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

k70,

i'm not seeking information - i've been through it. Have you?

I have seen very good results from players attending summer camps of the schools they are interested in, especially in summer before their soph. and jr. years. Then sending bios, updates and club schedules to coaches shows interest and can put player on coaches' radar.

I think anytime a player gets to continue playing soccer during their college years would be considered successful...In any state

Who is it? And what state is he from? Of course, if you make the Region team you'll have a great opportunity. But what about the many, many other good players who don't make it? This DOC is stating the obvious about Region team players. A pool of 20-24 players within 13 states worth of players leaves a lot of others, not on a Region team, that need to be showcased and can/do play at good schools.

The top tournaments are a very important tool for college coaches. Ask any of them and they will not put local club combines and summer camps before the top tournaments.

Twice, once in Region III (SC) and once in Region I (NY). Both girls.

k70,

You've lived in both NY and SC, let me offer up this scenario. My daughter is a junior and two of the schools that she is interested in are Fordham and College of Charleston. Both D1 schools, both comparable programs. If they square off tomorrow, it's probably a 1-goal game either way.

Both of these schools could see her at Disney, Orange Classic and possibly at the Raleigh Shootout. (She's going to the Orange Classic). She has the opportunity to see either of these schools play. She could shoot down to Charleston any time to see CofC or she could head up to Durham this weekend to see the Lady Rams take on Duke and UNC. She's already attended CofC's summer camp and next year she could go up to the Bronx and attend Fordham's.

Assuming both schools see her play and like her a little bit....what's the offer? Where do we go?

College of Charleston is an in-state school, tuition, room & board runs about $20K per year. If she's a good student she can earn the Palmetto scholarship which is worth about $7,500. The school can give her a leadership/academic scholarship worth another $5,000. If the soccer coach gives her $5,000 for playing, she's left with a balance of about $2,500 per year, times 4 years, equals $10,000 in college loans.

If she wants to go to Fordham, which costs $45,000 per year, she gets ZERO for the Palmetto or Life, the school could give her $20,000 in academic/leadership/financial aid and $5,000 for soccer. That leaves her a balance of $20,000 per year, times four years, equaling $80,000 in college loans.

What's the call? Bottom line, I don't want her $80K in debt when she's done.

My point here is that there is a strong incentive to stay in-state. There are D1 and D2 programs that can appeal to a varying degree of talent.

None of the above. Just send her to the CESA combine, let the CESA DOCs make a few phone calls and she will never have to kick a ball again......it will all fall into place.

I think something else to consider is supply and demand. I wouldn't be surprised if the demand is for in-state or local coaches over out-of-state ones due to money and/or location. When I played youth soccer, everyone at the highest level went to WAGS and Raleigh and Disney and Orange and got exposure to other coaches and letters to say "hey, keep in touch, we're interested," but every single person I know ended up staying in state or going out of state and then transferring back in.

You should never choose a college 'just' for soccer or 'just' for anything; it's almost never a good idea. You need to be happy with most of the aspects of the school. So technically, it's better to contact the coaches at the schools you like, let them know your schedule, and go from there rather than hope you win the crapshoot of which coach happens to show up for ten minutes at your game out of the hundreds at a tournament.

At any rate, the point is that you have to do a heck of a lot more to get into a college for a sport than just "show up" somewhere. I'd also imagine the demand for in-state showcases is a lot more than parents demanding that teams go to four different, very expensive, tournaments.

If everyone on a team wants to go out-of-state, yeah, it makes more sense to write to coaches so they know they can come see you at tournaments you and they will be at. But if most of the team wants to stay in state, or on a larger scale, most of the club, it doesn't make sense to spend that much extra effort on something that is costly and not as rewarding. Just depends on demand and need.

Coaches go to top events just for that reason: to recruit by identification and evaluation.....there are alot of teams and they can see alot. Coaches throw out letters, videos and DVDs for the most part. They attend things based on their schedule and where they can get the most work done in a 3-day period, not by who writes them and what is most convenient/cost effect for the youth player/family.

You're right, you don't have to go to every top event but if your're the state's top club, recruit as much as CESA does and advertise all the things they do, then just going to 1 top event just isn't enough.

And you're right, you don't just show up. You prepare, work hard, train and then perform at the event....and perform well! It's a challenge and kids need to be up for it and sometimes encouraged by Mommy and Daddy to do so. Hard work for things, that parents can not control, is no longer in kids' minds.

Money is a big factor in college, no doubt. But look at it another way. Go to a few top events and, don't just show up but, actually play well and maybe scholarship money might come your way. You'll never know staying in SC and settling.

If all kids in SC want is a local school that's cheap, then I'm dead wrong on all this.

But I have a feeling that if parents and kids were educated early in the process and knew what was going on around the country to become a better player, while finding a good school, and all the opportunities that are out there, they wouldn't settle and would at least try to expand their horizons.

More so, there are kids in SC that want more and deserve it.

I don't think the sole issue is that it's cheap, but if you compare two schools where you like both of them, you could play soccer at both, but you save 20k+ a year by going in state...I think most people end up choosing the "save 80k a year" option. You should never go somewhere "just because" of something because being unhappy will end up affecting your performance at the school.

But cost, again, can have a HUGE influence. I got into multiple schools and was dying to get out of state...but I got a full ride + to a local school and my parents pretty much said "you're going, end of story." It wasn't worth 80k+ interest on top of whatever my next step costs--in this case 40k a year in loans for four more years plus crappy pay and crappy hours for a few years afterward--just to go elsewhere.

It's just something everyone has to evaluate personally and as a family and generally, 80k+ in debt isn't worth it to a lot of people anymore.

Also, I don't know if it stands anymore, but back when I played, parents and players had a little input with the coaches as to where we wanted to go. Our coach would say, we can get into these tournaments, we need to do at least 2, what do we want to do. If that still stands, then it's not CESA making those decisions, it's the players and coaches deciding what's best for them.