Anonymous wrote:
Final question, if your children are being sought out, tell me in your honest opinion, were your children the top 5-10% on the team, or do us parents of highly above average but no the 4 best on the team have a shot at D1?

Anonymous wrote:This has been helpful, for sure.

For those of you with experience here, are your kids playing on their HS teams or on travel programs? For either, do your coaches or the clubs help make connections or are you literally trying to seek all this out proactively? Imagine a bit of both, but curious what (if any) level of support you get from HS coaches or travel club support.

Final question, if your children are being sought out, tell me in your honest opinion, were your children the top 5-10% on the team, or do us parents of highly above average but no the 4 best on the team have a shot at D1?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Agree with all of this, except going to the same school's ID camp multiple times. I asked a D1 coach about this at one of the camps, and he told me that the school ID camp can EITHER 1) put the player on their radar OR 2) take the player off their radar. If they get on the radar because of camp performance, the school will want to see you play with your club and get to learn more about you. If you get taken off their radar, coming back to their ID camp is a waste of time.

Another couple of tips..
(SNIP -- see full post above)

My kid is a rising Junior and got emails yesterday to set up calls this week. Exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, but it looks like all the hard work and due diligence might finally pay off.

I really appreciate the time you took to write all this out. This board is at its most helpful when parents engage in good faith and genuinely try to help each other. I think the recruiting process is interesting and poorly understood by most of us. So I appreciate anyone who is going through it with their kid giving those of us with younger kids an honest preview.

SomeDoofus wrote:
Way to go dad! Way to take the lead for your DD.

HA! Totally agree.
By contrast, this ^^^ snark is what we could do with much less of here. Yes, parents here are involved in their kids' lives and soccer--that's why they are here. If you want to see the kids "taking the lead" for and among themselves, try Snapchat, not some 90s-era bulletin board.

Anonymous wrote:
Agree with all of this, except going to the same school's ID camp multiple times. I asked a D1 coach about this at one of the camps, and he told me that the school ID camp can EITHER 1) put the player on their radar OR 2) take the player off their radar. If they get on the radar because of camp performance, the school will want to see you play with your club and get to learn more about you. If you get taken off their radar, coming back to their ID camp is a waste of time.

Another couple of tips..
(SNIP -- see full post above)

My kid is a rising Junior and got emails yesterday to set up calls this week. Exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, but it looks like all the hard work and due diligence might finally pay off.

SomeDoofus wrote:
Way to go dad! Way to take the lead for your DD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of zoom meetings, emails, phone calls and plans for more calls. It is quite taxing, but my DD only gets to do it once. She’s liking it, but overwhelmed.

What had your DD (or anyone's) done previously to be on the coaches' radar when this day came? Were they emailing coaches fresh/soph year without hearing much back? Did they go to their camps? Are they on national recruiting rankings? Did coaches see them at tourneys? I'm curious what you think the drivers of this Day One interest were.

My DS is a 2023 and looking to play D1 soccer--so a year away from the same day for him.

Go to school-specific ID camps, multiple times if possible. Seek out opportunities to play in front of coaches from schools she’s interested in. Keep letting them know she’s interested. If your team has a regular-season game near a college your DD is interested in, let that coach know day and time and jersey number. What we’re learning is that the coaches who saw our DD play multiple times and where she did a lot of outreach and made personal connections early (starting 8th grade) whether through summer programs or coaching staff at her club are the colleges where she’s getting attention now that the window is open.

Agree with all of this, except going to the same school's ID camp multiple times. I asked a D1 coach about this at one of the camps, and he told me that the school ID camp can EITHER 1) put the player on their radar OR 2) take the player off their radar. If they get on the radar because of camp performance, the school will want to see you play with your club and get to learn more about you. If you get taken off their radar, coming back to their ID camp is a waste of time.

Another couple of tips..
- Keep emailing them coaches in the year before they can contact you to reiterate your interest in the school and update them on your academic and soccer progress. Make sure the email is personal and not a form letter. i.e. provide some details in the emails about the school, and what you know about them, to let them know you've done your research
- Every time you send an email to a school, do a reply all to the last email you sent so that it's easy for the school to keep track of all your mails. A coach at a perennial top 5 program told me to do this, as they get so many emails they lose track if you create a new email each time. It helps them to understand who you are and keeps everything in context.
- If you send a link to a youtube video, keep the video private. This will allow you to use youtube's analytics features to see if the coaches have actually watched your videos. I've heard of people who actually create a different link to same video for each school, so they can see if a particular school watched. The new link is a bit excessive to me, but might be a good idea if you're really invested in a certain program and want to make sure they've watched.

My kid is a rising Junior and got emails yesterday to set up calls this week. Exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, but it looks like all the hard work and due diligence might finally pay off.

Way to go dad! Way to take the lead for your DD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of zoom meetings, emails, phone calls and plans for more calls. It is quite taxing, but my DD only gets to do it once. She’s liking it, but overwhelmed.

What had your DD (or anyone's) done previously to be on the coaches' radar when this day came? Were they emailing coaches fresh/soph year without hearing much back? Did they go to their camps? Are they on national recruiting rankings? Did coaches see them at tourneys? I'm curious what you think the drivers of this Day One interest were.

My DS is a 2023 and looking to play D1 soccer--so a year away from the same day for him.

Go to school-specific ID camps, multiple times if possible. Seek out opportunities to play in front of coaches from schools she’s interested in. Keep letting them know she’s interested. If your team has a regular-season game near a college your DD is interested in, let that coach know day and time and jersey number. What we’re learning is that the coaches who saw our DD play multiple times and where she did a lot of outreach and made personal connections early (starting 8th grade) whether through summer programs or coaching staff at her club are the colleges where she’s getting attention now that the window is open.

Agree with all of this, except going to the same school's ID camp multiple times. I asked a D1 coach about this at one of the camps, and he told me that the school ID camp can EITHER 1) put the player on their radar OR 2) take the player off their radar. If they get on the radar because of camp performance, the school will want to see you play with your club and get to learn more about you. If you get taken off their radar, coming back to their ID camp is a waste of time.

Another couple of tips..
- Keep emailing them coaches in the year before they can contact you to reiterate your interest in the school and update them on your academic and soccer progress. Make sure the email is personal and not a form letter. i.e. provide some details in the emails about the school, and what you know about them, to let them know you've done your research
- Every time you send an email to a school, do a reply all to the last email you sent so that it's easy for the school to keep track of all your mails. A coach at a perennial top 5 program told me to do this, as they get so many emails they lose track if you create a new email each time. It helps them to understand who you are and keeps everything in context.
- If you send a link to a youtube video, keep the video private. This will allow you to use youtube's analytics features to see if the coaches have actually watched your videos. I've heard of people who actually create a different link to same video for each school, so they can see if a particular school watched. The new link is a bit excessive to me, but might be a good idea if you're really invested in a certain program and want to make sure they've watched.

My kid is a rising Junior and got emails yesterday to set up calls this week. Exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, but it looks like all the hard work and due diligence might finally pay off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of zoom meetings, emails, phone calls and plans for more calls. It is quite taxing, but my DD only gets to do it once. She’s liking it, but overwhelmed.

What had your DD (or anyone's) done previously to be on the coaches' radar when this day came? Were they emailing coaches fresh/soph year without hearing much back? Did they go to their camps? Are they on national recruiting rankings? Did coaches see them at tourneys? I'm curious what you think the drivers of this Day One interest were.

My DS is a 2023 and looking to play D1 soccer--so a year away from the same day for him.

Go to school-specific ID camps, multiple times if possible. Seek out opportunities to play in front of coaches from schools she’s interested in. Keep letting them know she’s interested. If your team has a regular-season game near a college your DD is interested in, let that coach know day and time and jersey number. What we’re learning is that the coaches who saw our DD play multiple times and where she did a lot of outreach and made personal connections early (starting 8th grade) whether through summer programs or coaching staff at her club are the colleges where she’s getting attention now that the window is open.

Anonymous wrote:Please for the sake of the children, do not let them out of the house to play. Everyone must stay quarantined during this time. The children must be protected. All this talk of soccer and returning to the fields will put their lives at risk. Is it worth it for you? for the children?

Please please we must remain apart as this pandemic must be treated with caution and care. I for one will not stand for it. If I see risky social behavior I will be forced to report any and all that are putting others at risk.

Anonymous wrote:Please for the sake of the children, do not let them out of the house to play. Everyone must stay quarantined during this time. The children must be protected. All this talk of soccer and returning to the fields will put their lives at risk. Is it worth it for you? for the children?

Please please we must remain apart as this pandemic must be treated with caution and care. I for one will not stand for it. If I see risky social behavior I will be forced to report any and all that are putting others at risk.

Anonymous wrote:Can’t help but be a little upset we have not heard from any coaches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of zoom meetings, emails, phone calls and plans for more calls. It is quite taxing, but my DD only gets to do it once. She’s liking it, but overwhelmed.

What had your DD (or anyone's) done previously to be on the coaches' radar when this day came? Were they emailing coaches fresh/soph year without hearing much back? Did they go to their camps? Are they on national recruiting rankings? Did coaches see them at tourneys? I'm curious what you think the drivers of this Day One interest were.

My DS is a 2023 and looking to play D1 soccer--so a year away from the same day for him.

Go to school-specific ID camps, multiple times if possible. Seek out opportunities to play in front of coaches from schools she’s interested in. Keep letting them know she’s interested. If your team has a regular-season game near a college your DD is interested in, let that coach know day and time and jersey number. What we’re learning is that the coaches who saw our DD play multiple times and where she did a lot of outreach and made personal connections early (starting 8th grade) whether through summer programs or coaching staff at her club are the colleges where she’s getting attention now that the window is open.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of zoom meetings, emails, phone calls and plans for more calls. It is quite taxing, but my DD only gets to do it once. She’s liking it, but overwhelmed.

What had your DD (or anyone's) done previously to be on the coaches' radar when this day came? Were they emailing coaches fresh/soph year without hearing much back? Did they go to their camps? Are they on national recruiting rankings? Did coaches see them at tourneys? I'm curious what you think the drivers of this Day One interest were.

My DS is a 2023 and looking to play D1 soccer--so a year away from the same day for him.