Let’s start using this page to help each other. Anyone out there have any recruiting advice in terms of what’s best to get your name out there. Prospect camps, recruiting tournaments, all of the above? |
PLAYING ON A COMPETITIVE TEAM....PLAY WELL IN TOURNAMENTS |
Have heard/read a number of parents of successfully recruited players highlight the importance of, in order: (1) Big tournaments--especially in summer before 11th grade. Lots of coaches, watching best teams. This requires playing on the right club, but coaches do watch lower pools as well at the most important tourneys like President's Cup; (2) Prospect camps at target schools. Smaller groups, demonstrates interest, has shown to be successful for a number of 2025s we know; (3) Bigger all-star tournaments like American Select; Many others have cited big camps like Best in Class or Juniors Open as good experiences, but not clear whether they are good for coaching/development, or actual recruiting. What is more opaque for me is the communication with coaches. When is it appropriate to initiate? What should the expectations be? What is the right timing of setting up a IWLCA page or other site? Would imagine that these gaps will be filled by a meeting with a club's recruiting coordinator as the 9th grade season starts. |
Being extremely athletic is also helpful. |
1) Freshman year, you should have a Sports Recruit set up, with information completed. 2) At anytime you can send out introductory emails to schools, and follow up emails before summer tournaments with your schedule. 3) They can't reach out to you besides a generic reply with their camp information but they can reach out to your club director/coaches. 4) Update your profile with game film and highlight videos as needed. |
So you have the balls to have a comment removed? Hope a grown adult bullying a team that is playing for charity. Be an adult and stop commenting and making rude comments on the Lumberlax team. |
Data Guy owes us some data . . . |
I found an extra data source for the project and it's taking a while to correlate. Not kidding. Sorry for the delay. |
I like your style. /s/ Other Data Guy |
Understood. These things cannot be rushed. |
I would also add GRADES. Having poor grades in high school will close a lot of doors. Start sending out emails to college coaches during your freshman year. Introduce yourself, tell them about your successes and as others have said email before summer tournaments. Coaches want to see multi sport athletes so let them know about your other sports. Post videos on sports recruits. If you play for a high school that is in a competitive league/division use game film from your high school season. There has been a lot of debate on here about how important HS play is. I have found that coaches do look at hs film as it demonstrates how you match up against older players. Also most of the college coaches reached out to our high school coach to find out about them as players and people. Prospect camps of the individual school variety were super important. Summer tournament play with your club team is definitely important. Big tournaments, UA150, All America, American Select, not so important. Its fun for the players and they get the chance to play with girls from around the country and its a resume builder but it never came up in any of the conversations that she had with college coaches. They can serve as a barometer for your player as to how they compare to others, and also gives them an idea on what they need to work on themselves. |
I think this is generally right, but will vary a bit based on 1) what position you play and 2) what club you play are For top clubs, the big fall and summer tourneys (LFTC, Mid-Atlantic, Summer Genesis, Fall Draw, G8, LLL) are most important. You will have tons of coaches on the sidelines, especially for the big fall ones. President's Cup isn't as big for top clubs since this is really the only tourney where coaches can see kids from lower-tier clubs. As a point of reference, this fall my daughter's top 20 ranked 2026 team had about 45-50 coaches per game at LFTC and Mid-Atlantic, but probably around 20-25 at Presidents Cup) For goalies or draw girls, in-person prospect camps are most important. For positions where coaches are only recruiting one girl (and maybe not even that much), they generally won't offer if they haven't worked with you in person. Early summer events like Best In Class or Juniors Open can be more important since it shows you playing against top competition. For late-season all-state events like American Select, much lower impact. By mid-July most D1 coaches already have their initial lists done and you can probably only hurt yourself. |
My daughter just went through the recruiting process. She is committed to a top ten program
She did zero things like Best in Class, UA 150, or Junior Open. She did the top tournaments with her club she’s attended camps at schools she was interested in. That is where you get the most bang for your Buck |
Agree, have daughter playing top 25. You don’t need the money-grab events. Play on the best club team your daughter can make, which will get her the exposure she will need. |
Appreciate this post. Very helpful. The two after are informative as well. Thanks! |