A 9th-grade ECNL soccer player breaks down how to get recruited: make a one-minute highlight reel of 15 clips and email it to 50-80 colleges, attend Division I camps at your target schools, then follow up with thank-you emails and game visits to stay on coaches' radar.
I'm in 9th grade playing ECNL. Here are 3 things I would do in order to play college soccer at the Division 1 level. Number 1 is you need a 1-minute highlight video. It doesn't have to be incredible, but you do need 1 minute's worth, which is about 15 clips. I bet you have 15 clips of very good moments. You're going to take that 1-minute video and you're going to send it off to about 50 to 80 Division 1 schools, Division 2, and Division 3. Now I know you don't want to play for Division 2 or Division 3 yet, so just stay, pay attention. I'm going to explain at the end of this video how how it's going to be all for the Division 1s. Because you're a freshman and you're playing ECNL, which is a very high level, if you want to dream big and you don't want to focus on Division 2s or Division 3s in terms of camps, then that's okay. But you still have to send them emails. The reason you have to send them emails is because they can recruit you off video and emails alone and get really interested just through that level of communication, which is super helpful for later down the line. I'll explain that in a minute. Now, going to Division 1s, which is you want— you're going to email the Division 1 schools, they're not going to want you, but you will go to their bloody camps, especially if it's a dream school for you. If you're not the level, they will tell you at the camp if you ask the right questions in the follow-up, which we can help you with. And they will know if you're the level even if you're only a freshman. Or they'll tell you, we're not sure if you're the level yet, but stay in touch because we want to see how you develop, which means you're on their radar. Once you go to the camp, you're going to be one of the best ones at the camp because you're playing at such a high level at the youth level. So they're going to put you with the older kids, you're going to go to the all-star game of the camp, and now all of a sudden they know your name and remember who you are. Then you're going to email them a follow-up email afterwards and thank them. Then you're going to update them with video and you're going to go to their game in the fall. If you do these steps, I can almost guarantee you will get genuine interest. If you want more help playing call soccer, give us a call. Links in the bio. Bye.
