Getting recruited to play college soccer is a task that is easier said than done. Many top level high school athletes have yet to realize that college coaches will not recruit them just because of their skill level. Unless you are on a junior national team you will have to actively recruit yourself to college coaches to get them to come to your games. This involves sending letters, emails, recruitment videos, and calling coaches on a weekly basis so that you can get a shot at joining their team. NCAA Division I College Soccer coaches get thousands of emails on a daily basis from players. It is your job to make yourself stand out from the rest of the pack.
The first question that any coach will ask a potential recruit is if they have been cleared with the NCAA clearing house. The NCAA Clearing house exists to ensure that players are legally eligible to play the college game. To be eligible to play college soccer you must be a U.S. citizen or legally be allowed to reside in the United States. You must also have never been paid to play your sport ensuring that you are still at the amateur level. Getting cleared with the NCAA Clearing house is a simple process that can be done online on the NCAA website. There is a small fee associated with registering with the clearing house, but if you want to play college soccer it is a must.
Link To NCAA Clearing House: https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/student/index_student.html
After you are cleared with the NCAA Clearing House the recruiting process will begin for you. Before we get into how to market yourself, it is important to understand what a college coach is looking for in a potential recruit. If you want to play college soccer you will need to have decent grades because after all you will be attending college while on the team. It is important to remember that if a coach wants you, you still have to apply to their college and get accepted. If you don’t get into the school academically you won’t be able to play on the team no matter how badly the coach wants you.
Believe it or not many college players do not realize that they have to take the SATs or ACTs. Taking at least one of these standardized tests is virtually a requirement when it comes to being accepted onto a college soccer team. Having these scores could help you out in case you have a low GPA. Either way having a solid GPA and taking the SAT will help you to get one step closer to playing on a college soccer team. While you are taking care of getting cleared and taking the SATs you should focus on recruiting yourself and getting in touch with college soccer coaches. Part of doing this is making sure that you have a solid youth club.
The best league to be in when it comes to youth soccer in the United States is the U.S. Soccer Development Academy league. The US Soccer Development Academy was started two years ago by the U.S. Soccer federation in hopes to improve the level of play of soccer in our country. Each club is forced to practice 3 times a week and play in a 30 game season. There are 60 academy teams spread throughout the country in close proximity to highly populated areas so there is a good chance on is near you. NCAA Division I college coaches are heading to these clubs first to get their recruits for new seasons.
Link To USDA Academy League: http://www.ussoccer.com/teams/acad/index.jsp.html
Being on a U.S. Soccer Development Academy team has numerous advantages. The first advantage is that you can create a player profile on www.USSoccer.com in the development academy player database. In this profile you can put your GPA, SAT scores, and any other information that might be helpful to a college coach. The next major advantage is that your academy team will be attending two major showcase events every year. Hundreds of college coaches will be attending these showcases which will help to give you maximum exposure. Although, it is still important for you to contact coaches of schools you are interested in before the tournament. Many high school athletes do not realize that they need to actively market themselves to college coaches. You may be wondering what I mean by actively marketing yourself.
College coaches will attend games of almost any player that is interested in attending their school if they play on a development academy team. Once you pick a list of schools that you are interested in, you should begin emailing coaches and giving them your playing schedule along with your player profile. Creating a good player profile online and offline is important to being successful in the recruiting process.
Your player profile should contain all of your academic information including your GPA, SAT & ACT scores, intended major, letters of recommendation, and contact phone numbers. You should list down phone numbers of all of your coaches as well as your guidance counselor at your high school. It also helps to have a recruitment video of yourself that you can send in to interested schools. You should never email a recruitment video to a coach because they generally don’t watch videos sent through email. It is much better to send a hard copy of your video to them in the mail along with your player profile.
After you send a coach your player profile you should call them once a week during your season to keep them updated on any games or tournaments your team might be having. If you are on a development academy team you should call coaches several times before any major showcase tournaments that your team might be attending. Showcase tournaments are important because it gives multiple college coaches the chance to see you play multiple weekends in a short span of time. NCAA division I college coaches love this because they get to see a lot of players in a short period of time which saves them money on their travel budget.
The key to getting recruited to play division I college soccer is to actively recruit yourself. You must let coaches know that you are highly interested in playing at their schools. When you write letters to each school do not send out generic letters. You should write a letter that is customized to each school that you are interested in attending. By actively marketing yourself and letting coaches know about your playing schedule ahead of time you should have no trouble getting recruited as long as you are a top level soccer player. Just remember, anything is possible in the beautiful game we call soccer!
