A junior soccer player asks how to choose ID camps. The host says rank coaches by your relationship with them, cast a wide net with no offers, then get selective. Attend your dream school's camp even if they show limited interest. Coach relationship matters more than academic prestige because a bad coach ruins everything.
Hey, College Soccer Eye. I have a bunch of interest from schools. I'm a junior playing MLS next, and I don't really know which camps to pick even though I have a lot of genuine interest. Well, there's a few ways in which we pick schools to go to even when we have multiple schools genuinely interested in us. Okay, I'm listening. How would you pick? Well, we're gonna put in categories. So category number 1 is gonna be your relationship with the coach. Whichever coach you like the most. When I start this process with our students, we often say we have to cast a wide net at the very beginning because you don't have any offers. Now you have genuine interest from schools you care about. So now we can be a little picky. So which coach and which school do you want the most? Okay, yeah, obviously, like, there's a school I have in mind, but what if they don't like me and they don't pick me and I should have gone to a different school? Well, this is part of the risk you have to take. If you want to play college soccer, remember, it's about having fun. And would you regret not going to that ID camp just because you're afraid they're going to tell you no? Yeah, I mean, the school I have in mind is my favorite school, but they've shown the least genuine interest. Yes, but you just told me you would regret it if you didn't try. So this is why you need multiple interests because one is not enough. So if it's your favorite dream school and they've shown you a little genuine interest, go to that camp. It's your favorite school, maybe you'll do really well, maybe the coach will love you, and then boom, you've got your dream school. But yes, you will have to have other options just in case. What about like the major and the facility? Like you keep talking about the coach, what about like the other aspects of school? Academics, remember? You always said academics are most important, College Soccer Guy. You're spot on. Academics are the most important in this process. Here's the problem. If you want to go to school just for academics and not play soccer, you can be as picky as you want because you don't want to play soccer. If you want to play soccer, college soccer is a privilege, so you have to be open-minded and you have to understand that even though academics come first, if you don't like your coach, you will be miserable no matter how great the school is. And I also want to play every single minute. Starting, you know, pretty much early on. Is that realistic? It's hard to say if that's realistic at the beginning right now. So this is why you need to go to the camp and start that relationship with the coach. If you want more help playing Call of Duty, give me a call. Link's in the bio. Bye.
