What We Got Wrong, and Right, About ID Camps

After my daughter tore her ACL and missed her junior year, ID camps felt incredibly important.

When you lose a major recruiting window, there is a natural urge to make up for lost time. Once she was finally back on the field, camps seemed like one of the few clear ways to get her in front of college coaches again. So we did a lot of them.

Some helped.

Many did not.

Looking back, I think ID camps are one of the most misunderstood parts of the recruiting process. They are not useless, but they are also not magic. They only really help when a few things line up: the player is ready, the school is a real fit, and there is genuine recruiting interest.

We did not always get that right.

Why Camps Felt So Important

My daughter missed her entire junior year, which is a huge stretch in the recruiting process. On top of that, she was not playing for one of the biggest recruiting pipelines. She was a very good player, but she was at a smaller club, so we felt like we had to work harder to create exposure once she came back.

Camps felt like a direct way to do that.

In theory, they made perfect sense. Show up, compete, get seen, and maybe move the process forward.

In reality, it was a lot messier than that.

What We Got Wrong: We Went Too Early

One of the biggest lessons we learned was that being medically cleared is not the same as being fully back.

That sounds obvious now, but it did not fully register at the time.

My daughter was cleared to play, but early on she was still rebuilding conditioning, rhythm, confidence, and some of the off-ball freedom that had always been part of her game. She showed flashes, but she was not fully herself yet.

That matters at camps.

If a coach sees a player too early in the return process, they may be evaluating a partial version of that player. And in recruiting, especially at camps, coaches are often making judgments from a very small sample.

Urgency can trick families into chasing exposure before the athlete is ready for it.

That is a mistake.

If I could do it over again, I would be even more careful about timing those early camps.

What We Got Wrong: We Treated Too Many Camps Like Good Opportunities

We went to camps at colleges, camps run through youth clubs, and third-party camps. At the time, it felt productive. It felt like we were doing something.

But doing something is not the same as doing the right thing.

Looking back, too many of those camps were not a good use of time, money, or energy. In particular, a lot of the Division I camps did not lead anywhere. Many of those programs already seemed close to done recruiting by then, even if that was not obvious up front.

Some of those camps did lead to more D3 visits, offers, and some NAIA interest, so they were not all total losses. But the big lesson was clear: not every camp is worth attending just because it exists.

That was one of the hardest things to learn, because camps can make you feel like you are making progress even when you are not.

The Biggest Lesson: Go Where There Is Real Fit or Real Interest

This is probably the clearest advice I would give to other families.

Go to camps for schools your athlete would genuinely want to attend.

Or go to camps where the coaching staff has already shown genuine interest.

Everything else is usually a waste of time.

That sounds harsh, but I think it is true.

A camp makes the most sense when at least one of these is already in place: the school is a place your athlete would seriously consider, or the coaching staff is actively engaging and there are signs of real recruiting interest.

If neither is true, you are often just paying to hope.

And hope gets expensive fast.

How We Learned to Separate Real Opportunities From Expensive Dead Ends

We learned this lesson through experience.

Example 1: The D2 Camp That Was Never Really a Fit

My daughter emailed a D2 coach before a showcase, and he invited her to their camp the following weekend.

At first, that felt encouraging. We thought maybe that was a real opportunity.

Looking back, I do not think there was much real recruiting interest there. My impression is that he mostly wanted more numbers at the camp. We went, toured the campus, and my daughter ended up hating both the campus and the surrounding area.

So in the end, it was not a fit from either side.

That was a good lesson for us. A camp invitation is not the same thing as genuine recruiting interest. And if the school is not somewhere your athlete would actually want to attend, the trip is probably not worth it.

Example 2: The D1 Camp That Was Already Over Before It Started

Another time, we drove 3.5 hours to a Division I camp because we thought there was real interest from the coach.

After the camp, my daughter spoke with her and found out they were already done recruiting for her class.

That was a tough lesson.

What we thought was a live opportunity was not really a live opportunity at all. On top of that, my daughter ended up not liking the school that much anyway.

That experience reinforced something important: before you spend the time and money to go to a camp, make sure the school is a place your athlete would truly consider, make sure the coach has genuine interest, and make sure the program is still actively recruiting that class.

Example 3: The Camp Where No One Could Really Be Identified

In another case, my daughter emailed a D1 school and asked directly if they were still recruiting for her class.

They said they were and told her to come to their ID camp.

On the surface, that sounded like exactly the kind of camp worth attending. The school said they were recruiting. She took the initiative. They invited her.

But when she got there, the camp was run in a way that made it hard for the coaches to identify players. The players were not given numbers or any clear way to be tracked on the field.

She followed up after the camp, and they said they were not interested.

My honest takeaway is that they may not have even known who they were watching for large parts of the event.

That taught us another lesson: even if a school says it is recruiting, a poorly run camp may not give your athlete a real chance to be evaluated. A camp only helps if the coaches can actually identify and assess the players there.

When Camps Actually Did Help

Not every useful camp led directly to an offer, but the ones that helped usually created real follow-up and moved the process forward in some way.

Example 4: When a Camp Was Part of a Real Recruiting Path

One example where it did work involved a Division II school my daughter was genuinely interested in. She emailed them several times during the summer and, unlike many other schools, actually got a response. She went to their camp and did not even have her best day, but she stayed in touch with the staff afterward. That ended up mattering more than the camp performance itself.

In the fall, she had a phone call with them. Then in January, they came to watch her at a showcase. In February, she went for a visit, practiced with the team, and ended up getting an offer.

That was a much better example of what real interest looks like.

It was not one camp and done. It was steady communication, mutual interest, live evaluation, a visit, and then an offer.

Example 5: When a Third-Party Camp Created Traction

She also went to a third-party ID camp with a lot of college coaches there, but also a lot of players. Those events can be hard because the numbers make it difficult for coaches to really evaluate everyone well.

Still, she played well and talked to several coaches afterward. That led to a number of invitations to on-campus ID camps, although I am not sure how genuine all of those invitations were. One of those connections did turn into something meaningful, though. She was invited to visit a Division III school, took the visit, and ended up getting an offer.

That experience showed us that third-party camps can help create exposure and open doors, especially if they lead to a more direct next step. But by themselves, they are usually just the beginning, not the breakthrough.

That was another important lesson for us.

Real recruiting usually feels like a process, not a one-off event.

What We Also Got Wrong: We Focused Too Much on D1 at First

My daughter's dream was to play Division I soccer, and that shaped a lot of our thinking early on. That is understandable, but in hindsight, I think we spent too much time chasing D1 opportunities that were not very realistic at that stage of her return.

Meanwhile, some of the better-fit D2 and D3 opportunities probably deserved more attention earlier than they got.

That does not mean you should not aim high. It means you have to be honest about the moment you are in.

Recruit where the real opportunity is, not just where the dream says it should be.

What We Got Right: We Kept Learning

Even the camps that were not worth it taught us something.

We learned how coaches interacted with players. We learned that some events were much more about revenue than recruiting. We learned that a coach replying does not automatically mean a player is being seriously recruited. We learned to pay attention to whether the school was a real fit, whether the class was still open, and whether the camp environment was actually built for evaluation.

Mistakes are expensive in this process, but they can still sharpen your strategy.

Ours did.

What We Got Right: We Adjusted

By late summer and fall, we got more realistic and more selective.

We shifted more of our focus toward Division II schools, especially in Texas and Colorado. We started thinking harder about fit and timing instead of just exposure. We got less interested in quantity and more interested in quality.

That was the right move.

Not because D1 was impossible, but because recruiting works better when you spend your time where there is a believable path.

What We Got Right: Camps Worked Better When They Were Part of a Bigger Strategy

Camps by themselves usually did not do much.

The camps that mattered most were connected to a broader plan:

emailing coaches beforehand
following up afterward
having better film
getting help from advocates like her skills coach
showing up when she was actually ready to perform well

That is another lesson I would emphasize. Camps work best as part of a larger recruiting strategy. They are not the strategy.

Timing Changed Everything

Later in the process, once she had a much stronger highlight video that finally led with her best clips, more confidence, and more of her actual game back, the response changed.

That was not an accident.

Coaches could finally see the right version of her.

And that is the part many families underestimate: the right event at the right time is far more valuable than a dozen events at the wrong time.

Signs a Camp May Be Worth It

A camp is more likely to be worth it when:

it is at a school your athlete would truly want to attend
the school is a real fit academically, athletically, and socially
there has already been meaningful communication with the staff
the athlete is healthy enough to perform close to her real level
the program is still recruiting that class
the camp is organized in a way that allows coaches to clearly identify and evaluate players

Signs a Camp May Not Be Worth It

A camp is less likely to be worth it when:

the athlete is only recently cleared and still not really herself
the school is not a genuine fit
the coach response is vague or generic
the program may already be done recruiting that class
the camp feels like a mass event instead of a real evaluation setting
there is no clear way for coaches to identify who they are watching

What I Would Do Differently Now

If I had to do it over again, I would:

wait longer before attending the first wave of camps
be much more selective
ask harder questions before committing time and money
spend less on broad exposure and more on targeted opportunities
focus earlier on the full range of levels: D1, D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO
treat coach replies and camp invites with a little more skepticism

Final Takeaway

ID camps are not useless.

But they are not magic either.

They work best when the athlete is ready, the school is a real fit, and the interest is genuine. The biggest mistake is thinking that more camps automatically means better recruiting.

If I could tell other parents one thing, it would be this:

Do not let fear drive your camp decisions.

Be honest about where your athlete is. Be selective about where you go. Ask better questions. And remember that one well-timed, well-targeted camp can matter far more than ten random ones.

The camps that mattered were the ones tied to real fit or real interest. Most of the rest were just expensive ways to feel busy.

Start With a State Board Before You Register

If you are planning ID camps this spring or summer, compare the options before you spend the money. Start with the state board, then narrow by school fit, division, cost, geography, and whether you have real coach communication.

For a broader planning framework, read How to Get Recruited for College Soccer.

The point is not to attend every camp. The point is to stop treating camps like lottery tickets.