So as we draw nearer to National Signing Day is it to late for those that are not even in talks with Coaches? If not what region should they be looking at? How do they make a miracle happen. With there being so many girls that are not commmited that are quality players hwhat are their options? Do they find showcase tourneys? Or is it walk on time? Compared to many state we have such a large pool of players, I ask this because I know many that still want to play college ball and yes club is an option but they are looking at playing college level. Any magic pill?
Under any circumstances, the magic pill is to narrow your college selections so that regardless of how soccer opportunities turn out, your player could see themselves staying and growing at that institution for four years. They don't have to of course, but why set yourself up for potential disappointment before even getting out of the gate?
In terms of timing, It is very late, and signing with a school for any kind of soccer related aid next year is more and more unlikely. Most available aid has been committed already, and top tier schools like UCLA, Notre Dame and UNC are very likely done and have been for quite some time. But there are undoubtedly schools that still have some money available because their fourth, fifth and sixth choices for partial scholarships might have turned them down. There was one girl I know of who signed with a top ten D1 team(!) on the west coast as late as May of last year. If your head is set on trying to get some kind of financial support, I would look to "mid-major" schools in leagues like the Big Sky, or perhaps some of the weaker D2 or NAIA schools (since schools like WWU and SPU are probably done, and the California D1 and D2 schools have almost no aid for kids from out of state). At this point in time, the weaker the school's soccer team, generally the more likely they are going to be to welcome interest by solid players, even at this late date. Find a good academic match and a hint of athletic desperation, and you may have an in.
Also, the population center of gravity for the country is somewhere in West Virginia I think, so there are probably 10X as many colleges and roster spots east of the Mississippi River as there are on this side. Look east. But the challenge then becomes, how do you get those coaches to look west at your player?
Yes, by all means go to tournaments - as a guest player if necessary, and many showcase tournaments have a guest player registry where you can try to get picked up by another team and travel on your own. If your player is not there now, you just missed a great opportunity at the Disney Tournament in Florida going on this week. There will be other showcases this winter and spring - Las Vegas and Tacoma at least. If you try to go this route, be sure the coaches you are interested in seeing your player will be there, and let them know you will be there.
There are other ways to get noticed as well, sending college coaches a DVD of your player, have your club and/or high school coach call a college coach (helps a lot of your coach knows the coach in question), go to visit the school and do an informal kick around, or even attend the summer camp of the school of interest as a first step to walking on.
Now - if your player is not set on attending a big school or getting an athletic scholarship, there are lots of opportunities to play at D3 schools, and they often have very generous need and academic based financial aid packages, not to mention very good reputations associated with your degree and providing a more personal college experience. If accepted, a solid player has a much better chance to walk on at one of these schools - even a national contender - and a better chance of getting four years of aid that is immune to injury or textured performance on the field of play. A pretty good deal. The same suggestions given above apply to getting noticed by one of these schools as well. And again, there are hundreds of these schools in the midwest and east versus a handful in the northwest.
A final note. The Western Washington University goalie was a walk on who barely played last year as a junior, but went on to become the 24th ranked goalie in the country this year as a senior with a 0.707 goals against percentage, and her team ended the year ranked 10th overall in D2. My advice would be don't give up if you really want to play at the next level.
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Topic: 2009 Commitment list?? (Read 4952 times)