Before you read on: you may not have a say. In ECNL, ECRL and GA, the league sets which showcases your team attends, and for those the answer is simple. Before sophomore year (roughly U15), you aren’t taking your child to be recruited; you’re going for the soccer and the experience. From sophomore year on, you play the season to play in the showcases, so yes, go.
If you do have a choice, here’s how to make it. Soccer showcases cost entry fees, hotels, flights and a weekend. So are soccer showcases worth it? Some are worth every dollar. Some aren’t. How do you tell?
Our rule is simple: which coaches attend × whether those schools fit your athlete. It’s the same math as for ID camps, and it keeps the decision about evidence, not hope.
Five questions to ask before you pay
- Which colleges came last year, and who is registered this year? Ask the organizer or a team that went, and check the event website about a month out; most post the registered colleges.
- At what levels? A showcase full of schools at the wrong level is the wrong showcase.
- Will your athlete actually be seen? Number of games, playing time and field assignments matter.
- Do the schools on your list attend? A showcase with twenty of your targets beats one with a hundred strangers.
- What’s the total cost? Entry, travel, hotel, food. Compare it to the number of coaches you can realistically get in front of.
Don’t pay for the promise
A showcase can promise “coaches in attendance.” That’s not the same as coaches watching your athlete. Be wary of marketing that sounds like a guarantee. No event can promise an offer or a scholarship, and a coach who watches one game hasn’t made a decision (what it means when a coach watches).
How to compare two showcases
Put the two options side by side and answer the five questions for each. Count the schools on your list that attended last year. Add up the real cost, including travel and a hotel. Then divide: how many coaches from your list can you realistically expect to see her play? The showcase with the better answer wins, even if it has the smaller name.
Prepare so the money works harder
If you go, make it count. Have your athlete email her schedule to the coaches on her list one to two weeks ahead (the showcase schedule email), and know how coaches generally watch a weekend (how coaches scout at showcases).
After you go, keep score
Write down who came, how many looks each college took and whether any came back. Over a season, you’ll know which events earned their cost. A list kept from each showcase is the best way to decide next year’s schedule (why “Miami was here” isn’t a coach list, four parents, two per half, one list). Repeat sightings matter most (why a coach’s third look matters).
When to skip one
Skip a showcase when most of the schools on your list don’t attend, when the cost would crowd out an event that fits better, or when your athlete would play very little. It’s fine to say no. A good family decision is one you can explain in two sentences.
Rules about when coaches can talk to families differ by level and date, so don’t pay for a promise of contact. Check the NCAA’s official recruiting page and the governing body for your athlete’s level.
Don’t let one weekend decide anything
Even a good showcase can go badly: an injury, a hard schedule, a quiet coach list. Plan so that no single weekend carries the whole recruiting campaign. One or two well-chosen events, plus the updates your athlete sends in between, usually do more than a pile of expensive weekends.
Ask other parents
The best source on a showcase is a family that went last year. Ask them how many games their athlete played, whether coaches from their list were there, and what they would do differently. Then compare their answers to your five questions.
Keep score at every showcase with the free CoachWatch Android beta.
I’mCommitted.ai, the recruiting app we’re building, is designed to put the whole season in one place, so next year’s schedule is based on evidence, not hope.
