Two coaches debate whether U.S. soccer players should take a gap year abroad before college recruiting. Foreign players can arrive as 20-year-old freshmen with professional experience, but domestic players have the edge: weekly exposure to coaches, email relationships, and proven long-term interest in schools.
Should you go abroad and take a gap year in order to go pro or play college soccer? Listen to this example of why I don't think it ever freaking works.
The one who's in Brown, we were talking about earlier, and he's in Spain and he's on a gap year, and I was arguing, hey, I don't think you should go abroad, and he was explaining how it could be really helpful if you're on a gap year and you can get recruited because there are some— he goes to, it's called ETER, which has a good reputation as a matter of fact. I don't recommend it for most people because like these two gentlemen told us, they wish they lived here for recruiting purposes, not for life. But regardless, they wish they were here because they could get recruited easier. Once you go abroad, every coach just says to you, oh, every coach just says to you, I wish I could see you in person. Anyways, my point is to say he came all the way from Spain and these gentlemen from Singapore to play. That is great. Obviously it's a super fun opportunity, but it can be really hard to stay stand out in one instance, in one game. So those of you who do live in America, I would strongly encourage you to take advantage of the camps or the showcases, and instead of being frustrated by internationals that do exist in the recruiting process, be grateful you get to be in person more often.
This is especially true for high academic schools. High academic schools often want to see you in person really early on because they have to commit you earlier for admission purposes. Let me also add that I know you guys think that because internationals are coming here, that if you go abroad, you'll be able to have a better chance. And I think you're missing the picture. The players that are abroad that they're bringing to America are playing pro soccer at the first division level or second division level in their respective countries. And then they're 20 years old coming here as freshmen. So unless you're going to go do that, which you cannot do without losing your eligibility, and they can do it kind of without getting in trouble. You can't compete with them doing their game. You have to do your own way. So your own way is, think about their advantage. Their advantage is they get to play at a high, high level at an international stage, and they get to be a little bit older when they come here. Your advantage is you are here. You get to be here each and every week. You get to email them. You get to learn about your grades. You get to say to the coaches, I'm not just some international who wants to come to your school because it's nice weather. I want to come to your school because I've been following you since I was 7, 8, 10 years old. I really like your school for these reasons. That is what can make you different as an American. So take advantage of that by expressing it through email, video communication, etc. And yes, it's more competitive with internationals. What are you going to do, quit? That's what you're going to do? Oh, it's really hard with internationals. Yeah, of course it is. Everyone wants to come to America. It's amazing here. So you have to do more, not give up. If you want more help, give me a call. Links in the bio. Talk to you soon.
Bye.
