SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP CESA / ADIDAS College Combine

Do more for players? Exactly! Then take them to places where they should be and a real amount coaches are to be evaluated and stop planning everything around winning.

This combine would be a great service IF it was in addition to going to the top events. But CESA has the means and pedigree to go and they don't and that fact needs to be pointed out. To use their own combine as the college exposure, in the larger scope, is just not good enough.

Obviously, as a youth soccer club, CESA is doing a lot of great things for kids. But specifically for the college-bound player? They can do much better.

for me personaly i do not want to make all those trips.with gas prices so high,the cost of food and motels it just is not worth it anymore.doing one (disney)is ok or do one of the others but not all.
kickinit70 are you just in a bad mood or has cesa pissed you off? did the club you or your kid play for go to all these tournys.maybe cesa was the club so now you vent. i remember wags getting washed out two years in a row.

Are you guys new to soccer, specifically girls soccer?

WAGS and CASL tourneys are way over the top on cost vs benefit. My hats off to CESA on being bold enough to take a pass on these huge, multi venue and pricey tournaments. WAGS/CASL used to be the premier tournament but not anymore. They let tons of teams in and play on sorry fields and it hard to get a hotel close to field locations.

Disney is the best and if you’re doing it WAGS and CASL would be a waste.

Have your player make contact with coaches at schools they would like to attend to let them know their interest. Let them know your club team schedule and tournament plans plus send a bio and they will get a look. Some schools may request a video. Attend soccer camps at school of interest. Your player should take the lead with marketing herself to schools/coaches where she has an interest in attending.


FYI – be careful on having your player select a college to attend based only on soccer or the coach!

Hats off to CESA for the College Showcase Day that they sponsor. I wish more clubs would do this. I heard the pullover alone was worth more than $35.

Even if ONLY South Carolina college coaches attend, it's more than what other clubs are doing. Seriously, what percentage (and how many) of our Palmetto State girls go on to play college out of state? Unless you are a really, really good player, and you are getting a boat-load of scholarship money, it doesn't make economic sense. There are great opportunities for our girls in-state.

As for being seen against great competition outside the state of South Carolina, ALL of CESA's premier teams play in the Region 3 Premier League. MOST, if not all, of CESA's premier teams go to the Disney Showcase at the end of December.

If a player is interested in a specific school, I'm sure the coaches and directors at CESA will do everything in their power to reach out to that college coach on behalf of the player. I'm sure the CESA coaching staff will encourage that player to attend that college's summer camp.

What more do they need to do? I was at the Raleigh Shootout last year, there were a lot of women's college coaches. It was an opportunity......but I'm not sure it was the BEST opportunity to be "seen".

Thanks Hurst..For keeping it real!!
I don't think any college coach is going to recruit a player based on one weekend of play..

1) More clubs should do things. Agreed.
2) SC players mostly stay in-state because that's the level of exposure they are given.
3) RIII PLeague is not great for recruiting because of its timing vs. college. In addition, the level is average after a few teams in each age group. Unless its played in a coaches backyard, they don't go.
4) CESA did go to Disney and the women's teams didn't fare well....not used to the level of competition. WAGS? Raleigh? Final Four? Jefferson Cup? PDA?
5) What the CESA DOCs and coaches do and say doesn't do it. It's what the college coach sees for him/herself. Coaches don't take the word of a SC DOC as almighty like the parents.
6) Playing three, or more, matches in Raleigh in front of 200+ coaches is a darn good opportunity.

I would like to think that players are followed over the course of two years of play by coaches rather than a weekend here and a weekend there..What if a player has a bad weekend? An injury and does not play up to par? Most coaches go to these events with players already in mind..Or at least I would hope so

2- most kids stay in state due to lower costs and more academic/scholarship money available to attend a in-state school. FYI – Clemson tuition $17k in state – Auburn tuition $38k out of state.

3- you’d be surprised how many college coaches (assistants) make it to r3pl games, especially if a player has expressed an interest in their team/school.

4- college coaches come to watch players not teams and don’t care about overall team performance.

5- it’s the other way around. College coaches reach out to DOC of clubs looking for talent and info on players.

6- going to CASL or WAGS isn’t bad but there are other tournaments that are just as productive to attend.

The information parents are receiving on the college process and what college coaches are actually doing seems really skewed. But, from these posts from parents, I guess you are buying into the current system in South Carolina as successful. Interesting and surprising.

k70,

Here's my brief experience with the college recruiting process for girls. I got it straight from the State DOC of a very competitive R3 state. The guy has been around the game for 30+ years.

If your daughter is really good, and wants to earn a college scholarship to a major out-of-state university, have her tryout for the state ODP team and make sure she works her butt off to get heldover. If your daughter is heldover, and she eventually makes the region team, she is one of the 20 best players her age in the southeastern US. All 20 of these girls are basically looking at full rides.

No HS phenom, no R3PL play, no Raleigh, WAGS, Jeff Cup, PDA or Disney. Plain and simple, this is the "easiest path" (and by no means is it easy).