By: Jordan Fliegel, founder of CoachUp.com
The World Cup is the single most widely viewed sporting event in the world. It is broadcast in every country and territory on Earth. The final match between Spain and the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup was watched at least partially by over 900 million people, a fairly decent chunk of the human population. Sure, soccer isn’t as popular in the US as the rest of the world, but more Americans are paying attention to soccer each year. The audience reach of the 2010 World Cup in the US increased 20% compared to 2006 reach. According to FIFA, that was the largest increase in audience of any market. Americans are catching on. So when you’re watching the 2014 tournament play out in Brazil, just know that it’s on the biggest stage in the world, and it’s not easy for players to get the chance to be there.
What are your chances?
- There were around 412,351 senior high school boys soccer players in 2013.
- There were 37,240 college mens soccer players.
- About 9% of high school players will go on to play in college.
That’s not as tough a chance as making it to college basketball or football, but it still shows the difficulty it takes to advance to that next level.
Getting a scholarship
- Make a list of your target schools and communicate with coaches as early as your freshman year.
- Provide them with some video highlights of your playing ability.
- Invite them to one of your important matches.
- Prepare a list of questions to ask the coach. Let the coach know that you want to play at the school, and ask what you must do to make it happen.
Keep your grades up
- Maintain your GPA so you can get admitted to a good college and earn a scholarship.
- Look into the schools that you are interested in playing for, and determine their requirements for eligibility.
- Take your SATs and ACTs by your junior year, and if you’re not happy with your scores, take the tests again until you are satisfied.
- Coaches want players to take their grades seriously because it likely means they also take soccer seriously.
Join more soccer teams and clubs
- With the level of competition so high, playing only for your high school team isn’t going to cut it.
- Join a travel, club, or indoor league in the offseason.
- Not only will your chances of being seen by a scout increase, but your skills will improve with year round competition and practice.
- Develop your skill set. College coaches are looking for players who can do many things well but stand out in one or two areas. Develop your speed. Develop your ability to control the ball under pressure. Become a great technical player.
- The key is to develop your skill set so that you can stand above the competition in at least one area.
Use a private coach
Dillon Powers of the Colorado Rapids and Chandler Hoffman of the Los Angeles Galaxy are each CoachUp coaches and highlight the areas of technical development during their training sessions.
“I don’t have any set session,” says recent rookie of the year Powers. “But every time we’ll start with a warmup. We’ll also place some emphasis on technical skills like passing and shooting. We’ll start with the fundamentals and move from there.”
Hoffman also focuses on technical skills during his CoachUp sessions.
“We start out doing work with a ball and cones. We do some warm up games and create body movement to get the body ready to train. We work on some technical skills like volleys and crossing patterns. We do some finishing and shooting drills and finish with a 1 on 1 drill to see what was learned.”
A private soccer coach can go a long way in helping you further develop your skills. Private coaches will work one on one with you to develop your own personal workout plan and provide you with ways to improve in areas such as speed, ball handling, passing and shooting.
With the excitement and buzz surrounding the World Cup, it’s tempting for young soccer players to picture themselves playing alongside their idols under the bright lights in Rio de Janeiro. The chances of reaching that level are slim, however, with focus, hard work, talent and dedication, you can always reach another level.
About CoachUp:
CoachUp is a service that connects athletes of all ages and skill levels with private coaches. With thousands of coaches across the country, and hundreds of training sessions happening every day, CoachUp is the nation’s leading private coaching company. They are also a team of athletes and coaches, including founders, Jordan Fliegel (basketball) and Arian Radmand (sailing). CoachUp believes strongly that private coaching is the secret to reaching the next level in sports + life. And are dedicated to their mission: to help kids change the trajectory of their lives through sports. www.coachup.com
