If you play soccer for a club team and/or for your high school, you may want to look into playing soccer in college. This article will give you an overview of the recruitment process and will help you make the choice of whether or not you want to play soccer in college. Before you make that choice, here is a list of Pros and Cons about playing soccer in college.
Pros- You will stay physically fit; Coaches will always make sure you are maintaining a certain GPA; You will play against other top soccer players; You will form a tight-knit “family” with your teammates and will help each other out on and off the soccer field; The list goes on.
Cons- You have to dedicate a lot of time into college soccer, and if you don’t have the time, it may reflect poorly on your college GPA; You may get unfortunate injuries.
There are three levels of college soccer you can play (Division I*, Division II, or Division III). Division I requires more mandatory practice time and the competitiveness is usually on a higher level. Division II and III require less practice time and the competitiveness is not of a Division I caliber. Please do not mistake my words. Although Division III is not as hard as Division I*, it is still quite difficult to get selected to play for a Division III team.
*Division I and II require people to be cleared by NCAA Clearinghouse. More information can be learnt here: https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/common/
*This is on average. The best Division III teams in the nation can compete with some Division I teams.
There are two ways to play soccer in college: Walk On or Recruitment
The first way, the Walk On, is harder than getting recruited. Walk On means that the college didn't recruit you and give you a scholarship to play. Instead, you got accepted academically to that college and you decided to try out for the team, make the team and then play. This way is harder to make a soccer team because by the time the Fall Session of school starts, the coach will have already have a strong roster due to the recruitment process and he won’t necessarily need an extra players.
The second way, recruitment, is the best way to get selected to play on a college soccer team. The recruitment process is a long process and it typically starts around the end of junior year, maybe even earlier (depending on how good of a player you are). The bottom line of the recruiting process is that you want the college coach to be impressed with the way you play and hopefully have him offer you a chance to play for that college. I will first start with the easiest scenario and then work towards the hardest way to get recruited.
1) The easiest way to get recruited is if you play for high caliber teams. Playing for nationally ranked club teams will make your name known to colleges. If you go to nationally ranked tournaments, big colleges will be there and it will be easier for them to notice you play. Playing for national champion teams, regional champion teams, or even state champion teams will increase your chance of being noticed by a college coach. Also, if you play for your state’s ODP (Olympic Development Team), it will be easier for colleges to watch you play. After they watch you play, they will send you an invitation to an official college visit. The coaches will also make many phone calls to their players of interest. Lastly, the coach will ask for a verbal commitment from the player that says that the player will attend the college to play soccer. The bottom line here is that the college coaches are looking for you, not vice versa.
2) The 2nd way to get recruited is still a pretty effective way to get recruited. This way is the soccer camp. Many players will attend soccer camps because they want to catch the coach’s attention, and it does an effective job at that. Soccer camps give great exposure to certain colleges. This way is similar to the first way, except you have to do a little extra work on your part by signing up for the camp and emailing/calling the coach to let him know that you are going to the camp and that you are interested in playing for the team. If the coach is impressed with the talent he sees, then he will follow the same procedure with the phone calls, official visits, etc. to make sure that you are recruited.
3) The 3rd way to get recruited is by video. Here, you are trying to catch the coach’s attention and this is a much harder task than having him contacting you. If you can’t get colleges to watch you play in either soccer games or a soccer camp, the video is the best bet for you. A soccer video is a compilation of you playing in various soccer games, whether they are club games and/or high school games. They highlight your best performances, but there are many negatives about it. Not all videos are seen by college coaches, and they don’t give an accurate representation of how good the player really is. But, if you have no other option, the video is your best choice. And again, if the coach is impressed from what he sees, he will do his best to get you recruited.
The following links provide more in-depth information on the Recruitment Process:
https://www.ecampustours.com/collegeplanning/outsidetheclassroom/playing...
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/NCAA/Legislation%20and%20Governan...
Lastly, being a recruited player does not guarantee admission into the college, but it will greatly boost your chances. If you wish to play for an Ivy League school, they require that student-athletes meet certain academic requirements before they are even considered for admissions.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and good luck on your endeavor of becoming a recruited soccer player. If you have any more questions, please comment on this post or message me with your question.
Works Cited: http://www.ncaa.org/ and https://www.ecampustours.com/
