Knowledge is half the battle

George Kuntz is molding his 17th class of mens’ soccer players as a collegiate soccer coach this year.

The UC Irvine men’s coach has been around long enough to know what works and what doesn’t, at least for his program.

Now that the recruiting zoo at UC Irvine has begun to die down as national signing day approaches on Wednesday, Kuntz had a little time to offer his opinion about how soccer players can best connect with college coaches and programs.

Private, unaffiliated talent showcases tend to be a wash. But college camps can be a great way for more obscure players to catch the eye of a coach when they might have otherwise gone unrecruited.

Club and high school tournaments are reliable for scouting talent, but Kuntz thinks the newly-minted U.S. soccer developmental academies don’t have much on some of the best club leagues. In his eyes, the money parents spend on travel for said academies might be better spent on first-semester books and extra-long twin-size sheets for the college-minded set.

The academies have become a source of recent controversy because they operate eight months out of the year, and this has forced many teenage boys to make the choice of playing for an academy club or playing for their high school.

Because the Southern California high school soccer season takes place during the winter months, high school players here must choose between the academy club, which travels frequently, and their high school teams.

“I’ve heard club coaches would absolutely stand behind the academy because their players are playing year-round,” Kuntz said. “I think it’s absolute chaos. There was a disconnect between the governing bodies to let everyone know what’s going on.”

The creation of the academies seems to have widened a chasm between two separate agendas: playing soccer and using it as a vehicle to get to college, and playing soccer to one day represent the U.S. in international play.

“The academy is for elite players,” Kuntz said. “But when you have 10 million, 9 million kids under the age of 18 [playing soccer], the pyramid is pretty tight.”

Neither Kuntz nor Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer coach Bryan Middleton thought the academies were a bad idea. For men’s soccer, they deemed them necessary.

“The academy is the way the United States is trying to gain some ground in developing youth soccer so the men’s team will have future success,” Middleton said. “There would be more of a need because as a country we’re still behind the soccer powerhouse nations in developing our players. It’s an outlet for the national team coaches to view players in a tournament setting.”

Kuntz simply took issue with the way the academies were organized.

If an athlete’s top goal is to play soccer in college, academy play isn’t necessary, because there are plenty of athletes who are good enough to play college soccer, but don’t possess the elite skill set required for academy soccer.

“Some [college] coaches would tell you that they don’t recruit in high school, but I can tell you that high school soccer can be great to recruit from,” Kuntz said. “It helps their self-confidence, and it helps them garner more recognition among their peers and in the community, and it allows them to get more game experience. The pros far outweigh the cons for young people getting an opportunity to play high school sports. They may have the ambition to play for four year schools, but some of them may not have the opportunity to play, so this may be the last stop.”

That’s not to say that club soccer isn’t almost a necessity for athletes looking to make the jump from high school to college.

Kuntz estimated that 95% of soccer players in Division I college programs played club soccer.

Still, it’s not the only way for a player to be noticed.

Kuntz found former UCI player Cameron Dunn, now with the Orange County Blue Star, playing for his high school team. He recruited Chivas USA striker Anthony Hamilton after seeing him play with his club and high school teams.

While club tournaments are significant because they allow coaches to see many high-level players at one time, high school tournaments can be influential as well.

This year was the first year under Middleton that the Corona del Mar girls’ team traveled to a high school tournament, the Tri-Valley Invitational. It’s one of the biggest high school soccer tournaments in Northern California. Middleton, who has been coaching high school soccer for 12 years, said he saw coaches from UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Clara, and Stanford in the viewing deck.

Participating in those events doesn’t replace club experience, Middleton said, but “It’s the icing on the cake. Eighty percent of that cake is club, but the high school is the icing. The college coaches can view my players in a different setting with their club team. They can see how they shine individually within a program.”

At a recent Laguna Hills-Corona del Mar game, Middleton received a handful of fliers, invitations to an upcoming “elite college showcase clinic.” There was a $225 participation fee, and it advertised that 20 college coaches would be present, including 10 Division I coaches.

Kuntz wouldn’t deem the showcases rip-offs, but said, “It’s a business.”

“There’s so many rules now with college coaches to do those types of things, they may become more scarce unless they’re sanctioned by the NCAA,” he continued. “For the most part, those are not the best identification of talent. Sometimes they put coaches’ names in there that aren’t even going. Its definitely not what it’s billed.”

In one case, Kuntz’s name was listed on a flier without his permission. He said he called the organizers, who he’d never heard from, to tell them he would not be present.

Attending college camps gives prospective athletes an opportunity to meet with coaches and players to determine a good fit, Kuntz said. They can decide whether like everything from the cafeteria food to the paint in the dorm rooms.

A deadly accurate left foot or lightning quick reflexes may be important, but they’re even more effective in the hands of a savvy, well-informed recruit.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.