Can you get to college soccer without a club?

[Anonymous]

DS is a U16 now and, after many years at the top level in a club, has finally said no more. He wants to focus on school the next year or two, both academically and playing soccer with the varsity and said he just couldn't do the club scene anymore.

Is leaving a club the end of playing soccer in college? His coach said, "Not necessarily, but it will be a lot harder to get noticed and recruited, etc." I was wondering if anyone here has a kid who played college soccer without a club in high school or has heard of someone doing something similar.

[Anonymous]

My kid didn’t play at all junior year do to an injury.

He’s a Senior now and going to be a very late recruit. He is on mlsnext this year though.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like she doesn't want to play that level anymore but you want her to.

If she felt the workload of club soccer and high school academics was too much it's a lot more in college. She sounds like the perfect candidate for club soccer, which is a great time and less of a commitment and a lot of the players could easily be on the college team but don't want to commit to that.

[Anonymous]

You do see it sometimes at the D3 level but I agree with his coach that having a club *can* make it a easier if the club/coach have connections to help. Without showcase events to attend, you’ll want to focus on ID camps (and probably school-specific ID camps). That said, playing club doesn’t guarantee you anything, either, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a U16 now and, after many years at the top level in a club, has finally said no more. He wants to focus on school the next year or two, both academically and playing soccer with the varsity and said he just couldn't do the club scene anymore.

Is leaving a club the end of playing soccer in college? His coach said, "Not necessarily, but it will be a lot harder to get noticed and recruited, etc." I was wondering if anyone here has a kid who played college soccer without a club in high school or has heard of someone doing something similar.

If he's going to spend the time he would have otherwise spent at practice with a personal trainer who has connections or at least name recognition. It doesn't sound like that's what he wants to do though, so yes, it's the end of the line to play for a college team these days. The boys side is heavily international and older transfers at this point making it that much harder to get recruited. The most likely view that college coaches are going to take is that he's a riskier recruit because he's already burned out. College is significantly more taxing than the club level in terms of academics, travel, and the grind overall.

[Anonymous]

Focus on the academics.

If college soccer was really a true goal, desire and ambition, the kid wouldn't want to quit club.

Sounds like more a would be nice to do. Maybe.

[Anonymous]

There's aall kinds of Jr Colleges that have high level soccer. Just look around to find a better team. Many Latin players or players with poor grades got to Jr College and play.

One year playing at a high level Jr College. Then start attending different College ID camps. Guarantee they'll be looked at more seriously than the players coming out of High School. Then just transfer portal over to a better school.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your son has his priorities in the right place. Focusing on academics and playing soccer for fun. Ask yourself who wants him to play in college, him or you?

[Anonymous]

Can't they walk-on and tryout or are colleges no longer having those?

[Anonymous]

Colleges (especially D3) have walk-on opportunities, but they pretty much are looking for kids that are just blindingly good.

If your kid is trying to weigh pros and cons and is just burned out and wants a year off, then it’s much easier for boys to find a home later (but you will be fighting with internationals taking slots). The biggest difficulty with taking a year off is game speed. The reason that college coaches pick MLSNext and ECNL kids is simply that they know the player can handle the increased speed/pressure. There are lots of kids playing pickup on the weekend that look like they should be starting in Ligiue 1, but the moment they step onto a field where EVERYONE is that good and the pressure is on, they can’t step it up.

You need to settle in to the idea that HS is probably the end of his (non-Sunday league) journey, and that’s totally ok!

[Anonymous]

It depends on the school. From a boarding schools that focus on sports, absolutely. From WCAC, maybe. From publics, probably not

[Anonymous]

If your son is not playing club, he needs to be at a bunch of ID camps. College coaches as a rule don't come to HS games. You might be able to get some film from your high school coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your son is not playing club, he needs to be at a bunch of ID camps. College coaches as a rule don't come to HS games. You might be able to get some film from your high school coaches.

!00%. You need to be proactive and send film out. That's the best method for getting your DC recognized by colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do see it sometimes at the D3 level but I agree with his coach that having a club *can* make it a easier if the club/coach have connections to help. Without showcase events to attend, you’ll want to focus on ID camps (and probably school-specific ID camps). That said, playing club doesn’t guarantee you anything, either, obviously.

You could still play club at some schools.