NOTE: This essay is among a series of essays and interviews I’ve solicited from former Lehigh Valley high school soccer players who have gone on to play college soccer. These essays reflect the experiences of the players themselves, in their own words. Though I’ve published their work in anonymity, these are real players describing their experiences.
The author of this article was a standout player in the Lehigh Valley Conference, a member of league and district championship high school teams, and a member of a state champion club team. This player is an honor student and continues to enjoy success as a regular starter and goal scorer on college team.
I really can’t stress enough how important it is to make yourself known to college coaches as early as possible, especially if there are a handful of schools you are especially interested in. That is not to say a certain amount of coaches will not pursue you on their own, yet there are never any guarantees that those are schools you are interested in. That being said if a coach shows strong interest in you I would always suggest at least following up with them and looking into the school because there are often schools not on your radar, that surprisingly are more fitting to you than one would have originally thought.
Coaches cannot email you until you are a Junior in high school and I think they cannot call you until your Senior year, that being said you can email and/or call a coach whenever. The biggest thing with making yourself known early is giving coaches plenty of opportunities to see you play over the next year and a half. I recommend emailing coaches, stating your interest in his/her school and soccer program, attaching some sort of player profile giving athletic and academic achievements, and most importantly listing times they could come to see you play. Make them aware of tournaments, key club games, or quality high school games in advance so they can plan to come see you play. That being said a college coach wants to see you play quality competition so keep that in mind and don’t invite them to a game that will likely be a blowout.
Another piece of advice is not to get discouraged if coaches don’t respond immediately or at all. These coaches are being flooded with similar emails and are also worrying about their own seasons at the same time. That’s why it really is some ways a numbers game of getting your name out there to many coaches and seeing which ones eventually reciprocate. I would also suggest looking at a variety of different types of schools: bigger universities, smaller liberal arts colleges, and everything in between. I was convinced throughout the whole process that I wanted a bigger school and for that reason failed to look at many quality, smaller schools. It turns out I wasn’t happy at a big school and wished I had at least approached the situation with more of an open mind the first time around. My last piece of advice may be the most difficult. But you must do your best to not let it get in your head when you know a college coach is coming to watch you. It is extremely difficult at times not to over think every move you make on the field when the coach of a school you are very interested in is in attendance. Yet you really have to find a way to relax and treat every game the same, realizing that a good college situation will result for you regardless. There were definitely times when I was aware of college coaches too much and played far under my capabilities as a result. It is disappointing but the truth is that it is completely mental it is just another distraction during a game that you need to try to block out.
Ultimately picking a school is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. People will tell you to ultimately pick the school that is the best fit for you, not necessarily the soccer program and that is pretty good advice. But obviously if someone is referring to this information, they have a great interest in playing at the next level. My best advice is to look for a situation that gives you the best opportunity to balance those things that are important to you including academics, soccer, and level of comfort at a particular institution. Hopefully after visiting a school you will feel confident that you can succeed academically there and will benefit as a person from being part of the soccer program. It is important not to get hung up on things like whether a school is Division I, II, or III; but rather you must simply find the best overall situation for yourself. I’ve seen too many kids, including myself, get stuck on the idea of playing Division I and trying to force that situation. If your ideal school and soccer situation happens to be Division I, then that’s great, but don’t convince yourself that is your ideal school only because it is a Division I opportunity.
The next bit of advice comes more from my personal experience. But realize that your initial school does not have to be the end all be all. It is so difficult to truly know what you want out of a college until you’ve actually experienced college life. Thus if you find yourself in a situation you’re not happy with you can always transfer. That being said, don’t rush to conclusions about your situation. Spend enough quality time at your school before even thinking about transferring. College life and soccer are a huge adjustment and many young people will find themselves a bit unhappy at the beginning of college regardless of their situation, the adjustment is just part of the process. But once you have settled down and gotten a feel for your situation more objectively, then you can make better decisions. And again never make decisions solely based on soccer, looking at your entire situation objectively.
The college experience with soccer will make your initial experiences with college much easier in some ways and a bit harder in other ways. Starting with the good, being on a team will give you an initial group of friends coming into college. This really is such a great thing because it is nice to get to know some people before classes and full tilt college life begin. Many of these people will likely become your best friends because of how much time you spend together and how many lifestyle similarities you share. Beyond the first few weeks, the camaraderie of a college soccer team is a great thing to be a part of. It is always great to know you have a group of people you can count on and I can’t say enough simply about how enjoyable it is to be part of a team. Thus in my multiple experiences, being a part of a team at college has made the social aspect of college far more easy and comortable.
With regard to academics, college soccer may provide a challenge for students. College soccer is a serious time commitment at any level. You will obviously have far less time to get your work done and less time for leisure when you are in season. Additionally in many schools, especially Division I, expect to be practicing almost year round. This may include getting up at 6 AM all week to lift and practice in the winter or a pretty full spring practice schedule. Division III is not as much as an offseason commitment because of NCAA rules, yet they still expect you to be working out on your own and will likely have a short spring season. That being said it is not overly difficult to succeed as a student athlete, it just takes discipline. Many schools will have mandatory study hall hours for student athletes but in others you will be on your own. Once you get back from practice you really need to start your work and studying so you can get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Yet in my experience, I’ve always felt I’m far more productive in my studies while I’m in season because of the strict time table I am working under. Although it limits your time to complete work, it puts you on a strict time schedule so you don’t waste your time procrastinating like you would if you didn’t have practice. Thus you must realize that as long as you are relatively disciplined, playing soccer will not hinder your ability to succeed academically unless you let it. At the same time you will have less time to spend of your studies and thus you need to plan accordingly.
As for college soccer itself, the college game is different at any level. Its faster paced and far more physical than any high school or club experience ever was. Coming in as a freshman you may be playing with 22-year-old adults who are more physically developed and mentally strong than someone who is just adjusting to college life. Thus although it is always possible, don’t expect to walk in to camp and be one of the best players on the team. You could reasonably be the most skilled player there but struggle at first. But don’t get discouraged, you will adjust to the college game. Some players are able to adjust faster than others. The most important thing is to constantly work as hard as possible, if you are always giving your best in practice it will eventually show through. The level of competitiveness on a day to day level will be far greater than anything you’ve experienced before. Keep in mind everyone at your school has been recruited because they have shown the coach that they are a quality player that will help the team win. Therefore, you have a roster almost 30 students deep of quality, driven players who will be giving their all to earn playing time every day. I’ve seen numerous arguments in practices about a ball being out of bounds or not, simply because individuals are competitive and want the extra edge. Don’t let the competitiveness scare you though, most individuals understand that being competitive in practice brings the best of everyone and helps the team simulate more game-like situations in practice. Thus the intensity of practices and such is not a bad thing at all, it will simply be another adjustment you must be ready for in the college game.
Personally my biggest advice during the recruiting process is to keep an open mind about your options and what schools you consider. Sometimes schools you would never even consider can turn out to be a great fit for you if you take the time to check them out. Most importantly look at the big picture of what a school can offer you academically, social, soccer wise, and whatever other considerations are important to you personally.
Work hard to get in shape the summer before your first preseason. Once you’re there work hard and don’t complain, put in your best effort every day. Realize that college game and college life will be an adjustment and do not get too easily discouraged if things don’t go exactly as you imagined right away. Most importantly, be disciplined academically because that is most likely what will be the most important thing for your future anyway.
My biggest piece of advice is to enjoy the time you spend at college playing soccer. For many people it will be the last four years of playing organized competitively. Enjoy every practice, game, and being part of a team for all its worth. There is no doubt it will go by too quickly and you will feel frustrated that you wasted some of your time not fully appreciating what you had. So basically work hard but have fun playing because that’s likely the reason you began playing the game in the first place.