A soccer coach explains when student-athletes should start the college recruitment process. It depends on your goal: a scholarship versus a top-25 Division I program. Coaches want to see year-over-year improvement from middle school onward. Starting in senior year usually means less scholarship money.
And the short answer is yes. This particular student's an international, so it's a little bit more complicated, but basically all of you guys are saying to me, when should we start the process, when should we start the process, and you're too scared to start too soon. But this depends. Do you want a scholarship? Do you want to play at a high-level D1 program? That will determine when you should begin, not necessarily your age. Are you a good soccer player, for example, and will you improve? Coaches love to see you stage here, be X level, and stage here by the time you're a sophomore, junior, because it means that when you're in college, you will also improve. If they don't get to see that level of improvement, they don't know how dedicated you are, They don't know if you actually love the sport. They need to see the improvement. So it's okay not to be the best one at the camp in 8th grade, but by 10th grade when they get to see you progress, they're like, damn. And so the short answer to the student is yes, because they started late, they got less money. So if you want to have a better chance playing college soccer, you should really be starting sophomore, junior year. Otherwise you're in trouble for sure. And if you do start 8th or 9th grade, then you're talking about being able to go to some top, top 25 schools. If you want more help playing college soccer, give me a call. Links in the bio. Talk to you soon. Goodbye.
