ECNL players need more than club status to get recruited: they must attend ID camps, make playoffs, and compete against players from other leagues. Start by targeting Division III and II schools, practice your pitch with less selective programs first, then approach your dream school.
3 mistakes I would never want to make if I was playing ECNL and I wanted to play college soccer. First of all, on the girls side, this means you're at the highest level of youth soccer, which means you must be going to ID camps. Number 2, if you are also not going to playoffs or to showcases, it does not matter if you're playing ECNL because they will not come to you and they will not see you. So if your team is not going to playoffs or your club is not taking you to showcases while you're in ECNL, then you will not likely be able to play college soccer, certainly at certain levels. And number 3 is just because you're playing ECNL on the boys' side or the girls' side does not mean you're going to play college soccer. It is extraordinarily competitive, and there are plenty of players at lower levels who are good enough, and there's plenty of players at higher levels for the boys, MLS NEXT, that are good enough to quote unquote "get seen more than you." So it's not a guarantee. I would aim for Division III high-level schools then Division II, then Division I. I wouldn't only focus on Division I schools at the very beginning. But you can focus on Division I schools as long as it's simultaneously you're looking at some other schools, not necessarily only as backups, but remember coaches change jobs. You're trying to find a coach where you'll be happy, not just a certain level. And also finding the right place for you takes time. And I don't want you to test everything on your dream school. A phone call with a school you are less worried about, an ID camp that you're not nervous to do perfectly. You want to practice kind of on these lesser schools before you go to your dream school. They're not really lesser schools, they're just lesser to you maybe. They're not your top. If you want to know which camps to go to as an ECNL player, I want you to comment the word quiz and I'll send you a quiz about which camps you should go to. If you want more help, give me a call. Links in the bio. I'll talk to you soon.
