The path to a Division 1 scholarship is something not well documented, as all the public often sees the end product. Playing at and finding a division 1 college soccer team is very difficult.

Just finding a team takes e-mailing coaches, phones calls, and playing in front of an audience.There are many rules with contacting and communicating with a D1 college. D1 college coaches can only call athletes after September 1st of their senior year. Younger athletes can call the coach and if they pick up, students are able to talk to them, but if they do not, they cannot call back according the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Jade Gosar is one of the Division 1 athletes lucky enough to play in college at this high level, she talks about her path to a women’s soccer scholarship to the esteemed Notre Dame University was lengthy, but worth it.

The seven-month process started at an event in Houston designed to connect coaches to recruits. As she told it, “The coach told me that I stood out to him because of the way I played. I’m an outside back who loves to get forward and score.” Flash forward seven months and, she could announce her commitment to the University of Notre Dame as only a sophomore in high school. Despite her successful commitment, she recalls the struggles of communicating with the coach as being quite discouraging.

Per NCAA rules, no official contact can be made by Division 1 coaches until September 1st of the student’s junior year. Contact must all be made through club coaches or student initiated phone calls. As a current senior, Gosar looks set to finish strong at Rocky, and continues to prepare for her first season with the Fighting Irish. “I’m looking forward to playing in college and seeing where it takes me.”