If your kid is a super star Development Academy stud with offers pouring in, you don't have to worry about getting the attention of college coaches. Y
If your kid is a super star Development Academy stud with offers pouring in, you don’t have to worry about getting the attention of college coaches. You can probably stop reading this article now.
If your kid is in the vast majority of prospective student athletes (PSAs) who are good enough to play college soccer but not quite good enough to have full-ride offers in ninth and tenth grade, you need to figure out how to get the attention of college coaches. This article can help. Keep reading.
There are plenty of tools and educational sources available.
iSoccerPath does a great job of guiding PSAs through the recruiting process with their college soccer panels, individual counseling, and educational curriculum.
ScoutingZone offers a free platform for players to get their stats and soccer resumes online for college coaches.
Companies like College Fit Finder, NCSA, and CaptainU offer guidance to families, college searching tools, and online profiles at pretty steep prices.
What if your team had its own website where every player can have an individual recruiting page?
What if that website had an easy-to-remember, easy-to-email, visually pleasing website address that you could have put at the top of your recruiting flyer?
That would help your team and your players stand out, and college coaches will appreciate having a simple web address to bookmark to check out every player on that impressive team they just saw on the field.
Carey Schumacher, recruiting coordinator for RSF Attack Soccer in San Diego, California, began creating websites for Attack’s competitive teams a few years ago, and college coaches started taking notice. Each team has its own .com printed BIG AND BOLD on the cover of the recruiting flyer, and each player has his/her own page on the website.
The team’s home page showcases the team’s accomplishments and includes the coach’s contact information.
Each player’s page includes vital statistics and whatever information the PSA wants to present:
- Grad year
- Height
- Position
- GPA
- SAT/ACT test scores
- EMBEDDED Highlight videos from YouTube or Vimeo
- NCAA Eligibility Center ID number
- Links to individual recruiting profiles like ScoutingZone
Each player can include whatever he/she wants.
The college coach has a way to easily see the entire team as well as individual players. Each player has a simple link (not a convoluted impossible-to-remember web address) they can email or text to college coaches that will always be up-to-date.
Carey has begun offering setup assistance so teams across the county can own and maintain their own custom websites. For a one-time charge that can be shared among the team, Carey will work with a parent on the team (usually the team manager or a semi-tech-savvy parent) to set up the website.
Carey does all of the heavy lifting with the initial setup and construction, creating the team’s home page and each individual player’s page using information provided by the team. Once that is complete, Carey hands over ownership and control of the website to the parent — along with detailed instructions for maintenance and upkeep. Players on the team can always have their profiles up to date. Adding players is easy. Removing players is even easier. Updating the team’s home page (like adding in a recent big tournament championship) or editing a player’s page is as simple as editing a text doc.
For a little bit more, Carey will even put together the team’s recruiting flyer digitally. That PDF can be taken to a printer, and teams will have the best recruiting flyer at the next tournament. The team will have the digital source file (Adobe Photoshop) so the flyer can be edited and updated for future tournaments.
At a recent RSF Attack College Night presentation, an NCAA soccer head coach commented that these custom team websites are extremely impressive and valuable. “I’ve never seen a team with something like this. It’s impressive. I love having the entire roster there in a simple website.”
If you are interested in having Carey create a custom website for your team, email [email protected] for a quote and more information.
