Ralph Lundy Soccer Academy

OK, so we are starting to get quite a few invites to these college soccer ID camps. My guess is these folks are getting leads from Got Soccer and looking at GPA, accomplishments, etc. We seem to be getting more emails from Ralph Lundy SA than anyone else. Does anyone have experience with these types of camps and are they worth the travel and expense to attend?

The way I understand it, is for the player to sell themselves to the program. Not the parent, but the player. Best way to do that is attend a specific college's ID camp. The problem with having the player sell it, is that most have had everything done for them up to this point. Realistically, my kid has no idea of how to do this--so, it will be learn as we go. He has a few years before a school can make contact, so we are in no hurry.

Not sure if a Ralph Lundy camp helps or not, but he will go to at least one specific college ID camp this summer to get the feel for it. Most likely an unrealistic one, so he can see what needs to be done to get to that level.

if you have a "short list" of colleges you would prefer to attend, contact that college directly and attend their private i.d. camp.

You will receive tons of invitations to different camps all the way from specific ID camps for a specific school to camps that have many coaches from Division 1,2 and 3 schools. I have done the marketing of my BB and it is very labor intensive/time consuming. Your BB better REALLY want to play soccer in college in order to be worth your while. There are many ways to skin a cat but I can tell you what we did and worked for my BB.
1. List of schools your BB is interested AND is a good fit both academically and athletically
2. Contact the coaches via email with your BBs athletic and academic CV. Embed a video on the CV (link) with a highlights of his game
3. Ask the coach what specific camps the coach will be attending (or even better camps he will be holding at his college and that way he gets to tour the school).
4. If your BB is going to college showcases let the coach know and invite him to see your BB with a reminder letter the week of the tournament
5. Stay in contact with the coach and periodically let him know via email about your BBs season at school and club.
Finally there are plenty of schools all the way from division 1,2,3 NAIA and JUCO. See where your BB fits best and be persistent. Ohh and I forgot, coaches will always try to get players academic scholarships first (even division 1 schools) and then bring in the athletic scholarship into the equation. The best scholarship is still academic (it is for 4 years as long as he keeps his GPA above a certain level and it varies from school to school). The athletic scholarship is variable from year to year and it depends on the BBs performance and impact on the team (plus division 1 schools have UP TO 9.9 scholarships per team that the coach needs to distribute across at least 20 or so players if not more). Hope this helps.
PS: Personally I would stay away from camps with many coaches and hundreds of players. Players tend to get lost in the shuffle and coaches cannot take a good look at the players to see if there is interest.

Good advice.

Earbucket, you know, that is the biggest change for many. Up to this point, the parents are running the show. At the next level, parents take a lesser role.

Depor - That's real advice. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

It really depends on the age of the player. I would recommend, that around 1-2 years prior to colleges coaches making the contact, to go to the camps of the colleges you (and your child) is interested in. Keep in mind that in most cases you can make contact, but they can't, saying you can tell them already you are interesting, provide club, team, and HS name, and let it be. Prior to that time period it does not matter where you go, as long the camp is good. When we were living SW of Houston, we made the trip to SMU twice, once in MS and once when my BB started HS. Was worth the trip for learning something new. Also a good starter point for the kids to see how it is living in the dorm.