Graduate Classes

The College Choice Process

Way back In 1995 the Blues sent their first graduating class into the college ranks. Today outstanding Blues Graduate Classes have become the norm. Each season the Blues put forth a program and schedule of events, including league, state cup, as well as attending several prominent showcase tournaments throughout the country in order to allow Blues Players the opportunity to display their talents for college coaches. As we get news of our current Graduating Class and their college choice we will announce them here.

On this page the user has access to the current as well as future graduates of the Southern California Blues for the purposes of recruiting our players.

If you are a college coach, well, just disregard everything you just read and get to work finding that "Blues" Chip Player. The graduates can be accessed by going to the Blues Teams Page clicking the corresponding links on your left, then clicking the individual player's photo. If you have any questions, need help or further information just email us at blues@scblues.com.

If you are an insignificant club coach like us just lookin' to snag a Blues Player for your team, remember...just wait until the season ends so that our Players and Parents can fulfill the commitment they made!

If you are one of our graduates, and you click on your photo, then say to yourself, "Whaaaaaa (insert crying sound here), how come I don't have a graduate profile on line so that a college coach can get information about me?"; it could be you never filled out the graduate profile form and emailed it in...or the Blues Webmaster is too busy. In the event you never sent it in please fill out the online Adobe pdf profile form, while on your computer fill it out "correctly", then press the button on the bottom of the form to email it back to us as an attachment. If you don't have Adobe Reader software you are hurting...download it for free here.

Myths Exposed

As youth soccer has grown, many myths about the college recruiting process have been passed on throughout the youth soccer community. Along with publicizing our Graduates and showing pride for their success in the classroom, we hope this site will be able to educate parents and players so they are able to proceed with the confidence they are on the correct path towards being recruited and choosing a college that will meet their needs academically, socially, and athletically.

My Club will get me into college

While there are many youth soccer clubs who sell their program by touting how they got this girl into this school or that one, the fact remains that the bulk of the responsibility for getting into college rests in this order, Player, Parents, and then Club. This is a collaborative effort and while a club provides a vehicle for a player to display her talents, it is the efforts of the Player that take the prominent role.

The optimum results occur when players along with parents take the lead in marketing themselves to colleges by directly expressing interest in a particular school through presentations, letters, emails, and phone calls to college coaches. Players must put thought into their correspondence with college coaches. With experience in the process the Club can advise players on content, but showing interest in a school is the first step to being recruited. Worth noting is that coaches are inundated with inquiries of interest so short and concise content will be most effective. The objective is to inform the coach of interest, qualifications, and where they may have an opportunity to evaluate the player.

My Soccer will get me into college

Get this thought out of your mind right now. If a player's priority is to get an education in college players must be committed to doing well in school. Even though you are all that as a player, no player will be accepted or perhaps even eligible to play college soccer who does not meet the academic standards of a particular college or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). So again players must learn and develop the understanding of time management in their busy lives so they are able to excel in school, family obligations, spiritual and social matters, and soccer. What soccer will do is perhaps open a door that might have been closed. If students are generally equal in other aspects, those who display special talents in a particular area (soccer in this case) "may" be given priority when it comes to being accepted to the nation's most popular colleges. Our advice is to hit the books!

My Coach will get me into college

Regardless what you may be told by your club coach, no quality college coach will be influenced purely by the recommendation of your coach. While coaches at the Blues have over 35 years of experience at the highest levels of women's soccer, including college coaching and recruiting, it is the performance of a player under pressure that will convince a college coach of the player's ability to produce at his or her college. What Blues coaches will do is implore college or odp coaches for that matter, to attend games and evaluate his or her players. Performing at high levels and making plays when the college or odp coach is in attendance will go a long way towards convincing them you are a player worth recruiting to their soccer team.

My Team will get me into college

Some of the more frequently asked questions by parents are in regard to where the team will be playing. Will we be playing in the Premier, will we be playing in the Gold? With respect to recruiting for college, we regret to inform you it is doubtful college coaches will be in attendance at your U11 game. In some instances, colleges begin evaluating players in their Sophomore year in high school but this is usually the exception. Because players tend to change as they mature college coaches mostly focus on a player's Junior and Senior year. With that in mind many parents and players are under the false impression that unless they are playing with a particular team at a particular level at a particular club they will not have the chance to be recruited for college. The college coach does not focus on the team or club you play for, or the level for that matter. Once again parents and players feel it is vital they play at the Premier level so that they may be evaluated for college. As a matter of fact when you consider that the college season takes place at the same time as our league season very few college coaches with the exception of the local colleges are free to come watch the Premier league and league play only consists of approximately 14 games out of a season that could encompass over 60 games. The point is no matter which team or club players play for, no matter which level, if players can perform well enough to demonstrate to a college coach that they have a high enough level to be able to produce at his or her college...they will be interested in recruiting that player.

The coaches at the Southern California Blues are among the many clubs that have established an exceptional relationship with the college coaching community. We have players that have attended some of the most prestigious colleges in the country as you can see by looking at our alumni and our contacts with the coaches from those colleges are too numerous to list here. It is important to note that these relationships are not exclusive to our's or any club for that matter. As documented above college coaches are not more impressed with one club over another, one team over another, who the player's coach is or whether or not your team wins the state championship each year. Don't be frightened or enticed to join a club team because they attempt to give you the impression you will be recruited for college and that only they can get this done! This will happen if you express interest in a school, meet the school's academic standards, notify coaches where they can see you play, show them you have game when they are there watching.

Of course there are many more myths not covered here but there is only so much time in the day. Hope you find this information useful. Good luck and remember Blues coaches are always available for advice if you request it.

BLUES 2008 GRADUATES COLLEGE CHOICE