Fall College Recruiting Newsletter 2025

Welcome to the quarterly Kings Hammer College Recruiting Newsletter! The club is excited to work with you to accomplish all of your goals for this upcoming soccer year, on and off of the soccer field. This season, we will be providing this resource on a quarterly basis to help you navigate the craziness that is the college recruiting process and keep yourself on track. We hope you find value in this newsletter and we are excited to assist in this exciting process for your family!

In this installment, Octavia Saunders, our National Director of Data & Analytics, will lay the groundwork for the recruiting process, get you started in SportsRecruits, and share an interview with Kings Hammer alumna Avery Pleiman!

Welcome to the College Recruiting Process

The soccer recruiting process to college is a competitive and often overwhelming journey, but it’s one that rewards dedication, patience, and proactive effort. Getting recruited isn’t just about being talented, it’s about getting seen. That means players need to actively seek exposure through showcases, highlight videos, ID camps, and consistent communication with college coaches. It’s a two-way street: coaches need to know who you are, and you need to do the work to stay on their radar.

Kings Hammer and your coach can be a fantastic resource throughout this process. They often have existing relationships with college programs, understand what different levels of play require, and can advocate on your behalf.

Every player’s journey is unique. Some may commit early, others may find the right fit later in the process. Comparing yourself to teammates or players online can be discouraging and misleading. Instead, focus on your own development on and off the field. Stay committed, train with purpose, keep your academics strong, and be proactive in reaching out to programs that align with your goals.

A few key tips for recruitment: start early, be organized, and stay consistent. Build a solid highlight video, email coaches with personalized messages, and attend camps where those coaches will be. Keep your social media clean and professional, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Most importantly, remember that your work ethic, attitude, and persistence often speak louder than just your stats. Stay the course, be open minded and keep your options open until you make your decision.

Get Started with SportsRecruits

It is crucial to have an online presence where college coaches can find you, review your information, and evaluate you as a student-athlete in one place. Whether you are brand new to the platform, or you’ve been using the platform already, below are a ton of helpful resources the SportsRecruits team has shared to help you be successful in your recruiting process and make sure you get the most out of the platform.

To get started, you are required to watch the following video:

SportsRecruits Student-Athlete Training: It’s only 9 minutes and will walk you through all the features of your new profile.
For quick access, once you sign in, you can add your profile to your phone home screen, similar to other phone Apps

After you’ve gone through that quick video, I’ve outlined challenges below to help you get started. Keep in mind that your profile is an academic and athletic resume, and each challenge increases your discoverability or exposure to college coaches on the platform.

Once you have reviewed the SR videos, finish setting up your account using the steps below. Getting through each of these will bring your account to life and provide you a great start on your recruiting journey:

Verify & Build Your Profile
Get Video On Your Profile
Build a List of Schools
Introduce Yourself to College Coaches

VERIFY & BUILD YOUR PROFILE

The verification process is 3 steps on your “Essentials” tab: 1) Upload a profile picture 2) Add your grad year and 3) Add your position(s)
Follow this article on Building Your Student-Athlete Profile and take 10 minutes to add as much academic and athletic info as you can when you first sign in.
Initial Kings Hammer accounts are setup using parent emails provided when athletes are registered through Playmetrics. Athletes are encouraged to change the Primary (Athlete) email to their own and add the Parent Email to their account.

WHY – Verified athlete profiles receive 2x more profile views from college coaches than athletes not verified.

GET VIDEO ON YOUR PROFILE

You can Upload or Embed unlimited video to your profile.
To create a highlight reel(s):
- Use the In-Platform Highlight Reel Editor to clip your uploaded film into full reels or specific skills videos. Publish it once it is complete.
- Through your membership on the team, you have one FREE professional Highlight Reel credit, which includes isolation effects, title cards, and music.

WHY – College coaches can filter their Discover Feed by “Video” to show only athletes with video visible on their profile. Without video, college coaches cannot evaluate you as an athlete online.

BUILD A LIST OF SCHOOLS

Find schools using the Advanced School Search to filter schools by division, conference and college major to determine schools that are of interest to you. Click the heart icon to add the school to your Favorites List.
- The Roster Needs feature gives college coaches the option to publish the positions and academic credentials they are recruiting. You can use the Roster Needs filter to find schools that “Match” your position and grad year
  - How to Filter through Roster Needs
  - Note: Over 95% of Roster Needs require video to become a Full Match
You can stay organized by personalizing your favorites list as you start to reach out to these coaches. Building a list of 20-30 schools is a great place to start.

WHY – College coaches can search for prospective student-athletes using an “Interested in Us” filter to show only athletes who have favorited their school or sent their school a message on the platform.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO COLLEGE COACHES

Start using the messaging system to express interest in programs on your favorites list
- All messages are sent directly to the coach’s SportsRecruits account and personal school inbox: What Do Messages Look Like To College Coaches?
- Here are some ideas on how to introduce yourself: Sample Recruiting Email to a College Coach
Every message you send through the platform will include a link to your profile, which will give that coach direct access to this ‘online resume’
You’ll then be able to tell exactly which college coaches have viewed your profile with SportsRecruits’ complete transparency.

WHY –Reaching out to college coaches is the best way to share your profile and get on their radar. 80% of committed athletes contact at least 10 different schools over the course of their recruiting process. Get started with the schools on your favorites list!

Completing these steps will set you up for success no matter where you are in the recruiting process, and it’s up to you to put in the work!

For more information, you can also learn some best practices in the SportsRecruits 101 Webinar (~25 min), in addition to the free recruiting webinars hosted each month by the SportsRecruits Team. All webinars are scheduled on the following page, and the recordings of previous webinars are at the bottom: SportsRecruits Webinar Landing Page.

Dive in with Avery Pleiman

Learn More about Octavia

Kings Hammer Soccer Club welcomed Octavia Saunders to the role of Director of Video Analysis and Data Analytics earlier this summer. She joins the club with a wide array of experience stemming from her time coaching at the collegiate level, including a stint as the Associate Head Coach for UNC Charlotte.

Born in Devon, England, Octavia— or Ocky as she’s known to most people— spent much of her childhood around the game of soccer. At just 16 years old, she joined the Bristol City Academy where she played semi-professionally. While there, Ocky would win six UK National Titles in three years, also attending multiple England national camps.

She attributes her time there sparking her idea of coaching, saying, “I learned how to be a coach out of that too. I’m looking at the mentors and coaches there, and it helped me develop so much as a player and what I would pull away from them now as a coach.”

A move stateside would have Ocky attend the University of Montevallo in Alabama, playing soccer while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. From there, she jumped into coaching, working at several universities including Brevard College, Salem College and most recently UNC Charlotte. In addition to her role as the Associate Head Coach at UNC Charlotte, she also ran the scouting program, all the while taking on various roles with local youth club NC Fusion.

With her background in both youth and collegiate athletics, as well as scouting, Octavia joins Kings Hammer as incredible resource for our players. We are excited to work closely with her each quarter to bring you important tips and inside information that will help you make the most of the college recruitment process.

Recent College Commitments

Congratulations to the most recent Kings Hammer soccer players to make their college commitment decisions! Remember to post your commitment to your Sports Recruits account, send a commitment photo to info@kingshammer.com, and include or tag your club’s local Kings Hammer page on any social media posts so that we can be recognize you for your achievements!