My previous posts have all been what to do and how to do it for players that are young. But many people often have waited and it is honestly not too late but not early either. The average player needs to make him/her-self known to college coaches. Cause they won’t know about him or her normally.

I think honestly, this resembles what my position was except I was a lot worse off…in the end I failed but I did have a lot of things I was up against.

However: Many young players play good soccer, maybe US youth soccer at the class 1 division Premier, 2, or 3 level. Maybe even class 3…the lower level…whatever…even city league. It doesn’t mean that there is no college for them and it doesn’t even mean that they couldn’t be something better than they are now. So I examine the following:

What to do when you are pretty much stuck in a rut, example: You are a Junior in high school and so far you have not contacted or been contacted by any colleges. What to do?

This is all off of experience by the way:

1. Get a list together of all the colleges you would play at, go to school at, and like. After fill-out each school’s “Prospect Questionnaire” and email the coach saying that you are interested.

• The email should include a letter of introduction and your soccer resume. The letter of intro should include who you are, where you live, who you play for, and that you are interested. The Soccer Resume needs to have all the tournaments you have played in, all the clubs you have played for and currently playing for, all the tournaments you will be playing in, all the stats from the latest season, and your high school playing career along with stats, jv or varsity. The resume should also include a way to reach any coaches that have coached you(high school, club, camps, combines, or showcases).

2. Have someone, a friend, a parent, or a trusted teammate’s parent to film your game. The teammate’s parent might be bad considering that you may never be on the video. Anyway, get a film together.

• For Field Players: This is not your chance to show how you are the next Ronaldinho, coaches DO NOT want to see you juking your parents or little brother/ sister or anybody for that matter. Or how you can move throughout trash can obstacle courses like guys put up on youtube. The coach wants to see how you do in a game setting to gauge the following: How you play in a game, what you do, how you interact with your teammates, and what kind of a player you actually are.
• For Goalkeepers: I would include a game. But also, you may include training sessions cause they do want to see how you block, your form, those type of things.
• For All: Select the best game that you have performed in. Analyze it, if you are making flaws, criticizing teammates etc. etc. Do not show this film. Also, send the whole game… You are not the judge of how long they want to see, only FIFA can make that call by setting the games at 90 minutes or not.

3. Find College Camps and Development Camps/ Academies: It would be good to go to a college camp.

• College Camp: Its the camp put on by the college where the coaches and players are actually there. This is a try-out for certain players and a great way to get your name out there. This should be done in the summer before your senior year. Introduce yourself to any and all coaches/ players. If you perform well, make sure to start calling them all and letting them know that you are interested in attending their college. This is also a good way to get to know the college and see if you like it from the inside, also to get to know the players and coaches.

-If money is not an issue attend all the college camps at the colleges you are interested in attending. If money is an issue then look at your list, select the top however many your budget permits and go to those college camps. If you can only afford one, go to that one and be sure thats where you want to go. Everything has to work, the school, the city, the majors offered, the whole lot. If you can only go to one then I would suggest taking campus tours before you have made your selection and sent your money away.

• Development Camps/ Academies: These are all over. Some examples No. 1 Striker/ Keeper, Star Goalkeeper Academy, Brad Friedels National Goalkeeper, Elite 300…the list goes on and on. Again, with this attend all these if possible, they all have pros running it or elite college players/ coaches and they all have a different spin. For instance, SGA is really relaxed but gets the same thing from their students-like the Duke Basketball Coach K (He comforts his players thats why they can cry on his suit shoulder after they lose a game and he hugs them). Or you can be pressure trained at No. 1 Goalkeeper/ Striker-like the former Indiana U/ Texas Tech Coach Bobby Knight (He threw chairs across the court and yelled at his players, there is no crying here). Anyhow, personally, I would send my player to all the camps/ academies I could afford. If I couldn’t, I would send them to as many as I could afford.

Last licks: Stay in contact with all these coaches who have shown you interest. It may land you a spot on a team, a walk-on invitation, a preferred walk-on, or maybe nothing at all. And another thing during the summer(usually only for men): All the clubs in Latin America, Europe, Asia, wherever all have youth academies. It is known that anybody can go there and try-0ut in the summer time to train and be apart of the academy. Sometimes they even ask them to stay on for the whole year and be apart of the academy. Anyhow, these teams also pay for food(however it is a strict and watched diet), any equipment, and your board. Interesting alternative.

Many youth soccer athletes are just so caught up in playing soccer and that’s about it. I couldn’t say that about myself because I got really into once I was in High School(my sophomore year). But besides that, I think the biggest reason why a lot of soccer players are finding that they don’t get the scholarship, walk-on invitation, or even interest they always dreamed of because they are not proactive enough.

Here is when to start thinking about colleges and how to make yourself look like the best possible player. These tips however usually do not apply to the upper-tier player(top 1%) who is a National Team Selection. Getting recruited will not be a problem for a National Team Player, Pool selection, or Regional Team Member. For people reading that do not know what I just said, a pool selection is the tryout pool(all the players selected) that was invited to come tryout for the national team.

Let’s breakdown something for a minute…representing your country works like this…first you have a district, then you have state, then you have region, then you have the big guys-The National Squad.

Ok thats all done…Here goes:

A player a boy or girl should start thinking about what schools he or she wants to go to by his or her freshman year of high school. By then this player is just about at the level of where he or she will be in a couple of years. However with enough motivation, determination, and training a player can drastically change how he or she plays.

Steps:

1. Compile a list of all the schools that you are interested in. If you really don’t care but say all you want to do is play Division 1 soccer or top division 2 soccer. Then do some research of all these schools. Find the best schools for you and what you want to do.
2. Reflect on your abilities. If you can get on a better team, then do so. Remember, if the most serious colleges will be looking for players that are on Elite Club Teams. There are many examples of this but generally they are widely known. Mainly, your club needs to be going to as many tournaments as possible. I live in California so the tournaments that I would want to see elite clubs in are: Nomads, San Diego Surf Cup, State Cup for sure, The Newport Beach Surf Cup, and as many as possible. Also, these clubs also need to be going to the elite tournaments as well, Blue Chip, Disney World, and many others. Honestly, being on an elite club team is pretty costly however, if you are a parent what would you rather pay for: $120,000 D I school education because your son/ daughter is only a walk-on there or maybe $40,000 cause your kid got a full-ride(and no not the thing where the school comes and picks your son up at your front door).
3. Try-out for District ODP. This needs to be done. I would suggest getting in this system long before but stuff happens.
4. I would honestly want my son or daughter to be on a Club’s Academy team. Even if it is MLS Soccer, its still academy training and learning. Arsenal is opening one in Colorado and Chivas USA has them all over California. Also, Chicago Fire is opening one in Chicago. I think every club has some form of a X Club Name “Juniors” or youth club team.
5. Finally, now if I had a son or daughter and they seriously wanted to become a Pro. Like serious serious. Then I would make my best effort to send them either to Shattuck St. Mary, IMG, or Brandenton. All three are boarding schools but the last two are focused only on soccer and for soccer. This is where your true MLS pros are coming from, especially the last two. IMG players come out of that school and usually go directly into MLS or overseas pro leagues. Colleges also want these players however, they’re pretty good already.

That pretty much sums up when to start.