This weeks recruiting horror story is about a soccer player named Ben*. Ben was super excited to start his collegiate soccer career. He had officially committed to a DIII school and was admitted through regular decision. Ben was so happy to be able to announce on his social media and to his family and friends that he had finally committed to a school. The men's soccer Instagram account even posted that Ben was one of the incoming recruits!

In the summer, Ben followed the summer packet super strictly and even added on some extra workouts to make sure that he would be in the best shape when he had to leave for preseason in August. He had met the other freshmen online and had talked to a few of them about the season. They all seemed so nice and he couldn't wait to meet them in person and be teammates for four years!

Ben showed up to school in August and was very nervous but also excited to be able to start his collegiate soccer career. The team seemed so nice and a lot of them were super funny. On the first day, the team met with the coaches, trainers, and other staff to go over important information. The second day was when everything started to get more real. The first practice seemed to go well. Ben passed the fitness test and thought he did pretty well during the rest of the training. However, at the end of the training, the coach broke some devastating news. The number of players on the team was too many to put on a roster. This meant that at the end of preseason, 5 players would be cut from the team. As Ben talked to more of the older players, he learned that this was something his coach did every year. He would recruit too big of a freshman class and make every player (even the returners) earn their spots again in the fall. In theory, this could be a great way to make sure your players work extra hard during the off-season. However, Ben just thought it would have been nice to have a bit of a warning. All the freshmen came in without any knowledge of cuts.

Ben worked his butt off during the two weeks of preseason, but it didn't seem to be enough. On one of the last days before the real season started, his coach brought him into his office and let him know he did not make the team. This was so hard for Ben to hear, and it was even harder to have to tell his close friends and family that the team he was so proud to be on didn't work out. 

There is no guaranteed way to make sure this recruiting horror story does not happen to you, but the best thing to do would be to talk with a current player before your season starts. Ask about preseason and the fitness tests, and if you feel comfortable, it wouldn't hurt to ask if your coach does cuts. Hopefully if your coach does, you would know in advance, but if not, it would be better to know ahead of time than to get caught off-guard at practice.

*Name changed for anonymity.