Identity Hybrid, LLC

During this period of time most of your kids have already played in their first college showcases of the season. You're frantically trying to get access to the game footage and you're busy trying to set up the next dozen ID camps to attend.

Press "Pause".

Getting the footage is important. Going to a dozen ID camps without a strategy is an error.

Try this: compile 10 colleges you'd like to attend ID camps to. If they have already released the dates, put them on a calendar or list them out. When you have your list, focus on 3-5 schools to truly invest interest in.

One of the biggest issues with collegiate recruitment is listening to every bit of advice that normally comes with minimal direction. Go in with a strategy.

In the last 2 weeks, I've done about a dozen consultation calls with parents for 1 of the following reasons:

1) Their child has been dropped from the college by the college they verbally committed to due to the NCAA roster size changes.

2) Their child was set to receive an offer, but coaches were fired.

3) Their child does not have access to their footage and ECNL showcase season is right around the corner.

The landscape is changing RAPIDLY. Yesterday's rules are not today's rules!

If your College Placement director at your club is still giving you the same advice, you're about to be set back quite a bit.

College Recruitment #5:

Conference play in College Soccer has officially begun. This means two things:

1. The College season for most teams will conclude in the next 30 days which is right before the Collegiate competitive showcase window begins. Great opportunity to assess which colleges actually need players in your position based off of their record.

- Losing record means they are more inclined to search for players. They will be in the market especially if it's a coach who has been at the job for more than 2 years.
- Losing record could also mean job openings will be available for colleges in November/December. So parents, be on the lookout for which colleges are on your list that suddenly have "Head Coach" positions available. Don't want to get caught going to an ID camp, building interest and suddenly they replace the coach.

2. This gives you a timeline for when to begin sending out updated game footage for those of you playing in High School or scrimmaging with their respective teams.

- If you're not playing High School, using the footage from last season will work but you need to be setting yourself up with a concrete schedule in which you attain footage. Additionally, during this time you should really be working on your game and impact in game. Even without footage, the moment they see you they need to see a difference in your play compared to your peers.
- Most colleges who are in contention of College Cup or Conference playoffs are not going to be looking at players fully until that period is done. So it's important to time your emails and cater the contents of the email towards what they need next season and how you can contribute.

College Recruitment #4: Junior/Senior

Junior year has already begun and depending on where you're located in the United States, the High School season has started. Meaning you're playing in a bunch of games that may or may not induce injury prior to the ECNL season or you're playing High School games during the competitive season as well. The most common idea is to acquire game footage during this period of time. While it's an advantageous idea, for most, the level between High School and ECNL is different. So the footage you present may showcase all of these great things because the difficulty level is easier, but then you don't showcase it at the Collegiate events.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Juniors playing High School ball especially if their objective is to play D1 College. There are caveats:

(1) players who don't normally get game time at club. This would be a great way to get some minutes and build confidence going into the new club season.
(2) If you have zero footage to present at all.
(3) If your high school is competitive enough to where colleges actually attend Semis and Finals for your conference or state division.

The reason I'm not a fan is because Junior year is typically recruitment year. A lot can go right and a lot can go wrong. I've seen too many players get clattered into by a player that has recreational skillsets mixed with elite or comparable athleticism and suffered season ending injuries. Not to say it's much better at the ECNL/MLSNEXT levels, but the risk increases double when you throw in a few odd players that can't control their bodies.

If you're not competing right now in High School, you should be at a gym focusing on performance work. Getting faster, stronger and more DURABLE to withstand the demands of the season. Most of your kids should be doing 3-4 performance/strength sessions a week in preparation for the season since you should have time. Most of the players I work with remotely are on 3-4 sessions per week programming. All exercises are catered directly towards them withstanding the next 6 months of wear and tear on the body. It's built to not only assist with performing easier and better, but lasting when it matters i.e College Showcases.

This is what I mean when I say "Your Performances matter most". Actors don't win awards with mediocre performances. Some actors don't win at all and give consistently phenomenal performances also. However, I guarantee the one with consistency gets more offers and is more memorable.

For Seniors, treat the coming months like a battle ground. Everyone who is in your way whether it's a coach, teammate or opponent is an obstacle you need to remove and destroy. How impactful can you be? How memorable can you be? Can you force colleges to say, "Hold up...How did we miss them?". Be more aggressive. Go forward. Make impactful plays. LEAD. LEAD. LEAD. It is not over for you.

College Recruitment #3: Freshman/Sophmore

For those of you who have players between the ages of 13-15 or looking to understand the process in the coming future this post is for you. This is the period where travel becomes extensive, the level of play supposedly "increases" and the politics of teams really run rampant. Suddenly, the pressure of each performance increases, you're going from small field to this enormous field and you're expected to perform in a short two year window and receive college interest.

When you read it out that way, it can seem incredibly intimidating and exhaustive process. If we're being honest, lots of your kids are still trying to learn how to play the game. Most of you in this transition are looking for development and haven't realized if you don't have what you've needed to have by then, no one is going to sit down with you and teach it. It's now about performances and results. Of course in some instances you'll have coaches who will supplement. Not talking about them.

For those of you who are entering into the 13 year old transition or have kids between 8-13, get with someone who will help them MASTER the fundamentals of the game. MASTER. Not excel, not foundation, not....I'm talking about MASTER. Just because they don't do a thing doesn't mean they shouldn't know how or ever be in a situation where they can't execute. I'll talk about this at another time.

For those of you already in the 13-15 year old process, while it may sound like I'm suggesting it's too late for you - I'm not. I've worked with many a player who was late to the party, had no interest as a rising Junior or senior and received a D1 offer by year's end. How? I focused on performances. Here's what I mean:

No matter what sport you play especially at the youth level, there are patterns. When you understand the patterns especially those of your own team, it's easy to correct the bad habits of the patterns and change them into positives. For instances, let's say you have one center back that always boots it forward but it dies out at the inside of the D. They do that 14 times per game. The ball always bounces off to the defenders left. In this situation, my player I'm working with would normally complain about not getting the ball a lot or to feet, etc. Instead of me spending exhaustive amounts of time discussing other variables, I would simply tell them if they played as a right winger that when you see the player start to wind up to kick, start walking towards the spot we've assessed it will land. Ta-da! There's the ball to your feet.

My suggestion to those of you in this process is to start focusing on how to perform vs. development. Focus on receiving development to enhance performances with a 1-to-1 coach. That's extracurricular time. But the game requires ex*****on. Focus more on better ex*****on and you'll see a difference in your collegiate interest.

College Recruitment #2:

Yesterday, when I asked a client what game she would be watching out of the 20+ games playing after our session last night, she said, "UNC vs. Duke". I replied, "Why?". She said, "Because it will be a good competitive game, ya know? The best playing the best." I asked, "Does it make sense for you to watch them out of all these other games when they are looking for Group 1 players and you're in Group 3 currently?"

Here's what I mean by that. Similar to the tiers of colleges there is a recruitment process based on the tier.

For Rising Juniors, June 15th is that special day when college coaches and players can have open communication and more specifically colleges can actively recruit you by offering scholarships i.e a place on their roster. It's what everyone looks forward to, however, not everyone's experience is the same. Hence why your child may be sad or vulnerable and you may be anxious and feel defeated when hearing about other players or teammates who received emails or texts the morning of June 15th.

The reality for players is you will experience three different types of interest depending on the Tier of the college (look back at previous post to understand Tiers).

- Full/Priority Interest (Group 1)
These messages will be a mix of texts and emails depending on the communication between your coach and the college coach or the information provided to the college coach through different mediums. The Full interest or priority list is exactly as it sounds. They want you to come to their school so they are trying to be one of the first to offer you a roster spot before others draw your interest. Full interest doesn't have to come from a top 10 school. Full interest means "I'm not waiting to see more. I like what I see and I'm ready to offer you a scholarship if you're interested in coming here".

If you're receiving above 10 D1 messages with a coach's cell phone number - you're on the priority interest list.

If you're receiving more intimate detailed information in your messages i.e "we loved this about your game" or "we've been watching you since x,y,z showcase..." then you are on the priority list.

If you're receiving anywhere above 10+ messages from schools, you're in the priority list. You can be a priority interest for any group. If you haven't received interest from a Tier 1 or Tier 2 you're likely a Tier 3 prospect. If you haven't received interest from Tier 1 but Tier 2 and 3, etc, etc.

- Measured Interest (Group 2)
Measured interest will largely be email but don't be surprised by a text or two. This can include invites to ID camps at the respective school for "a further evaluation". Typically, these messages mean they haven't seen enough to pull the trigger on offering a scholarship but you're in and around the middle of the recruitment list. Meaning, they are waiting for their priority list to accept or decline after which you will be the next offer. If they are looking to bring in 3 wingers for that year and you're receiving emails like this, it means you're either number 2 or 3.

If you're receiving messages that show interest but are phrased with things like "please keep us up to date with your schedule" or "we'd love to see more of you to continue our evaluation" - you fall into this group.

This can be for any tier. Even top 10s, however, it's unlikely unless they actually email or text. Happens, but unlikely.

- Generic Interest (Group 3)
Generic interest messages will largely be emails. Automated emails specifically. You'll receive more communication from D1 colleges requesting you to come to ID Camps or more interest from mid-to-low tier D2 or High D3. If you're receiving these kinds of emails, you are not in Tier 1 contention. Can happen. But the % of that happening as a Rising Junior is low. You need to be looking at interest from Tier 2/3 D1 (depending on your skillset and knowledge of this process and Below to Tier 1 D3. Most who don't know this information or are stuck on ECRL, MLSNext affiliates or not getting game time on MLSNext, Academy or ECNL/GA - you're looking at Tier 3 College interest mostly.

Most of the messages will regurgitate the same auto-messages they send out. On occasion you will receive a message from an assistant coach who's eye you caught but the head coach isn't sold. It'll sound like "thank you for your interest. Please see the dates for our next ID Camp".

Your job as a rising Junior this year or in the coming years if you're approaching it is to get aggressive with improving your play and image during the November-March showcase time. Performances are key. Performances only come with a game-plan however which is why you should be watching games right now, strength training if your team isn't playing, and working on areas in your game to enhance the weaknesses of the teams you're interested in.

Homework: Identify which Group you fall in. It'll help you determine how you need to approach the coming months. For Sophomores it'll help you gauge what kind of year you need to have to in order to get to group 1.

There are over 42 D1 Women's College Games playing today starting from 4pm Eastern Standard Time till 10pm. Some on ESPN+. Some on College Streaming site. Some on ACC network and some on SEC+.

That's 84 teams playing today. Men's are 3 games today which is 6 teams. Meaning 90 teams are playing today cumulative. Now is your time to do your research. Here is where you can even the playing field. Make it a group activity. Take notes. Look at the bad things. Look at the good things. Look at which bad things that if your kid fixes it would make them an attractive prospect.

Update: There are apparently 18 Men’s games playing today not 3. So more options!

Collegiate Recruitment

If your child is between the ages of 14-17 i.e Freshman - Senior Year, you’re likely in the constant rush of trying to generate exposure. Someone is telling you to attend ID Camps and that’s the best way. Someone else is saying you need to be sending out highlight footage every time you get new footage (weekly). Someone else is telling you if you aren’t playing for the top team in the area i.e ECNL/MLSNext - you have zero chance.

Let’s start with a couple of facts. For each class, the recruitment strategies are different in terms of how you approach a college and if you actually need to approach a college early. Because most want to go to Division 1 and have their tuition paid for which is the main cause of this madness we’ll primarily focus on Division 1. Division 1 Colleges competitively can be broken into 3 tiers.

1. Top Tier
This includes your top 20 athletic schools. Schools that normally have National Championships in plenty, winning records yearly and are typically in the top 16 or 8 yearly. Florida State, Stanford, UNC, etc. These are the school thousands of athletes are emailing daily and when selected are normally the schools that pick up the top 5-10 players in each position per class. Most of you will not even fall on the radar of these schools. Regardless of what level you’re competing at.

2. Mid Tier
This includes colleges that have success on and off depending on the recruitment class. These colleges tend to have winning records that equal out with losses or draws at times. They will typically be competitive and make runs in the tournament but aren’t expected to really upset anyone. These are the schools most will have as number 5-15 on that collegiate recruitment list. When schools have submitted offers to the tops of classes, these are normally the next 10-20 players in the recruitment class. If lucky, these colleges will snag a top 10 prospect or two which will create a shift for their ability to compete in coming years and recruit. Most will look at these schools as secondary options unless local to the college. There are less emails to these schools.

3. Low Tier
This includes colleges that have transitional years frequently or do not have adequate success in their conference at all. These are still D1 schools but bottom of the barrel schools. Typically they are schools that are in between consistent coaches, scrape for quality players and won’t draw immediate interest from you the player. Typically, these are the schools that find players that slip through the cracks and while you may not have anticipated ending up here - you’re willing to go because your top 10 schools didn’t contact you on June 15th.

For Freshman and Sophomore
Before you even decide whether you should go to an ID Camp, spend thousands on the Ferris wheel and all the extra curricular items, it is important to understand one thing!
You need to be watching GAMES of these teams to see whether you’re actually a good fit, whether you compliment the team, and most importantly, whether you can IMPROVE what they have. If you’re doing the exact same thing as their players, some will say it’s not enough and other tiers will say we could use an addition. If you’re aiming for Top Tier you have to be a CAN’T MISS OUT ON player. If you are not that, turn your focus to Mid or Low Tier colleges as the top of your list rather than the middle or bottom. If you grab their focus EARLIER than everyone else, you get recruited earlier than everyone else. Look at teams your skill sets CAN IMPROVE.

If your current skillsets aren’t compatible or capable of improving a team - focus on closing the gap before reaching out to colleges.

For Juniors
If all you have are ID Camp invitations as a RISING Junior, you’re not on the priority list. You’re on the secondary list of recruitment. It’s time to prepare to have a big year. For most in ECNL, the big parts of the seasons start end of November/December. You have two and a half months to really work on your game, get stronger, quicker and prepare tactically better. Again, watch GAMES. When you can see what they are missing you can begin tailoring your emails towards things they are missing.

Example: “I am a player who can consistently beat defenders 1v1 and create chances offensively. I have been watching your games this season and would love to compete for you as I believe this is a key area within your team that I can be most effective and enhance your current squad”.

Footage and PERFORMANCES are going to be your most valuable assets. The footage needs to highlight the examples of your game like the example above. If you’re constantly going 1v1 but no one is connected to the pass or you beat the defender and cut back, it’s not truly reflective of what you’ve said. Show what’s most valuable about you that they the team will value.

For Seniors:
You’re going to need to hit ID Camps if you’ve come around to May or June without any interest or minimal interest. If you’ve saved your money Freshman and Sophomore year, you now have your contingency plan money and it’s time to break open the piggy bank. Doesn’t mean you won’t be recruited still from competitive play like ECNL or WPSL. Just means you need to be actively getting in front of colleges and dominating in the ID Camps. You’ve really gotta work the room at this point. It is plenty doable. It’s just stressful. So really focus on watching the games and dominating in the colleges weak areas so your highlights showcase immediate need for coaches to address.

Example: If I have a right back who struggles to get forward, but you send me videos of your ability to consistently get forward, you’re basically telling me directly I’ve got a player who can be impactful for me next year.

What can you do for me that warrants me giving you what you want?

Homework: (1) Assess what your child's best attributes are, (2) Watch colleges and see where may be a good fit, (3) See how far or close you are to what the college has.