{"id":7648,"date":"2014-10-13T20:15:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T01:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nsr-inc.com\/blog\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2014-10-15T20:18:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T01:18:22","slug":"soccer-the-truth-about-recruiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/soccer-the-truth-about-recruiting\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer: The Truth About Recruiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: \u00a0Gil Barkey<\/p>\n

\"Gil<\/a>
Gil Barkey is the NSR<\/a> Soccer Director for the Western U.S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An interesting theme has been developing the last couple months speaking with college soccer programs about the recruiting of high school players.\u00a0 This theme was brought to light when one of my players noticed that a college coach was registered to be at a tournament in California\u00a0AND<\/em>\u00a0Illinois for the same weekend. \u00a0 So which tournament was the coach\u00a0ACTUALLY<\/em>\u00a0going to attend? \u00a0(Hint, he lives in Illinois).<\/p>\n

Coaches may register themselves for multiple tournaments in hopes of obtaining tournament rosters with contact information or in hopes of receiving emails from players interested in their college program prior to a tournament.\u00a0 In doing so, coaches are able to add these players to their soccer recruit database and invite them to camps without even attending the tournament. \u00a0In some cases, coaches will ask an alumni or friend to attend the tournament for them to save on costs.<\/p>\n

A coach or assistant coach is only able to travel to a select number of tournaments to watch players that are \u201chigh\u201d on their priority list. \u00a0The budget does not allow for them to attend many tournaments, especially out of their region.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story is twofold. First, make sure to let college coaches know your specific game schedule for any tournaments. Even if a certain college coach is not present at the tournament, he\/she may be in contact with other college coaches who are in attendance. Like many sports, the soccer coach network is tight, and soccer coaches will often share opinions of players with each other.\u00a0I just had a player go to an official visit in California based on the opinion of a local college coach in Colorado. \u00a0This situation happens more often than you might think.<\/p>\n

Secondly, be aware that certain communications are considered only the \u201cintroduction level\u201d of recruiting.\u00a0 Such communications include: getting a camp invite, a questionnaire link, or tournament follow-up email.\u00a0 At this level, you are barely farther than you were before the tournament. \u00a0The coach may or may not have\u00a0ACTUALLY\u00a0<\/em>seen you play. If the coach did see you play and was interested in pursuing the recruiting process, it should warrant direct communication (such as a phone call or personal text) to you or your coach, depending on your graduation year.<\/p>\n

As junior or senior soccer players you should be receiving phone calls, text messages, twitter messages, or direct instagram messages if you are truly being recruited. After initial contacts are made, personal email exchanges are then common and very important.<\/p>\n

Do not underestimate the power of a highlight video and game footage. \u00a0Before you engage with a college coach by phone or email, you need to have video prepared. \u00a0The coach will ask you about your video footage right after he\/she asks about your GPA and ACT\/SAT scores. \u00a0It is important to be prepared for the initial phone call with the college coach. The worst thing you can do is to be stammering for answers when a coach asks to send your film or you can\u2019t talk about yourself confidently. \u00a0I personally go over coach phone calls with athletes beforehand because making a good first impression is so important to get to the\u00a0\u201ccomparison” and “offer” stages of the recruiting process.<\/p>\n

Most soccer players cannot rely on their coaches to get them through the recruiting process. \u00a0I just talked to a senior soccer player last week who told me his coach was calling a school in California for him. \u00a0It was hard for me to break to him that I knew that particular college program was done recruiting for his class. The coach may have had great intentions, but most coaches do NOT have enough time to help players with college recruiting.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that most coaches get anywhere from 400-1200 emails per week.\u00a0If you as a player want to stand out in the crowd and the white noise that college coaches are inundated with, you need a professional. \u00a0This professional should be someone you trust, has your best interests in mind, has seen you play, knows your strengths and weaknesses, and knows every in and out of the recruiting process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gil Barkey is the Soccer Director for NSR for the Western U.S. \u00a0He along with Rob Miller, head up Soccer for the entire U.S. with Rob handling the Eastern U.S. \u00a0National Scouting Report has additional scouts in your area to evaluate you. \u00a0Go HERE<\/span><\/a><\/span> to get your FREE Soccer evaluation.<\/strong><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gil Barkey<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span>
\n Director, Western U.S. College Soccer Scouting<\/strong><\/h6>\n
National Scouting Report<\/strong><\/h6>\n
303.913.9073<\/strong>
\n gbarkey@nsr-inc.com<\/strong><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rob Miller<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n
Director, Eastern U.S. College Soccer Scouting<\/strong><\/h6>\n
National Scouting Report<\/strong><\/h6>\n
864.933.0511<\/strong><\/h6>\n
robmiller@nsr-inc.com<\/strong><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: \u00a0Gil Barkey An interesting theme has been developing the last couple months speaking with college soccer programs about the recruiting of high school players.\u00a0 This theme was brought to light when one of my players noticed that a college coach was registered to be at a tournament in California\u00a0AND\u00a0Illinois for the same weekend. \u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[10,27,222,107],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7648"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7666,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648\/revisions\/7666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}