Looking at other countries’ pathways to the pros for young players, wouldn’t it be better for a player with pro aspirations to play PDL or USL rather than playing in college?

Anonymous wrote:What is the predominant style in D1?

Kickball. Just like USMNT.

What is the predominant style in D1?

I played D3 and loved every minute of it, too. We even played in the NCAA D3 Final Four one year. I do regret not exploring more options when I was looking at colleges. Even though I had a great experience. I do wish I experienced D1. I played high level club soccer. We won the national championship at U16 when it truly was a national championship. I won more state and regional championships than I remember. After college I joined the Peace Corps. There I joined a professional women’s team. We made $8 a game which I had to donate back to a girls’ team I started. I was even invited to play on their national team for a tournament (totally not legal). I met another American while I was there playing for professional soccer. This was all so much fun!! Do it when you are young. This was 20 years ago, too. Glad to see how much the game has grown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Played in college 20 years ago. professional teams werent on my radar probably because i almost never saw or really heard of pro team. it didn't ever look like a career to me.

i do it now differently for sure.

I am female and graduated college in 1992. Mia Hamm was after me. Women’s first World Cup was in 1991 and no professional League.

College was the end road. Plus, I was a STEM major. Quit soccer by junior year of college. Burnt out.

On the other hand, my brother did play pro.

Did your brother go to college first, or straight to the pros from HS?

Anonymous wrote:Played in college 20 years ago. professional teams werent on my radar probably because i almost never saw or really heard of pro team. it didn't ever look like a career to me.

i do it now differently for sure.

I am female and graduated college in 1992. Mia Hamm was after me. Women’s first World Cup was in 1991 and no professional League.

College was the end road. Plus, I was a STEM major. Quit soccer by junior year of college. Burnt out.

On the other hand, my brother did play pro.

Oh, sorry - I misread, I thought you were talking about college grades. I would assume high school grades are important, too.

I’m the PP that played D-III - yes, athletes have to maintain a certain GPA to continue to play sports. I forget what it was - maybe 2.5? Probably depends on the school. Anyway, I knew several people who didn’t maintain their grades and could no longer play their sports. Pretty big bummer for them, clearly.

Thank all for sharing. Looks like D3 is a good choice if the kids don’t have a pro dream. Still have to maintain certain grades in HS I would imagine.

Since you're asking about going pro, I'll assume you're directing this mostly to people who played D-I - but I'll answer anyway. I played D-III, which is a clearly much lower level than D-I for the most part. I had friends who played D-I and it just sounded like so much work and a lot less fun.

Playing D-III was pretty darn great. I played just because I love the sport - I couldn't imagine it not being part of my college experience. It was awesome and I formed life-long friendships (now going on 20+ years after graduating). Probably one of the best decisions I ever made was to continue playing in college.

Played in college 20 years ago. professional teams werent on my radar probably because i almost never saw or really heard of pro team. it didn't ever look like a career to me.

i do it now differently for sure.

It got me into UVA and I never considered anything after school.

Not soccer, and I went to an Ivy, and really wouldn't gone anywhere else - but even at an Ivy, D1 is hard. I don't think any of my kids will play sports professionally, and I think depending on the best school for their other interests, if they want to continue a sport and have fun (I felt D1 was more of job than fun), I might suggest that they might seriously consider D3.

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of parents here played college ball. If there were a do-over, would you do things differently? Why or why not?

Was becoming a pro ever in the consideration going into college or academics was always your end goal from the beginning?

Soccer helped me get admitted to an Ivy. Played freshman year, tore an ACL, never played in college again.

There are a lot of parents here played college ball. If there were a do-over, would you do things differently? Why or why not?

Was becoming a pro ever in the consideration going into college or academics was always your end goal from the beginning?