A coach tells 13-year-old soccer players aiming for college to make two highlight reels: a polished one-minute VO and a raw phone video showing grit and technique. Then move to elite programs like MLS NEXT 2 or ECNL World instead of lower-tier leagues. Early exposure matters: one player got a college offer after an ACL injury because coaches already knew him.
If you are 13 years old, here are 3 things you should never do if you want to end up playing MLS NEXT or ECNL and then college soccer. When I first started helping kids this age, I was like you. What the hell do I need to give advice to a 13-year-old to? But then the college coaches start to explain to me, look, the further and more we get to know a student's personality, the better. So we had this one student who got injured as a sophomore, tore their ACL, but because they started in 7th grade, the coach already knew who they were as a personality. So when they got fit again in 11th grade, they only need to watch them like once or twice and then made them offer. Number 1, you need a 1-minute highlight video, ideally from a VO or a trace, and it's worth the investment for that because even if your club ends up having one, they're gonna miss a game and you need to get as much video as you can because you never know when you score the banger. Number 2, you need a totally separate video that is not VO or huddle or trace that is actually on the floor of you, which is what would be called a social media highlight video. This gives us a very different angle of you, especially when you're so young, you're still developing your technique. We want to see the grit, the passion, and that can much better be seen when it's an up-close iPhone video, and that typically should be about 1 minute. Number 3, if you're not already trying out for the best club teams, you have to start that process. If you're playing like EDP or NPL or E64, you got to get out of there. You got to get into the MLS NEXT 2, Elite Academy, MLS NEXT ECNL World. Otherwise, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. If you want more help playing college soccer and you are 7, greater or 13 years old, give me a call. Links in the bio. Talk to you soon. Goodbye.
