Central Penn College Women’s Soccer – Coach Rudy Grubesky

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Rudy from the Central Penn Women’s Program in Summerdale. We talk about how he uses ID camps and high school recruiting to build relationships. Coach also shares about the strong business and health sciences programs at the school. Plus, we discuss how follow up is a key in the recruiting process. Learn more about Central Penn College Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Rudy from Central Penn. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Thanks Matt. Appreciate the opportunity to be on with you. 

Matt: Yeah, excited to have you. We’re talking here, Janu, end of January. There’s a massive winter storm coming your way.

Uh, that I don’t, uh, I don’t envy you because I’m down in here in Florida and, and. The worst thing is, you know, we’ll get into the thirties, which us Floridians hate, but, uh, you, you’ll be shoveling yourself out here in, in a week or so. So good luck with that. Appreciate. Um, so it, I mean, I, but hey, because it’s January, uh, you know, where does that put you in terms of your recruiting for the class of 26?

You still looking for players? Is it wrapped up? Kind of, where does that stand for you at this point in the year? 

Coach: We’re still, uh, looking at uncommitted 2020 sixes. Uh, we’ve got five, uh, committed at this point and, you know, looking to bring in some additional [00:01:00] players, uh, to our team. And we also have, you know, 20 sevens, 20 eights, and even a couple 20 nines on the radar.

Matt: Okay. Is there a, is there a date that you’re hoping to have it locked up, or is that one of those things where you’re just open until kickoff, you know? 

Coach: Yeah. One, yeah. One of the things was a little different about our school is we have four TER terms per year. So to play soccer actually have to start in the July term, the summer term.

Hmm. So, you know, we really, you know, go right up to, uh, you know. At that point, um, I mean, we can’t officially start till like middle of August. Um, but um, but also like we have some, uh, recruits, you know, they, when they think, oh, a fall term, you know, their typical college, you know, they’re gonna start in a fall term.

Well. That’s our fall term starts like the second week of August. So I mean second week of October, so, oh, okay. A lot of the season is over. So you know, there’s a mechanism [00:02:00] to, through U-S-C-A-A for them to be able to pay if they play, if they pay their tuition upfront, and even though they’re not starting, like their major may not start till the fall term.

So, uh, but basically I tell recruits, be prepared to, you know, start in the summer term. 

Matt: Interesting. Okay. Well you mentioned you guys are are, are U-S-C-A-A. Um, so that’s the small college I believe is the, the sc there. Uh, or, or, or, or not? It’s not, but it, it might as well be right. Yeah, 

Coach: we are, we are small college in central Pennsylvania.

Matt: Yeah. You guys are right there kind of. Harrisburg Hershey area, if I’m not mistaken. Right, 

Coach: right. 

Matt: Yeah. That’s a nice, nice, nice, beautiful area. Um, 

Coach: yeah, we actually, um, play on City Island where the former City Islanders Pro team. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Coach: Plays, that’s our match pitch. Oh wow. And then we have a locker room in, uh, f and B Stadium, which is the.

Um, Washington National’s Minor League team, the Harrisburg Senators, [00:03:00] so they built a locker room in the stadium. So it’s, the girls love it. It’s just a great, great venue, uh, to play right on the Susquehanna River. Um, so 

Matt: yeah, no, that, that’s awesome. Uh, to have those, those ties is great. Well, back to recruiting, you know, where do, where do you like to go to look at players?

What are some of the, the places that are on your, your must see list is, is high school a big component of what you’re looking at or not so much? How does that work for you guys? 

Coach: Well, just to address the high, high school is a big com component for us. Um, you know, so, uh, you know, try to see girls with their club team and with their high school team if possible.

I think with, uh, recruiting, um, prospective, um, female student athletes, it’s, you know, they want that relationship with, with the, you know, the coach and, you know, like, um. You know, I tell, uh, parents, like, not that I didn’t worry about my sons when they went to college, but when my daughter did, you know, it’s, it’s different with girls.

So we, you know, try to, [00:04:00] um, you know, see ’em with their club team, try to, you know, touch base with high school. I’ve even gone to, uh, basketball games, you know, to kind of continue that rapport with recruits. But, um, you know, we’re trying to get to, uh, college showcases that have been successful for us in the past.

And, um. You know, I, you know, register and then a lot of girls will reach out, invite you to see him play. But also, you know, we try to get there and, uh, and if, if you’re, you know, I’ve had this happen. You’re recruiting a particular player and then a player on the other team or the same team kind of catches your eye, try to start the process of them as well.

Matt: Okay. Well. In terms of, of U-S-C-A-A? ’cause I, I mean, I’ve spoken to a few other schools in, in this group, but you know, I, we talk about this with the N-J-C-A-A as well that. They’re not part of the ncaa. So the NCAA’s got Division one, division two, division three NJCA has Division one. Division [00:05:00] two, division III for girls soccer.

USCA has Division one. Division two. Correct. What does that mean? Which one are you in? How does that all work for you guys? 

Coach: Yeah. We’re in division two and uh, U-S-C-A-A and, and I get asked too, how does that equate to, uh, NCAA. You know, we’re, I’d say we’re probably a low D three. We do play, uh, some D three teams in our non-conference, um, schedule.

So, um, you know, try to, try to, um, to me, you know, try to, um, get better, you know, so, you know, I think you get better by playing, you know, tougher competition in the non-conference. Try to get us ready for, for our conference play. 

Matt: Okay. Yeah. Well, what about ID camps? Do you guys do ID camps? Do your staff work ID camps?

Are they part of your process? 

Coach: Um, yeah, we, uh, both actually, uh, uh, we, um, our big one is coming up here in March, March 21st. Um, and [00:06:00] that’s, we usually draw around 2025. To that. Uh, I’ve also run like a second one and I’ve tried a couple different ways. Uh, ran like one in, uh, in, in October, uh, last year we ran one, like right before the high school season, but the numbers were, you know, smaller.

But our big one is in the spring. Um, but I’ve been fortunate to coach at a couple ID camps too. Um, one, uh. In northern Maryland, uh, last January, uh, and you know, there was a lot of college coaches there. I was able to run the session and I think you get a kind of up close look there, you know, uh, with, with the players.

Um, I, um, there was a, a former college coach in our area runs a high school girls ID camp in the summer, and he brings a different college coach in each night. And, uh. Mark’s asked me to coach, you know, past few years to be able to coach there. And we actually started the recruiting process with a couple of our players [00:07:00] there.

Um, and just were able to continue that. So, you know, kind of get a, get a chance to, uh, see ’em and coach ’em. And, uh, you know, to me, you know, being coachable was really one of those intangibles that, that we’re looking for, uh, in, in, uh, future, um, student athletes. 

Matt: Great. Um, well, whether it’s at ID camp, high school, game club tournament, whatever the case may be, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field?

Coach: Well, I think, um, you know, a talent, I mean, you know, the soccer skill, I mean, I think everybody’s looking for talented players, uh, looking for players that are athletic. Um, good, good, uh, soccer skills. Um. And then the intangibles, um, you know, coachable. Uh, I like to get there and watch the warmup. Um, I was there one time where a player, um, she’s off juggling when the coach is talking to, to the team.

It’s kinda like, you know, you never know who’s [00:08:00] watching. And, you know, it’s kinda like, okay. She like not listening, not being coachable. Um, you know, I’ll also, uh, talk to coaches for recommendation. Um, you know, I’m, and we’re looking for. Another one of the intangibles is leadership. Uh, we talk a lot about leaders on campus and, and off, uh, on and off the field and being a leader on campus.

So, uh, and we talk a lot about a team of captains, so not just necessarily having a c on your arm, uh, to be a leader. And we look at, um, you know, looking to develop servant leaders a as well. Okay, awesome. So a lot of the players, like on our team, I think just about every player on our team was a, either a team captain on our high school team or on, on our club team.

Yeah, no, I mean, that’s not a prerequisite or anything. It just kind of gives you some indication of, and then what, what are they doing, you know, um, extracurricular wise, how are they doing academically? Um, you know, [00:09:00] that’s, that’s a big piece for us. I mean, they’re, they’re there to get the degree. So, um, my, I always talk about fit.

The first fit to me is academic. Do we even have the major? And, um, and then what size of school, uh, are, are they looking for? And, uh, of course from a parent standpoint, you know, financially and then obviously athletically, it’s really the kind of the fit. You know, are we gonna be good for, for them? Are they gonna be a good fit for us?

Matt: Okay. Great. Well, let’s talk a little bit more, uh, about the school itself. I mean, you, you, you told us some, some great stuff about the facilities, but, uh, talk to me about, a little bit more about the school. What do you find that’s great about it? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website.

Coach: Yeah, yeah. One, one of the things that, um, I, I have a, a handout that, uh, it’s, it’s, uh, 10 things you didn’t know about Central Penn. And, uh, I kind of, uh, as a preliminary, I get, you know, basically staple a business card to, [00:10:00] to that handout. And, um, you know, to me again, size school, like the, the class sizes, uh, faculty student ratio.

Uh, right now our, our big majors, our, our focus is really, um, business. It’s, uh, it, it started as a business school. So, uh, business administration is one of our, uh, big programs. And then health science, I, I find that a lot of our recruits, uh, are wanting to get into, uh, medical, uh, career. So we have a lot of, uh, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, assistant majors, uh, health science, which is kind of our, um, pre-med program.

But we have surgical tech, we have dental programs. So I think, uh, we don’t have nursing. I, I did, you know, uh. Get a lot of requests for that. And again, to me that’s a calling. Um, um, and uh, you know, I just say you, you kind of gotta follow your heart there if you want, want to be a nurse, you know, unfortunately, we, we [00:11:00] don’t have that program, but a, a lot of the other health sciences and, uh, one, a nice thing about, um, our semester that kind of talked a little bit about that, um, is we have four terms a year.

So we’re not. Like a traditional college semester. So it’s 11 weeks on two off, and um, so you can do a four year degree in three years, um, and you can do an associate degree in 18 months. So, uh, from a, a student, you know, standpoint, it’s awesome from a coaching side of it. You know, some of our players are literally one and done because they play a season.

Say they’re a physical therapist, assistant, play one season, and then the next season they’re actually doing clinicals. So 40 hours a week, so makes it tough. We didn’t, um. Have a player able to work it out that she, she, she was doing clinicals and played, uh, this year I’ve got another, another player that’s gonna be doing clinicals and she wants to [00:12:00] play.

So we’re trying to, you know, figure that out for her and for us. So, um, and then, um, I, I, you know, we talk a lot about, uh, like family atmosphere and I, I really get that feeling that’s, you know, from time I started there. I’m starting my fourth year there, Matt, and I’ve just felt like, I’ll just give an example, our.

College president, um, you know, she’s really down to earth, uh, opportunity to talk to her directly talks to students, she’ll talk to recruits. If, um, you know, I have a recruit doing a tour and we run into the college president, she takes time, talk to recruits, and just trying to create that, uh, family atmosphere.

Uh, one of the big things is, uh, too is, uh, living on campus. We have a housing scholarship and it’s, it’s huge. Um, it’s, uh, and all my players that, uh. Live, uh, on campus, it’s a $23,000, uh, housing scholarship. And, uh, so, and then we kind of do thing like [00:13:00] some girls wanna, uh, like all, so there’s, we have suites.

It’s a little different than Bow back when, when I went to college as far as dorms. Um, they have suites. There’s, you know, they have their own room and, uh, you know, a common room, you know, and, and, uh, so sometime it’s, uh. Oh, soccer players living, you know, seven players living in a, the suite. Uh, sometime like the, depending on their major, like that’s a physical therapist.

I, um, uh, assistant, um, they want, they’re in a cohort, so a lot of times they wanna live with other students that are in their cohort and I don’t, you know, really have a problem how, how they wanna do that. Um, but I think some girls wanna do it as far as soccer ’cause they’re on the same schedule. 

Matt: No, that makes sense.

Coach: But yeah, it’s very welcoming and um, I think, uh, one of the things too, it just happened recently that we, um, uh, and I just sent this out to our, our recruits, but we, uh, were voted by [00:14:00] research.com as the seventh most. We were ranked the seventh most popular college in, uh, Pennsylvania for 2026. So pretty exciting, uh, to, to, you know, to, uh.

To earn that, uh, with, with, you know, the things that we do, it’s, um, you know, it’s a lot of, um, the types of classes we offer, types of training, the types of faculty we have, um, you know, and staff that work there. And, um, but also another question I get too is like, uh, safety, um, ’cause especially sometime out of state.

Parents will say, Hey, I looked at the crime statistics for, you know, the city of Harrisburg. Like, we’re, we’re not in the city. Um, you know, we have excellent, uh, campus police and, uh, we’re in, we’re in, uh, township outside the city, even though we play our matches in the, in the city, on city Island. But, um, you know, I think, uh.

Again, we go, going back to recruiting, uh, female athletes. It’s, you know, safety’s a big [00:15:00] concern. Parents, you know, they’ve had a couple of dads want to, you know, they want to stop and talk, talk to, uh, you know, the campus police and, uh, kind kind of get a good handle on, on safety. 

Matt: Hey, hey, gotta do it. My daughter’s a senior in high school right now, getting ready to go off to school, so, so I understand completely well, um, let’s rewind back to the fall, kind of middle of the season.

Walk me through what’s a typical week look like for the players in terms of wins, practice games, classes, and meals, all that stuff. 

Coach: Okay. Yeah, we’ve been trying to do a day in the life. Uh, we’ve been working. We just, uh, released a couple of, uh, uh, we wanted to get a presence out there on YouTube, so we did a couple of, uh, recruiting videos, um, that are out there on YouTube.

But, uh, we we’re trying to do it like a day in the life type of, uh, video. So we’ve been working on that. Um, but typically, um, during the season, um. We’re we train, uh, we don’t have a facility on [00:16:00] campus. We train at, at a, uh, local park. We work with, um, uh, a local soccer club and we have a field dedicated to us and a field dedicated to the men’s team.

So we typically we’re training, um. After classes, and it’s typically like a four to six or four to five 30 timeframe. Now, there are times though, we, um, if there’s a men’s game and it’s not a double header with us, uh, we rent the, uh, the field there on City Island, uh, for the whole day. So we have a common hour where nobody has classes, say from like 11 to one.

So we can train on City Island. So it kind of gives us a little bit of time on our home. It kind of gives us that home field advantage. Um, but, um, again, a lot of my players, again, it’s kind of a situation where a lot of ’em have to work, uh, to pay for school. Uh, and, uh, you know, again, the, the focus there is, you know, being a, uh, student first [00:17:00] athlete.

So, um, train usually about, uh, three to four days a week. And then obviously matches and we’re, a lot of our, most of our home games are on weekdays. A lot of our away matches are on the weekends. So it might be like a Tuesday, Saturday. And that kind of, depending on then that di dictates our practice days.

Definitely want to have a practice if we have a match the next day. Um. So it’s, you know, it’s not as, um, you know, I came over from, uh, Penn State, Harrisburg. I’ve been at the college level now, uh, 14 years. And it’s way more intense, you know, at, at, uh, at that level than, uh, uh, than at Central Penn. But again, uh, to me it’s, um, we work hard when we’re out there, uh, you know, try to go, uh, match pace.

Um, but also, uh, as far as our typical day, getting back to your question. Like we have mandatory [00:18:00] study hall. Um, we try to do that as a team. Um, sometime, you know, we, we can’t, but, uh, they’ve gotta get those hours in during the week. Um, and uh, we have a place called the learning hub where, uh, what, which I think’s a little, you know, a pretty unique is not only are tutors in there, and several of my players are tutors, um, professors, in addition to their office hours they’re in, you can, each week they post like one.

Your professor’s gonna be in that learning hub, so you can go there, you know, work directly with your professor on questions and, um, so, um, 

Matt: great. Awesome. 

Coach: Yeah. 

Matt: Okay. Um, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. Uh, can you talk to me about any, any staff besides you that are, that work with the program or, or in the athletic department that will help out with anything?

Coach: I think we have a, um, a awesome athletic director. Uh, she, um, very supportive of women’s [00:19:00] soccer, all of our women’s programs, our assistant ad, um, uh, excellent. He’s our, also our men’s basketball coach and very supportive. Um, get to talk, uh, coaching things with him a lot. Um. So we also, um, have success coaches, uh, in our athletic department that, you know, their, uh, players are assigned to a success coach when they’re there.

Um, but my, uh, coaching staff, I started my first two years. I had two very experienced assistants that, um, one, um, she played D one, uh, I’ve known her for a while. She was our goalkeeper coach and, uh, she actually had a pro tryout in NWSL. And, uh, the other assistant at that time, uh, I actually coached Katie like 20 years ago when she was in high school.

She played D two, um, both very experienced to try to help me get the program off the ground. But again, they both have pretty, uh, intense full-time jobs. So, um, you know, after we [00:20:00] kind of got things up and running, because they hadn’t played for like five years till I got here, when I first got here, they didn’t even have a team.

So we kind of build it from the ground up and we’re still, you know, struggling with that rebuilding process. But I brought on two Central Penn, um, alums. Uh, uh, Kayla, uh, played there, um, uh, several years ago, and all conference player, um. Academic, all American. Um, and then, uh, our goalkeeper, coach Ally, uh, she was a goalkeeper, led us to, uh, the fir my first year there at Central Penn.

We actually made it to the Eastern States Athletic Conference Championship in the first year. And a lot of that was Ally keeping us in games. And, uh, she’s played at a high level, works with our keepers. Um, so they’re both younger coaches, um, you know, trying to mentor them and, uh. Uh, so yeah, I get a, I get a lot of support.

Uh, I think they’re, you know, closer in age, you know, to help with recruiting and, uh, deal with some of the, [00:21:00] um, you know, uh, female issues there. Then, you know, uh, ’cause I know there’s times, like my daughter, she’s going to her mom. She’s not coming to her dad with some stuff. So, uh, Kayla and Ally really do a nice job working with our players.

Matt: Awesome. Well, what about you? Talk to us about your coaching style and the style of play you look to play there. 

Coach: Yeah. Um, well, um. My philosophy, uh, is, you know, I think I probably, you know, I’m coming, you know, I might have mentioned I’m coming from, uh, I’m retired from the state police here and coming from law enforcement background, so trying to, uh, teach life lessons as, as well as, um, you know, my undergraduate degrees in, uh, education.

So, you know, um, I like the teaching part of soccer, but also trying to incorporate, you know, those, uh, life lessons, uh, and uh. We really focus, you know, team first, uh, mentality. Um, um, again, I try to do, um, [00:22:00] typical practice, you know, warm up, um, small sided, um, you know, uh, try to get into some, you know, some of the tactical, uh, scenarios, um, that we may face in a match.

Um. But, uh, I think at any level I had, uh, the first head coach I worked for when I first got to the college level, uh, was a former pro player, and he said, it’s gotta be enjoyable at any level. So, you know, I think, you know, I try to tell girls it’s, it’s, um, it’s a lot of hard work to play at the college level, but it’s also gotta be, you know, enjoyable.

Uh, and I think if they’re enjoying it, you know, they learn more, you know, as a, um, think, you know, as far as, um. Teaching, uh, that learning curve. If, if you’re enjoying it, um, you know, and, uh, you know, I, I think you learn a lot more. 

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, coach, uh, really appreciate your, your time and, and everything you’re telling us here about Central Penn.

I gotta leave you with one last [00:23:00] question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for any, anybody going through this college recruiting process right now, what would that be? 

Coach: Uh, yeah, I think, um. Following up with coaches is really important. I think. You know, one, one of the things that, you know, our process is, um, we have a, a program, uh, called Front Rush.

Uh, like a lot of colleges do universities. Um, it tracks the entire recruiting process. So every email, every text, uh, you know, uh, texting from that program, um. You know, even though they may have a profile out there on, on, you know, one of the, um, you know, sites, uh, I ask them to fill out our recruit questionnaire, get some in our system, which is really important, that way to send them invitations, uh, uh, you know, things that we’re doing.

Um, one of the things I wanted to mention before we go is like the, um. [00:24:00] Like official visits, you know, we, you know, you can make as many day visits as you want. Um, but that official visit, we try to tie those to our homecoming game, where they come to the match. It’s a recruit night that’s, you know, VIP treatment.

Um, they’re in the locker room with the team. They can be, um, you know, on the field during the warmup. Can’t be, you know, on the bench or anything during the match, but then come over like post game, uh. Concessions and, you know, then they’ll stay overnight. And then the next day we have a fall festival, which is huge.

It’s just, uh, campus is super busy and it’s, so I try to encourage girls to an official visit, um, you know, to do it then, um, even though, uh, you know, they can do it in second semester of their junior year, uh, or anytime in their senior year. But, um, I kind of encourage that, where they tie it to a game and, and, um.

And see the campus at the same time. Um, I also, when I do ID clinics, I do it in conjunction with, uh, [00:25:00] uh, usually do it in conjunction with an admissions open house. So they get the whole financial aid, admissions, the whole process as well as we get to see ’em, you know, playing soccer. Uh, uh, but again, I think that that’s important is the follow up.

Uh, I, I’d just say, you know, attend an ID clinics, kind of get a feel, uh, for, you know, the. Speed of play. I think that’s one of the big differences between say, high school, some club play is the speed of play at the college level. Um, so, uh, but that would be, you know, I, you know, just, I, I just think that the girls, we’ve been successful with recruiting as they, you know, they stay involved in the process.

And then again, um, if you’re, you know, if you go in another direction, uh, tell players, you know, recruits to, you know, let me know. I, um. I’m not gonna be upset or anything like that. We, we just had, uh, one, uh, one of our 2020 sixes that, you know, we were recruiting several [00:26:00] years. Uh, you know, we try to get started and like sophomore, junior year, as I said, with, with girls, get ’em on our radar early and keep kind of start that process and continue to interact with them.

But, um, we just didn’t have the major. It kind of came down to that. And, uh, but her mom, talking to her mom, she said like. Uh, her daughter was just like, she’s like, it was almost like a breakup. She’s like, you, she, she didn’t really wanna tell you like she wasn’t gonna come there. And, you know, like I said, just ’cause we had such great rapport with her and her family, and again, you’re recruiting the whole family.

And, um, you know, that’s one another thing we look for. You know, I’m being respectful, um, to your parents and stuff like that. It’s, um, that those kind of intangibles really, really mean a lot to college coaches. 

Matt: For sure. Well, thank you much, coach. Uh, really appreciate it. Um, 

Coach: yeah, and I wish 

Matt: you the best of luck.

Coach: Yeah, I appreciate it, Matt. I mean that was, uh, pretty went by pretty quick. There was a lot more, you know, I wanted to talk to you about, but Oh, I know. We gotta enjoyed it. Enjoyed [00:27:00] talking soccer with you and, you know, wish you continued success with, with, uh, podcast. And again, really appreciate the opportunity to, to talk with you today.

Matt: Thank you.