A FEW KEYS TO SUCCESSFULLY UTILIZING MAPS / MSSL SHOWCASES

MAPS & MSSL sponsor three major SHOWCASES each year. The Winter Showcase occurs the last weekend in November and/or the first weekend in December, permitting many high school seniors a final opportunity to be seen before college applications fall due. The Spring Showcase occurs on Easter Weekend, on Good Friday and Easter Saturday (leaving Sunday free), and gives many high school juniors their first opportunity to encourage coaches to come out and watch them perform. The Summer Showcase occurs the first weekend in August.

Facilities such as Fort Dix are utilized, that allow coaches to access 10-12 fields worth of players at a time, all within line of sight and an easy stroll from each other. Unlike other showcases which often fixate on promoting only the most elite teams, our experience in MAPS has shown that college varsity-quality players fill the rosters of six to eight teams per major state association such as in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with many more individual college-worthy players found on other teams as well.

Therefore, we believe that the opportunity should lie with the player (and not be limited to the elite teams), and that it is our mandate to provide an opportunity for as many quality players to be on display as reasonably possible, and let the scouting coaches sort out for themselves which ones they need to see. NCAA Division One schools snapped up 151 high school seniors off MAPS boys teams in 2001, but 145 other players also went to NCAA Division Two and Three schools, NAIA, NJCAA, the A-League and even MLS. A full list of 2001’s placements is located elsewhere on this website.

Consistent with the stated philosophy, all timely-applying MAPS teams are guaranteed a spot at the Showcases, so players on MAPS teams can always be confidant that they can highlight their appearance at these events when contacting coaches. We also round out our participants with other quality teams from the region to generate as much interest and excitement as possible.

As always, the showcase appearance can be made significantly more successful by conscientiously doing the necessary preparation:

Players must contact coaches at schools in which they are interested. Contact information for coaches and soccer departments is available online for every college by finding the college’s website, then searching out varsity soccer programs under “Athletics” or “Student Life”.

Players should forward a "resume" to the coach contacted, listing their high school and club soccer history; positions played; honors awarded; ODP, select and all-star selections; significant experiences such as championships won, major tournaments entered and noteworthy camps attended; soccer references for club, school and special training; academic background including GPA, class standing, SAT and SAT2 scores, AP and honors courses and possible areas of academic interest. Remember, coaches like to see that players have “big game” experience and can handle pressure whatever the level, and coaches like to see that a recruited player has the academic background to stay away from eligibility problems.

Players should then advise coaches as to locations such at the MAPS WINTER SHOWCASE where they will be playing, providing initially the dates and site, then at a later date game times, fields and opponents as that information becomes available. Email makes such prompt updating of information easy, and multiple email contacts spaced over time allows players to display their genuine interest in the school and its program to the coach.

The earlier coaches are informed about player interest and expected showcases to be attended, the more likely coaches are to schedule their own attendance at an event. Don't wait for your senior year to start: coaches are hard-pressed to get around to seeing everyone who expresses interest during the narrow window of time between the end of the college soccer season and the date that college admission applications are due.

Also, don’t be misled by the number of coaches at an event. Mere attendance does not mean they will be watching your game. Coaches attend those games, and focus on those players that have laid the groundwork beforehand to assure a coach’s presence and attention. Your job is to get the coach in attendance to attend and watch YOUR game, and preferably to look at the specific player interested in his or her school.

We will post the list of colleges that are registering for the Showcase as we get close to the event. Part of the problem with compiling the list is that we have to consolidate information from at least three different registration channels coaches use. However, the list should exert limited influence over your preparations for this event.

Our experience has shown that about 20% of the coaches that eventually attend only register in the last week before the showcase. Another 30% never pre-register, but just show up unannounced. In other words, anyone waiting for this list is missing opportunities while waiting for work to be done for them.

Far more important is knowing which schools are pre-disposed to attend the Showcase if provided a reason to do so. In this respect, the list of registered schools from the previous year is a better indicator of who is likely to attend: these are coaches that are now familiar with the showcase, its structure, location, etc. These evaluators are predisposed to return if provided a compelling reason to do so. That reason is provided by a determination that there are players in attendance interested in their program that need to be evaluated.

In other words, contact, contact, contact! Players need to be in continual communication with schools they are interested in. Your time is better invested contacting a coach from a school the player truly wants to attend than writing to coaches from schools of marginal interest to the player.

Also remember, it is not enough to merely say that there were "coaches in attendance". The value is in convincing those evaluators to attend YOUR team's games. And evaluators will gravitate to games where they feel they have a legitimate chance of landing some of the talented players on the field. Players must identify their interest in a school through clear and crisp communication.

This is especially true for schools coming from out of the area. At the majority of schools, coaches will feel that landing a recruit from out of the area is remote, and not worth the investment of time, unless that player first expresses interest in attending the academic program, and then playing soccer as part of that interest. Conversely, though, coaches will go out of their way to see players interested in their school, if the likelihood of the player's team playing again in this area is limited. The same consideration can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the effort the player puts in! 

A “showcase” merely provides a venue where coaches and players can attend in respectively large numbers, and a context in which players can display their abilities under meaningful competition. MAPS showcases have been successful because the large number of teams competing within line of sight and easy strolling distance permit coaches to observe a large number of players that have contacted them within a single weekend. But the key word above is CONTACT!