Winter ID camp need advice

[Anonymous]

Our DS high schooler is hoping to play in college. Maybe D1 but D3 too. We’re considering a winter ID camp - are there particular camps that are recommended?

[Anonymous]

This is really personal. DS made a list of schools he’s interested in attending that also have teams. He’s been advised to go to school specific ID camps rather than large camps claiming to have coaches from multiple schools. However, he’s noticed many D3 schools only have camps with multiple schools present so it’s a bit confusing. Most schools list their ID camp dates on the website but DS has also reached out directly to the schools he’s interested in by email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS high schooler is hoping to play in college. Maybe D1 but D3 too. We’re considering a winter ID camp - are there particular camps that are recommended?

Just go to the local ones for now. They usually have Dec and Jan dates. Off the top of my head, assuming ur from the DMV area, AU and UMD have winter Id camps.

[Anonymous]

Start with his/her club. Do they have college contacts? If the player is not already in a MLSN/ECNL/ MAYBE GA club the chances are low. If they are, Im assuming their club has had them make a short list and is working the realities of the process with them.

If you go to the general ones (I know McLean, Arlington MDU and Bethesda have them at some level) realize they are coming to see kids who have reached out to them as target schools. Does your kid have a series of clips and reels?

[Anonymous]

my 2 cents. I'd go to a school specific one, they're usually in the off season (mostly spring, some winter) - the major draw back to this is if the coach ends up leaving in the next year or two then you essentially have to restart with the incoming coach.

I'd consider the larger ones with 20~30 colleges if there were 2 or 3 colleges that were in my DC top 5 or top 10. Reach out to them before, let them know you'll be there, etc. We did this one time and ended up finding out that one of my DC's top schools that was listed as going wasn't actually going (the college attended 1 time like 8 years prior, so I'd just do my due diligence before).