Recruiting Question / Etiquette Need Advice

Serious question: Going through recruiting process for the first time. Very early in the process (freshman year). DD has a few DI (power conference) schools interested and has taken unofficial visits. She wants to play DI at a major university and should be able to if that is what she wants to do. A few smaller schools (DI, DII and NAIA), that are really good schools with good programs have also contacted her as well. To me we should keep all options open because you never know what could happen over the next 2-3 years.

My question is: Do you just ignore those schools or do you contact them back? If you do contact them what you you tell them?

How do you handle this? Looking for advice/ideas.

Thanks in advance!

I was listening to this podcast at the gym this morning and I think it addresses most of your concerns.

http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/podcast-dan-blank-on-five-myths-of-signing-day-and-the-state-of-college-soccer-recruiting

I would add that DI schools can't start calling and recruiting your DD until junior year of high school unless you contact them first and let them know you are interested.

Having gone through that process, I would suggest that you keep all channels open with ALL schools in your DD radar.

My DD started with a list of about 15 colleges she was interested in and tried to keep in touch with ALL of them.  Some dropped out for various reasons but also some came into the picture too. 

Yes, schools cannot contact YOU DIRECTLY until Junior Year, but YOU can contact them anytime and also they can contact you through your Club Coach anytime and as many times as you both feel comfortable.  Unofficial visits are very good ways to explore the environments for both the DD and the colleges too.

Get your Club coach involved as early as possible.  There is nothing worse than a Coach getting a call about nothing he knows about.

My specific questions is what do we tell the schools that reach out to her that she is not interested in. Its so early in the process, it seems like you probably shouldn't blow them off and seems way to early in her career to rule out lower level schools because many things could change in the next couple of years.

soccerdadx2 wrote:My specific questions is what do we tell the schools that reach out to her that she is not interested in. Its so early in the process, it seems like you probably shouldn't blow them off and seems way to early in her career to rule out lower level schools because many things could change in the next couple of years.  

Lot's of questions for you and your DD to consider in deciding how to approach it:
. Why is she going to college, soccer or education
. Does she need soccer $ to go to school
. Would she consider going to the school if soccer was not involved
. Would she not go the school under any circumstance
. What is going to drive her decision, the school or the soccer program or the coach

No school out there thinks a Freshman is ready to make a decision. This early in the game your daughter needs to tell you how far she is willing to travel to play. That will help you weed out some of the schools. Look at the location of schools and surrounds. You will find a lot of schools in not so safe areas. Might want to weed thoughts out. If she was injured and couldn't play soccer, would she want to stay and finish her education. That should always be answered with a yes. When it's time to actually tell schools what your thinking then do exactly that. Have your daughter tell them what's on her mind. If she's on the fence then she needs to say so. Coaches want to talk to players more than the parents. Lots of visits will help as well.. Overnight stays with a student are great. It's a 2-4 year commitment by your DD & the coach. Make it good for both.