Does your student-athlete have a college soccer pathway?
College Planning Guide
Does Your Student-Athlete Have a Plan for What Comes Next?
Your student-athlete wants to play college soccer. But do you know what needs to happen between now and then? What colleges match their academic interests and soccer level? Is their GPA competitive? Are they taking the correct NCAA core courses? What level are they realistically capable of playing? And most importantly, what should they be doing right now to create more opportunities later?
We Don't Wait Until Senior Year to Start Planning
At Soccer iQ, we believe college planning for student-athletes should begin long before applications are due. Yesterday, our high school students toured Vanguard University so they could experience a college campus firsthand, learn about academic and athletic programs, see the environment, and begin thinking about what they actually want from their college experience. Campus exposure is just one part of a much larger process: helping our students identify where they want to go and then planning backward to determine how to get there.
Introducing Soccer iQ Student-Athlete Portfolios
We are developing dynamic Student-Athlete Portfolios for our high school players that bring their academic and athletic pathways together. Each portfolio can include GPA and academic progress, intended major and career interests, NCAA core-course planning, club and playing level, position, coach assessments, development priorities, potential collegiate playing level, target universities, and the steps the student needs to take next. As our students develop, their portfolios develop with them.
Two Players Shouldn't Have the Same Plan
For example, Joaquin Hernandez is an ECNL center back/right back with a 3.7 GPA who is interested in studying business. Jakob Bailey is a Slammers ECNL right back interested in Sports Media, Marketing & Analytics or Sports Medicine. Their college pathways shouldn't look the same. We can research universities that fit their academic interests while our Soccer Directors evaluate which soccer programs align with their current ability and projected development. From there, we can work backward: What GPA should they target? What courses should they take? What soccer development needs to happen? What programs could become realistic opportunities?
The Advantage of Knowing Our Students
Being a small, intentional program allows us to do something that is difficult to accomplish in a large environment: know each student-athlete individually. Our high school students can meet with their school counselors to discuss majors, coursework and college goals. We can plan for NCAA eligibility and appropriate core courses, while our Soccer Directors assess the athletic side of the equation. Then we bring those pieces together to help families make informed decisions about D1, D2, D3, NAIA, junior college and other potential pathways.
Does Your Student-Athlete Have a Pathway?
Your child may already know the name of their dream university—but do you know what it will take academically and athletically to become a realistic candidate for that school? That's a very different question. For families outside of Soccer iQ, we are introducing a Student-Athlete Player Pathway Assessment designed to help families begin answering it. We'll look at where your student-athlete is today, where they want to go, and the academic and soccer factors that should be considered when building their roadmap.
Our enrolled Soccer iQ students receive the benefit of the deeper, ongoing process—portfolio development, counselor planning, soccer assessments, college exploration and continued adjustments as they grow.
Start With a Player Pathway Assessment
If you have a middle or high school student-athlete who wants to play at the collegiate level but you're not sure what the next steps should be, reply to this email with “PATHWAY.” We'll send you information about our Player Pathway Assessment and how to get started.
At Soccer iQ, we're not only preparing players for their next game or students for their next assignment. We're helping them prepare for what comes next.
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