A youth soccer recruiting coach explains when to stay with MLS NEXT versus switching teams for college recruitment. For 8th to 10th graders, the MLS NEXT label attracts scouts. By junior year, playing time matters more than the team's name. If you're not getting minutes, move to a team where you will.
Is it better to be on a bad MLS team or a good ECNL team if you want to play Division 1 college soccer? So it really depends again on your age. If you are in 8th to 10th grade, I would play in the MLS team. Maybe you can break into the team. Maybe the coach will change. Every email you send will be more read because it says MLS NEXT on it. It depends on if that MLS NEXT team is going to playoffs or if they're going to showcases. Maybe your coach says to the whole club at showcases, everybody shares playing time because we want you guys to get noticed by colleges. So it's not quite that simple. Now once you hit junior year, you want to be playing minutes. So then if junior year you're not playing any minutes, then you see no future of you playing any minutes, then I would switch from an MLS NEXT team to another team. Doesn't have to be ECNL, but another team where you're going to play more minutes. Because at that point, minutes are what's really going to matter for you. Because if you're not playing minutes, then at the showcases specifically, nobody cares about league games. Then you're not going to get noticed. I will also add you do need video. So if you're not getting any league game video, that is another problem, and you're going to need video. In which case, it's probably smart to have to switch teams if you are not playing minutes by junior year. If you want more help playing college soccer, give me a call, links in the bio, or comment the word "call" and we can schedule a call with mom and dad.
