending the same invitation to everyone on the multiple school camp list so they can fill quota? Or, are they actually inviting players they are genuinely interested in? Thanks.
My daughter attended an excellent multiple school ID camp recently and within a moth, got invitedby three different coaches to attend their on-campus camps. One of the invites is Stanford. Are the schools sending the same invitation to everyone on the multiple school camp list so they can fill quota? Or, are they actually inviting players they are genuinely interested in? Thanks.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
Our experience so far is that when a school is interested in a player prior to June 15 of Soph year, they will tell your coach.
In the case of the Stanford emails from Paul and the Stanford camp invites, we have seen that they do not go to everyone, but they do go to a large number of players.
Some schools send you camp info because you’ve expressed interest in them (by filling out recruiting profile or attending a camp or sending an email). Some schools will send you a camp invite if they’ve seen you play and noticed you even if you have not expressed interest in them. Some schools just mass market their camps.
Someone else can chime in if they’ve had a different experience.
I have spoken to many in the know, both from club perspective and college. Everyone needs to relax and take their time finding a good college family for your dd. My son took 12 months to finally pick SDSU. The whole family drove to UCLA, UCSD, UCSB and SDSU and walked around. My dd will have her picks sometime for her JR year and go on her visits too. However, she will visit the soccer facilities, the coaches and players and then watch a game. Talk some more and if the right fit is there, go for it. If not, wait until Sr signing day. This is so fun when no one knows and you bring two hates and mom and dad are there crying. Let the girls have some fun with this. Shoot, 8th graders announcing is crazy imo and way to early.
It depends on what kind of email you got. I agree when it comes to Stanford... It's probably to a large group. Also agree that they would reach out to your DDs coach and explain they would like to take a closer look at their camp. These camps are almost 100% about them making side scratch. However, if the email is very personal and specific to your DD and actually says they want a closer look, then there may be actual interest. My DD got many camp invites that were also acommpanied by a call to her coach to make sure the message was relayed that they wanted her there.