Help for sophomore soccer player!

havenoidea
Thu, 10 Jan 2019 18:39:00 +0000

S21 has been playing since 3. Naturally talented, he played up for many yrs until other boys hit puberty. We live where there are no DAs (and on neither coast), but through an affiliation with his old club, he did some training and tournaments with one. DA noticed he wasn’t growing at the rate of his peers. Turned out to be growth hormone deficient. Started treatment and has grown vertically but not filling out yet (~2 yrs behind physically). Didn’t make varsity this past year (broke ankle during preseason/GHD can demineralize bones (on supplements now). Plays for a club that practices ~ 5 days/wk and travels/plays in prestigious tournaments.

S is bright, very advanced in math (will take multivariable calc jr yr), scored national merit level on psat this yr (hasn’t prepped yet) so assume he’ll do well on psat and SAT, gets high As… Does other ECs (science bowl, instrument/All State level, helps in an elementary school music program), Manages all this, with many hrs of soccer, and goes to bed early (needs tons of sleep).

Question: Want him to go to an academic match school. How does he go about getting attention of top academic D3 schools, especially taking into account he’s physically behind his peers? For example, if he went to a school’s camp this summer, he’ll be much lighter/thinner than all the others his age. Will that matter? Does he wait until summer of junior yr? Or, should he give up his dream of playing in college? I can’t imagine what he’d do with all those extra hrs in his day!

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post and giving us some help!!