Don’t Give Up – Be Seen After College

When the majority of college soccer players finish their last college game, they are unsure of the road that lies ahead for them and their soccer career. Many know that there is an MLS Player Combine where the best college soccer players in the nation, by invitation only, get invited to play games in front of all MLS coaches and General Managers. A selected panel of Division I, college coaches representing all conferences is put together and then they nominate and vote for players in conjunction with MLS coaches. Based on past years, most of the players invited to the MLS Player Combine are either All-Americans, Conference Players of the Year, or First Team All-Conference players representing the most powerful conferences.

Many of you are reading this are saying to yourself, “I know I am a good player but it seems like I will never get exposure because I don’t have any of these accolades and my college team was not as visible as some of the others.”

Just because you didn’t get invited to the MLS Player Combine does not mean your dreams of playing Pro Soccer are over…

First, let’s state the facts. For one, there is more than one professional league in this country. Besides Major League Soccer there is also the United Soccer League First Division (A-League), United Soccer League Second Division, National Premiere Soccer League, and the Major Indoor Soccer League; all of which are highly competitive leagues. Second, there are many other ways for a soccer player to be discovered. Some of these ways include the Infosport Combine which takes place in Florida, Professional League and Team Combines, and of course there are Open Tryouts.

The Infosport Pro Soccer Combine that occurs annually in Florida is a three day combine that just requires a player to have eligibility status. Players do not have to be selected or invited. To qualify for eligibility, players must be draft-eligible college seniors, pro soccer veterans and/or qualified free agents. Each player who participates gets assigned to a team that is managed by a professional coach. The players participate in training sessions, small-sided, and full-field games, while being evaluated by their coach. At the end of the combine, a comprehensive soccer resume and written combine scouting report is created for each participant and made available for professional soccer teams. To go along with this, all coaches and scouts participating in this combine are MLS, USL, and MISL coaches. On a side note, unlike the MLS Player Combine, every participant at this combine might not be at the same level as you, and it can be tough to be thrown on a team and try to play with players you have never played with before. The positive spin of this is that one receives good visibility so play simple and show everyone that you deserve to be playing at the next level.

Another professional soccer combine that kicked off its first year in 2006 is the USL Men’s Player Showcase. This combine is designed for players’ right out of college who are under the age of 23. The combine is open to a maximum of 250 prospective athletes, allowing them an opportunity to impress professional coaches. The combine is open to all interested players under process of application. With the application, a player must submit a written player biography, which will be examined by the USL showcase selection committee before a player is accepted. This combine heavily features players competing in the USL Premier Development League (PDL). The showcase is made up of players with PDL playing history as well as a limited number of top amateur players based on their own individual achievements or merits.

If professional soccer combines do not work for you for some reason, you can try and research different professional teams in the various leagues in this country. Many of them hold their own combine or open tryout every year where they allow players to pay a fee and come tryout for their team while being evaluated against other participating players. Many times, these tryouts have fewer participants than in combines but there might also only be one or two players picked up for the team. Nonetheless, it’s another way to be seen.

These are just some of the avenues that a player can take to gain exposure after college and to continue to try to play professionally. Players can also look into calling professional coaches about trying to get a tryout, participating in PDL, or talking to your college coach and seeing how he/she can help you through their own connections. Many players that have made it to the pros have a different story of how they got there, so don’t think that because you were not an All-American or highly sought after in college, that your dream to play professionally is over. It is not, it has really just begun.