Excellent post by @brooklynrye.
There is a lot of “institutional memory” on this thread for fencers (and their parents) who are in the same position your family is in.
The “greatest hits” would be: any or all of @sherpa’s posts (especially #308 & #368), @brooklynrye’s insights on early-recruiting (#361, #367 & #370) and some of my own on general topics (#267, #284, #359, #363, #369 and #391). I think most of the questions and concerns a parent of a recruitable fencer might have are addressed, at least initially.
A few additional thoughts:
- You should try to schedule appointments for SN as soon as possible. Others on CC can attest that if you haven’t done this yet, you are late. Additionally, as it is an Olympic year, there is a possibility that some college coaches will be in Rio (instead of SN) helping prepare their fencers. If the coach of a college program you want to meet is not at SN, you should try to meet them now. A lot of college recruiting decisions are made in the days and weeks after SN.
- Your club coach (if he/she hasn’t already) should be active in calling the coaches of the college programs your daughter is interested in. This insight should give you an idea of which programs have needs in your daughter’s recruitment year. This will help in expectations management.
Hopefully, you have already done all these things and are just being coy. However if you are as late as you appear to be, you better get going. College fencing recruiting can be a game of musical chairs and the music is playing!