Exact Sports College ID Camps

Good morning all and Happy Monday. I wanted to get everyone's take on these ID camps. I have a 12th grader who has waffled on whether she will play college ball or not but may be having a change of heart. We are going to sign up for the Dallas camp on 11/19 as they have over 20 coaches and were considering a couple of their other camps as well. It seems as though having multiple coaches there might be valuable. I realize it might be late on D1 schools (but players can de-commit and coaches could add someone they like). Has anyone had any experience with these camps? It would seem like it's better money than a showcase (where most coaches just invite you to their camps anyway). Thanks all.

The below are my opinions (and according to Cardi R, they aren't worth a $#!+, but you can decide for yourself).

1)  Before you do anything else, go to the team websites for the schools attending the camp.  Go to the roster page and read the bios of the players on the roster.  They will usually list what the player's HS/Club accomplishments were before they got to college.  Furthermore, go look at the team stats for this year and look at minutes played and compare that against the player's bio.  That will give you a good idea of what caliber of athlete/player sees the field on those teams.  Then be honest and objective about how your DD's bio matches up against the current roster.  If it stacks up, great! If it doesn't, it's likely your DD isn't going to get anything other than token $ and be anything more than practice squad fodder.  Will that be worth 30-40 hours a week of her time at a D1 program, or 20 hours a week (and no athletic $) at a D3 school?  

2)  You are correct that it is likely late for D1 schools.  Most of the D1 schools on the list for that camp have locked up their 2019 signing class long ago, and are focusing on 2020's & 2021's at this point.  If any of them do have money left for 2019's, it's likely not much (and go re-read my point #1 again).

3)  So the likely reality, is that camp is going to cost you $329 for your kid to get serious looks from about 6 D3 schools.  Now what you and your DD are asking yourselves, is does she have any interest in attending any of those 6 schools?  If the answer is that there are only 1 or 2 schools out of those 6 that she would even consider attending, then frankly, you are better off looking to see if those schools are offering on-campus ID camps in the next couple of months (it's likely they will be).  IMO, your money would be much better spent paying $75-$100 to attend each of those camps as you will get much more attention from the coach, plus you get the benefit of visiting the campus, taking a tour, arranging a sit-down with admissions/academic counseling/financial aid, etc.  Now if your kid is still wide open to any of the schools attending this Exact Sports camp, then maybe the $329 is worth it.  That's a question you'll have to answer for yourself.

As with anything else, if you do some groundwork ahead of time, you'll increase the likelihood of being satisfied with your choice, no matter what it is.

Best of luck.

I'd say everything above is spot on. If your daughter has not emailed anybody yet (coaches)...she needs to be doing that as well and can let them know essentially "hey this is me, here's my video, I'm interested in your school and team, I'll be at this or that camp, ect....". Short, to the point. The on-campus ID camps are starting to pop up much more often as schools can basically ensure that kids showing up are most likely, interested in that specific school and not much time or money is wasted by parents/coaches. Good luck to you and let us know how things go.

One of the most important factors to consider when looking to play in college is the school itself.  Is it a school that she'd want to attend if she didn't play soccer?  

What does she want to study?  She really doesn't want to find a major at a school just because they offered her a scholarship if its not in her long term plans.

Soccer can be like a job in college, and the drop rate at some schools is significant in the freshman and sophomore years.  Some players have injuries, and some simply don't want to play anymore.  If she wouldn't stay in that school without soccer, its the wrong school.

I've always said if you really want to play in college, there's a school that wants you.  The real question is if THAT school is one you want to attend.