My son is a high level player at a very large club, and this process has started. He clearly gets his athleticism from his mom... LOL. I've got no real experience with any of this.
He's 14 (and wrapping up his U15 club and High School JV season), and has multiple active recruiting account/profiles that are getting a decent amount of attention. At this point, I know that college coaches can only give him camp invites, so there is no real point in trying to talk to them.

My question is if it's worth it to try to squeeze in some higher profile ID camps this summer.... some of these are expensive and pretty far away (get on a plane). It will be 14 months before college coaches can actually recruit him, but I'm not sure if they really pay attention to kids his age at ID camps.

Anyone been through this before?

Thanks.

-ZA

My brother went to a small school in TN on a soccer scholarship, until he decided that the lifestyle sucked.  For him, that would have been the peak, at that time there was no real MLS, and he's not in that top 0.0000001% that's world class and gets paid.

When I was in college I knew a few guys on the school team.  I'd be coming home from parties in the early AM  and see them out running.

It definitely impacts the typical college experience, however there are plenty of athletes that loved it, and would do it over again.

Its a tough call.

Send him to the camp at West Point, everybody is on a "free ride" and high level sports ability helps you get in.

if he's white male about the only way in ( to any academy )  on round one is being a D1 athlete otherwise it's likely the  TWE

This probably isn’t what you want to hear but if your freshman kid isn’t already playing varsity then your recruiting fantasy is just that, a fantasy.  The real phenoms are discovered before or by then.  International soccer is a great sport but if someone has not been looking at the kid way earlier than high school you would be super lucky to even find a spot in MLS which is the joke league of the world.  He needs to focus on his education and learn a trade that can’t be offshored. I hope you and your son prove me wrong but after seeing decades of deluded parents you should maybe know the truth upfront.

The “elite” kids sports teams will deceive you into believing that “scouts” are looking at the kids on their teams.

It’s all bullshit. There are no scouts looking at any 14-year-old teams.

How many scholarships does the school your kid is looking at give each year? Are any of the scholarships FULL scholarships? Most schools only gave a few scholarships for a particular sport. Those scholarships will be carved into bits and pieces so that most recipients get only a partial scholarship. A few thousand dollars.

Unless you can honestly say your kid is in the top 20 athletes in your state, in his age group, for his sport, he won’t be getting an athletic scholarship of any substance.

Women’s sports are significantly different. Sometimes, schools give women’s sports scholarship money just to retain the program. Which is to say NOBODY attends the women’s events. So the school begs mediocre athletes to join their program just to field a team. This is usually the product of some sort of alumni funding pledge.

Is your kid willing to play for a no-name Division 1 school three states away?

The chances of your kid ever playing professionally on anything other than a feeder team, and for peanuts, are beyond microscopic.

College should provide a degree and skills that translate into ability to earn a living. The demands of a collegiate sports program rarely support students in competitive technical curricula.

I never said anything about playing professionally. Did you even bother reading the OP?

I'm a giant pessimist, trust me.

My whole angle on his soccer is possibly using it to get him admission into a school he wouldn't normally be able to get into (think Ivy League or similar). We don't need the money of a scholarship (partial scholarships are all there are for men's soccer) and I've told him that.

Again, please leave PROFESSIONAL sports out of this, I'm only talking about college recruitment and if you have actual experience going through it with YOUR KID.

TIA

-ZA

I met a guy who used soccer to get into the AF academy and now flies F22s, despite having no interest in planes when he went to the Academy, so I guess it worked for him.

Wife has a friend whose kid started playing football in the 10th grade, and got offered admission to most of the ivys to go play football.  He was a top 5 or 10 tight end in Texas his recruiting season, but also a very smart kid.  I guess it worked for him since they can pay the insane tuition.

I sure did. If he’s not good enough to play pro don’t waste your time chasing some chickenshit $2000 or $3000 yearly scholarships that you will spend $30k plus on bullshit camps and learn a real trade.  Get him to be smart.  Sports are bullshit unless you are good enough to play professionally. If he isn’t going to college to be a Dr or an engineer don’t waste your time or money on college.  I have three kids. One has a masters degree in speech pathology and has a great job. She played softball both varsity and travel all throughout jr and high school. The other has a nursing degree and has a great job in a hospital. She played varsity basketball and volleyball plus travel teams for both. The youngest is a freshman playing varsity lacrosse.  He is very good but has no desire to go to college and is learning welding.  He also plays travel lacrosse. So from absolute personal experience and monetary expenditures I can predict pretty safely the odds of your kids sporting future.  I have seen and heard all kinds of insane parents at tournaments talk all the crazy shit about what their kids are going to do/be in sports.  

Let your boy enjoy the game but don’t try kid yourself or him. More importantly make sure he focuses on education.  Get him to learn and enjoy lifelong skills that will keep him employed and able to fend for himself. Like I said before you may not want to hear what I say but I am coming to you from hard experience and expenditures.  

Tell him to identify as a woman and go beat the asses of all the female soccer players.

I hear they get paid pretty well nowadays.

Very well said.

I know of one kid that was pretty elite at hockey.  So much so that he ended up being 'fostered' by a family in Saskatchewan for like a year.  I don't recall him ever receiving any college 'ride' offers.  I believe he ended up washing out and just going to college for an education.

my take from knowing several girls that went to play in college:

unless he's in the national team pipeline i think you would be better served focusing on which schools he's interested in and then attending those specific coaches' camps (they all have one because they make $ off it) and letting it be known he is interested in going there, as opposed to some wide open camp.  it's not like football where they have a whole recruiting staff out looking for players. there is no money in college soccer for that. so you have to go to them. the scholarships are weak also.

also, a lot of it is recommendations from the player's club coaches to the college coaches they happen to be friends with.  lots of competition for boys so it's very hard to get into big college teams.  far better chance with academics.  many college coaches are foreign so they have connections to their old buddies back in england or wherever so some of the slots will be filled by those guys.

girls have it somewhat easier because there's less competition for the spaces available.  same process though.

I know you were being a smart ass, but what's really sad is that this is a viable pathway for some sickos.

What position does he play?

Mostly the 10 or the 6 (depends on which team he's on, he played on 3 this year), but also moonlights at wing or 9.

-ZA

I was fairly heavily recruited two lifetimes ago in high school and played D1 soccer back in (gulp) 1986.

All the state select teams, sniffs at the youth national team, winning McGuire Cup, recruitment trips, etc. didn't really amount to jack shit wrt scholarship money - there just wasn't much available back then and, for men's soccer, I think it's still much the same now.

To me, it became a juice-ain't-worth-the-squeeze thing very quickly.  I chose a very time-intensive major that immediately conflicted with trying to be a college athlete. Back in '86, there was also almost no reasonable way forward after college for Americans in the sport anyway.

In the end, I made what I thought was the "adult" decision and walked away forever.

All that said and if it were my kid, I'd start the process of separating the ideas of school and soccer pretty soon to keep it from becoming a distracting shiny object.  Let him have fun playing and developing without the pressure.  Hell, removing the expectations will probably help his game, frankly.  If it turns out that he's a special player in a few years, it'll be pro teams looking to get him into Development.  If he's not, college is still on the table.  If college isn't the way, there's a whole world of trades that will probably be more financially sensible and much more rewarding.

Just my two cents.

A U15 boys team is enough to beat the USWNT. What do they say in the hood? “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”  I can’t wait to see the US news report headline “Team captain gets the rest of the team pregnant, parents outraged!”   Liberal white women voted for this.

Nothing wrong with working the system.

Thanks!

He's a very bright kid, National Honor's Society, BETA club... 4.7 GPA... etc. Blah blah...
I think he may be able to use his soccer ability paired with his brains to get into schools that I could never get into. (I'm an engineer and own multiple businesses, so it turned out OK for me... LOL).

Neighbor kid down the street just got into the University of Chicago on a football scholarship. Super smart kid who only started playing football 2 years ago... same deal. He was too white and too "privileged" to get into that school without the football angle. Wasn't good enough to play D1 (he had no desire). My son is going to be in the exact same boat.

There's some truth here. My son has always been big and had good pitch location but his velocity dragged behind. He's spent the last year re-developing his mechanics and as a high school junior has finally gotten to 88-89 mph on his fastball. Problem is D1 rosters are pretty much full already because that level of kid has been watched on the travel circuit for the past 2 seasons. The sports are all different and baseball has the weird juco circumstances, but I saw similar when my daughter was being recruited for volleyball.

What is YOUR goal and HIS goal with soccer?

Is it his career?
Attention is good, but does he actually have it? Club and traveling is fine, but it is a different game in playing pro. There are tons of smaller and foreign teams that he may easily get, but the pay is low and careers are often short.

My son is a great striker. Great defender and their favorite goalie. He hates goalie due to lack of contact AND he doesn't have the height or size to even compete in a pro aspect. He knows it, so he had to push hard to pick up a striker spot and only rotate to defender based upon team need.

Is it a springboard to an education?

This is the route we took. It was to pay for his education and that is it. It wasn't his career field either and he was only looking to get into a school that had the degree he wanted AND pay for his tuition. Keep in mind a TON of schools lack the actual $$ for full rides for everyone OR they play the game- you pay the first year (which is likely a high non-res rate), then we will cover half of year 2 and then all of 3 and 4.

Another aspect is play time. Make sure no scholarship is done solely on play time or games played per season. I will also caution you that he needs to plan on walking from a school IF he isn't getting the play time or the environment isn't any good. This goes back to the career part though. A close friend just pulled his daughter from one school solely due to a toxic lesbian coach destroying the team.

I'm curious if his coaches are vectoring him toward the ODP (Olympic Development Program).

https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/olympic-development-program-boys/
https://www.scyouthsoccer.com/

In any case, good luck and best wishes.

Oh, you know someone will try it eventually.  Lots of weirdos in the world.

One would think that his GPA, NHS, and obviously impressive academic stats would kick in any door he wanted, but since we live in Clown World I guess having another arrow in the quiver is a good thing for a non-protected-class kid.

To expand on one of my earlier points, please bear in mind that college sportsball is the next thing to a full time job.  It IS a time suck that WILL impact his academics in any major worth pursuing. If he's not insanely gifted and achieves academically by being a "grinder", the time suck will hurt much more in college than it does in high school.

Please don't take all this as shitting on his dreams.  It just think pays to explore the downsides honestly in a way that I wasn't capable of in the 1980's.

Grand Expectations are poisonous in many, many ways.

Again.... I don't need him to get any sort of scholarship for him to go to college. I can pay for wherever he wants to go. This is all an admissions play in my mind.
Obviously, I don't want him getting burned out, as his soccer is our favorite pastime!

I know he could handle being a student athlete on the college level. At the end of the day, he may not want to play in college, and that will be the end of it. I'm OK either way (I'd be sad though).

He couldn't make the ODP tryouts last year, as he was injured. He's going to try for it this year for sure. It helps that I'm buddies with the one of the SC boys ODP directors.
He plays for a large NC club, so they only try to push boys to the NC ODP, but I'll have him go for the SC one (where we live).

screw the haters.

have gone through the recruiting process twice with our kids in the last 10 years -- one for D1 XC / Track -- one for D1 soccer.  it's a grind for sure.

BE REALISTIC -- both academically AND athletically .  my impressions as far as soccer player talent in HS :

excellent / outstanding HS soccer player -- ie All Conference / State Honors :  solid D2 or D3 material  

middle to top high-tier CLUB level soccer player :  potential low to mid-major D1 player.  role player possibly starter

OUTSTANDING / National level -- the BEST club player at any venue :  top 25 D1 player possibly

lots of other variables of course -- fitness, drive, size, academics etc

ours ended up playing on a mid-Major D1 (Mountain West) and played a TON -- frequent starter -- 4 year member of the full travel squad.  LOVED the experience.  highly recommend.  lifelong friends.  etc

so it just depends on what your goals are -- what are you trying to do with the experience -- both academically AND athletically.

some kids have a DREAM to play for ONE specific school -- like Rudy     if that is the case ZERO in on that one

but most want to 'play the field' for a while and see what happens.  it gets tricky.  

we made a spreadsheet her freshman year -- as time went by -- more and more schools became excluded for one reason or another.  ended up with 3 or 4 contenders in the running her junior year.

Sports got me into a top tier college.  And, to be frank, probably kept me in school..

Sure, I also got into a ton of other great schools, but at a place like U Chicago, there are very few seats and tons of qualified applicants.  

So, yes, sports can separate him from the 1,000s of others and give him a leg up if he otherwise meets the basic qualifications.

As a former collegiate player, collegiate head coach and national team coach (development, pathways and selections), I echo the suggestion to focus on the schools he is interested in and attend those camps.  This is where players work with the staff, they get to assess the player's abilities and attitude, and build a continuing relationship for future recruiting.

In addition, I would look at National Team pathways camps.  This will help players gain experience and can calibrate and compare with similar aged players.  In addition, there could be opportunities for U16, U18, U20 and other regional/national select teams.

These NT coaches will be connected with universities as well, which present additional avenues to get a player's foot in the door.

There is no shame having an athletic scholarship pay for school.  Use what you've got and have it work for you.  For someone to say that a kid should abandon a "sportsball" scholarship because they think there are no translatable skills involved are simply wrong.

Very few things were as cool as starting my first collegiate game, entering a full stadium, stepping out on the pitch for my first professional match, representing my country for an international match, coaching in the National Championships, and helping players earn a spot on the US Olympic and World Cup teams.   These experiences helped make me what I am today and I'm grateful for the opportunities provided me all due to sport.

I hope your son has a similar experience, and I wish him and your family well!

If he is smart like u say look at academic scholarships too.  ACT / SAT scores will really matter.   Soccer is non rev sport so you are probably looking at partial scholarship not full scholarship like the football and basketball guys get.  A D1 team can only give 9.9 scholarships so they break them up.    When you get academic money look closely at GPA requirements to keep it. If he needs a 3.6 to keep it could be concerning in engineering program vs gender studies.   My really high scoring academic kids got better scholarships then kid looking at partial athletic deal.

Sounds like your kid should have no problem getting a d2 ride for soccer combined with academics and pay very little for school.

skip the camps.  

but as others has said. I would drop the soccer and focus academics. A 4.7 with club activity will open far more doors than soccer.

friend is d1 coach, multi time national champion, all American, former pro, and current team USA National youth recruiter.  My son graduating this year as d2 recruit for soccer and will be kicking football d1 next year.  More likely watching from the sidelines.  But sports will be paying for his education. Atleast for now.

I have no experience with soccer but my son was D1 scholarship athlete.

Athletics opened the door to schools he would not have been accepted to based on grades alone.

My son had the option of most of the Ivy’s, the service academies, and other quality schools.

He had a great experience with collegiate sports as well as the school he chose.

Thanks!!

@ZA206

NO NO NO to the expensive ID camps.  They are for ID, and most are a scam.  I'm a 20 year soccer coach and deal with colleges daily.  If you would like some real advice from someone in the "business" PM me.

Sports aren't bs if you can't go pro. Tons of college athletes get job opportunities that non athletes won't get bc the companies understand how hard it is to compete and just be a part of a team.

Not to disagree with someone else who most likely has more overall experience than me... but the soccer pathway has changed a lot in the last few years and definitely varies by region and connection.

USYNT pathways are pretty well locked within the scouting pool anymore. Unless his club DoC is connected well enough (and willing) to make a meaningful recommendation I don't think he's getting seen that way. MLS Next events, the occasional ECNL championship, and "some" ODP events might have some scouting but its hit and miss (depending on region, a lot of the country's quality has fallen off from ODP due to the influx of ECNL/MLS level teams/events and soccer drama lol). Kid I know plays on the ODP national team for his age group, and does very well at that level; his family was told there's no pathway to pro for him anymore as he's not in an MLS Next club and he'd be lucky to get a decent college offer. Check the U15 USYNT roster even, MLS clubs have it on lock (https://www.ussoccer.com/teams/u-15-mens-national-team).

Seems the best way to catch a college coaches attention anymore is self representation, a very great and very short highlight film doing all the right things for his position, more available on request, start the dialogue and lead the conversation, etc.

If your kid has talent, coaches will find him without you spending big bucks on camps and travel.

I went thru it myself, at a much smaller scale.

I got a partial scholarship.

Wasn't a starter my first 2 years.
Lifestyle SUCKED, especially for someone that understood that college was the end of the road, and had a career and a girlfriend/fiance to try to focus on.

Your kid needs to be self motivated to do all this.

Other wise you could burn him out + resentment.

Have a cousin who dates a player for Lionsbridge in VA. Even the really good players rarely make it to MLS and most end up in small clubs and working 2-3 jobs.

My son was heavily engaged in that lifestyle. He played club soccer at the D1/D2 level thru U16. Same as select baseball and basketball, it’s a time suck and a scam.

Most kids will not make it to the MLS, College or Olympic Camps. Even if they make most are burned out by excessive playing time and injuries.

The exception is for Title IX. Our club kept the stats and published them. Girls overwhelmingly got scholarships.

In Texas, real scholarship money went to the Big Two, Football and Basketball.

Golf is a better route for scholarships, regardless of sex.

Do look into some of the camps, if he puts in the effort, I think he will do that, he will be a better player.
You and your son just need to decide which camp will be best from a cost standpoint and what he can get out of it.
This is where you need to lean on his coaches and see what they suggest.
My son decided to not pursue soccer in college, he was a good player but college soccer would have been tough for him at the better college teams, a smaller college might have been good for him.
He did well in HS and club soccer and attended many summer camps offered by the colleges here in central Florida.

I am not an expert at the soccer pathways as my experience is through rugby.

I will say that soccer may be similar to the rugby pathways because of the fluidity of the structure.

Both the soccer and rugby teams train out of Chula Vista OTC so there is some sharing of mindset and approaches but there are certainly some differences.  Soccer elite player indentification occurs earlier in a player's career than rugby in the US.  I would tend to agree that the OP's son is about at the age where players are starting to be identified.  That said, that window doesn't close suddenly because some mature at different rates.  For instance, I was the top scorer in the Pacific Coast for two years in undergrad, but I was not considered as a Eagles pool player because of my size.  It wasnt until I was in my mid 20s when I started getting selections--but in soccer your window of opportunity has pretty much closed by then.

You are spot on with connections and getting into those NT select camps.  Sometimes it's who you know, or who you have competed against that gets you invited.  Even then, the coaching staffs change quite often which can be frustrating.

Not soccer but my son and daughter are 16 and 15.  They both will be DI athletes, he will be playing baseball and she will be playing basketball.  Son is 6'5" throws 92-95 and Daughter is 6'1" can shoot and handle the ball.

They will both attend "Elite Camps" this summer at Universities they are interested in going to. This is on top of the Travel ball that both will be playing.

So to answer your question YES the camps are worth it and YES coaches pay attention to the underclassmen at these camps.

If you attend a camp on the campus @ the University the coach CAN talk to your kid.  If you are not on campus the coaches CAN NOT talk to your kid yet.

I wish I could offer some insight into your actual question. That said, as a former walk-on to a D1 team I’d say you are on the right track. Leveraging athletics to gain admission to an otherwise unattainable school is smart. As others suggested, focus on the schools you are aiming for. Once in, being an athlete is time consuming but has its advantages. First priority for classes/scheduling, dedicated academic counselors, and a structured schedule were hugely helpful for me in school. Doesn’t sound like that’s something your son needs, but it’s nice to have in any case.

We will start to see some very good Americans making it to the big time

in the Soccer world and sooner than you think .

I've put 3 kids in college for 2 sports. I played in college but football is completely different.


my kids played baseball, one just signed to play volleyball this fall.

My advice:

1. keep the recruiting profiles active active active.  My daughter has an IG profile JUST for sports.  she posts on it frequently
2. Camps help, but you can go bankrupt going to them. Find 2-3 schools your son wants to go to, try to attend those camps. Most schools don't go to other schools camps. They just run their own. My initial offer when I was playing was from going to a camp and just wreaking havoc.
3. communicate with the coaches. express intent, give them updates, build an actual relationship
4. if you can get interest, maybe go visit the campus with him.


We kinda screwed it with my daughter, I assumed the rules were the same as years past and they couldn't really talk till their junior year. So she's going the juco route. D1 schools are  committing kids as early as 10th grade. it's insane.  So get started early.

you can DM me if you want or we can jump on a call if you have questions.

the takeaway: you do most of the recruiting work for the peripheral sports (non football/basketball). So the harder you work, the better your odds. Also the grades matter. My daughter has good grades and between athletics and school, she's paying nothing for college.

this is not accurate. My daughter didn't even start playing volleyball till 10th grade, and is going full ride this fall for volleyball. an exception, maybe, but a lot of development happens about 15. so coaches are watching them post that break and tey can still play.  I didn't start playing football till 9th grade and played professionally. My best friend never even played in HS and played for the Jaguars for 5 years.

it happens, you just gotta find the right school with a need and get in front of them.

IMO there is very good info in this thread for the OP.  some other info or to re-iterate :

D1 men's teams have a NCAA allotment of 9.9 'full' scholarships per team they can extend.  so those typically get divided up.  most D1 teams had 25-30 players so you can do the math.

an incoming Freshman would be highly unlikely to get more than .5 of a scholarship to attend.  they CAN be raised as the years go by based on performance and who has graduated...

they can ALSO receive academic money -- my daughter basically had her college paid for : 50% academic / 50% athletic scholarships.

as mentioned above -- if YOU go to the University to visit -- you can talk to a coach all day long.  but THEY can not call or email your kid until the formal 'allowed' recruiting date commences

ABSOLUTELY have your son email the coaches / assistant coaches detailing them with his letter of intro, bio info, grades, skills, team info, tournaments, stats, etc

basically -- you need to get on their radar ASAP.  they will have the scholarship $$s earmarked for his recruiting class before you know it.  

our club was really good about getting us the camp info and which coaches would be recruiting at those camps. we also did a few ID camps that the teams hosted.

this is a huge one to :  what relationships does he have with his current club coaches ??  what contacts do they (the club coaches) have with D1 coaches ?

the 'inside track' word-of-mouth between these coaches can be HUGE.  if they have placed quality players on those teams -- those college coaches WILL listen to the club coaches to an extent.

basically just like networking -- people trust certain people who have come through for them in the past vs. an unknown quantity  

the absolute BEST scenario is playing at a school you would love to go to anyway.  that way -- if it doesn't work out -- you want to be there regardless.  horrible stories like a kid from SC travels to TX to play for a school.  doesn't know anyone.   off the team after 10 months.  miserable -- no friends.  is massively unhappy, etc now you're picking up the pieces...

also coaches CAN and DO get fired, transfer etc.  so that can be tricky also.  a lot to think through.  

i get your point but would ever happen in soccer.    someone starting soccer at 15 would be embarrassed trying out for a club team.   would not even make the squad.  they are up against kids who have been playing soccer since they were 5 years old.  right foot.  left foot.  heading.  passing.  trapping.  shooting.  footwork.  tricks.  etc

football is different because size / physicality can dominate -- with the exception of kicker, QB and WR.  

alright last bit -- a challenge for him :

seems like you are in SC.  have your son email the 3-4 best college teams in SC.   try to get an appointment through your club coach to meet the coaches in SC on campus if possible.  this summer is a great time...

the coaches CAN work through your club coach to set something up -- even though they are not allowed to contact your son directly YET.

GOAL : get an in-person 'interview' on campus with the coach or assistant coach to talk about playing there.

it may or may not happen.   BUT -- it WILL be an exercise to see if your son has the DESIRE to undergo the recruiting grind.  because he will have to do that 20x to get a D1 scholarship.   doing it this summer in SC would just make it easy travel-wise.  

will be a fun challenge.  the best thing my daughter did was get -- in 9th grade -- a sit-down interview with a D1 head coach in NC.  it really opened her eyes to the process even though she ended up playing elsewhere.