Your Bridge from Club Soccer to College Student Athlete
iSoccerPath’s mission is to provide an honest and informative path for youth soccer families that enables student athletes to maximize recruiting and educational opportunities at the collegiate level.
The first annual soccerloco Surf Cup College Coach Education Panel hosted by iSoccerPath, for U-15 through U-17 Boys and Girls takes place this Saturday, July 25 at the Del Mar Marriott.
The College Coach Education Panel includes top level head and assistant coaches at every Division of College soccer (D1, D2, D3, NAIA and JC) as well as current high school placement counselors to come in and spend up to two hours answering your questions and learning the latest NCAA recruiting rules to make your process the best it can be for your son or daughter. Additionally, our education counselor will give up to date information on the ever-changing Standardized Tests, AP Courses, and core classes that need to be taken at every grade level in high school in order to make your student athlete NCAA compliant.
iSoccerPath also offers a one of a kind comprehensive parent/player education and assistance program that encompasses both on field evaluations and in home/on line tutorial sessions for families of competitive soccer players.
Starting at the 8th grade level thru High School Senior graduation, iSoccerPath’s program includes every aspect of the process to identify and achieve your child’s true potential in the classroom and on the field to find the best college fit.
SoccerToday spoke with Jeff Jaye, Founder and Program Director, to get more information about iSoccerpath:
Diane Scavuzzo: What gave you the idea to do this?
Jeff Jaye: Both my kids are D1 soccer players and we went thru the five year process from 8th to 12th and I learned on the fly how daunting the process is. The biggest misconception was that our club or coach was responsible for getting players into college and that simply is not true nowadays. I started getting requests from friends and players to help them and it sort of just took off as a real need for the soccer community. I started the company with the idea 18 months ago and we launched this past February.
Diane Scavuzzo: Are you surprised at the response?
Jeff Jaye: We have a reputation for putting on the highest attended and most informative College Education Nights in the Bay Area. We have done 20 of them this past year and had over 1,500 soccer families attend and we are just getting into the So Cal market. However, parents and players are thirsty for knowledge and education on the process as it changes every year. Which was proven by the overwhelming response the day the invites went out. We received 700 rsvps in less than 12 hours and have a waitlist of another 100 people, which is also an attribute to the Soccerloco Surf Cup reputation for putting on the top events with the top partner companies and college coaches.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you think you’re doing differently than other people?
Jeff Jaye: We streamline the process to make it step by step, and manageable for parents and players to handle. At every college coach panel, the question comes up as to ‘what value that college coaches put on monthly pay for exposure services’, and every time the answer is a big thumbs down. College coaches don’t even open the emails from outside exposure/ recruiting services. We have designed iSoccerpath as not a recruiting service, but an education and evaluation company so that we can work directly with college coaches and staffs around the country and be NCAA compliant. At this point we are the first to market with our concept designed by soccer parents and coaches to cover all aspects of the process. Our promise is to be the Bridge Between Your Club and College and work with your club on the 80% of the process where the club takes care of their most important 20%.
Diane Scavuzzo: What makes this so special?
Jeff Jaye: The fact that we took the process down to the organic level of each grade year and then break it down to a calendar for parents and players to follow. We also added an actual on field game and our own client camp evaluations by USSF National Staff coaches two times a year to get to the ultimate goal of every parent and player in soccer: what colleges and programs and divisions should they be looking at and spending money and time on.
Our process is honest and we ethically let parents and players know asap where they are at a technical, talent and education level.
We also have two very unique programs that no one else has, our College Mentor program where current college players are available to talk to our clients about their experience and help them make navigate the process. We have found that teenagers are more at ease with talking with players and those nearer their age then parents and coaches.
Lastly, and one program that came straight from a college D1 coach up in Washington, is the “How to interview with a college coach” night. We saw that many players don’t know how to do face to face and phone interviews due to the social media world of texting. Our first night was standing room only of over 100 families. We bring in one of the top college coaches in the country and conduct one-on-one phone interviews and role playing in office interviews while taping them and then reviewing them on the pros and cons.
Diane Scavuzzo: What is the biggest complaint from college coaches?
Jeff Jaye: The biggest complaint we see from college coaches, who had a very big part in helping us design what they want to see, is that parents and players find out where they slot at in the process and come to them ready to interview.
For more information on how to become a client, email info@isoccerpath.com.
