My DD was also recruited by some “lesser” universities. She wanted a strong academic school, but was not a D1 level player. She tried out for the club soccer team, along with a lot of other NOVA former club players. There were only three open spots. She was cut, along with all of her friends. She is happy, in a sorority, playing intramural soccer and basketball. I must say, growing up playing club sports made for easy conversation starters her firsr semester at an in-state university. Zero regrets for all the money and time invested in club soccer from ages 7-18!

Anonymous wrote:It can be very competitive. Just depends on the school.

However, your kid will change and grow over senior year. My son decided in 10th to drop recruiting as he wanted a better school academically than he could play for as a recruit. At the end of that year, he dropped from ECNL to ECRL because we didn’t need to be flying to San Diego and such if he wasn’t looking to be recruited.

Then, He talked about going for a club team a lot, but once accepted to college and seeing all there was to offer in terms of activities, even club seemed like a bigger commitment than he wanted- you are still practicing 2-3 days and a game on weekends including possible regional travel. He decided it was too much of a commitment with other things he wants to do like join a fraternity, career oriented clubs, working out, etc. plus studying. He’s going to a T20 university.

He stayed on his club team through end of senior year, and played all 4 years of high school soccer, and it was a great experience and taught him so many valuable lessons. Maybe he will change his mind once at school but he seems to have expanded his interests a lot beyond soccer.

+1 This is exactly what happened to my son once he got to college.

It can be very competitive. Just depends on the school.

However, your kid will change and grow over senior year. My son decided in 10th to drop recruiting as he wanted a better school academically than he could play for as a recruit. At the end of that year, he dropped from ECNL to ECRL because we didn’t need to be flying to San Diego and such if he wasn’t looking to be recruited.

Then, He talked about going for a club team a lot, but once accepted to college and seeing all there was to offer in terms of activities, even club seemed like a bigger commitment than he wanted- you are still practicing 2-3 days and a game on weekends including possible regional travel. He decided it was too much of a commitment with other things he wants to do like join a fraternity, career oriented clubs, working out, etc. plus studying. He’s going to a T20 university.

He stayed on his club team through end of senior year, and played all 4 years of high school soccer, and it was a great experience and taught him so many valuable lessons. Maybe he will change his mind once at school but he seems to have expanded his interests a lot beyond soccer.

We know how tough it is at my kid’s top school so he is staying in Club next year to stay competitive for Club. Also, because kid loves it- but didn’t want to self-recruit (emails/male highlight reels, calls, etc. ) like most boys have to in soccer.

I just posted this in the Club thread- depending on school it can be very hard. My kid was 1 of 2 Freshmen at D1/very high academic/lower D1 level. I’m assuming big state schools will be hard due to sheer number of kids vying for spots.


“Club Soccer, at least for boys, is very tough. The team is filled with former MlsNext, ECNL and International players- at my kids’ school (of course this will be school dependent) some of their competition from other universities was not very good. This is because:
1) kids were recruited elsewhere- but wanted highest academic school they could get into on their own (which is higher than w/soccer)- my kid and many teammates- some were transfers from a D3 school team; 2) serious about their studies; 3) burned out at the time constraints; 4) dropped down from the Varsity team due to not liking the coach or lack of playing time; 5) it’s a sport played by so many kids; 6) a school where coach won’t entertain any walk-ons. So- often only 1-2 Freshmen make it first year.

There is another level below this though : Intramurals which is open to all.

No idea about other sports- but I’m guessing basketball is very similar, hockey seemed to be too.”

I don’t think it’s a sure thing by any means. I know at UVA it is very competitive for some sports with tryouts. Club swim is open to any level but I think soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball etc are all tryouts.

The soccer forum seems geared toward high schoolers hoping to play in college. So, I am asking here. Is there a range of difficulty in joining a club soccer team - meaning how competitive is it to join or does it depend on the school? When we went on college tours for DC1, every tour made it sound easy to join club sports, you can play if you want or come an go - up to you. They all made it sound like intramurals back in the day in terms of joining the team but more organized and consistent in terms of games and play. DC1 wasn't interested in club sports but discovered that the clubs of interest were all extremely competitive and had trouble joining one freshman year. Now it is time for DC2 to start looking at schools and I am concerned that the tours are not giving a true picture of whether a student could easily join club soccer (girls) which DC2 is interested in.