Why Should I train with College Coaches in the summer?

Summer is usually when players have the most downtime to focus on improvement and college recruitment. It also acts as an important transition phase between club seasons. It is important to train with college coaches at this time for 3 main reasons.

1. Intimate recruitment exposure

One of the more obvious reasons to train with college coaches in the summer is the opportunity to possibly get recruited to play for them in the future. This is enticing because training in this closed environment allows the coach to get to know you better as a player and a person. Coaches are less inclined to hand out scholarships to players they have seen play in tournaments, but not gotten to know on a personal level because it poses more of a risk. Coaches look for driven players who maintain a level head on and off the field. They would much rather recruit players they’ve made a relationship with, rather than someone more unknown who could potentially be a head case. If a coach can see how you play in games and train in practices he will feel more comfortable recruiting you and likely feel better about offering you a substantial scholarship.

2. Personal measurement and goals

Playing in front of college coaches with new players around you is a great opportunity to see where you’re at. There are a number of scenarios you can encounter. For example, you could be an average player for your club team, however, after training with college coaches, you realize that in the grand scheme of youth soccer, you are actually a top quality player who could play in college. This could especially be true if your team is very talented and you don’t always shine through. Another scenario could be the opposite; you are the best on your club team, but come to the realization that overall there are better players out there who are more college ready. Either way, it is important to train with college coaches to give yourself a fair gauge of where you’re at. It can help you better-set goals and aim for a realistic college decision. Development can be drastic throughout high school so by training in this environment and setting goals for improvement, players can push themselves to get to the next level. Additionally, college coaches can highlight your weaknesses and provide methods for improvement.

3. Learn what coaches demand from college players

While plenty of club coaches are demanding and run sessions with energy, there is usually a different type of intensity required by college coaches simply because college players set their coaches standards higher. Each of their players has been recruited and are expected to deliver a certain level of play to maintain their spot. This translates into the way college coaches run their sessions and hold their players accountable to their positions during sessions. You can expect them to push players to their healthy limits through purposeful, well-planned drills. These types of drills are meant to teach players their positional awareness, limit turnovers while playing with a purpose quickly, and continuously move off the ball in space. College coaches know what is necessary for youth players to be successful in college because they’ve recruited players and then coached them in the subsequent years; this knowledge translates into training and can prove to be vital in the development of youth players. Youth players can get a glimpse of what playing for college coaches is really like by training with them in the summer. This is also important to see how you will enjoy it at the next level, where almost every day is spent training with your teammates and coaches.