College coaches start seriously recruiting in sophomore year, with June 15th a key deadline for offers. Athletes should begin preparing in 8th grade, attend mass ID camps in 9th and 10th grade, and focus on Division I or III camps by 11th grade. The speaker went from JV to professional soccer, showing coaches value improvement over where you start.
Parents ask me this all the time. When should you start the recruiting process? Let me tell you a story. If you don't get a phone call on June 15th of your sophomore year, you are gonna be behind somebody that did. June 15th is the perfect way to measure when to start the recruiting process. So let me ask you, would you rather be behind somebody else or ahead of somebody else? It's as simple as that. If you don't get an offer on June 15th, you're behind somebody else. That's a fact. Now, if you don't get an offer on June 15th, is it too late? No. But are you playing catch-up? Yes. Are there other players ahead of you? Yes. Do you think before June 15th those discussions begin? The only difference before June 15th is nobody can know for certain because everyone's keeping their cards close to their hand, right? 'Cause they're not gonna tell you, I've got a call from this coach or offer from that coach. They're not gonna tell anybody. But on June 15th, it becomes official. So if you are not taking steps before June 15th to get noticed, you are screwed. So when you ask me, when should you start, mom and dad? The answer was yesterday. Now, if you're worried my kid's not going to be good enough to start because the coach is going to watch them and think they suck, that is not going to happen until they're 17. Coaches don't say no to anybody, partially because they want your money at ID camps. But also, they're not going to tell you no because they know athletes develop. I didn't play varsity soccer ever. I never made the team. I went on to play Division I soccer. I played JV soccer as a junior in high school. Did coaches write me off at the beginning? Of course they had their opinions when I was 14, 15. They're like, I don't know if he's gonna make it, but I'm not gonna say no. Maybe he gets better. Maybe he improves. That's exactly what happened. But the difference was they saw my improvement. They saw me go from A to B. Had they just watched me at B being an above average player, that wouldn't have impressed them because they're like, okay, this is all, this is as good as he is. Now they saw me go from here to here, so they know that by the time I actually show up at college, I'm gonna be here and here, and then even further, and then playing, in my case, professional soccer. So if you wanna start the recruiting process at the right time, the answer is typically 8th grade year you start taking action steps, 9th grade year you go to Mass ID camps, sophomore year you go to Mass ID camps, Division I only or Division III only individual camps, junior year, senior year you're making your options. You're deciding which one you wanna pick. Not trying to get interest. If you want more help about when to start the process, comment your grade. Comment 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, or 12th grade, or 7th grade, or 5th grade, or 6th grade, or 4th grade, or 2nd grade. Comment your grade and I'll send you what you need to do.
