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A 7th grader wanting to play college soccer should start now: film yourself constantly to improve faster, email college coaches with a video link, and attend Division I camps. Early exposure sticks with coaches even when they move jobs.
A 7th grader wanting to play college soccer should start now: film yourself constantly to improve faster, email college coaches with a video link, and attend Division I camps. Early exposure sticks with coaches even when they move jobs.
These are 3 things I would never be doing if I was going into 7th grade or if I was in 7th grade. Number 1 is I would not not be taking video, which means double negative, it means you should be taking video. The idea that you don't need to take video is a huge mistake in this process. One, it's a great way for you to learn as an athlete, and if you have somebody in your village helping you go, hey, this is what you should have done, or this is what you did really well, both in practice and in games, you will get better a lot faster. Number 2, you guys are thinking, well, they're so young, they can't get recruited, they don't need to email coaches. You shouldn't be emailing coaches in the same way you will eventually do in high school, but you actually should start emailing coaches. And it's a very polite email. You go, hi, I'm so-and-so, I'm a big fan of your team, I'll be coming to watch your games, I'll be watching your games this fall on ESPN3, and I just want to let you know I'm doing everything I can to one day play for your school. Here's my video. If you start sending that in 7th grade and you are good— if you're not good, then you can't send it, obviously— but if you're an exceptional 7th grader, right, you can juggle over 300, you're playing for a pre-CNL or MLS Next team, then you should start messaging the coaches. Now when you message them, you want to be very polite and there is no recruiting questions, but you let them know, hey look, I just want you to know I'm doing everything I can to one day play for your team. If you could one day, if you could email Chelsea or Manchester United or Real Madrid and say, hey, I'm 11 years old and I'm practicing every day, and they actually got the message, it would play a big role on them. While that can't be the case for Barcelona or Real Madrid because everybody wants to play for them, if you're emailing a Stanford or a Pepperdine or UCLA saying, hey, starting at the age of 11 years old, my dream is to play for you one day, and you do that for many years, you can basically guarantee that when you get there in high school, they'll go, oh my gosh, you're the kid who's been working since they were 11 years old to play for my school. It's so nice to meet you. It's a real pleasure. Plus, the coaches will change jobs, so maybe one day they're UCLA and the next day they're at Stanford. So we do actually have our kids start emailing the schools. And number 3 is we want you going to their middle school camps. They have middle school camps, especially the big Division I schools, and we want you to start going. The sooner you get your name and face in front of them, the more likely it is they will remember who you are. If you want more help playing cold talker, give me a call. Links in the bio. DM me and I'll send you the link. Bye.
