@cinnamon1212 That May be worth a new discussion topic when you find the time. My son will start targeting specific school camps in the next few months. Finding the time to attend them will be a challenge.
Actually, I was reminded of this thread and another old thread about shorter males playing college D1 soccer. I know @GKUnion son is a keeper, but I was watching the Michigan-Maryland men’s match yesterday (4-2 win for UMich and Maryland is the defending national champion) and UMich has a 5’5" midfielder, Kevin Buca. And I’ll be honest, on TV, he looked a tad shorter.
https://mgoblue.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=20433
Good luck everyone.
Plenty of short field players in D1, so that’s not out of the norm.
S21 is just starting the conversation with college coaches now since his club team will be playing in late November Showcase. It’s been a great way to introduce himself and express interest while also asking about winter ID clinics at schools of interest. He’s only targeting D3 schools (wants the full college experience including shorter time commitments and semester abroad) so the individual clinics will be very important to get a sense of coaching style and coach/player personalities.
I hope this doesn’t violate some CC rule I’m not aware of, but below is what I posted on the “How to target without SAT scores” thread. Apologies if it’s repetitive, but especially the anecdotes I thought might be helpful to someone.
I know boys’ soccer, so my advice is based on that. There is so much to unpack here!
There’s targeting athletically, and then after that there’s targeting academically. Kids that are high level D1 recruits stand WAY out, as early as 9th grade. In 9th grade, they are the best player on a prep school team that has very few 9th grade players. If you have a kid like that, reach out to Stanford, Notre Dame, UNC etc. (And, you don’t need my advice!) Plus – the coaches will find you.
If you don’t have a player at that level, then 9th grade is still to early to really target schools. You may as well reach out ahead of tournaments, to a range of lower D1 and higher/mid D3 schools. Your club coach can provide guidance.*
As for the academic part, the SSAT score should give you an indication of the SAT. If you are focused on high academic d3s, your kid’s grades and scores should be close to admitted students, but can be a bit lower. If you are an impact player, there’s more academic leeway.
Possibly helpful anecdotes, from the players themselves: one got into Williams with a 3.4 GPA. Stanford’s cut off for the SAT was 1250. The lowest SAT for an athletic recruit admitted to Emory was a 1230. Finally, the SAT for Michigan and some Ivies is 1100 (that’s what the recruit said, I am not 100% sure of this). If your player is likely to score a 1500 on the SAT you probably know this already. Similarly if it’s likely to be 1100. Anything in the middle, I kind of think you don’t have to worry about if you get the athletic piece right.
Bottom line: unless you have a true superstar you still don’t really have to worry about targeting/reaching out. At least with boys soccer.
*I found no coaches willing to project where a 9th grade boy would end up. While annoying at the time, now that I have an 11th grader, I see why. Kids are still developing, some improve, some stagnate and are passed by. Also a college coach told me boys make a big jump between 10th and 11th grade, some make that jump and some don’t, and you can’t tell with certainty ahead of time.
Plenty? Maybe. But IMO, 5’5" is out of the norm. In any case, there was a thread or two here on CC about HS male soccer players of shorter stature. And why I posted about it.
Akron has 11 players 5’9" or under, including 2 @ 5’5 and 2 @ 5’7.
Akron’s roster is 30+ players.
The roster that I get to watch a lot is Stanford, since they’re local. One player is 5’7" and one player is 5’8". Otherwise, they’re all taller than 5’9".
I personally don’t consider a male D1 soccer player that’s 5’5" “normal” in terms of height and in terms of HS recruiting.
I too don’t consider a male D1 player that’s 5’5" “normal”, but it’s by no means an anomaly. And any coach worth his weight in salt wouldn’t overlook a player just because he’s small.
I’m in NJ. Looking at the D1 rosters in state, all but 1 team has players 5’7" or under, including some 5’5" or 5’6". Rutgers has 6, Seton Hall has 3, Monmouth has 2, St. Peter’s has 2, NJIT has 2, Rider has 1, FDU has 1. I also know a D1 kid listed at 5’8 which is only true if he were measured in platform shoes.
This conversation came to mind today as I was watching the Sweet 16 of the D1 tournament. I just checked the rosters of 11 of the teams still alive in the tournament and there are 17 players listed at 5’3"-5’6". There were a bunch more listed at 5’7". So, more than half the teams had a player(s) 5’6" or under. Most were MF or FW, but one was a defender at Wake Forest. And the 5’3" player is Sr. at Georgetown
That’s roughly 1.5 players per roster of 30-ish players. And we don’t have any info on their amount of playing time.
The Michigan men plays Wake Forest today. Go Blue! The women Wolverines bowed out in the sweet 16 against 1 seed UNC.
My daughter was listed as 5’3" for her entire four years at school even though she continued to grow and was 5’5" as a senior. Roster also listed her as a general engineering major even though she has selected a specific major as a freshman.
Some information never gets changed.
I have been researching online about recruiting as my son is getting a lot of response. Trying to figure out the do’s and dont’s. He currently is a sophomore and has been playing at a high level since U11… DA, PDP, regional ODP selections etc. After some showcases, he has been invited to fill out questionnaires and attend ID camps. Last summer, he was invited to a top D1 on east coast along with several D2 and D3’s. And after the last showcase just recently has been contact by another 3 D1’s and good amount of D2/3. I am wondering after showcases if this is kinda common… I mean some of these contacts are kinda crazy that he has been getting. Im leary 1. the actual prospect of getting recruited by some of these schools… and 2. how much of it is just a money grab?
As a parent i am as about object as anyone else is regarding there child 
… but I do think if he continues to progress he could play at the highest levels. His GPA is currently 4.0 with a PSAT of 1200. So if he maintains his GPA… and after retaking the SAT … and gets 1300+ … I think he is pretty solid academically as a recruit. He is almost 5’11" and currently 145#.
My question is … is this flurry of contacts common? Any general advice on handling recruiting? He has been answering every email and has signed up for 1 D1 ID camp that is located fairly close to us.
I realized I probably should have posted my own thread rather than walk on this one. Apologies…
Apparently my son was invited to a camp in Paris. What a scam that must be!
Has anyone attended a UConn camp?
I did, in 1987. Happy to answer questions 
My son did, two summers ago. Also happy to answer questions!
I went a few years before you did. There was some little jingle Coach Morrone started the day with…maybe it was “we’re all in our places with bright shining faces”. LOLZ.
@jdfranklin getting invited is a good sign, especially if it’s a personal outreach. In other words, “hey, saw you play last weekend and you did XYZ, have you considered Faber College?” On the other hand, my son got a “personalized” email from an Ivy coach which was great until he figured out the whole team had gotten one (even the boys who hadn’t traveled to the game). So, you’re right to be cautious about camps being a money grab, though coaches need to supplement their incomes and camps are a convenient way of seeing the campus and coaches do their thing.
IMHO, your son is on track. Doesn’t cost a stamp to reply to emails. Attending a camp will allow him to check things out, gauge if he’s inclined to commit to playing a sport in college, and to see if he has fun in that environment. My point of emphasis is for him/you to be the buyers - figure out what he wants and then go after it. Going to showcases and camps and waiting/hoping for a coach to spot you and have a need for you can work out, but not always. Getting lots of attention is great, but in the end, he’s only going to be able to go to one school (barring transfers) so might as well focus on getting that one right.
That’s my tl;dr version of the process. If you’ve got the time and inclination, there are many posts on this thread and others that would be helpful.
Ugh, I can still hear it…
Good morning to you
Good morning to you
We’re all in our places with sun shiny faces
This is the way
To start the day.
AWESOME: I couldn’t remember the last two lines all these years. I’ve been through multiple schools in the army and that jingle is the one that haunts me the most.
Apologies to the of the board for sharing this…