The Why of College Soccer Recruitment

Many youth hopefuls always ask themselves at the end of their senior year, why nobody really cared about them.  Put more simply, why didn’t even one college contact me.  To be honest, the local JC or the CC does not count.  I have seen the best of the best get passed over for a number of reasons and here’s why.

Not Enough: Space 

When a College is recruiting they have a limited amount of space unless they have a large senior or graduating class.  So in essence, they want to fill the upcoming void with talented additions.   There is always one guy that stands out on every team.  Whether he is scoring, setting, or stopping the goals, there is one.  Those are the guys that might be able to sit back and let the coach call him or her.

Not Enough: Time 

But for everyone else, you need to get out there and find a college yourself.  Coaches do not have time to come out and find people.  The players that they go out and scout are the ones that have either contacted them or the ones that are on the Youth National Teams.  So there is about 25-30 players on the National Team and maybe 100 who were in the pool.  Unless you are in that 100, start working.

Enough: Talent to Go Around 

I have known a lot of people who were really good players.  Matter of fact, a lot of these players could player college soccer.  All of them could have gotten soccer scholarships to a college.  Whether it would have been there dream college or not, a scholarship could have been “had.”

Enough: Time 

Besides playing soccer, what else is really that much more important than getting out there and calling up some coaches.  It may land you a spot on a really good team.  A top class team for that matter.  It may save you the feeling of being unwanted or worse: The feeling of Rejection.

Personal Note: 

I was a goalkeeper with my sights on college soccer.  I started playing goalkeeper in my Sophomore year and got really into it in my Junior Year.  That is when I knew personally that I HAD to play at the next level.  Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ruined that possibility but the journey shows what can be accomplished.  At the end of my Junior year, I got into finding out what I had to do to play college soccer.  I must have filled out hundreds of “Prospective-Player Questionnaires.”  Now I’m a Senior, currently out of soccer yet the offers have been rolling in pretty nicely.  Twenty Universities and Colleges recruited me, three offered guaranteed spots and the rest were willing to let me come to the campus for individual trials to prove myself.  My depression is not like the aforementioned players who feel rejected, mine is not being able to play when the opportunity is present.