Parents of young soccer players often miss three critical windows: checking if their kid can juggle 100+ times by age 10 (elite prospects do), entering MLS Next or ECNL programs by ages 5-7, and moving away from friends and familiar coaches to access elite development. Without these pathways, reaching Division I is nearly impossible.
These are the 3 biggest mistakes I see from parents whose kids want to play college soccer or play MLS Next or ECNL and are the ages of 10, 11, 12, and 13. Number 1 is you parents often say to me on the calls that we get to do, my child is really good. I'm telling you, they're so committed. And then I ask you what their juggling record is and they, you say like 12 or 13 or 14. Really, really good and really, really committed typically means that at 10 years old you're at 100 juggles and by 13 you're at 500 to 1,000. This doesn't mean you're a good soccer player if you can juggle, but if you're not juggling, typically it's a telltale sign to all coaches at all levels in the entire world that you don't touch the ball that much. Number 2, that you don't need to get started on the process. Playing MLS Next and ECNL starts literally at ages 5, 6, 7. That's how those kids get really good at that age. They're not just born good kicking a soccer ball. Their parents probably played soccer, and that's why they are playing for the pre-ECNL and MLS Next teams. So I don't want you to not do it just because you didn't know. I want you to be educated and go, oh, your child does not need to know what's going on at that age, of course. But you as a parent should know, hey, I need to gently push my son or daughter in this direction if you think they're that committed and they're loving. If you're worried they're gonna quit, then don't do it. I'm not for those people. I'm trying to help for those who were like me, who knew this was my future no matter what. Number 3, you don't wanna leave your friends and your coaches because you love them so much. Nobody said this was an easy process. Nobody said it was gonna be rainbows and butterflies. You're gonna have to leave your friends. You might even have to have a really ugly and bad coach for part of this period. If you don't play within the MLS Next or ECNL organizations by the time you are in high school, not only will you probably not make your high school team, which will be just a sad social deal, you probably won't get to play college soccer at the Division 1 level these days. You're competing with internationals. If you want the best chance, you must be in those organizations. If you want more help playing MLS Next or ECNL, DM me and we can sort it out for you.
