Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to your daughter. My son would love to play D1 but we understand the odds are minuscule. My question is is this a binding commitment on the part of the school? How does she know the school will admit her if she’s just starting junior year. It seems early for a pre-read.

The transfer portal has ruined it for the boys.

My son's school next year has only 2 Freshmen on the D1 team...but 10 seniors + 5th year students. They will go to the transfer portal to pick up older players now.

Further, the International players are coveted.

The school will definitely admit her. She is straight A student taking APs and Honors classes. There is no 'binding commitment' until she signs her letter of intent the fall her senior year. This is very normal on how the process works. As of this moment there are about 100 girls from the 2026 class who have already committed.

I have no clue how the boys side works.

Anonymous wrote:Also, some of the ECNL rosters have in excess of 25 kids on them. If your goal is to play in college, I thought playing time mattered more than just being on a team. How can the Coach see you play at a showcase event if you are the 2nd or 3rd string on your team? I've been told by coaches, it is important to have significant playing time over just being on a team. Or did just being on an ECNL team seem to open the 'doors of interest' for your daughter?

Great question! Our team had 20 players but because of her position (defender) she rarely came off the field. College coaches got plenty of opportunity to see her. For showcase events our coach made sure everyone got plenty of playing time especially the girls who are not committed yet. We routinely had 80-90 coaches at our showcase games. A good higher ranked ECNL team will have tons of coaches at their games.

Congrats! Despite some negative responses to you, as someone with kids in U12 and under it’s nice to glean wisdom from your personal experiences. Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When did you daughter get on an ecnl team? Which grade or what age? Thanks for the great post.

She got on in the 8th grade. So I guess she was like 13 or so. She is a trap player. 2026 playing 07

Based on the ecnl, trapped player thread, it is basically impossible for your DD to accomplish this unless we go to SY from BY 😉

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, your daughter committed to a D1 school and she is starting her Junior Year of High School today?

Yes! Recruitment window for her opened up June 15th. She had calls, emails, texts, and mail from a ton of schools. A few called at midnight on June 15th. Numerous schools came out to see her one last time at ECNL Playoffs in Seattle. They then called to set official visits after August 1st. She made her decision a few days after one of the official visits.

Anonymous wrote:NIL deals likely do not apply to women's soccer.

Kudos to DD, or should we say kudos to Mom?

my question is, do you plan to attend all games whether home or away?

NIL deals definitely apply to women's soccer. We personally know numerous girls who have NIL deals playing soccer. Of course they aren't huge like basketball or football players but a few grand here or there always can help.
Attending all of the games isn't going to happen. We will pick and choose a few games and see those. Definitely will be at the first game. The school has a very good streaming service so we will catch the rest on TV.

Anonymous wrote:How did you and your daughter make the decision about not playing high school? Seems like a lot of ECNL girls do play high school.

Well she goes to a small private school so not playing wasn't that big of a deal (except to the high school coach). Its not like she is going to some big public school that put a ton of pressure on her to play. The main reason why she isn't playing has to do with overuse. She played last year and her club season was at the same time. Too many overuse injuries (hip flexor, calf strain, sore knees). Her doctor highly recommended only playing for one team. No brainer

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations. I admit I'm jealous, my DD's soccer career and recruiting ability in HS was really impacted by Covid. She was one of Clyde's girls for a while and was hoping for a D3 spot. She's still playing club though, soccer is a great sport at all levels.

Dont be jealous. A lot of this is luck and perfect timing. Clyde puts a million girls in college. I'm glad she is still playing and enjoying all of it.

OP, how much did you spend (on average) per year on your daughter's soccer? How much is her scholarship per year?

Anonymous wrote:When did you daughter get on an ecnl team? Which grade or what age? Thanks for the great post.

She got on in the 8th grade. So I guess she was like 13 or so. She is a trap player. 2026 playing 07

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, your daughter committed to a D1 school and she is starting her Junior Year of High School today?

People bank a lot on verbals.

What is the goal? It is to go to college first and play soccer second. If the soccer falls -- that is the way it goes. That is why you pick the school for academics and not for soccer. Most verbals are good. Kids are the ones that break them most often.

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, your daughter committed to a D1 school and she is starting her Junior Year of High School today?

This is when most girls commit. Before their jr year. Check out Soccer Wire.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, your daughter committed to a D1 school and she is starting her Junior Year of High School today?

People bank a lot on verbals.

Most (if not all) verbals are broken by athletes not coaches. Unless the kid gets hurt and can not ever play again, they will see a contract.

Anonymous wrote:For every junior that commits to a school there are several who commit and never play in college. A lot changes in a year. Until that pen meets the paper it's just a verbal agreement that isn't worth anything.

Yep - every single person on the planet with a kid interested in playing in college knows this. Stop being a Doug Downer. We know the rules. We know what can happen.

BTW - even if you sign and sit the bench - the $$ and the stipend and the NIL is still all yours for the taking! Who cares if you play or not? My kid played 17 minutes last year on a full scholarship and is walking around with a monthly $2,600 stipend debit card! Now THAT's worth something!

For every junior that commits to a school there are several who commit and never play in college. A lot changes in a year. Until that pen meets the paper it's just a verbal agreement that isn't worth anything.