College Corner
Getting Ready For College
Welcome to the Far Post Soccer Club College Corner.
With the arrival of the college consideration phase of a student-athlete's life comes a lot of uncertainty, questions, and anxiety about how to find the right social, academic, and--for many--soccer fit. While we do not force kids to play soccer in college, we want to make sure that every single Far Post player has the opportunity and resources available to them.
Every single player that graduates from Far Post is capable of playing college soccer at some level, it's just a matter of what their priorities are and making sure to not sacrifice their future in order to have this opportunity.
College Placement Process
The College Placement Coordinator’s role is to help parents and players navigate the college selection process through online resource guides, yearly presentations, private coaching and assisting with college placement. The program includes recruiting timeline, communication development, recruitment process, and financial aid education. The College Center Coordinator will foster and develop relationships with universities and college programs to create a consistent avenue for FPSC players to achieve their goals of attending college and playing soccer.
Adrian has experience as an Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for University of Vermont while also coaching at Far Post Soccer Club. Adrian has a proven track record of placing players at colleges all over the United States from Junior College to Division 1.
Recruiting Timeline
Freshman Year ↓
- Concentrate on academics and transitioning to high school
- Work hard to develop your game
Sophomore Year ↓
- Make list of schools that interest you
- Think about standardized test prep
- Make academic/athletic resume
- Think about camps and clinics at schools of high interest
- Continue to achieve academically
- Don’t let up on your athletic development
- Colleges Coaches may begin to contact you on 6/15
Junior Year ↓
- You may take official or unofficial visits to campus 8/1 of junior year
- Narrow down your list of schools
- Contact coaches, send resume and highlight film!
- Prepare for test
- Sign up for SAT/ACT
- Sign up and attend camps and clinics of schools that you are highly interested in
- Continue to achieve academically
- Don’t let up on your athletic development
Senior Year ↓
- Start application process (pay attention to deadlines)
- Continue unofficial and official visits
- Fill out FAFSA and CSS Profile (pay attention to deadlines)
- Continue to monitor eligibility center and complete all requirements
- Get ready to make a commitment
- Complete senior year strong academically
- Continue to train hard!!
NCAA Recruiting Rules
Division I ↓
- Any time: Athletes can receive non-recruiting materials from college coaches, such as questionnaires, camp brochures, nonathletic institutional publications and NCAA educational materials published by the NCAA.
- June 15 after sophomore year: Coaches can extend verbal scholarship offers, call athletes and send athletes all forms of private electronic correspondence, including text messages, instant messages, direct messages and emails, as well as all recruiting materials.
- August 1 before junior year: Athletes can begin taking official visits, and they can also arrange unofficial visits with a school's athletic department and meet with the coach while on campus. Coaches can begin conducting off-campus contact with athletes at their residence or school.
Division II ↓
- Non-recruiting materials: Athletes can receive brochures for camps, questionnaires, NCAA materials and non-athletic recruiting publications at any time.
- Printed recruiting materials: Starting July 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year, coaches can begin sending recruits printed recruiting materials.
- Telephone calls: Starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year, coaches can start calling athletes.
- Off-campus contact: Coaches can conduct off-campus communications with athletes and/or their parents starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year.
- Unofficial visits: Athletes can take unofficial visits at any time.
- Official visits: Athletes may start taking official visits starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year.
Division III ↓
- Recruiting materials: Athletes can receive recruiting materials at any time.
- Telephone calls: There is no limit on when college coaches can call athletes.
- Digital communications: There is no limit on when college coaches can contact athletes digitally.
- Off-campus contact: After the athlete’s sophomore year, college coaches may begin to conduct off-campus communications.
- Official visits: Athletes can begin taking official visits after January 1 of their junior year.
- Unofficial visits: Athletes can make an unlimited number of unofficial visits at any time.
Preparing For A College Showcase
Email Checklist ↓
Subject: Include vital info (Ex. Grad Year, Position, Uniform #).
Salutation: Dear Coach [Insert Last Name],
Opening Paragraph: Brief introduction of who you are and why you're interested in their program. Make sure to include the name of the school and a piece of information about their program.
Personal Info: Grad Year, Position, Uniform #, GPA, SAT / ACT Test Scores, Club Team Name & Age Group, unofficial high school transcript, NCAA # if you have it
Honors: Things like 1st Team All State, All New England, Region 1 ODP, State Champion, etc. Do NOT list Free Press Athlete of the Week, Far Post Indoor Session 2 Champion, or Nordic Cup Champs.
Additions:
- Link to video (highlights, a full half, or both)
- Intended major and why you are interested in the school you are emailing
- If it's a strong academic school (Ivy, NESCAC, etc.) then list academic honors.
- Email and cell phone for your main reference (likely your club coach)
- Schedule for that showcase. Just because a coach is not listed as attending the showcase you are going to does not mean you should not reach out!
- Closing: Thank them for their time and include some kind of indication that you'd like to talk further.
Email Signature: First & last name, club team name, uniform number, email, and cell number
Additional Notes ↓
- Make your email personal & succinct. Coaches want to know you are interested in their program & do not want to read a novel.
- Make the most important information & data easily visible, don't bury them in a paragraph of text (you can bold them if you'd like).
- List accurate and up to date GPA and test scores. Kids lie about these all the time, but coaches will find out your real info and, if you lie, it could cause them to drop their interest in you.
- Proof read!!!! Be careful copy/pasting. Poor grammar or incorrect coach/school name will be an instant "Delete".
- Using a coach as a reference: You should know that their reputation and integrity as a coach referring players to play at the next level requires them to be completely open and honest. For example, if you aspire to play collegiate soccer but never come to practice, that is something they are obligated to bring up. To those that are fully committed, improving, work hard, and are ambitious, they will be your biggest advocate!
Which Coaches Are Attending ↓
To view a list of college coaches registered to attend each tournament, you can click the tab at the top of the event schedule once it's been released.