What are the best college camps for entering senior year? I have interest from schools, but I just am curious what most people think?

Thanks

Dear arsenalrules : "College camps" is a topic that we have often discussed here on the BOTN College Forum.

Before we share some of the previous postings, let's cover our cardinal rule for camp selection : Attend a camp associated with your target college or coach if and only if that coach has already seen you play and expressed an interest in having you potentially join the roster.

Camps are relatively expensive vehicles for showcasing and your family should have some type of verbal agreement with the college coach as to your student-athlete's position on the depth chart particularly if you are having your child attend for recruitment purposes.

Now, for some additional postings on the subject here on the College Forum :

College Camps : Some Guidelines
Using Your Top Ten College List to Drive Camp Selection
Issues with College Camps as Showcase Events
Conversations Before Attending a College Camp

what about junior prospect clinics or 1 day clinics, do you recommend that there is a conversation with coaching staff prior to attending?

Ok, thanks for the info. What happens if a few coaches are definitely watching me play in the next few weeks; Should I delay as much as possible to signup for those camps to confirm interest or will I risk being sold out of the camp? Thanks Again

Great info on this site!

What would you recommend for camps for between Freshman/Sophmore year?

Is it worth going to get a "college like" experience? or is a waste of time and money?

My daughter is a decent (not great but very good) player on a R1 Premier team. Several of her teammates are planning to go to camps this summer.

She has great academics but not likely a top tier D1 soccer prospect. It is more likely a mid-level D1 or D3 team would be her soccer target school with top quartile academics. She has no idea on major, etc. yet but as freshman in HS, I wouldnt expect her to. She is my oldest so having never been through this, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Your welcome

Since you indicate later in this discussion that your daughter has not chosen a potential college major, we can likely safely assume that you have not yet built a listing of your "Top Ten" Academic and Athletic choices. Without that map, you are flying blind in terms of choosing a camp for recruitment purposes.
You are correct. We haven't made a top 10 Academic and Athletic list yet but after reading all the threads here, I will definitely start that process with her. In your experience, does this list change a lot from freshman to senior years? I would think it would but probably is still good idea to have a "work in progress" list.
Not to punt on this question, but "worth" is something that your family has to measure based on your budget and student-athlete's desires. BOTN would recommend that a freshman or sophomore year player focus on playing summer showcases with their premier level team to increase exposure and increase the chances of desired target coaches being able to see you play.
When I said "worth", I was talking about if the camp experience is a realistic exposure to life on a college team or at least to what college coaches expect and emphasize. Do freshman players even interact with current players or the coaches at these camps? The costs seem to be a little higher than a typical camp but that is not my main consideration of worth. Again, is the camp a social event (friends), a skills event (individual), or something that you have targeted for a recruitment and exposure need (future)? We would prefer seeing a freshman level team focus on some summer showcase events in an effort to laying that foundation for the sophomore/junior/senior year push that really starts at U/16.
Her team is scheduled to do several showcase tournaments this year. The camp would hopefully be a little social, a lot skills, and not necessarily recruitment exposure to a specific school but an introduction to what she can expect in the coming years. I was also hoping she could see a little of what life could be like on a college campus by living in a dorm for week and interacting with similar minded students/players.

Without having invested some time into researching potential schools, it is impossible to say anything about possible level. Certainly, Patriot League schools are academically excellent across the board (Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, American and others) however these are considered lower level Division I teams when it comes to soccer competitions. NESCAC Division III options are always superior academically with a range of competition levels.
I understand that there are various degrees of academic and athletic levels at both D1 and D3 schools. I think my point here was she is not a top 10 soccer school prospect and I dont expect her to get a full ride to Duke for example. She may not be an athletic scholarship at all. But academics are very important to us and if she can use her soccer skills to get into a better academic school, we would be happy with that. D1 D2 or D3.
In summary, some summer showcases should be the first priority with any camps being used to fill-in down time. That said, the showcases that you attend in the Spring 2012 season (and early Summer 2012) should be guiding your student-athlete in directions of interest.

Hope that this information helps.

Her team is scheduled to do several showcase tournaments this year. The camp would hopefully be a little social, a lot skills, and not necessarily recruitment exposure to a specific school but an introduction to what she can expect in the coming years. I was also hoping she could see a little of what life could be like on a college campus by living in a dorm for week and interacting with similar minded students/players.