Carlos Gonzalez Helps Players Connect with Schools

College Soccer Guide is a bespoke program started by Carlos Gonzales.  

Carlos played Division I soccer at the University of San Diego and he has been a club soccer coach in Southern California for 20 + years.   

During that time, College Soccer Guide has been able to help hundreds of players, move on to the next level.  It all started with coaching high level competitive teams with players that wanted to play college soccer. 

The players and parents on his teams would ask him for advice regarding the college recruiting process, so he started to show them what to do.  He soon realized they need even more help, so he created a process and an online course that would them through the process step by step.  Overtime, the course has developed in a a combination of personal consulting along with the step by step process. 

College Soccer Guide recognizes there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when choosing a college. He saw how difficult it was to know how to navigate the process and recognized that there was a need for connecting players with schools and that many families were seeking direction. He created a step-by-step procedure that his players could follow to help them first identify, and then connect with the program that would be the best fit for them. Thus, College Soccer Guide was born.

College Soccer Guide assists players identify a school that will be a good fit for them, much like a college counselor. Most kids tend to pick the top 10-15 recognized schools and think that is where they want to go. This doesn’t mean that the school is always the best fit. It may not have the course of study they want. It may not be a size that will be comfortable for them. There are many factors that should be considered when choosing a soccer program. The school and classwork also have to be considered, along with the soccer program.

Scholarships

Because of Title 9, fully funded women’s programs can offer enough scholarship money to cover 14 full scholarships. A fully funded men’s program can offer up to 9 full scholarships worth of money allotted to them. Very seldom is the full scholarship allotment given to one player. More often, it is split up amongst the team.

Scholarships can be combined, so students often combine academic and other scholarships with the athletic portion. Players also need to remember that athletic scholarships are given on a yearly basis. They can be increased or diminished or even taken away completely. This should be factored in when looking at the size of the scholarship with relationship to ability to attend a school.

Highlight Reels

Since COVID, College Soccer Guide has focused on the players’ highlight reels. Coaches for well-recognized colleges may receive hundreds of videos. They don’t have time to view these. According to Carlos, a good highlight reel should be only 4-5 minutes in length. If the player has captured the coach’s attention, the coach will make plans to come watch the player live and in action.  

College Coaches

NCAA has strict guidelines governing the behavior of College coaches. While they are permitted to watch youth games and players at any age, they cannot speak to a player directly about college until June 15 of the players’ sophomore year. Students can reach out to colleges anytime. A coach is not supposed to respond directly to the student BUT… they can respond with a general questionnaire or canned responses. They may even be able to use some language that suggests they are interested. On June 15th coaches can start calling the sophomore players they are most interested in.

How Does College Soccer Guide Work

The College Soccer Guide program usually starts with a 15-30 minute free consultation.  In this meeting, Carlos gets will ask about the player’s college soccer goals and find out where they are in the process.  This gives him a good idea of what they have done so far and how he can help them get started or overcome any obstacles.  He shares the details of the program which includes 1on1 meetings, a customized action plan based on the player’s needs and full access to all the steps that will walk them through the process.  Before working with a player, Carlos wants to ensure that they are committed to accomplishing their goals of playing college soccer and following his steps. This first meeting is as much an interview for him to see if the player and family will be a good fit as it is for them to see if the wish to proceed. 

The majority of the work happens at the beginning of the process. This is when a lot of focus is put on helping to identify the schools that will be the best fit for that student. Once the target list of schools is identified, the plan of action becomes much more streamlined. When the list of schools has been identified, Carlos works with each of his students assisting them with reaching out to their selected programs. Carlos charges an annual membership for parents to invest in their student-athletes future.  For this price, students receive full access to him, the online lessons, player profile, highlight video platform, college search tools and favorites list. They schedule regular zoom meetings to go over action steps and the student is able to reach out directly between these meetings as needed.

If you would like to schedule a free consultation, you can click here. 

Carlos is also the Vice President for College Recruiting for Total Global Sports (TGS), a College Recruiting Software Company, where he has been able to integrate his steps and lessons to make it easier and more accessible for players to have everything on one platform.  

This January 2021,  he was recruited by Total Global Sports (TGS). TGS works with top leagues, clubs, tournaments and showcase events which gives them access to high level players across the country.  They also wanted to add more to their College Recruiting Program.  They wanted to be able to offer college support for their players and recognized his brand as one they wanted to connect with. Even though he is now the VP for recruiting for Total Global Sports, he also continues to work independently with individual players as well.