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If you are a parent of a high-performing soccer player who aspires to play collegiate soccer, you're probably wondering how to get your player in front of college soccer coaches. ID camps are a tried and true solution to this problem. But it can be a complex and overwhelming process because of the abundance of choices and the lack of guidance for parents on which soccer ID camp is the best fit.
It’s important to note that ID camps can be costly and time-consuming, so are they really worth it? There are definite tradeoffs when choosing which ID camp to attend, so parents and players have to be strategic in selecting the best fit. There are ID camps run by youth soccer organizations, ID camps run by clubs, and ID camps run by leagues. They are hosted at neutral locations where coaches from numerous college programs are able to attend. There are also University ID camps hosted by college coaches on the campus of the universities.
Some of the Top College Soccer ID Camps
- IMG Academy
- Future 500 ID Camp
- Nike Soccer Camps - US Sports Camps
- Barca Residency Academy
- One Soccer Schools
- Elite College Soccer Camps
- Soccer Masters Camp
- Exact Sports
- University ID Camps (more detail below)
ID camps are hosted over several days with different age ranges. There are benefits to consistently sending your child to these camps starting at a young age and consistently; this gives college coaches the ability to track your child's progress so that coaches can gain familiarity with your kid as a person and player. But even this does not guarantee that your child will be recruited.
If you know what school you want to go to, your child should attend that specific University's ID Camp, where the head and assistant coaches are hosting and running the camps. In this case, you will be guaranteed to be looked at by the school of your choice. It can also help you as a player better examine what you want in a school, as you are able to get to know the coach, see how they run the program, see what the facilities are like, experience the team culture, and so on.
Sophomore midfielder Emma Jaskaniec, who plays D1 for the Wisconsin Badgers and was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team in 2019, was recruited from ID camps.
“I’ve been going to ID camps since I was little. My coach Paula Wilkins told me that's where she noticed me, so the ID camp process definitely helped me get scouted!”
Emma Jaskaniec
You can find the dates, times, and information about these camps on their websites and social media accounts. For example, if you wanted to be recruited by the University of Michigan, you can look up their team website and can instantly sign up for a camp online.
If you don’t know what school you want to attend then, it could be more beneficial to participate in youth soccer organization camps. The main difference between the two are youth soccer organization ID camps will give you a wider look from a variety of college coaches, while university campus ID camps will give you a more targeted look.
