Originally Posted By: BoardLord
Originally Posted By: Anonymous
My son will be in 10th grade this fall and will be playing for a U-16 DAP team (not in NY area). He has played every minute of every game as centerback the last two years on his pre-academy team and has reason to believe he will see significant playing time on the Academy team. I know that he should contact college coaches in advance of playing in showcases, but what does a centerback say to get a coach's attention? He can't point to goals scored although he gets the occasional assist. Is it harder for a defender to get recruited? Any advice is appreciated.
College coaches need to recruit for four general areas : offense, midfield, defense, and keeper. Looking at a defender expecting that the goals/assist sheet will tell the story is clearly an error.

A defender should be discussing field vision, containment (breaking down), forcing play to the outside, playing the ball wide, control in the air (headers), composure under pressure, control on set pieces (corners, direct kicks, indirect kicks), and ability to handle different defensive formations. Versatility always helps including the ability to play other positions like outside defense and outside midfield. As a college freshman, your student-athlete is looking to "win minutes" and the greater your child's versatility, the better the chances that your student-athlete will be seeing field time.


Thanks for the response. The problem is the higher the level he plays at the fewer opportunities he is given to play other positions. The team has an abundance of midfielders and forwards and a shortage of skilled defenders, so midfielders and forwards are moved back to fill in at outside back rather than moving the centerbacks to those positions. Centerback seems to be a position that no one wants to play, and that no parents want to see their child play. I am encouraging him to play in some non-DAP competitions this summer so that he can play other positions, but once the DAP season starts this fall it will be back to playing CB. It is difficult to figure out how to make him look good on paper when contacting coaches when there are no measurable standards for the at position.