**Recruiting Horror Stories™ are posted every Tuesday to provide athletes' first-hand experiences of what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

Usually, when you go to an ID camp, or plan to go to one, it is so you can try and catch a coach's eye and earn a spot on a team. However this did not seem to be the case for Noah Pham and his mom. What one thought was an ID camp focused trip, another thought would make for a perfect vacation.

Related: College ID Camps and How to Crush It

The Plan
During his senior year of college, Noah had the opportunity to play at an ID camp for Gonzaga and their soccer program. Ecstatic, Noah could not wait to participate in this camp. With the campus being do close to Canada, Noah's mom thought that they would be able to make a fun trip out of it.

Related school rating: Gonzaga University

The Trip
Noah was not a huge fan of this idea for a couple of reasons. One being that he is not much of a “take a trip kind of person.” The other reason for not wanting to make this trip into a vacation was that Noah was recovering from a torn quad and didn't want to do too much walking. Finally, he wanted to focus on the camp.

Related: A College Athlete's Injury | Tearing My ACL

Despite all of this, Noah and his Mom did a lot of walking and exploring to see the water and all of the beautiful sights they could see. Finally, it came time for Noah's ID camp at Gonzaga, and it did not go well. He said, “I ended up not doing well at the camp because of my injury, and thought it was because the “vacation” put me in a mindset and mood to not play well either.” 

On the way back from the vacation, Noah slept the entire 20 hour drive home. Later in the week when his mom was telling his family how much fun they had, his family asked how he liked it. He finally admitted that he didn't enjoy the trip, and to this day his Mom still jokes about him being the only one to not have fun on their spontaneous adventure.

The Happy Ending
After following up with Noah about this RHS, he spoke on where he is now. He played 5 seasons at Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He jokingly stated, “I'm happy to have ended up where I did. It probably helped that Oregon Tech is in Klamath Falls, OR, where there is NOTHING exciting to do or see, and it's definitely not somewhere you'd spontaneously vacation.” 

Related: Oregon Tech Men's Soccer Seniors and Their Climb to the Top

Have a horror story of your own? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on December 28, 2021, by Brendan Duffy