BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL: There is a college soccer program for every travel team player – Front Row Soccer

Every travel team player in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association has the skills to play college soccer.

Yet, most of their families believe only the most-skilled can play college soccer. While Division 1 programs are looking for the best and sometimes the tallest players, Eastern New York and Long Island Junior Soccer League Hall of Famer Pat Grecco, CEO of the College-Bound Athlete Scholarship Service, said that there is a college soccer program for all players.

“I have been placing student-athletes, mostly soccer players, into colleges for the past 30 years. There are multiple options regarding college soccer programs at various levels, many of which would be a good fit for travel team players,” Grecco said. “Sometimes ego gets in the way of players and parents who feel they have devoted lots of time and money into soccer and they should be playing at the highest level, D1. Do not have tunnel vision! There are many outstanding colleges in the various conferences. Not everyone goes to college at Harvard, Princeton or Yale but that does not mean you can’t go to college and receive a degree.”

For men and women in Division 1, there are more than 500 programs. There are more than 400 Division 2 programs and Division 3, almost 1,000 programs, all which are NCAA-affiliated. Junior college includes more than 400 soccer programs.

There are other affiliations outside the NCAA including the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with morethan 400 member schools, United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) with nearly 100 schools and, lastly, National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) with 100+ programs and growing.

Grecco said that that she places colleges and universities based on the following in importance:

1) Intended major

2) Soccer level

3) Academic standing

4) Distance from home, climate and other factors

5) Available athletic and academic scholarship opportunities

“Maybe you play competitive club soccer and you’re a very good student, then you should be looking at highly competitive academic schools like Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago where your soccer can help open that heavy door to Admissions,” she said. “Another situation might be that you struggle a bit in school, then perhaps your best opportunities lie with two-year junior college programs and then after two years with improved grades, you could transfer to a four-year school with an athletic or academic scholarship. Either way, there is a college soccer program for you.”