Winter College camps

Any suggestions or ideas on a good winter ID college camp? In your opinion are they worth the money or are showcase tournaments better?

soccermom71 wrote:Any suggestions or ideas on a good winter ID college camp? In your opinion are they worth the money or are showcase tournaments better?

Good question since I am debating whether I should take DD to the a college prospect camp this December.

Anyone with helpful info??

The camps are better. The showcases are good for the competition. The problem with a showcase, is that a college recruiter may only watch your team for 15 or 20 minutes. In that amount of time, your DD may not have touched the ball, over have even been in the game. At a camp, a college recruiter will be able to see you DD over the duration of the camp.

Camps are a money grab for coaches. Play ECNL if you want to be recruited.

Uncle Numanga wrote:Camps are a money grab for coaches. Play ECNL if you want to be recruited.

Ha....because we all know thats the ONLY way!

Not the only way. Just the best.

Uncle Numanga wrote:Not the only way. Just the best.

Ha...In what regard? Surely there are too many variables in finding the perfect fit for a DD to go to school, that there can be a 'best option?!

Adi-dazzler wrote:

Uncle Numanga wrote:Not the only way. Just the best.

Ha...In what regard? Surely there are too many variables in finding the perfect fit for a DD to go to school, that there can be a 'best option?!

As has been posted on here many times, there is a lot of homework you and your dd must do to find the "perfect fit" that has nothing to do with tournaments or winter camps.

But if you want to be seen by college coaches, there is no question the best place is to be is on an ECNL team at an ECNL showcase. That's where the coaches are.

It doesn't mean if you're not there you can't get a scholarship, but its certainly the "best option" for a player to be seen.

Uncle Numanga wrote:Camps are a money grab for coaches. Play ECNL if you want to be recruited.

that may be true but a whole lot of colleges would no longer be playing soccer if we relied only on ENCL for recruitment...Have to get the workhorse players from somewhere so the ENCL superstars look better.

soccermom71 wrote:

Uncle Numanga wrote:Camps are a money grab for coaches. Play ECNL if you want to be recruited.

that may be true but a whole lot of colleges would no longer be playing soccer if we relied only on ENCL for recruitment...Have to get the workhorse players from somewhere so the ENCL superstars look better.

Not sure I follow your reasoning. In many cases the ECNL players will be the workhorse players on the top college teams. Look at which NTX players log the heavy minutes in college.

Not sure I follow your reasoning. In many cases the ECNL players will be the workhorse players on the top college teams. Look at which NTX players log the heavy minutes in college. [/quote]

Just meaning that with the limited ENCL there are not enough of those players nation wide to make entire college teams...in fact many teams only have a couple. The other 8 or 9 players out on the field have to be recruited/come from somewhere. Thus those ENCL superstars look better. Not saying that they don't work hard but so does everyone else for usually less glory.

soccermom71 wrote:Not sure I follow your reasoning. In many cases the ECNL players will be the workhorse players on the top college teams. Look at which NTX players log the heavy minutes in college.

Just meaning that with the limited ENCL there are not enough of those players nation wide to make entire college teams...in fact many teams only have a couple. The other 8 or 9 players out on the field have to be recruited/come from somewhere. Thus those ENCL superstars look better. Not saying that they don't work hard but so does everyone else for usually less glory.[/quote]

It really depends on what conference you are looking at. In the top conferences, every kid out there is from an ECNL-type background.

As to camps, yes, they typically are a supplement to coaches income (money grab if you will). And while I know nothing about winter college camps, I will say that my dd and some of her cohorts attended summer camps at the schools they wished to attend (ACC, SEC, Big 12). I've gotta believe the familiarity the staff and the kids got with one another helped smooth the whole process.

ballhead wrote:

Adi-dazzler wrote:

Uncle Numanga wrote:Not the only way. Just the best.

Ha...In what regard? Surely there are too many variables in finding the perfect fit for a DD to go to school, that there can be a 'best option?!

As has been posted on here many times, there is a lot of homework you and your dd must do to find the "perfect fit" that has nothing to do with tournaments or winter camps.

But if you want to be seen by college coaches, there is no question the best place is to be is on an ECNL team at an ECNL showcase. That's where the coaches are.

It doesn't mean if you're not there you can't get a scholarship, but its certainly the "best option" for a player to be seen.

I agree but from experience, if your club coach is getting you tot he right showcases then ECNL is just another option. We have to remember not every club is affiliated with ecnl so there are a ton of good players at the non ecnl ranks. There is a lot of money for scholarships on the girls side even for non ecnl players. Top colleges dont bypass good players just because they are not ecnl players. But I totally agree with you, you have to do your homework, WELL Said!!!

soccermom71 wrote:Not sure I follow your reasoning. In many cases the ECNL players will be the workhorse players on the top college teams. Look at which NTX players log the heavy minutes in college.

Just meaning that with the limited ENCL there are not enough of those players nation wide to make entire college teams...in fact many teams only have a couple. The other 8 or 9 players out on the field have to be recruited/come from somewhere. Thus those ENCL superstars look better. Not saying that they don't work hard but so does everyone else for usually less glory.[/quote]

There are plenty of ECNL players who are no where near super stars, as a matter of fact there are many LHGCL players who are just as good or better. Think of the lower level ECNL teams, even in the Dallas area. The top team in each age group is normally really good, but under that they go down hill really quick and as you near the bottom, not impressive at all.