Bouba Diop Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Navycyr and Jacko, thanks for the insights. The soccer world in Canadian universities is a bit of a "blackbox" to an outsider looking in and there is very little written guidance that I've been able to find. Its certainly not the industry that it is down here. Having said that, we've traveled enough to Montreal and Ottawa for friendlies and the like to know that there are some fine youth programs and very good players. Surely not all of them head south to the US for university soccer. After all, I know that many Canadian universities are fantastic institutions and, for a Canadian, a real bargain to boot. I will say that perhaps the single best way that my daughter has been able to assess where she sits in the US college soccer scene is to wangle an invite to train for a day or two with a team/school that she is considering. Do Canadian coaches ever offer that sort of opportunity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Navycyr and Jacko, thanks for the insights. The soccer world in Canadian universities is a bit of a "blackbox" to an outsider looking in and there is very little written guidance that I've been able to find. Its certainly not the industry that it is down here. Having said that, we've traveled enough to Montreal and Ottawa for friendlies and the like to know that there are some fine youth programs and very good players. Surely not all of them head south to the US for university soccer. After all, I know that many Canadian universities are fantastic institutions and, for a Canadian, a real bargain to boot. I will say that perhaps the single best way that my daughter has been able to assess where she sits in the US college soccer scene is to wangle an invite to train for a day or two with a team/school that she is considering. Do Canadian coaches ever offer that sort of opportunity? Good question. I know that my niece tried to do that at a few US Colleges and they all replied with a no due to NCAA rules and insurance liability issues. Even on her official visits she wasn't allowed to kick a ball with the team members she was staying with. I am not sure if Canada is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerfan13 Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Jacko the rules are not the same for CIS schools. my daughter was allowed to practice with the teams when we were looking for a school/team a couple of years ago. She plays for Laurier and they are actually having a recruiting day in December where they have invited recruits to tour the school, train and play and intersquad game with the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Queen's does the same kind of thing. They had a few potential recruits in at the end of the regular season and let them participate in a couple of training sessions (and such) to let them see what kind of thing to expect. With the interest around this kind of thing, I'm thinking about trying to put an article together about that -- hoping to talk to a few coaches here in the Kingston area to see what they do, what they can do (etc). Jacko, navycyr, soccerfan13 -- would you guys mind if I contacted you for some more details and suchnot about what your kids have gone through in terms of the recruiting cycle and so forth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 ^^ Guess that illustrates the different approach to litigation ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I talked a bit with one of the coaches at Queen's and under OUA/CIS regulations, only athletes on the roster can participate in practices/training sessions/etc during the season. Prospective players and recruits can attend the session, but cannot participate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Queen's does the same kind of thing. They had a few potential recruits in at the end of the regular season and let them participate in a couple of training sessions (and such) to let them see what kind of thing to expect. With the interest around this kind of thing, I'm thinking about trying to put an article together about that -- hoping to talk to a few coaches here in the Kingston area to see what they do, what they can do (etc). Jacko, navycyr, soccerfan13 -- would you guys mind if I contacted you for some more details and suchnot about what your kids have gone through in terms of the recruiting cycle and so forth? Absolutely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerfan13 Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 of course you can contact me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bouba Diop Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 I talked a bit with one of the coaches at Queen's and under OUA/CIS regulations, only athletes on the roster can participate in practices/training sessions/etc during the season. Prospective players and recruits can attend the session, but cannot participate. All of which raises the question, are they not training in, say, March and April? If they are, then this would not pose a problem. Many US schools hold open sessions, out of season, to which prospects are invited to train, typically alongside rostered players. Does this happen in Canada? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Some schools do have non-required sessions and, as best I can tell from reading the policies, those are not considered actual practices (etc). But the policies are a bit unclear and from the communication I've heard back so far, it's best to simply ask the coach what is available and what you can and cannot do when visiting the school and athletics program in question. I've got inquiries to a few men's and women's coaches to ask about how things work (without them going into too much detail and all about their specific practices) and what kinds of obstacles they encounter in the whole "recruiting" thing, and I'm hoping to get some feedback over the next few (business) days and be able to start putting an actual article back. The information I have found and received so far is quite fascinating and reveals something of a world that I never really realized existed previously. Do note that I'm planning on only covering CIS stuff with an emphasis on the OUA (since that's what I'm most familiar with and have the best access to resources for). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navycyr Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 All of which raises the question, are they not training in, say, March and April? If they are, then this would not pose a problem. Many US schools hold open sessions, out of season, to which prospects are invited to train, typically alongside rostered players. Does this happen in Canada? In the province of Quebec CIS women teams will play a winter short season 11 vs 11 on full sized inside stadiums. It will be a six games season, with the possibility to play 1, 2 or 3 playoff games. It will start mid january to finish at the end of march. Beyond that point I don't expect there won't be any training since there are end session exams and girls start training camps with the clubs they will be playing with in the summer. Whatever all the information we might gather for you, I strongly recommend you go on the SIC teams websites and get in touch with the various coaches. Already talking to them on how they recruit, will give you a hint on how serious the programs are and it will be a start helping you choosing one university over another. That being said, I strongly support Sulfur initiative to give a picture on the recruitment process in Canadian universities. Putting into light the best programs will give the more amateur ones an incitative to improve. You may blame athletes to go south, but I have found out sometimes, if not often, necessary efforts are not made to attract those athletes and keep them here and I am not talking about money since a $40,000 scholarhip in the US is in reality only worth $3000 to $6000 here depending on the school costs in the province you live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 All of which raises the question, are they not training in, say, March and April? If they are, then this would not pose a problem. Many US schools hold open sessions, out of season, to which prospects are invited to train, typically alongside rostered players. Does this happen in Canada? With the NCAA on the verge of forbidding all Spring season training and competition in some sports including Soccer, they might loosen some of the rules. Who knows. The CIS has a much less restrictive and sane set of guidelines and its up to the individual coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Part one of the series is out. This is a very basic summary of how things work and what the rules are in CIS soccer recruiting. Future articles will include information on: * What to look for in a program (athletic and academic) * How RMC deals with recruiting into the military * The experiences of current CIS university athletes http://supportlocalsoccer.blogspot.com/2011/11/university-student-athlete-recruiting.html Any comments, questions, things to add or expand on, or requests for further articles on the subject are more than welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulfur Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 After an unfortunate and long delay, part 2 is up now. How a prospective student-athlete should go about choosing the right university for them: http://supportlocalsoccer.blogspot.com/2012/01/choosing-right-university-for-student.html A few "real life" things got in the way, including moving to a new job, but I'm working on getting back onto a "normal" schedule again. soccerfan13, Jacko: I've finally had the opportunity to send emails out to the contacts you shared (intentionally delayed once things hit the exam period and Christmas break), and I look forward to getting their perspective on things too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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