COLLEGE CORNER

Northwest United is dedicated to developing soccer players and providing a clear pathway to college opportunities. The club emphasizes player growth both on and off the field, offering high-level coaching, competitive league play, and exposure to college scouts through showcase tournaments and recruitment events. Northwest United actively supports players in the college recruitment process by providing guidance and connections with collegiate programs at various levels. With a strong focus on player development and academic success, Northwest United ensures that its athletes are well-prepared to transition to collegiate soccer and achieve their goals at the next level.

College Director – Oversight of the club wide college recruiting efforts.

Coaching Director – Oversight of player development curriculum.

Player Assessments – Evaluation of all players within the club are tracked by the coaching staff.

Coaching Staff – Proven track record of developing players

Gaming Leagues – Participation in high level leagues to facilitate development.

College ID Camps and Showcases – Opportunity to attend ID Camps and college showcases

YEARLY ACTION PLAN

As you review the information there are four things to keep in mind:

The process is very similar to looking for a job.
The process operates on two parallel tracks: soccer and academic.
Approach the process with a team mentality: player, parents, coach and school guidance counselor. Everyone has certain responsibilities, but, the player, your child needs to lead the team.
A positive attitude and persistence will go a long way during your child’s journey to play collegiate soccer.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression! Make an effort to make a good impression on your teachers as you begin a new phase in your life.

Realize that your grades from this year matter! Colleges will see the grades you receive in ALL four years of high school. Start off strong! Get involved in extracurricular activities in and outside of school.

Checklist

Begin to discuss and research colleges with your parents. Identify 20/30 potential colleges for your list.

Sit down with a school counselor and create an academic graduation plan.

Find a local organization to volunteer.

Work on your academic potential – maintain your GPA and class rank.

Go watch college games at all levels, and if possible take campus tours.

Create a player resume and cover letter.

When selecting classes for sophomore year, select the most challenging classes you will be able to succeed in. You want to take as many honors and AP classes as possible while maintaining a high GPA.

Summer before sophomore year – visit some local colleges or colleges near locations you will be on vacation. Do this to get some sense of what a college campus is like.
Sophomore year can be a challenging one. Remain focused, stay on track academically and keep up your grades.

Checklist

Take the PSAT’s in fall.

Attend the NWU College Night.

Meet with the NWU College Director.

Learn the basic recruiting regulations, so you know what to expect from coaches and how and when you can communicate with them.

Update your list, you will have made some changes and the list will be down to 12/20 schools.

Update your resume and then begin sending them out to as many coaches as you can, especially before any showcase events you are attending or before you attend one of their camps.

Attend college camps for schools that you are interested in. You may want to attend 2/3 camps this summer.
This is an important year for your academic record. Make it count!!

Checklist

Take PSAT’s for National Merit scholar potential.

Continue to stay active in extracurricular activities.

Take SAT’s and ACT’s – as early as January, no later than March for the first time.

Register with NCAA Eligibility Center.

Keep your NWU coach updated as to your status

You should have an idea of which schools are interested in you and so have a better idea of where to narrow your focus. By the end of the school year, you should try to have 6/10 schools identified that you are seriously considering.

Update your resume and cover letter and send to any schools that you are interested in.

Before each event where you could be scouted by college coaches, re-send your information along with your competition schedule, including times and locations you can be seen competing.

Plan college visits.
Don’t let down in your class work. Finish strong. It is important you stay focused, organized, and manage your time so that your hard work will pay off.

Checklist

Take the SAT/ ACT again.

Submit all applications by deadlines – know your school’s deadline!

Check status with the NCAA Eligibility Center and have your transcript sent at conclusion of senior year.

Complete FAFSA form with recent tax information. March is the deadline, but do it as early as possible – After January 1.

Schedule and complete official visits. Meet with the coach and the team and stay overnight if possible, see the team play.

Stay in touch with your NWU coach, copying them on all communication with college coaches. Stay in touch with your high school guidance counselor.

Keep college coaches updated on your achievements by sending them your updated info through the fall and play in high level tournaments in the late fall and spring.

Update your resume and cover letter.

Contact college coaches before any event where you could get scouted.

In your senior year you are eligible to go on Official Visits, where a college will pay for your visit. Try to plan these visits during the fall so you can be there on a game day and before Athletic Scholarships are awarded. Gather as much information as you can on each college.

At the beginning of your senior year you should be able to narrow your college search down to 2-5 schools.

Verify your eligibility status with the NCAA and NAIA.

Follow up with college coaches so that you know where you stand.

WHEN TO GET STARTED?

To understand when to get started, you need to work backwards. Coaches build their annual recruiting process around the official signing date of your Senior year.

With the above in mind, it is recommended that your child begin the process during the;
BOYS – fall of their sophomore year of high school.
GIRLS – spring of their freshman year of high school.

The process starts earlier for female players because schools look to get verbal commitments and their future classes secured a little sooner.

Note: NCAA regulations permit coaches to respond to prospective student-athlete inquiries, but the coaches cannot initiate contact until [September 1 of your child’s Junior year.]

The players needs to make a list of around 20 schools (e.g 10 academically and 10 athletically) and this list should have some schools that are unrealistic, realistic and easily achievable. When making this list you need to also think about what kind/type of school you want to attend;

Location
Area
Climate
Size
Type
Culture
Cost
Academic Offering
Soccer program/coach
Soccer team needs/playing time potential

Do your research. Take your time. Go and visit different types of schools to figure out what you like.
Coaches expect players to have done their research on both the school and the soccer program. Coaches do not want to be in discussions with a player only to find out, for example, that the school doesn’t offer what the player wants to study.
Once you and your player have developed a list of schools, your player needs to set-up a time to meet with your coach, DOC or the NWU College Director. At the meeting, the player and staff will review the list of schools and discuss appropriate division of play for the player. The coach’s role at this point is to help guide your child to realistically achieve their goal to play soccer in college. The college coaches count on the club coaches to be realistic about the division where a player can have the biggest impact for a team be it DI, DII or DIII.
The next step is to develop an email to introduce yourself to the college coaches from your list. For more information on emailing college coaches go back and click on the templates & docs tab.

In this email you can include a soccer resume and your upcoming game and showcase tournament schedule.

The most important things to remember are; it must come from the player not the parent, be personal and specific to the school (be careful when copy and pasting), and make sure your details (email, team, jersey number and graduation year) are correct and included.
Once the letter, resume and team schedule has been sent, now what…

The majority of surveyed coaches encourage follow-up while some indicated if they are interested, they will follow-up. Due to NCAA rules this may be through your club coach or by inviting you to a ID clinic of camp. Your follow up email should be before and after every showcase tournament you compete in. This is to remind them, ask if they are attending and to send them your game schedule for that tournament. Then, after the tournament, email them to see if they came or to thank them for coming. Give them a little recap of your highlights/successes.

It is helpful to understand that some schools will receive hundreds of emails a week. Patience and persistence is key.
The majority of schools host camps and clinics throughout the year. The camps serve a couple of purposes for the schools and their soccer programs: source of income for the program, recruiting and awareness building for the school.

Attending the camps of the schools your child has on their list is not mandatory, but it can be very helpful. For your child, it gives them an opportunity to experience the school and to interact with the coaching staff. For the coaches, it is an opportunity to better assess a player’s skills, attitude and team fit. According to the coaches surveyed, many actually recruit players who they saw at camp.

Something else to keep in mind about attending a camp is that coaches from other schools often work at the camp for their own recruiting purposes. So, your child is exposed to multiple opportunities. And if your child attends a camp(s), they need to make sure that at some point during camp, they introduce themselves to the coaches. During registration/arrival and departure, coaches are inundated by parents trying to make an impression on behalf of their child but it is the player that the coaches will remember.
An unofficial visit is any visit to a school that is paid for by the player or parents. There are no limitations on when you can visit or how many visits can be made. The only expense a school may offer to pay is for three complimentary tickets to a school’s sporting event.

There are more regulations pertaining to an official visit. Briefly, an official visit occurs at the invitation of a coach and is paid for by the school. Please go to the NCAA website for the specifics on unofficial and official visits.

A helpful tip for official visits to DI schools:

keep multiple copies of the player’s high school transcript

have SAT and/or ACT scores handy

register with NCAA Eligibility Center (formerly known as NCAA Clearinghouse)

The player will be asked to provide the coaches with transcripts and test scores as well as confirm registration with the Eligibility Center.

During a visit, how can the player best represent themselves

“When the recruit speaks more than the parents do”

“Eye contact”

“When they come prepared with questions and have clearly put some thought into this very important decision”

“If the player is educated on your school or not”

“Can talk to you and not parents, how easy is he to talk to and how he treats his parents”

“The players character, manners and maturity.”

“Ability to communicate and ask questions, mainly.”

“I am impressed by kids rather than their parents asking the questions”

“When they can represent themselves in a well-spoken and confident manner, rather than have their parents do all the talking for them and when they have a good idea of what they are looking for in a college, academically, socially and geographically.”
Players need to be mindful that coaches will be watching – you never know when and they see more than a player might think.

Coaches were asked besides skills, what are they looking for when they watch a player;

“Work ethic, attitude and coach-ability are also attributes that we look for.”

“Speed, athleticism, ability to deal with conditions, poor refereeing, yelling coaches, etc.”

“Clues that give us an idea of what type of person they are.”

YEARLY ACTION PLAN

Checklist

Checklist

Checklist

WHEN TO GET STARTED?

THE COLLEGE PROCESS

SAMPLE COLLEGE EMAIL

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

USEFUL LINKS AND RESOURCES

COLLEGE PREP INFO

COLLEGE NIGHT PRESENTATION