As far as getting noticed by college coaches in Columbia, MO, it’s slim pickings. Most people that go on to play college soccer where I’m from play for Columbia College, which is NAIA. My sights however are set a lot higher than that. I want to play at the very top level of competition, which is NCAA Division I. Now, in reality, that may be more like a fairy tale, but that is my goal nonetheless. I don’t exactly know what college coaches are looking for in a player: whether it’s your quick, speedy guy, or maybe they’re looking for someone that’s a bruiser in the middle that never backs down to anyone. Knowing more about what college coaches are looking for in a player could really help me out in my task to get to the college level.
In order to try and get noticed more by coaches, I’m hoping that my high school team will do better next season. Most of the guys coming out of Missouri that go on to play college soccer at big schools are going to be coming from soccer powerhouses like Chaminade, CBC, St. Louis University High School, DeSmet and Rockhurst. In order for me to get noticed—a guy from a school that isn’t known for its soccer program—my team has to perform well. Also, after looking at the high school stat sheets of some of the SLUH soccer players, I have noticed a lot of goals and assists for the midfielders and forwards. I’m hoping that I will score my share of goals and get enough assists to get noticed just based on stats.
One step I have taken to make my chances better, is convince my dad to get a video camera so that we can record my games. This way I will have video to show college coaches when they are recruiting me.
Lately I have really been thinking about what colleges to even consider going to, if I’m recruited. Right now I don’t want to go too far away from home, so I would be able to visit my family and they would be able to attend my games. Academically I am hoping to major in architecture or some form of engineering. Next year I’m going to be in a CAD class, which will hopefully prepare me for the classes I will be taking in college. When it comes time for me to choose a college, I’m not sure if I should choose the school that I want to go to and try to walk-on, or if I should just go somewhere where I get offers and get to play a lot.
If anyone has any advice on how to get noticed, or has tried one of those online recruiting websites and had success, let me know because I could use all of the help I can get.
