Adam Dunbar, a former LA Galaxy Academy player, got recruited to UC San Diego by sending personalized emails to coaches, attending showcases, and making a tight highlight video. He stresses that waiting for scouts to find you doesn't work. You have to reach out first.
How to play college soccer at UCSD? Let's ask this legend right here. He's going to tell us how he did it, and he had an unbelievable freshman season. All right, boss, tell us your name.
Uh, my name is Adam Dunbar.
Mr. Dunbar, where did you play, uh, during your high school years?
I played with the LA Galaxy Academy for all 4 years of high school.
Amazing. And so to get recruited, tell us a little bit about how you got recruited to UCSD.
Uh, reaching out. It's always good to reach out.
Even though you're on the Galaxy, you're telling me you had to send emails?
Uh, yeah, I did. So I reached out to a lot of schools, um, just, just putting my name out there, trying to get recognized, and they —school that took their chance on me, and I'm forever grateful for it.
Did you go to any ID camps, or for you just mainly showcases and emails?
Showcases and emails. I did go to one ID camp for a different school, but not for UCSD, just performances and emails.
Can you give an example of an email that you sent? It doesn't have to be perfect, but some rough estimate.
So it's just name, age, where I play, my position, little things like that I like about the school, things I'm interested in.
Something genuine. Very good. But it wasn't very long, right? It wasn't like a 10-paragraph essay? No, just a short little paragraph.
Couple sentences, um, show my support for them, give it— make it a little personal.
And yeah, did you make a highlight video?
Of course I did.
Of course you did. Did you make one highlight video? Did you have a couple?
Uh, I did have a couple. I had, I think, 3, but I, I pretty much compacted all the best ones into one.
So if you're playing MLS NEXT, let's say for an LA Galaxy-like team, what would be your recommendation for players at your level to get recruited? What's something that you took away that you want them to know?
Um, just constantly reach out. Always talk to the coaches, because if you don't, um, show show that passion for them, they're not going to show it back for you. And that was a mistake that I made originally, uh, thinking that it was all just going to come to me. But no, you have to take the initiative and reach out to all the other schools.
I love this guy. You legend. Thanks, bro. Good job. Congratulations. If you're a winger like this baller and you want to play call soccer, comment "winger" and I'll send you a bunch of tips as a winger.
