High School Soccer News – Focus on Oregon State ID Camp
Soccer players from across the country travelled to Corvallis, Oregon to attend Oregon State University’s Men’s Soccer ID camp in December.
Steve Simmons, the Beavers’ head coach, and his staff had assembled a diverse and impressive group of regional college coaches to put the college hopefuls through their paces over the 1-day camp. The Beavers’ men’s soccer program had just finished an impressive PAC12 performance, earning a bid to the NCAA D1 championship tournament and winning their first game against the University of Denver before falling in the second round to Creighton.
AT the 2015 MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia, Oregon State Forward Khiry Shelton was drafted by NYCFC with the second pick, cementing Oregon State’s Men’s Soccer team as a top D1 program.
Coach Simmons gathered players and parents in Reser Center, home of OSU athletics, in a banquet area overlooking the Beavers’ football field. Coach Simmons gave the players what he described as a “scared straight” talk about the commitment level required at D1 soccer programs. “Soccer will be your life in a D1 program. You will attend your classes and train. There is no time for anything else. You will not have a life outside of your classes and soccer. That is the level of commitment that is required at D1 soccer programs,” Simmons explained. “There are very competitive programs at D2, D3, and NAIA schools,” Simmons elaborated, “where, for example, you won’t get back from Winter Break and have a really tough fitness test at 7am the morning after you get back to campus.” Other coaches from D2, D3, and NAIA Oregon schools laughed and nodded in agreement.
Coach Simmons explained that all of the coaches would be observing the soccer action throughout the day, paying close attention to first touch, movement off the ball, communication, speed, how players respond to coaching, and how the players react to mistakes. He told the players and parents that if they were interested in the player as a potential OSU recruit, “You’ll hear from us.”
After the recruiting talk, the players and coaches headed to the OSU practice facilities — two full-sized fields, side by side, one indoor, one outdoor. The boys were split into their groups for the day, and they rotated through a series of stations where coaches put them through passing and shooting drills.
Once every group had visited every station, the players took some time to rest. Then came what all of the boys were waiting for — full-size 11v11 scrimmages. The coaches set the lineups and teams began scrimmaging each other, rotating between fields and opponents.
The coaches gave an encouraging talk to all of the boys after the scrimmages, explaining that they were impressed with the level of soccer they had seen throughout the day. Coach Simmons encouraged the boys to come back to OSU over the summer for their multi-day team camp where they would get an even better chance to experience a D1 soccer program and have more time in front of coaches.
Beyond the obvious benefits of getting seen by college coaches, players and parents agreed that the camp was a positive learning experience.
Communicating with coaches, performing under pressure, traveling far from home — all of these experiences were life lessons that they will take into adulthood on and off the soccer field.
