A youth soccer mentor describes how one girl got Division III interest as a 7th-grader and committed to the University of Denver as a freshman. She had an hour of highlight footage, played pre-ECNL, and reached out to coaches early. Most Division I commitments happen in junior year, so early exposure and video reels matter.
I just got off the phone with a 6th grader and they were asking what they need to do in order to play college soccer. First of all, if you're in 6th grade, you need to be a phenomenal player. And this family was amazing. This girl, when I tell you her commitment level— there's a story that was really close to her heart that I'm not going to share right now, but her commitment level is amazing. Like, when I say truly amazing, those are the only kids who should be talking about this at this age, who have gone through something or have this passion level that cannot be described with words, to the extent where you need oxygen. So if you're that 6th grader, then you can talk about what you need to do to play college soccer. On top of the fact you have to be a certain level, this this family, this daughter had a ton of video. A ton. I'm talking like an hour's worth of clips cut up into 2-minute bites that I was able to see. And when I watched the video, I said, this girl's good. Like, really good. She's already playing pre-CNL. She's already got a good juggling record. She's super committed. These are the kids that we want to start going to middle school camps. You're going to start emailing coaches, and as crazy as it sounds, they will respond to you. And I have proof. Here is evidence of a girl in 7th grade already getting responses from Division 3 coaches. You've probably seen this girl on Instagram before. She was committed to the University of Denver her freshman year. None of that is a coincidence. They were playing at the right ECNL team at a young age. They were playing at the right GA team. They had a highlight video. They were going to middle school camps. So by the time they were in high school, the coaches already knew who they were. And this is why most girls are committed in their junior year if they're gonna play Division I soccer. If you want help playing college soccer, give me a call, links in the bio. Talk soon, goodbye.
