In our last post, we talked about “shooting off a flare” to help you get started in the recruiting process. Here are some other important things that you can do to help with your own individual recruiting process as well.
First of all, college coaches at the NCAA Division III level go to great lengths to find players. They go to high school games, they go to club games, and they go to camps to find players. So what is a sure-fire way to getting noticed? Be where the college coaches are!
In most states in the United States, the high school soccer season runs concurrently with the college soccer season. It can be difficult for college coaches to get out to high school games. Yet there are still plenty of times when college coaches do get out to see student-athletes play high school soccer. Make sure you let the college coach know when and where you are playing. If you get selected for any high school all-star teams, make sure you let them know about that as well too.
Club games, especially college showcase tournaments, are the big attractors for college coaches. With hundreds of players and dozens of teams to see at most events, it is a great opportunity for college coaches to get out and see a lot of student-athletes at one venue in one or two days. So if you are not playing for a club team that does college showcases, it will help you get recruited if you do. And if you can’t find a team, often times you can “guest play” for a team that might be looking for players.
Camps! What better way to get noticed by a college coach than go to a camp that they are hosting! Basically you are walking onto their campus, practicing on their fields, being coached by that coach, and likely playing with that college’s players too. What better way to introduce yourself to the college coach than to go and play for him or her at a camp?
The bottom line is this— If you want to be seen by college coaches, then you need to go where they go and play where they will see you play. As we discussed in the last post, communicating with them to let them know where you will be will help get them there to see you, but it is also a good idea to put yourself where they will be (i.e. college showcase tournaments, college camps, etc.) to help get you noticed. Good luck!
Questions? Comments? Drop us a line at d3recruitinghub@gmail.com.
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