A coach argues that elite young soccer players should start the college recruiting process at ages 7-12, with concrete steps like attending ID camps, making highlight videos, and emailing coaches. Early exposure and injury prevention are key reasons to begin now.
A question you need to ask yourself if you're going to play college soccer: is it too early to begin? I was on a call with a potential student, and normally when I get on a call with somebody around the ages of 9, 10, 11, the obvious elephant in the room is, is it too early? So I could tell you a bunch of reasons of why it's not too early because of the experience I have, but instead I asked them, why do you think you should start the recruiting process right now? You are only 9 years old, seems a little silly. And the student was very bright for their age and said, well, first of all, it's a really good idea for people just to get to start getting to know me because the sooner the better. That is true. Again, this is only for elite level players. Second, they said, look, I know I'm gonna get injured, I know I'm gonna have to switch club teams, and I know that I really want to play at the highest level possible and I want to do everything I can. That is the correct answer. You don't think I want to work with that student? Of course I do. If you're still feeling, oh, it's too early to start in the recruiting process given your age, don't Call me. If you say, look, I understand the value of starting at this age, if you want to play at the highest levels of college soccer and you have a student athlete at the ages of 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 who goes, look, I'm obsessed with this, then there are steps you can take. You should go to middle school ID camp. You should have a highlight video. You should be working on club soccer. You should be sending emails to the college coaches knowing they cannot respond to you just so that way they can monitor you in a very gentle, polite way. You should go to college soccer games and let them know, hi, I was at your game. I can't wait to become a freshman one day. Oh my gosh, I've known you since you were 11 years old. You've been a big fan of ours. Thank you for being polite. Thank you for following us. Thank you for complimenting my coaching. I'm excited to see you play today. Oh, you know what? You're not the level, and I don't think you're gonna be the level for us, but you know what? I would still recommend you to other schools because I've known you since you're 11. That is the worst case scenario right there. If you want more help, give me a call. Links in the bio. DM me. Bye.
