A former player who earned a Division I scholarship from US Youth Soccer explains why top coaches rarely recruit from that level. He recommends starting with Division III or NAIA, then building a highlight video ten times better than MLS Next players' to stand out and move up.
What about the US Youth Midwest Conference? So US Youth, US Youth Soccer is a good place to start. This is like 4th tier depending on the conference, 5th tier Midwest is like 4th tier flirting with 3rd tier. You guys do go to showcases and your national events do attract college coaches, particularly in the area, but you're not going to be getting recruited by top Division 1 schools. Again, that doesn't mean you're not good enough to play top Division 1 soccer, it just means that you're not going to the events that they're attending. So if you want to play college soccer, please start with Division 3 schools, NAIA, junior colleges, get the interest of those schools. Once you've got the interest of those schools, then you can move your way up the ladder. Your highlight video is going to be really important. And remember, your highlight video is probably going to have some of high school and some of club. Make sure it's mixed. Make sure in that first minute you have a self-interview, coach's interview, because your video needs to be 10 times better than a kid in MLS Next because you're getting less exposure. When you're not playing at the higher level club levels, you have to do more than them. That's the reality, because otherwise you're not going to get noticed. And I can tell you that because my personal story, I was playing at US youth soccer level all the way up until my senior year. And then I went and played Division I college soccer and I got a full-ride scholarship. And it was because I was constantly sending out video, going to college ID camps, and being smart about the way I was doing the recruiting process. So if you want more help with that, call me. Links in the bio.
