So let me set the context of this information. My son is a soccer player. He has the desire to play college soccer. He has had that for awhile. In an effort to help him reach his goal, I have researched, guided and pushed him into what I thought was the right path to get there. We are not there yet and it we be an interesting "Rest of the Story" (i.e. you have to be old enough to know who Paul Harvey is to get that).
As we have worked our way along this path, I have gained a lot of insight that I didn't have when I began and did not really find in seminars on college recruiting or through web research. Due to difficulties we have encountered, I constantly wished that I had found out information earlier. Therefore, I felt it would be a benefit to share this experience. I hope it will help others venturing down the same path.
Obviously this unloading of information is based on ability. If my son was a recruit at Notre Dame (won the NCAA D1 National Championship in 2013) I probably wouldn't be writing this. But he is not. I feel he is a very good soccer player and in the upper part of the players in his age group. His club team which plays in the US Youth Soccer program won there state tournament. He played in a US Youth Soccer Region 3 tournament. He is also a member of the state Olympic Development Program and has attended a Region 3 ODP camp. His high school team won their region and made it to the 2nd round of the state playoffs. Through the region playoffs and ODP at no time was he way below the players on the field. I feel his abilities are in line with the other players in all the competitions he participated in.... and I attended them all.