A soccer mentor coaches a young player on recruiting. Send highlight reels and full-game videos to college coaches monthly starting now, try out for UCNL while staying with Breakers, and attend camps at schools like Bowdoin and Middlebury. An 8th-grader in NYC FC's MLS Next Academy is competing for the same spots.
Do you follow me on Instagram?
Yep.
Oh, that means you're gonna get a prize. You get your video reviewed for as many times as you'd like because you follow me. If I ever come up to anybody and all of you come up to me and I see that you follow me on Instagram, then I will absolutely watch your video right then and there so that way I can tell you if you can play call of soccer.
I haven't—
you asked me, can you make a highlight video out of good touches?
Yes, like through balls that maybe didn't go straight to the goal, but like amazing through balls that I've hit. I've hit some amazing through balls.
As long as the pass is completed, the answer is yes. And in your case, in your grade, your highlight video The video only needs to be a minute long. No more than a minute. Then after you've done the minute, make every-touch videos. So it's just the whole game and every touch you took. Oh, okay. Cool? Alright, bro. Soccer, it's a very good club to be a part of. As you keep making video, you want to try out for the UCNL team, which you already know about. If it means you have to leave the club, I wouldn't leave the club because Breakers is a really good club and has a great reputation for helping kids play college soccer. You're at Harbor Westlake and the head coach of Harbor Westlake is a big-time guy in the college world. Michael? Michael Sturrouche. So he recruited me once upon a time. And he's the best. He's like the best of the best. So when you go to Harbor Westlake, that will also help you play college soccer. I'm working with 3 Harbor Westlake kids right now. Oh wow. So I'm very familiar with your whole situation. Having said that, you should, which you're already doing, which is amazing, is keep making video, tag some schools. Don't expect anything to happen in the next year and a half or 2 where coaches are going to talk to you. They're not going to, but they're going to start to know who you are. If you send them a video once a month between now and sophomore year, that's 3 years of video basically, the Ivy League schools will know who you are and at least you'll have a chance. Whereas, if you were to wait until sophomore year, which most people would do, the coaches will be like, you're already behind. You're behind the other 7th grader that sent me an email since they were younger, if that makes sense. And because all the academic schools are on the East Coast, that makes your life a lot harder, because the only academic schools here are Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, and Occidental. Everyone else is on the East Coast. So the better you can send messages to Bowdoin, and Bowdoin's gonna tell you, look, contact us in a few years. Or Middlebury, for example, will tell kids at your age and say, Hey, please come to our middle school camp.
Is that where— I think there's a senior from my school going there.
Yeah, there is. There is. So the big thing is I'm working with an 8th grader right now. He's a year younger than you, but he's playing for New York City FC's MLS Next Academy.
Oh, wow.
Right? So you're behind him, technically. Now it doesn't mean— you might be better than him. In fact, I'm looking at you. You are bigger than he is already at your age, and you're a year younger than him. Having said that, he's going to get more exposure than you, even if it's not fair. So how do you beat that? You beat that with more video, more training, and eventually maybe training, changing teams. But like I said, Breakers is great, so I don't think you have to. But it's just to say, That's who you're competing with. And he's working with me. And I'm making him make video. And I'm making him go to showcase. I make him go to ID camp. He's going to the Middlebury camp as an 8th grader. Wow. High school ID camp? Yes, exactly. Because he got permission. You can get permission from the coaches if you're a little bit younger. If you're going into 9th grade or going into 8th grade, which you're going into 8th grade in your case. So very good. Okay. That sound like a plan? Good job, dude. I'm very proud of you. I'm very, very proud of this kid. Really good job. Hit me up with your video when it's done. Okay. Okay.
