Bates College Men’s Soccer – Coach Juliano Pereira
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Pereira from the Bates College Men’s Program in Maine. We talk about how they have to use a little bit unique recruiting calendar. He describes the school culture of helping each other on and off the field. Lastly, we discuss their tough conference that requires players to adapt. Learn more about Bates College Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Nano from Bates College up in Maine. Welcome, Coach.
Coach: Thanks a lot, Matt.
Thanks for being here. Yeah, you know, one of those, uh, very high academic NESCAC schools, uh, up in the Northeast, which I know a lot of people are interested in.
Um, so, you know, we’re here in January. It’s kind of the, really the, the start of, of recruiting season, really, uh, now that the season’s wrapped up. So for you guys. You know, cause I know kind of those NESCAC schools are maybe a little bit different than most division threes. How far along are you right now in the class of 24?
How much are you looking at the class of 25? Kind of what’s your calendar generally look like?
Coach: Yeah, yeah, I think you’re right that the year has different phases, right? And we kind of entered this new phase of, of, uh, recruiting right now. Um, so we just finished our 2024 class. Um, our application deadline was January 10th.
So, um, we only can consider people who have applied by that deadline. We don’t have any ability to get kids in after that. So they would have had to apply already for 2024. Um, and I think it, it varies year by year exactly when we, we kind of finish our class or start the next class, [00:01:30] um, depending on how things go.
Um, but for 2025, we’re just kind of starting up the class now, of course, we have tabs on some of the top 20, 25 that we’ve been able to. To see in, uh, in, in last spring and summer and kids that we’ve seen in camps and things like that, who have come on our radar, um, through, through different, uh, different avenues.
Um, but we’re just kind of getting started, uh, more seriously on 2025.
Matt: So let’s just say I’m a 2026 or seven, you know, somebody a little bit farther out, they’re not in the meat of it right now for some, for, for trying to get recruited by, by. You know, those top academic schools like, like Bates and others, like when, when do you think they should get started with the, with the process of reaching out and, and how best to get started in that process?
Coach: Yeah, I, you know, I always tell kids, I don’t think it’s ever too early to start, um, uh, you know, just to get. Get your name out there and get to know some coaches and start learning about the process. It never hurts to do something. Um, you know, too early. Um, I would say, um, you know, the best way to go about it is probably, um, to, to send an email, um, and include as much information as possible.
You know, a highlight video, um, if you can, um, basic information, graduation year, all that kind of stuff, club team, um, high school GPA, All that kind of [00:03:00] stuff is, is important. Um, and then the other way to, to, to get the process started is to sign up for things like ID camps, um, because then you get exposure to coaches, but you also start that process of like interacting with coaches and, and interacting with other players who are going through the process, you know?
Um, I think a lot of players would, would, um. Learn a lot from older players who are going through the process, a kid who’s one or two years older, who kind of already is talking to some schools and just those little stories that they might have might help a kid learn a lot about the process. Um, and then, and then, like I said, if it’s a kid who’s 2026.
That’s a way to get on our radar so that next year when we really start recruiting hard in the 2026, we’ve already got a couple of kids on our radar who are top of the list.
Matt: Makes a lot of sense. I kind of say the same things to folks. Well, in terms of the spring, I’m assuming you’re going to be going to two different recruiting events.
When you look at your roster, it’s it’s. You know, it’s not regional like a lot of division threes tend to be. You got folks from all over the country and internationally as well. So what are some of the top events that you guys make sure are on your hit list each year that you like to go to, to watch players?
Coach: Yeah. So we, we typically try to target MLS next and ECNL events. Um, there’s kind of a, um, uh, a guarantee that those levels are going to be pretty high level soccer. Um, and so, um, from, from those events, we [00:04:30] can try to pick out the kids that might be a good fit for us academically, culturally, right? What they’re depending on what they’re looking for.
Um, and always, of course, the kids who have reached out to us. prior to the tournament are the ones that we’re going to be watching for, right? If we know that a kid is genuinely interested in us, then we’re going to spend a lot more time and effort watching those kids, um, because the chances of getting that kid to come to Bates is so much higher than, um, trying to find a kid randomly on a field, right?
Um, that we never know what that kid might have in mind for what they want in terms of their college experience. So if we know that they’re interested in Bates, then it’s already kind of, uh, we’re, um, a step in the right direction. Um, and, uh, sorry, there was another part to your question, I think, that I, that I might have missed.
Matt: Um, no, it was just curious as to where you go and, and, and look at players. And I know, I know you mentioned camps earlier. Do you guys run your own or do you guys work kind of those multi school camps or what does that look like for for you specifically?
Coach: Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so this year we’re gonna uh, co host a camp called Elite 300 at Swarthmore College.
Um, we worked the camp last year, both sessions of the camp. The sessions are back to back and so we worked it last year and um, and had a great time and got a couple recruits actually from that camp and Um, and so we’ve aligned ourselves with that camp again this year. Um, I think the goal is to eventually, um, [00:06:00] you know, have our own camp as well.
Um, but for now, just piggybacking on on some of those existing camps that already have a good traction, um, amongst those high academic kids. And, and I remember actually what I was going to say, um, um, adding onto that previous question about where, where do we go recruit? So MLS next ECML, um, events, those are the primary events, but we know that there are kids outside of those leagues who are still quality players who could, um, fit in at Bates.
Um, so those, of course, those are the ones that we target because we know that there’s a guarantee of a level. a quality of soccer that we want to see. That being said, um, I think ID camps are a great place for those kids who are not in those leagues to be seen, you know, from Bates we’re all the way up in Maine.
So we have to travel pretty far for any tournament that we go recruit. So it’s tough for us to get to a tournament every weekend. We’re going to pick and choose very. Very carefully, which tournaments we, we attend. So MLS next and ECNL just make the most sense for us. But then anyone from other leagues, I think, um, could be seen through those camps.
That’s that’s, um, I think the best way.
Matt: Okay. Well, and I noticed, like I said, there are a few international players on, on your roster and, uh, You know, the, the transfer portal is getting kind of big these days in terms of player movement. So how, how does international recruiting and the transfer [00:07:30] portal fit into your overall recruiting profile?
Coach: Yeah, we do have quite a few internationals. And I think, um, yeah, that, um, that might be through a few different avenues. Um, but one of them is through boarding schools. So that’s another place that we recruit. Um, that’s big in the northeast. Um, and so. Um, we’ve, we’ve gotten a few international kids from boarding schools, um, and then also from, from, um, agents and handling companies, especially through COVID when it was hard to go see games in person, um, we relied on some video and things like that.
Um, I didn’t personally have anything to do with those classes, um, that were recruited during the, the pandemic. Um, but, but I think, um, that’s 1 of the reasons why we have some of those international kids, um, for internationals that Bates, it can be tricky because, um, financial aid is rare for, for international students.
Um, and so, um. When you look at our roster and you see a few kids who grew up in another country, a lot of times they have 1 parent that’s American. And so they have American citizenship, which allows them to apply for financial aid, which is, which is really important for us. Um, so that’s that’s 1 thing that really helps to get some of the international kids.
Um, and then lastly, um, prior debates, I, uh. I worked for a recruiting company called Tiro sports, which helped international kids get to U. S. colleges. And so that’s been, um, [00:09:00] 1 point of connection for, uh, international students for us. Um, and hopefully, you know, we love, we love bringing in kids from different backgrounds.
They add so much to the culture of our squad and their perspectives on soccer are different. Because they grew up in a whole different system. And so we love having those kids on our team. Um, so we hope we can continue, um, that pipeline of international kids.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school.
I’m sure there’s some folks out there not, not familiar with Bates up there in Maine. Um, you’ve been there a couple of years now. So kind of, what are some of the things you found, uh, to be, you know, unique, awesome about the school? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, I think, um, one of the special things about Bates is, is the tight knit, uh, community and the culture of people wanting to really help each other.
I think sometimes, um, when you get to the high academic environment, you get a competitiveness and a, and a culture that I would, I would. Call sort of a cutthroat culture where people are trying to get ahead of each other all the time. And what I really enjoy a base is that, um, when people are trying to, um, you know, succeed, um, they’re not trying to take others down in that process.
They’re trying to help other people. They’re trying to empower other people. Um, and so, and that trickles down, you know, it’s, it permeates through the entire culture. It’s not just the student body. It’s like the staff. When I first moved to [00:10:30] Bates. I was looking for an apartment, but I wasn’t in town. And one of the other coaches actually went and checked out an apartment for me.
And that’s the kind of culture that, you know, um, people just want to be helpful and they want to, they want to build a community, um, that’s strong. And I think that’s, that’s one of the big strengths of Bates.
Matt: Well, obviously being a high academic institution, you know, that, that pull between. Being a student and being an athlete can be, can be pretty difficult.
So how do your players specifically kind of balance the commitments of the sport and in the classroom and what kind of support systems as a school offer to kind of help make sure they succeed on both sides of the fence
Coach:. Yeah, you know, it’s always a tough time during the season, right? Because our schedule is pretty demanding.
We’re practicing almost every day. We’ve got about two games a week. And so the season can get pretty intense in terms of a time commitment. Um, what we find, though, is that the kids who, um, are athletes do really well when they’re in season because they’re forced to be a little bit more organized. Um, and so our team GPA is typically higher in season than it is out of season.
Um, and so, um, yeah, I think that says a lot about, um, the, the, the type of kid that we get as well, right, that they’re, that they’re motivated to, to. To really get their stuff done when they need to, um, in terms [00:12:00] of, um, resources, we have a couple of different resources that are nestled in the library. Um, so we have, yeah, different tutoring and academic support and a writing center and things like that.
Um, that that students can go to in the library and the library is pretty central on campus. So it’s pretty easy to get to from from anywhere. Um, and then the last thing that I’ll say that I think is. Um, you know, special about our team is that a lot of guys will, um, take classes together or, um, seek help from, you know, a junior, a senior who’s already taken the class before.
And so, um, you know, there have been times when we’re on a long bus ride and, um, you know, I, I, uh, sit in the front of the bus. And, you know, as I walk back through the back of the bus, I see like little groups of 2 or 3 players working on an assignment together. Um, and when we go off on away trips, um, we, we try to devote a little bit of time, you know, two, three hour, uh, you know, pockets in, um, at the hotel where, um, they have the time to work on assignments if, if things are getting, um, uh, tough and they, they need that time, um, we need to make sure that they have that time because sometimes when we travel, right, we’re gone for pretty much the whole weekend, um, and so it’s important that they prioritize schoolwork as well.
Matt: Well, and let’s talk about that schedule. You kind of mentioned it a little bit, but let’s rewind, pretend we’re in, you know, October, heart of the season, kind of walk me through just an outline of what a [00:13:30] normal week might look like. When our classes practices game cadence, what does all that look like?
Coach: Sure. So I would say we are, our weeks are typically structured in one of two ways, which sometimes we have league weekends where we have two games back to back. Um, so we’ll play Saturday, Sunday. Um, and the goal there is to minimize missing school, right? Um, some colleges, you know, they travel, um, a lot, um, you know, during the week or whatever, and, and they, they might miss some classes.
And so. Um, having game Saturday Sunday allows us to travel on Friday evening, um, and not miss much class there and then travel back on Sunday. It’s pretty brutal to play games back to back, so we rely on on a depth of roster, um, that can sustain, you know, two long games over the weekend. Um, and so that’s, that’s one week, one type of week that we might have.
The other type is when we have non league games, we might schedule them midweek. And we also have a couple league games, our closer opponents that are midweek as well. And so what that might look like is like a Tuesday, Saturday, or a Wednesday, Saturday type of deal. And so, um, you know, depending on the week, whether it’s a, uh, you know, the two games back to back or whether they’re split up in the week.
Um, we’re going to train accordingly to make sure that guys are, um, fit and fresh for the game. So, um, you know, we’re [00:15:00] mandated one day off every week. So if we play Saturday, Sunday, we’ll take Monday off and then we’ll start training again Tuesday, and then we’ll, you know, work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, leading into the game.
Um, and then nestled in there will also be, uh, one or two lifts, um, that might be, uh, organized as a team lift where we all go together. They might also be organized, um, as, like, players can go in small groups. Um, whenever is convenient for them based on their class schedule, and then we’ll, we’ll try to throw in a video session in there as well.
And with the video sessions, we, we really don’t want to take up the players time because we know how busy they are. Like, we’ve talked about already. So we try to be really efficient with everything and. Try to get them in and out and 30 or 40 minutes and just put together the important highlights. Um, you know, maybe it’s, uh, hey, we did this.
Well, we showed 2 or 3 clips. Hey, we need work on this. We show a couple of clips and then, um, maybe a little snippet of of what the opponent might be, uh, showing us. So, um, uh, that’s kind of how we structure our weeks.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk more about the team. I mean, you mentioned having a deep roster. Is there a roster size that you guys find is ideal that you’re trying to hit each year?
Coach: I would say we, we kind of stick around 30. Um, and, and it really depends on the year, you know, when, when I first came in, um, we, we started off with [00:16:30] 35 on the roster and Um, trim that down to, to just over 30. I think we had 31 during the season. And then this past year we had 28. So somewhere around 30. Um, and it just really depends on, on the year and the recruiting class, right?
Some recruiting classes are bigger than others. And, um, and so that, that might determine what our squad size looks like. Okay.
Matt: And what about the staff? Whether that’s coaching staff, support staff, who was there to help the team?
Coach: Yeah, we have a pretty small staff. Um, we have a head coach, assistant coach and a goalkeeper coach.
Um, and so the head coach and assistant coach are full time during season. Um, and then the, uh, goalkeeper coach will come in and help for a couple sessions out of the week. Um, and in the past, we’ve had the goalkeeper coach, Um, Um, working with both men’s and women’s teams. And so we, we try to work the schedule so that, um, the goalkeepers are getting lots of reps as well.
Matt: Okay. Well, how would you describe style of coaching team style of play, what you guys are trying to implement there?
Coach: Sure, sure. I should also add from the last question that we have a full time strength and conditioning coach that helps us in primarily in the offseason. He writes up programming during the season, but during the season, it’s it’s the players will lead a lot of that stuff.
Um, but but he is on staff as well. Um, and so to [00:18:00] answer your next question about, um, uh, was it playing style or coaching style?
Matt: Uh, well, I would say a little bit of both, right? How would you describe kind of the coaching style that you guys use? And then, you know, I’m not saying you don’t have to tell me your formation and tactics here, but just what a player might be interested to hear about how you like to play and how you guys coach it up.
Coach: Sure. Yeah, I think, um, something that’s really important to mention, um, uh, in our situation is, is we are in the NESCAC, which is, um, one of the, if not the best, uh, conference in Division three men’s soccer. Um, and so we’re going up against tough competition, you know, in, in the past several years, we’ve had a team in the finals of the NCAA tournament almost every year, sometimes two teams from our conference facing each other.
Um, and so what that means is we have, you know, five or six teams in our conference that are going to be top contenders. And so when you’re playing against top competition like that, you can’t expect to, to dominate the game or have the ball for the majority of the game every time. And so. One thing that I make sure to tell recruits is that, hey, of course we want to have the ball.
We want to keep possession. We want to move it. We want to play an attacking style of football when we can, but it’s not always possible. So when we have to defend, you have to be comfortable defending as well. And we want guys who are actually. Enjoy defending who who want to be, uh, you know, [00:19:30] uh, getting the ball back and looking to counter quickly and things like that.
Um, so that’s, that’s what I’ll say about our playing style is that, of course, there’s an ideal way. that we want to play. Um, but we also have to, to, um, join that with what the reality of our situation is. And, and, and listen, I love playing at the top level of division three, you know, like I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I want to play against the best teams. Um, even if that means we struggle and we suffer a little bit, you know, when we’re under pressure. Um, you know, I think that’s that’s part of the experience, um, in terms of coaching style. Um, you know, 1 thing that, um, I think has been a priority for us is, is the culture of the team.
And we want to make sure that we’re. Um, you know, we’re, we’re breeding a positive culture and making sure that the guys are getting along with each other. And so we, you know, we really want to make sure we’re doing lots of team building activities and having the guys smiling and enjoying themselves, um, you know, because, um, if they’re not having fun in training, then that’s a really big problem, right?
Like we have. We have many more training sessions than we do games. So if we’re training four or five times a week and then we’re playing one or two games a week, we want to make sure that those four or five training days are enjoyable and guys are smiling and having fun. Um, and, and if that’s the case, then we’re going to get the most out of the guys on the weekend as well.
Matt: I couldn’t agree more. Well, coach, you’ve been generous with your [00:21:00] time. Got one last question for you, and that is if you had one piece of advice, 11 nugget of information that you would hope that every player parent family going through the college recruiting process, uh, would know what would that be?
Coach: Oh, that’s a great question.
Um, I think that, um, I think that, uh, exposure is really important. Um, and getting yourself out there, not just on the field, but, um, presenting yourself as a person is really important. Um, and so, um, making the effort to visit campus and meet coaches in person, I think goes such a long way. Um, when I’m recruiting, of course, I’m recruiting.
top soccer players, but also I’m recruiting the person, right? Um, if I’m making a commitment to bring this kid to Bates, you know, um, the, the, the rate of transferring to and from Bates is very low. So we hope that we’re getting a kid for four years. And so if I’m making a commitment to take a kid for four years, I want to make sure that it’s someone that I’m, I’m going to enjoy spending time with for four years, um, and that their, their personality is, is going to contribute positively to our environment for four years.
And the best way for me to find that out is to meet the person in person, and, and even their parents right like having those [00:22:30] interactions seeing how a kid interacts with his own parents is really important. Um, so. You know, if they come visit campus and we have an hour to show them around campus and see our facilities and then we, we have a more genuine interaction.
I think 1 that is a lot more informative for me than 1. that’s been an interaction. That’s over the phone. Right? Or email. Those sorts of interactions, I think are the first step to getting recruited. But I think they’re not the most important. They’re the most important are the ones that you, you interact with someone face to face.
And, and another good place to do that, not just visiting campus, but also at ID camps. It’s a great way to just interact and interface with people, um, to get to know their personality a little bit better. So I would, that would be my advice is if, um, if I were a student athlete today. I would make sure to get in front of coaches face to face and, um, and, and speak with them and, uh, interact with them in those ways.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, coach, I appreciate it. Uh, wish you the best of luck in, in your recruiting and, and the upcoming fall season. And if you get down to the ECNL boys event in Lakewood ranch, Florida, give me a shout and, uh, we can, we can meet up for some coffee or something. All right.
Coach: Thanks a lot, man. I really appreciate it.
Matt: Thank you. Yeah. Have a good one.
