I started playing soccer at the age of five in a small recreational league in Lake Orion, Michigan. After trying baseball, basketball, and football I knew soccer was my sport. By age thirteen I made my way onto the best travel team in Michigan, Vardar Soccer Club. At that point I knew I was on the right track to play college soccer, so I set my goals high shooting to play at a Division I program.
Neither my family nor I had any idea on what the recruiting process was all about. I thought I was on the right track by going to showcase tournaments and playing on a premier team. Little did I know, that was only a small part of the recruiting process. I put together a profile of myself which included an introduction letter, a list of my accomplishments, newspaper clippings, and contact information. The next step was mailing my profile out to about 20-25 schools. The mistake I made was that I never followed up with these coaches asking them if they received my information. I didn’t send one email or call a single coach; I thought they would contact me, that wasn’t the case. I received a few letters from schools, but was not heavily recruited out of high school.
The only schools I visited were because of the relations I had in the soccer community. I knew a player at Cleveland State University and I knew the coach at Eastern Michigan; those are the only two visits I took. Luckily, the Eastern Michigan coach offered me a spot on their roster. If my family didn’t l know this coach, I don’t know where I would have ended up. You can say that I was lucky to find a school that wanted me.
Going into my freshman year of college I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. The first week of practice, I had to sit out because one of my classes from high school wasn’t cleared by the Eligibility Center. This was extremely frustrating because I thought I had completed everything correctly. After a few days of sitting out, I was cleared to play; it was just a minor set back.
After my sophomore year at Eastern the athletic department discontinued the soccer program. My teammates and I were devastated with no where to turn. I still had two years of eligibility and I knew that I still wanted to play. I had to start the whole recruiting process all over. Again, this is where luck struck me for the second time. I knew a player at Western Michigan University where I eventually landed and played those final two years.
If I could sum my recruiting process up in a few words I would say: “Challenging but Rewarding.” I hit a lot of road blocks, had a lot of headaches, but eventually I found the perfect fit for myself.
