In this advisory monologue, the speaker discusses the challenges USL Academy players face when trying to secure college soccer recruitment. Using a real‑world student case, he explains why college coaches still demand in‑person showcase performances despite a player’s experience with professional‑level clubs. He contrasts USL Academy with MLS Next and ECNL, noting that USL players have fewer showcase opportunities. The speaker outlines a two‑pronged strategy: (1) leveraging the club coach as a credible referee who contacts college coaches, and (2) assembling high‑quality video footage against professional and MLS Next competition. He emphasizes persistent, polite follow‑up with college coaches after a coach referral, and recommends attending additional camps and showcases. The talk concludes with a call‑to‑action for viewers to contact him via links in his bio for further assistance.
Chapters
Is USL Academy a good way to get recruited? I'm going to tell you a little story. We have a student right now playing USL Academy. I'm not going to name the teams or his name. He's a very good soccer player and he keeps running into this issue. The coaches keep saying, hey, you play for a good USL Academy team. We even know that you've trained with the first team. So USL Academy teams often have a first team that's in either the USL themselves or in USL 2. And this player has been playing with that USL 2 team, which is a pretty big deal, and has even jumped into the first team. So this is a USL Championship team. So that's level. And the coaches are going, we know you're a good player, we've even seen you at our camps, but we need to see you at a showcase. And you know, you're asking yourself, why do you need to see me at a showcase? Like, I'm playing with pro players, why isn't that enough to get recruited? And the coaches go, look, we know you're good, but we need to see you in person. I have my own opinions. Maybe the pro coach thinks you're good and maybe I won't think so. Soccer is subjective. And but just because a coach is coaching pro, college coaches don't always think that the pro coach is right or better. And maybe it suits the pro coach's needs and it won't suit the college coach's needs. So no matter almost what, even if you're the best soccer player ever, the coach at a D1 level has to see you in person. So the problem with this student is they're going, look, I'm a really good player, I go to camps, all the coaches think I'm great, I play USL Academy, but I'm not playing in very many showcases. They're not coming to the USL Academy showcases. That's what they're emailing me. They're telling me that they want to see me play, but you know, I don't have my schedule. Then if you ask the coaches directly, hey coach, would you like me to switch to MLS next? They'll go, well, like, it's up to you and your family. And then as a player, and this player in particular is going, well, look, I'm willing to I'll leave, but like, will you then recruit me if I'm playing MLS Next? And the coaches don't get directly into this because they don't want to get in trouble with any clubs. Because if you're telling a kid to leave, like I'm telling you to leave, then club teams don't like you because now kids are leaving and it costs money. But I don't really care about any club teams. I only care about you and that you play college soccer. So that gives me the opportunity to say whatever I want, including the truth, which is even if you're playing USL Academy, you're probably going to have to leave to play MLS Next. Now, this same student cannot go play MLS Next. The closest team is 3 hours away. That's not going to work. So then what is this player going to do? What this player is going to have to do is really leverage two things. They're going to have to leverage their club coach big time, and he's going to have to be a reference, and he's going to have to make calls on behalf of the player. And there's a problem with that. Your coach, who may really like you and support you, he's not going to make, or she's not going to make, 15 calls. They might make 1 or 2. The coach is not going to pick up the phone, even if it's their best friend. And all of a sudden, they're not going to pick up the phone. You're going to follow up with your coach, say, did you hear from me? He's going to say no. And then the The lead is dead. That's not gonna work. So what you need is you need your coach to call. They're not gonna pick the call. They're not gonna get the other college coach on the phone. You then need to follow up with the college coach multiple times in a polite way and say, my coach has called you, just wanna follow up. My coach has called you, just wanna follow up. Because the way you can get over the hump is if you have a referral from your coach, a coach that's being respected or maybe used to coaching college saying, hey, this kid's really the real deal. I know he's not playing in a place where you can see him in person, but I see him in person every day and he's really good. You should recruit him. That's number 1. Number 2 is you're going to need video against really good USL teams. You're going to need video from the pro team you're training with and you're going to need video of you playing against MLS Next teams. If you do those 2 things and go to camps, then you could still play at a high level of Division 1 soccer, even playing USL Academy. Now, if you're the best ever USL Academy player, yes, college coaches will get to know you are. But if you're a very good player, but maybe not scoring 1,000 goals like this player is very good, but he's not scoring 1,000 goals. He's going to have to be this level of proactive. So if you're playing USL Academy, just know that the process for you is actually more challenging than ECNL in a lot of ways because you just don't go to that many showcases. If you want more help playing college soccer, give me a call. Links in the bio.
