Player ID Camps
Blog by High School Ambassador, Aubrey McLin
Player Identification (ID) Camps are a launching pad for student athletes looking to play collegiately. ID camps are now an essential part of the college soccer recruiting process. They can also be quite emotionally challenging. There's a lot to consider, from the excitement of visiting potential college campuses to figuring out how to introduce yourself to the coaching staff and then performing your best mentally and physically. Then there’s also remembering things like not to overthink things, understand the boundaries of the recruitment process, and strike a balance between competitiveness and good sportsmanship.
When I was younger, attending youth camps was quite exciting. The only worry was finding a friend to partner up with for drills and making sure you grabbed your free camp T-shirt before you left. However, with Player Identification Camps, it's a different story. I'm finding that athletes are secretive about which camps they're attending. If you do run into athletes you know, the interactions seem distant and cautious. I understand the reservations behind this behavior, it just caught me by surprise at first. At the camps, you're essentially selling your personal brand as a potential collegiate athlete, showcasing your skills, unique talents, and what sets you apart from others. So the transition from youth camps to Player Identification Camps, and realizing the importance of selling my personal brand was somewhat of a culture shock. I also found little information out there to help prepare me for this transition. I did talk with a few of my WPSL teammates who had gone through the recruitment process and attended ID Camps for advice. They were able to share their experiences, both good and bad. While I did find some webinars and articles online about ID camps, the focus was more on the overall recruitment process rather than the specifics of ID Camps.
As I now approach the end of my sophomore year and prepare to enter my junior year of high school, I've now attended several Player Identification Camps on each coast. What I’ve experienced so far from my own experiences is this:
Coaching Staff: From the limited coach interactions I’ve had, the coaches have been positive, encouraging, and transparent. The most important piece for me during the recruitment process is transparency. Open and honest conversations about what exactly coaches are looking for in an athlete and for their team. This helps me formulate a more in depth list of goals for myself on what to work on over the next year or so. This includes identifying which colleges are my targeted schools during my recruitment process and which colleges are currently right now out of reach but the dream to work towards.
Collegiate Athlete Participation: The participation of a school’s collegiate athletes is a key selling point in attending ID camps for me. You get to hear first-hand experiences of what it’s like being a collegiate athlete at that school. They tend to be the eyes and ears for the coaches. This has been helpful too as I have noticed that sometimes participants get so caught up in trying to gain the coaches' attention that they act unpleasantly and display poor sportsmanship towards other participants. One of the college athletes assisting shared that coaches also look at each player’s character. The coaches ask their team’s athletes assistance for feedback regarding a participant’s character including what the athlete acts like when coaches eyes aren't on them. She shared that coaches are not just looking at talent, but for a good fit for their program and soccer family. The players they select spend four to five years with the team, so it’s important that they are in tune with the team’s mentality. Someone who causes conflict or tries to make themselves look better by making others look bad might not be a good fit in their team and team culture.
Campus Tour: The campus tour, also known as "do I see myself here?", provides more insight into the campus culture. I find the tours quite appealing because you get to see the locker room, workout area, and other places where you will be spending a lot of time if you choose to attend that school.
Participants at the ID Camp: I've had mixed experiences with this. On the positive side, I get to play alongside and against high-level talent from all over the country. On the flip side, some camp participants are so focused on standing out that they forget the importance of good sportsmanship and gamesmanship. I try not to let this distract me and instead focus on what I can control: my mentality, my effort, and my personal brand.
ID Camp Participants Parents: If I'm being honest, my experiences with this have been slightly annoying. As a goalkeeper, I often find parents positioned behind my goal. Some colleges do a great job of ensuring that parents are nowhere near the field and the players. When they are, I often hear them trying to distract me or rattle my nerves, or critique and criticize other field players. There's often the occasional backhanded compliment or opinion regarding my performance compared to their daughters who are also goalkeepers and share time with me in goal. I don't take much stock in this and just appreciate the parents that role model and display appropriate respectful behavior.
I will be attending several ID camps leading up to June 15th. With some experience now under my belt, I am better prepared. How I prepared was making sure I made the most of my time at each camp. My goal was to have absorbed as much as possible from these camps so not only did I improved my technical and tactical skills but my soccer and field IQ as well. I also worked hard to have consistently sought out feedback from the coaching staff, collegiate players, and older athletes attending the previous camps so I could grow and improve. My aim is to spark interest and stand out to coaches and schools, so I'm higher on their recruitment radar the next time I interact with them.