By Loyd McIntosh Photos by Jordan Wald
The 25th annual Mike Getman Elite ID Soccer Camp was held on the first weekend in January at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex in Vestavia Hills. The camp offers talented soccer players the opportunity to showcase their skills, giving college coaches and scouts a centralized place to evaluate them.
Getman launched the ID camp in 2001 while working as the head coach of UAB’s mens soccer team, and it was among the first of its kind and is now the oldest and longest-running college ID camp in the nation.
Getman took over at UAB in 1992 following four years at Harvard, and built the program into a national power. He led the Blazers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, multiple conference titles, Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen runs, a No. 3 national ranking and other honors.
As UAB’s reputation grew throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, recruiting requests from players began to pile up. Coach Getman developed the ID camp as a way to see more players in a comprehensive, in-person setting.
“When I was at UAB, we would get all these calls from kids who wanted to be recruited and wanted to be seen, and we just couldn’t go see every kid in the country play,” Getman explains. “Our coaches not only get to see them, but we get to work with them. You see what their training habits are like, what their personalities are like, you just get to know them better than if you just sit in the stands watching the game.”
The idea gained traction as other colleges launched their own ID camps, but the original was the standard. The camp quickly attracted coaches, recruiters and scouts from other colleges of all levels—Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior colleges. And, while players have come from all over the country to attend, the camp has been especially beneficial for local players who typically make up 80 percent of the clinics’ attendees. Getman says that even though many of the players who have come through camp over the years weren’t a good fit for UAB, he’s proud of the fact that the clinic has helped so many find a home at the next level.
“Over the years, we’ve probably sent over 1,000 kids go to college,” says Getman. “It is really giving a lot more opportunities to local kids.”
Eight years after retiring from UAB, Getman has kept the ID camp alive. The 2026 session drew more than 100 of the top junior high, high school, and college soccer players from all over the nation and Canada for two days of intensive training and competition. Among the local athletes are Kosi Udeh and Robby Russell, players at different stages in their soccer journey.
Russell, a senior at Mountain Brook High School and a standout center back with the Hoover Vestavia Soccer Club (HVS), has attended the clinic several times over the years and believes it has helped raise his profile among college recruiters as well as shown him areas for improvement by playing against some of the best high school and college soccer players in the country.
“I want to get seen by college coaches, and I just like to play, too,” says Russell. “I’m also trying to develop my speed of play. I need to play faster. It’s like what you learn anywhere.You play with guys who are older and better, and you learn from them.”
Originally from Hoover, Udeh was a goal-scoring phenom for Hoover High School and HVS. He transferred to Robert Morris University after one season at the University of South Carolina. Udeh wrapped up his college career last fall and attended the ID clinic in order to get back into game shape and catch the eye of pro scouts from Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Nashville FC and its minor league United Soccer League (USL) team Huntsville City FC and Lexington SC of the USL, among others.
“The level here is really high. I’ve been getting back into playing again. I’ve been training a lot on my own, so getting out and having some good competition is always beneficial,” says Udeh. “I’m just trying to further my career any way I can, and I’m grateful for the opportunity that I have here.”
Zach Herold, an assistant coach with Huntsville FC, says the team regularly invites local players to training camps and says the ID camp is a vital pipeline for talented players. Additionally, he says Getman has been a major factor in the development of local players for over 30 years.
“We are really impressed by the talent in the area. It’s no surprise why I’m here. I think the local talent is continuing to grow and (Getman) has had a massive hand in that development,” Herold says.
Getman’s son, Nate, has seen firsthand the evolution of the clinic and the development of local players. Now an assistant soccer coach at Georgia Southwestern State University, Nate has regularly attended the ID camp since beginning his coaching career in 2019. He says the clinic has allowed him to make relationships with players beginning as early as junior high and monitor their progress.
“I’ve known some of the guys for four years now, so being able to see them develop and come back to this camp every year is really cool,” he says. “As a college coach, I want players to go to an ID camp because I can see how they play in an environment that they’re not used to, so it really shows their true character. I really implore everyone who wants to play in college to come to an ID camp to see what it’s really like.”
