Five steps for high school soccer players to land Division I scholarships: attend 3-5 ID camps where coaches know you, submit 4-6 video clips beforehand, do showcases coaches actually watch, understand that senior moves to MLS Next or ECNL must happen before February, and email coaches claiming you'll attend their games to meet in person.
If you're going into senior year of high school and you want to play Division I college soccer, here are the 5 things you must do. And the last one is something that if you don't do, there's no way you'll play college soccer. Number 1, going into the summer, you have to go to 3 to 5 genuine invitation ID camps, meaning the Division I school knows who you are. If you're watching this and you're like, I have very little genuine interest, and you're a sophomore, please start taking action now so you don't have to have this discussion as a junior and I have to tell you it's too late to play college soccer. Number 2, you have to have gone to showcases where the coaches have confirmed they will watch you or they already have watched you. Otherwise, this summer's not gonna be as impactful as you think. The reason it's so important to be seen at ID camps is they probably already saw you at a showcase and they just wanna reiterate what it's like to work with you in a training environment. Number 3, 4 to 6 every-touch videos before the ID camp. So if you have, if you're going to the ID camp and they haven't seen that many videos and you expect them to give you an answer right after the ID camp, It's a little bit unrealistic. They need to have seen you many times over before they're just going to go, "Yes, we want you." Now it's possible if you're so good at the ID camp they'll just say yes to you, but you're asking for a lot on their part. They have to measure not only that ID camp you're at, the other 5 that they're hosting that same summer, and remember they've got some dream kids that probably are not going to come to the camp and aren't at the highest level that they also are debating about. Number 4, if you're trying to switch club teams at this point to play MLS Next or ECNL, you might have missed the boat. You can still play, but MLS Next Fest or Flex is really only one more event typically typically in February. The one in May, if you're a senior, is going to be too late for you. So if you're dependent on showcases, just know that that's pretty much too late. You're gonna have to really consider ID camps. Number 5, and the last one, is if you really want to play Division 1 soccer, do what we call a forced visit. This is when you're going to email the coaches come the fall season and say, I'm planning to come to one of your games, may I shake your hand in person? It doesn't really matter if you're going to one of their games, just say you are. Then if they respond with Hey, if you're gonna be at our game, we'd love to meet with you, then go to the game. Obviously, you'd pick local schools that are around your area. You're not gonna fly somewhere. But if you're really committed, then you would even consider flying somewhere, especially if you've already had a ton of genuine interest. And the reason we call this a forced visit— let's say you wanted to get a meeting with Google, and you said to them, hey, I'm gonna be in town for coffee. Can we grab a bite? They'll be like, well, you're in town anyway. Sure, you know, we'll grab a bite. But if you said, hey, I'm gonna fly from California for coffee, they'll be like, that's a— like, don't do that. You don't want to give them a way out. You want to be like, hey, I'm going to be in town anyways, can I come see you? And if you're already in town, then they'll say yes. And at the end of the day, all that matters is that they say yes. It doesn't matter if you're in town or not in town. So then you'll make the trip and go see them in person. And being seen in person, to shake their hand and look them in the eyes, is a game changer because they want to get to know you as a person. If you want more help, comment the word "call" and we can schedule a call with you and your parents. Parents must be on the call, please and thank you.
