Special Episode – Carlo deMarco from ID Sports

On today’s episode, I speak with Carlo from ID Sports. ID Sports runs a number of ID Camps in the eastern half of the United States as well as some summer residential camps. We discuss the importance of ID camps and how to best take advantage of them. Learn more about ID Sports.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by Carlo DeMarco from ID sports. Welcome.

ID Sports: Thanks, Matt. Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for being here. Excited to talk to you. One of the things that, uh, I get a lot of questions about and if you’ve heard the podcast before, you know, I asked coaches about these questions about ID camps because it’s just over the last decade or so they’ve really blown up, uh, as a key component in the recruiting process, it seems, and.

And you guys, uh, have a great slate of ID camps, uh, kind of all across the, the, the country, uh, this year. And, and when we’re talking, you’re going to be in my backyard in a week. So that’s exciting, uh, to have you guys just down the road. So, so tell me a little bit about yourself, how you got started in all this, uh, you know, what is ID sports?

Give me some background. 

ID Sports: Yeah, sure. So Um, as I’m sure a lot of your listeners are, I’m a lifetime soccer player. I grew up outside of the Philadelphia area, played for FC Delco, which is a club that’s still around today. And then was fortunate enough to play D one soccer at UMass Amherst. Um, one of my teammates and I.

We were sport management majors. And so we were always interested in, you know, after school pursuing a career that we could still stay involved with the game that we loved. And one day we actually were working on a group project together to come up [00:01:30] with, you know, ideas, and I came up with this idea of. A recruiting event that was a little bit different than your typical recruiting opportunity.

So if you think about it, you know, as a high school soccer player, there are really only a couple of ways to get recruited. One of the more popular ways is through your club team. But the challenges with that is As you see in a lot of these tournaments, there can sometimes be a dozen fields with games going on all day long.

And so for these coaches that have small staff, sometime only one person from their staff attending, it’s really hard to try and see 30, 40 players in the span of a couple days when you have all these different games going on. You might not be in the game when they happen to walk to your field. So there’s some challenges there.

Um, and then there are also, um, you know, some of the other camps, but sometimes that camp is maybe just for that school. Or maybe the camp is just a logistically hard for you to get to, you can’t commit to maybe 3, 4 days of staying in the dorms. Maybe you can’t travel because of your schedule. And so. Our idea was, well, why don’t we create an event that can be open to anyone obviously, but they’re more regionalized.

So we will do 1 in Massachusetts and we’ll do 1 in New Jersey and we’ll do 1 from Virginia. And what we’ll try to do is bring as many of the local schools. As possible [00:03:00] and have them come out for just three hours, right? If you think about it, um, you know, it’s a lot easier to fit into the coach’s calendar, it’s a lot easier to fit into the player’s calendar.

Um, and that’s a really good amount of time to, you know, really, you know, demonstrate your ability to these coaches. And the idea was. Is let’s bring together a lot of schools and pack them into just one or two fields. So as a player, you’re really maximizing your ability to get in front of a ton of schools as opposed to hoping that, hey, at my tournament this weekend, I’m hoping that the coach get me get to see me play for maybe the last 30 minutes of my game.

So that was the idea. We started, um, naturally in the Massachusetts area because 1, that’s where we were at the time, um, finishing up at U. M. S. Amherst. And number 2, New England is just such a rich area for, you know, college programs. I think New England or the city of Boston has. The most schools per capita or some sort of fun stat like that.

Um, and then, you know, flash forward almost, you know, eight years later, we run camps up and down the east coast. We actually have a couple of residential camps. And, um, now here we are talking today. 

Matt: Nice. Well, and when you, when you go and look at your camps, I mean, I’ve noticed, so, I mean, my daughter’s been through, uh, other non school focused camps, kind of these conglomerate [00:04:30] camps.

I don’t know what, I don’t even know a good, a good title. We got to figure out a good title for camps like yours. I don’t know what to call them yet, but, uh, and then she’s been to school camps. So I’ve seen, I’ve seen both and, and I ran camps, but they weren’t ID camps in the traditional sense 20 some odd years ago, but so what what kind of makes an ID sports camp different than a school camp or even one of the other ones like You know, exact or, or some of these other ones.

ID Sports: Sure. So one of the first things that we do that we think is really unique is we try to do something called, you know, a coach pairing program. So, um, when you register, you actually list a couple of schools that you’re interested in. And then for the first half of the event, we have the players go through a training session that is led by a couple of different college coaches.

So, as a player, you’ll show up and you’ll be in a group. And one of the coaches that you’re with is, you know, someone that you may be listed that you’re interested in when signing up. And so as a player, it’s an awesome opportunity to say, wow, I’m going to have almost 90 minutes to go through a training session.

It’s going to be led and observed by this coach that I’m really interested in. That’s something that is really hard to do, you know, otherwise. Um, and then another thing that we do is we actually are do a really, uh, are really focused on trying to limit actually the players that can attend because the [00:06:00] last thing we want to have happen is have a camp where there’s just too many players, there’s too much going on, and it’s difficult for the coach to, you know, actually see you at the event, right?

We try to try to keep that balance and it’s What’s also really unique, unique about when you show up to the event and go through the actual training session, as opposed to just playing for three straight hours, you know, number one, you might think that this is my dream school and I really want to play for this coach.

And then you show up and you actually are in a training session run by them. Oh my gosh, I do not like this coach’s style. I do not like the way they’re maybe giving me feedback. I maybe need to rethink my decision. And then for the coach, it’s really beneficial because, hey, we’ve seen this player play in a couple of, uh, games maybe before, or we’ve heard about them, but then all of a sudden we show up and we’re in a training group and maybe they’re not listening to instruction or they’re Uh, saying some not so great things about the other players in the field, and then all of a sudden the coach say, ah, maybe maybe this isn’t the player that we want to be looking at.

So it’s really beneficial for both the player and the coach in that regard. Um, and then, you know, the last thing that I would say that, um, makes us different is You know, we, um, really try to encourage the players to spend time to actually go and talk to these coaches and use that opportunity to introduce themselves right during water breaks or halftime, or even after the event when we have.

The opportunity for players to go introduce themselves. It’s, it’s really hard to do [00:07:30] that at a tournament or anything else like that. Because again, there’s so much going on. There are a million different games. The fields are sometimes miles apart, separate locations. So by having everybody in one place for one condensed amount of time, it really creates this awesome energy that’s hard to find elsewhere.

Matt: Yeah, it sounds like what you talked a little bit about in terms of the schedule doing the trainings and stuff in the maybe the early part of the day. So walk me through the what will a player be doing on camp day? What does it all look like put together? 

ID Sports: Yeah, sure. So when you show up, we’ll do an adoption of all the college coaches that are there.

That’s all. Uh, everyone a little bit about themselves, their program, the conference, they compete in that sort of a thing. Then they’re going to be broken into groups. The goalies will be with their own group, uh, being led by a goalie coach, going through specific goalie instruction, and then the rest of the field players will be broken into groups of about anywhere from, you know, 18 to 22 field players.

That’ll be led by, you know, anywhere from 2 to 3 college coaches. And those coaches will take turns running things from technical passing, possession, 1v1, 2v2, small sided, um, and so it’s a combination of both instruction and development, but also you’re still showcasing your skills in front of these coaches.

And then, after about the halfway point, we take a quick break. And then we’ll break into a full field scrimmages, right? So the college coaches are actually coaching, um, and kind of watching all the games that are going on and the players. It’s your [00:09:00] chance, right? To, um, to compete and show what you’ve got.

And what we try to do, or and what we do do is. The group that you trained with is going to be the group that you then go and compete with, um, in the scrimmages and what’s nice about that is you can take a lot of the things that you’ve worked on just in that short 90 minute time and then hopefully it translates to what we’re seeing in the scrimmages.

Uh, instead of you being put on a random team and just jumping into a game, you might not know your outside back’s name or your forward’s name. And so it’s a good way to get to know your team before actually jumping into a game. So then everybody’s a little bit more comfortable. 

Matt: Yeah, no, that definitely makes sense.

Well, one of the questions that I’ve seen a lot of folks ask recently on some of the soccer Facebook groups. And then I’ve been asked by parents when they pull me aside or something. But do, do players actually get quote unquote. Bound at, at an I. D. camp or is, is it bad? I mean, some people will tell you best practice is to don’t go to an I.

D. camp, whether it’s a school’s camp or maybe even one of these that, that unless you’ve already talked to those coaches or have that relationship started, um, kind of what’s your thought process and that what have you seen it at your camps or, or anything like that? 

ID Sports: Absolutely. I mean, I don’t know why you would think to not go to an ID camp, even if you’ve [00:10:30] heard back from the school or not, because guess what?

When you show up at the field and they’re there, that’s the time where you can look them in the eye, shake their hand and actually have a chance to play in front of them. What a lot of people fail to understand is these college coaches get so many emails and have such crazy busy schedules just because you haven’t.

So if you haven’t gotten an email back from them doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested. It’s just they maybe haven’t had a chance to get time to get back to you. Um, so, I guess to go back to your question, you know, do players actually get recognized at our camps? Like, absolutely. A fun story that I like to tell is at our very first camp that we ever did, which was in Massachusetts, Providence College was there, and they had a goalkeeper that that was on their radar.

And then he played great at the camp. And, you know, flash forward a few years later, I forget what year exactly it was when Providence made that great Final Four run, but the goalie that they found at the camp was the goalie that was, you know, playing for them at the time. And, you know, what’s really, I think, unique about an ID camp is when you show up, it is so easy as a player to immediately differentiate yourself and all of a sudden stand out.

And it doesn’t have to necessarily be something that’s You do on the field, right? You can be with your group and lead the warm up or, um, go grab the cones for the coach when he’s done a session or heck, even just walking up to the coach in between the water break and say, Hey, coach. So and so [00:12:00] my name’s Carlo.

I’m really interested in your program because you have a engineering program. That’s something that I’m really interested in. I’m really looking forward to getting you watching me play today. So, yeah. The ease in which players have the chance to actually stand out at one of these things, um, is just such a unique.

Opportunity that again is just really find a hard, really hard to find anywhere else. 

Matt: Well, and you kind of just mentioned in terms of some good tips for things you can do when you’re at the camp, but give me some just overall recommendations. What can a player do before going to camp during camp and after camp to really have the most valuable and productive experience?

ID Sports: Sure. So, um, first thing I would say is. Look, if there are certain schools that you’re really interested in, um, go ahead and reach out, say, Hey, coach, I’m gonna be at the camp. Uh, really looking forward to seeing you. Um, I can spend an hour talking about email best practices, right? But make it short and sweet.

Maybe include a highlight reel. If you have it, obviously state your grad here. Um, then when you’re at camp, you know, number 1 is be confident. If the coach is there, go up and say, hi, you’re gonna have a chance to do it before camp during camp after camp. These coders are humans, right? I think a lot of times, especially some of the younger players and, and hey, when I was in high school, I was sometimes nervous having to go up and introduce myself to a coach, but at the end of the day, they’re just like any other human.

So to try to treat them that way. [00:13:30] When you’re at camp, um, do whatever you can to be a leader. I was just talking about it, right? If the coach says, all right, spend, you know, two minutes doing a quick warmup while I set up these cones, take charge, say, all right, make two lines or, hey, let’s separate into groups.

Get to know your teammates names. Don’t just call someone number 45. Say, Hey, my name is Carlo. What’s your name? Got guys, girls. Let’s let’s get to know everyone’s names. Um, be really, really encouraging, right? People might be nervous. People might not know each other. So if someone makes a bad pass. Um, or you’re unhappy with something that they did try to lift them up and not say anything negative.

1 of the 1st things that coaches will do when they see players, if they’re doing anything negative, they’ll immediately just write them off. And again, it’s such an easy way to stand out either positively or negatively. Um, and then the last thing, right, is just just follow up, um, afterwards, right, depending upon.

Maybe what year you are or, um, what level of program the school is might be limited in what they can kind of, um, the communication process, but at the end of camp, you can go up to coach no matter what, whether you’re a freshman, a senior and say, Hey, I think I played today. What can I be working on? And they can give you that feedback.

And we leave time at the end for camp. for players to be able to do that. So, um, I guess to [00:15:00] summarize, it’s, you know, take care of what you need to before camp as far as outreach and figure out who’s there. Two, when you’re at camp, do everything you possibly can to stand out and get in front of those coaches.

And then three, um, after camp, follow up and then follow up accordingly. Um, you know, as you would via phone, email, et cetera. 

Matt: Well, Hey, really appreciate the time and, uh, some really, some really thoughtful, uh, answers there. And I’m looking forward to checking out camp next weekend here in my backyard. But, uh, where can people find, uh, more about your camps?

When are they and all that stuff? Where should they find you? 

ID Sports: Yeah, so I d sports usa dot com. We’ve got a bunch of information there as far as 1 day camps that we run. And then we actually do have a few residential camps this summer. We’ve got 2 boys camps 1 at Washington College down in Maryland. Shout out to watching college.

They had an awesome run this year. They were in the final 4, which was really fun to watch. And then our other boys camp is in New Jersey at, uh, The Hun School, which is in Princeton. And then we have a girls camp, uh, at Bentley university. Um, and yeah, we, we run camps every, um, winter, spring and summer, right.

During the fall players have high school coaches have their season. So what we try to do is focus on the times where, uh, both the players and the coaches are available so we can [00:16:30] bring everybody together. Awesome. 

Matt: Thanks again. Looking forward to it and, uh, we’ll be in touch. All right. Thanks, Matt. Thank you.