Official visit - what to wear?

[Anonymous]

My DD has her first official recruiting visit to a Div 1 school. She is hung up on two things:

(1) What to wear? Much of the advice from recruiting specialists is to dress like you would for a job interview and recommends khakis and a dress shirt for boys and a skirt or nice pants and a nice top for girls, but older friends who have been through the process said they wore athletic gear, a nice Lululemon outfit, or a team sweatshirt and shorts or jeans.

(2) When she sits in on classes, does she bring her backpack? Take notes?

I know these seem minor, but the "what to wear" question is what she is most stressed about. Any advice is appreciated!

[Anonymous]

my DD has done both. The first one she wore a skirt and top because it seemed like a more formal school. For a big public university- she wore jeans and top but brought her athletic gear because they had mentioned having her join a practice. She had a notebook with her and jotted down some things from class- more questions she wanted to follow up with (like how do lab classes work for athletes, are there study halls, what does academic support look like, etc...)

[Anonymous]

ps- I was also concerned with what I was supposed to wear as the parent. I wore black pants, top and comfortable shoes. We did a ton of walking ao happy about the shoes. I think I could have gotten away with jeans at both places so will probably opt for that for future visits. But comfy shoes was key for visits so far.

[Anonymous]

I have boys but they started with a nice quarter zip and khakis and then transitioned to what everyone else was wearing - presentable t-shirts and shorts. So start a bit nice but then bring "normal" clothes.

Parents - totally doesn't matter. Coaches are usually in their gear.

[Anonymous]

My daughter’s first campus visit we made the mistake of her dressing like a typical college student. Very bad. Coaches are not interested in recruiting students. They are looking for athletes/players. Wear clean athletic shirt pants/shorts shoes and socks that fit with your sport. Nothing from another college. Look like you are able to join in a sideline warm up for whatever sport. You can’t join a practice (unless a camp is ongoing). But, this is how you typically “meet” other players. My daughter was a soccer kid. The ability to stand on a sideline casually juggling, while chatting, probably resulted in a couple offers.

These player “meetings” are NOT accidental or casual. The coach will be getting reports from the players. Yes - you can ask them real questions. That is fine. Do NOT discuss your partying habits. All contacts are part of the interview. Have some real questions to ask.

For girls in particular, it would be a good idea to already know how to use weight room machines and free weights. The tour will include the training areas. “We do weight training. Do you lift?” If your kid can answer - “Sure, I do abc, def and xyz mostly.” That is very good. Know if you are comfortable with free weights. It’s fine not to be. Most high schools do not have free weights so it’s not a surprise if you don’t do free weight.

It’s good to know your own scores/bests for standard stuff for your sport. For soccer, knowing your beep test score, the Cooper Test and FIFA shuttle test are pretty standard.

Have 5 questions/discussions planned for the coach. Coaches are often bad at interviewing, and players you talk to will be worse. Some where along the line the coach will ask; “Do you have any questions”? Have some in your pocket ready to go. Practice asking them to adult friends of parents so you get good at asking and they sound natural. Interviewing is hard work but practice makes it easier. My kid - for soccer - had pretty good success with questions on team formations. Her club coach helped come up with them. “I watched the games against abc and xyz and it looks like you use a (formation) do you change based on your players or competition? Where do you see me fitting in?” Coaches loved that she watched games. Ask players about team travel is good. Bus, fly, hours, getting class work done, study requirements etc?

My daughter did 12 campus visits counting the disastrous first one. By the end she was getting pretty good and everyone was making offers. She was not a national team/future pro player. But, she got to be good at the process. If you are making the campus visit you are already good on the sport assessment. Treat the visit as an interview with the goal of getting an offer. Whether you ultimately take the offer is different. You are going to say “thank you, thank you. it’s really exciting. I can’t wait to talk to my parents and tell them. They probably will have questions. Who do they call.”

[Anonymous]

OP, if you have not already, you should get on the Facebook page "Educating Parents of HS Athletes on the College Recruiting Process." Good place to ask questions like this.

[Anonymous]

Huh. I don't remember giving any of these things a single thought before going on my recruiting trips. Granted this was years ago. I definitely don't remember feeling like it was a job interview; conversely I remember the current athletes saying things like "we need to make sure the recruits have fun and want to come here". I did a time-based sport so I guess that's the difference. Your times are either fast enough for the team or not. The recruiting trip felt more like my chance to evaluate the school, the coach and my potential teammates. I got an offer after all of the trips.

[Anonymous]

Any official visit will have the financials as part of the visit. The offer doesn’t come after the visit