athletic visit questions to ask

martyh
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:54:16 +0000

A visit as a freshman seems early, but understand that she is trying to get a feel for time commitments etc. First, do the coaches she wants to see know she is coming? Unless your daughter is already known by them from a club sport or HS team (and shows potential) they may not be all that open with their time, especially with a freshman. Hopefully for your daughter they are open and she is able to visit and find out all that she needs. As a parent you need to understand that some coaches (depending on the program) get several hundred emails a day plus many phone calls; coaches are very busy. If they are not open to an un-official visit I suggest she go to as many of the sporting events of the sports she is interested at the ‘local college’ and sit/stand as close to the bench/field/court (whatever the particular sport is) and watch and listen how the players interact with each other and how the coach interacts with them; when they are winning and losing.

Since you seem to be new to the process I suggest you go to [The Official Web Site of the NCAA - NCAA.org - NCAA.org](http://www.ncaa.org) and do some research on eligibility and the recruiting rules. It seems to be a simple process, but once you get into it it is more complicated than realized. Another suggestion is to go to as many of the camps that the coaches put on at this local college and the process go from there. Let them know you like the school etc…. and let them evaluate your daughter over the next two summers. Then if they see where she continuously improves her skills/play the process will start to fall in place. These camps are a good place (for your daughter) to meet the athletes and get a lot of info.

Also, as she starts looking at schools and decides what sport she may want to pursue she should put much emphasis on choosing a school for the academics and then the sport; not the other way around. The percentage of high school athletes playing at the college level (any division) is extremely low. Less than 2%. And for the small percentage that do play at the college level; more than 50% (I think its closer to 75%) are done with that sport after their first year for many reasons.

Another area on CC you should look at is under College Admissions:
“Specialty College Admissions Topics” Click this and then click “Athletic Recruits”

Sorry so long……

Good Luck !!!