I am not Kuiper, but my answer is: there's not much someone in the 85% can do.

Just consider the numbers: if a coach only has four spots, or six spots, and they see, say, 400 kids at three or four ID camps, they are only making offers to what, 10 players?

(Obviously this is for high academic/soccer schools)

So do the math. If they theoretically are making 10 offers to the population of kids at ID camps (which isn't even accurate, because not all recruits attend ID camps), not even all  the top 5% are getting offers. And I would guess only the top 10% will even be recruited.

I guess you might be asking how a player in the 85% pool could be considered a top 10% player, and I have no answer for that!

I remember the Middlebury coach telling parents at an ID camp that they only needed to see the player once. Going to more than one camp would not improve the player's chances of being recruited. And that's because the coaching staff would have formed their opinion the first day, and the opinion wasn't likely to change even if they saw the player for more time.

I believe Coach Singleton thinks in a different way to most people.

Interjecting to say that a great, but poor, player would get 100% financial aid at a "meets need" school they are recruited to. And some of these schools meet need with zero loans in their aid package. So they graduate debt free.

What you are talking about is a middle class family -- not poor -- who makes too much for financial aid, but not enough to pay now going on $400,000. And that is definitely an issue.

Agree the field was really bad. Washington and Lee's is much better.

Joining you in the post season depression,  especially since this marks the end of my son's playing career.

Some W&L players definitely were reading the board.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 10, 2024, 03:30:02 PMAnother Mom... Totally random... Are you familiar with the saying "Brother from Another Mother?"

Your username elicits a chuckle from me about once a week.

I can't decide if it's funnier if you are aware of the phrase or not.

I *am* familiar with the phrase :-)

Though, to be honest, that's not why I picked that username.

My view about posting while my son was playing:

- I never post about him

- I assume his teammates and/or coach are reading

- I never post info that might help their opponents. (Eg last year in the NCAA tournament my son's knee was lacerated to the bone, and he continued to play, even after ripping out the stitches -- the other teams didn't need to know that!)

I think the problem is, we all only have so much bandwidth. While I enjoy reading about other teams and conferences, I don't have the time or enough interest to watch teams other than W&L. And if I haven't watched them, I don't feel like I can comment knowledgeably.

I expect you'll still have me around next season, as I plan to keep watching W&L games.

I hate it when our opponents have good goalkeepers!! 😅

I think Silvester was named best defensive player of the Tournament (Max Landa was named best gk).

Yes, if it weren't for Silvester, W&L would have probably scored a goal or two.

So many congratulations to EnmoreCat and his son!

And now my thoughts start to turn to the Final. Will Conn's gk be enough to deny Amherst the title? I am dubious.

Completely agree with everything you wrote @jknezek.

Quote from: PaulNewman on December 06, 2024, 11:04:24 AMAM, it was Oct. 12...after a 3-0 win over CNU...so not a mundane win even though CNU faltered in the second half of the season. That was preceded in September by a few posts basically asking "what's going on here...did everyone already write W&L off? Starting to look like the team I expected."

Ha, well I guess I was right! 😅

Quote from: PaulNewman on December 06, 2024, 10:40:21 AMAM...maybe not a prediction but early on after the slow start and after W&L won a game or two against iirc some fairly mundane competition you posted that the team was starting to give you the same vibe as last year's team. And at the time, that seemed like a pretty wild stretch...and then you're in Vegas after emerging through a gauntlet to get there.

Congrats to your son on a fabulous W&L career.

Ah, true. I guess I realized the team wasn't nearly as bad as they looked after their first few games! I think people wrote them off after some early interest; and then (almost?) nobody watched their games as they improved.