🏆"Train on the Edge"🏆
Navigating Clubs and Prepping for the NCAA®
Navigating the Club Soccer Scene in Southern California
June 22nd, 2024: The landscape of soccer development in the United States has evolved significantly. It used to be US Soccer and their DA program as the elite pathway to the national team. That changed after COVID. Now we see club programs that have better availability with their own grassroots programs guiding players from as early as 5 years old. The pathway now goes through club and not high school. Elite players are identified at the club levels emphasizing pathways like ECNL Select, id2, ODP, and PDP alongside a player's club soccer team as direct routes to elite levels such as the US Women's National Team (USWNT) and US Men's National Team (USMNT). Here’s a detailed breakdown.
Club Soccer and the Player Pathways:
Club Soccer and the Player Pathways:
- Rec-Soccer and Training: Begin training early on (age 5) for technical skills and ball mastery. Young players benefit most from skills training first. Then introduce game play. Make sure the game play does not interfere with the continuous technical training or you risk them picking up bad habits that will be hard to recover from. Rec-leagues are either AYSO or local leagues within a region.
- Club Soccer: Club soccer is expensive. Make sure you join an organization you trust. Be certain that soccer is your player(s)'s game of choice before you invest. Club levels begin as flights or medals (low to high Flights III, II, I or Bronze, Silver, Gold). As their game evolves, they can move up to a premier division like NPL Discovery, e64 National League, and Regional League. The typical annual expense is from $3.5K-$6.5K. In general the pricing is for club fees, coaches costs, league, refs, playoffs, travel, parking, and food expenses.
- Elite Club Soccer: Leagues such as ECNL-RL, MLS Next, and Girls Academy continue to dominate as the primary elite development pathways. They offer rigorous competition, structured training, and exposure to college coaches and national team scouts. Typical annual expense per player from $8K-$12.5K. This includes club and coaches fees, ref, league fees, playoffs, tournaments, travel/parking/hotels/food, private training, and gas. Those costs are typically after the average of donations and fund raising is collected.
- ODP - PDP - id2 - ECNL Select:
- ODP identifies and develops youth players throughout the country, focusing on regional and national teams. It is invitation only tryouts. Nominal costs.
- PDP operates similarly, often serving as a bridge to higher levels of competition. Both programs provide players with opportunities to showcase their talents directly to national team scouts. It is invitation only, no tryouts. If invited you are on the team.
- ECNL Select: The ECNL allstar players from the region.
- id2: Player pool is for U-14, USYNT. A birth year is targeted each year and USCS scouts go out nationally to find the nation's best players. The look at stats, tape, and live performances to make their selections. From that group the top performers receive invites to the camp.
- While some players participate in high school soccer for social or personal reasons, it’s has no pathway to elite levels. Elite club soccer teams, id2, ODP, and PDP are the true pathways to be identified. Elite level club soccer will get you identified to a program for development in the youth national player pool system.
- High school soccer seasons often conflict with critical periods for ODP and PDP (and sometimes id2 and USYNT) participation, limiting exposure and development opportunities for elite players who should prioritize national team pools and college scholarship pathways.
- There is also the risk of injury factor you must consider along with potential development concerns. Risk of injury from lower level play in high school and sometimes less talented players, lower competition, and lower coaching standards are important considerations. Bad habits developed from lower level play and training should also be carefully considered. The negative impact from bad habits gained when returning to play for an elite club team may effect the team and impact a player's opportunities when being scouted. While high school soccer may be valuable to some players in some respects, elite level players and their families should weigh these options cautiously.
- Players identified through id2, ODP, and PDP as well as through leagues like MLS Next, ECNL, Girls Academy, and ECNL Select, often have enhanced opportunities for collegiate recruitment and/or to professional leagues like the NWSL, USL, UPSL, MLS, or abroad.
- Success at these levels can lead to consideration for the USWNT and USMNT, supported by the robust developmental frameworks provided by ODP, PDP, and id2.
- The shift towards club soccer, ECNL Select, id2, ODP, and PDP as primary development pathways reflects a strategic approach to nurturing elite talent in the US. These programs offer structured development, competitive environments, and direct exposure to national team programs, NCAA programs, and professional leagues.
- While high school soccer remains valuable for some players, particularly for those outside elite pathways, club soccer and affiliated programs like ODP-PDP-id2-ECNL Select provide clearer routes to achieving paying elite level aspirations.
Look at USYNT number-ECNL number-GA number-Other number (is any other soccer league). It is important to be in the right league, even if you are on a losing team.
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Be smart in your outreach. Be short, compliment the coach, and let your film do the talking
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Legends Cup, San Diego, Champs (FC7SDA trained)
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FC7Soccer®DA's current Winter Pool ODP Players
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Legends Cup SCV, Finalists (FC7SDA trained)
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Logos of the Elite Leagues
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MISSION STATEMENT: Teaching positive values, the technical standards, game fundamentals, soccer acumen, and the team player attitude to become positive role models and leaders in life. Instil in players to commit to their choices, train on the edge, learn from mistakes, and to play elite. Inspire gratitude and honor for the game, the officials, and opponents. Coach to always exceed expectations and to be a good listener. Guide players to outwork and outwit on the pitch with diligence, confidence, and a high soccer IQ. Enrich players with the 7 soft skills, the pillars of character, and believing in a growth mindset. -FC7Soccer® Mgmt
Navigating PRO+ODP, PDP, id2, ECNL Select, & College ID Camps
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Be the friend of failure and risk to succeed.
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Preparing for College Soccer | Sports (NCAA®)
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College Coaches Recruiting SchedulesImportant Info High Schoolers Should Know for College.Athletes and players should have a highlight reel by their 8th grade to freshman year in high school. You may scan the QR code at right to see player highlight film examples. You can look into these free and paid software athletic recruitment companies for posting your reel and info; NCSA, Sports Recruit, and Scouting Zone. They can help with the whole recruiting process including classes, having a personal coach, and with editing clips for your highlight reel.
Grades are very important since there are NO soccer full ride scholarships. To get a full scholarship it would need to consist of both sports money and academic money. Sometimes a double sport player can get more money coverage. Some NAIA schools may have more money to give in sports scholarships. NAIA is competitively like DII, but is academically like DIII. You will learn that DIII does not have sports scholarship monies but with good grades, a great player can be first in line for an academic scholarship, however you may also need FAFSA money or other smaller scholarships to have a full scholarship. It is good to start the process early. Lastly, you must register with NCAA Eligibility Center and get your eligibility number. The NCAA has very strict rules in place about when you may be recruited by a school. DIII and NAIA schools can speak with you at anytime. DI and DII schools must wait until June 15th before the player enters their Junior year. Starting in your freshman year it is important to identify your top 20-30 colleges and begin reaching out to let the coaches know you exist and are interested in their school and soccer program. You want to know which colleges interest you and which ones are interested in your services. This way you know which College ID Camps to attend since they cost money. It is also important to know, just because you get an automated ID Camp invite doesn't mean you are on a college coaches radar or that there is any interest. Remember communication is one way for DI and DII coaches since they cannot respond back to you, but you can call them to make sure they received your email just don't leave a message since they cannot call back. You should also know the high school academic eligibility program expectations from the NCAA for each division. DI and DII are in the column on the right. When looking into colleges, have a general idea for a major in college and make certain there is one at the schools you reach out to that interests you (and let the coach know that in your email). You can change your mind later if need be. You have up until you finish your general studies. It is hard to predict injury or other reasons you may not play so having a major you like is having a back up for your scholarship money. You should also look into the colleges you like by position and year of graduation of players in your position already there to give yourself the best chance for playing time. You may also want to look at how the playing minutes are divided by player and position. Are the players with scholarships or transfer players seeing more time on the pitch? All are important data analytics that you should be looking into as you choose the schools. As you can see there is a lot of work ahead. We haven't even hardly touched on the ID camps. I personally chose to pay for the NCSA MVP plan. This is NOT an endorsement. I'm just passing along my thought process in case it helps. We just felt, for us in our situation, that it would help our child the most (classes, access to school and sports data, video help, a personal coach, and an email all coaches are familiar with). However, it is up to you. Some parents just get access to the free versions and do all the research on the internet and use the NCAA Eligibility Center find the "my colleges map" to do it all themselves. There are a lot of ways to get your athlete to college on scholarship. Whatever you choose, start doing it early! -FC7Soccer Mgmt |
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Hover over the event and the detail window will open so you may see addresses or fields for club practices, games, DA training, & class. All events scheduled in GOLD are club games, practices, classes, in GRAY are DA sessions, and in PINK are Holidays when we are dark.
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