Every day we are asked by a parent from all over the world 'Where do you think my son/daughter can play?'.
For the first time ever, we wanted to share with you a typical answer, to help parents/players understand how the process works and what their expectations would be.
Actual email from a parent to our Head of Operations (North America) Don Williams;
Dear Don,
Based on X video (see link below) and his accolades what (ballpark) do you think is a good fit knowing we are looking more closely at the D1's schools that rank 20-75.
We feel the top 25 have too much international scholarships $.
Where do you think X can play - ball park - would love to hear your thoughts?
Don's response;
Hi X,
At the end of the day it all depends on how X develops X.
I have been at this 30 years and seen sophomores flame out by the middle of their senior year (girls, cars, jobs, every other excuse you can think of) and I have seen seniors come on like gang busters and take the world by storm.
Every coaches dream is to find that impossible player that is "lights out" from ages 14-22 and just gets better every year. That is our rare precious gem, our blue-chip player and that kid usually ends up going pro.
Right now, X is on track towards the area you are targeting, but remember he is competing against players who are the top youth academies in Europe.
We are placing players playing who are in the pro youth systems around the world such as the German Bundesliga, the top Mexican league Liga Mx, the English League system, and many others are also from Pro academies all over the world.
I only see these numbers increasing significantly over the next 2 years.
Seniors today that are going to XYZ Power 5 school are lucky as we are coming to a time when very few top-level American players will be at those schools in a couple years.
More and more schools are targeting top level pro academy players from all over the world.
There are over 50 college recruiting agencies in every country in the world that walk players through the process and bring them offers.
I am the only one in the USA and SRUSA does it better than any of those others from what I have observed.
The new coach at X, X, is a close friend of ours, he won X National Titles in X years with nearly 100% international players.
Other coaches have been paying attention and are following suit at all levels.
If X is 16 and at a DA for example that is one thing, ECNL is another, National League is still something else.
If he makes the US Soccer regional level or the National team pool, that puts him back on par with the thousands of European and South American players that are flooding the market in the USA.
If he is not at those levels, then he still has the talent to play in college, but it will likely not be top levels.
Our top players have over 30 offers each and the top end of the programs seeking them include X, X, X, X, X, X, the rest are mid to bottom D1, top 25 D2 and National Championship level NAIA.
The bottom line for me is that I need to find the school that is the right fit that player will be happy at.
There are over 4000 soccer players this year that will transfer from a 4-year institution due to it not being the right fit.
That is 4000 unhappy players, 4000 unhappy parents and thousands of unhappy coaches.
We are here to solve this issue for our clients.
While we are not 100% for players staying at the one school, we obviously hope they do, so we help them choose in our minds the right fit.
I am happy to find that right fit for X and to prepare him for what lies ahead, if you will allow me to help him.
Yours in Sport,
Don Williams
Head of Operations (North America)
Sports Recruiting USA are looking for the best of the best.
The Elite Players.
We are looking for that top level player with top grades, a coach’s dream. We are looking for players that we would spend scholarship money on and who would help our team win a national championship if we were coaching in college.
If you are one of those players, contact us at info@srusasoccer.com
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