College official visits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the hell is the value or the point of the official visit AFTER you have committed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the hell is the value or the point of the official visit AFTER you have committed?

College pays for a visit so you can meet teammates, coaches, participate in practice, see training facilities, gym, learn how program is run, have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the hell is the value or the point of the official visit AFTER you have committed?

College pays for a visit so you can meet teammates, coaches, participate in practice, see training facilities, gym, learn how program is run, have fun.

I get that, but wouldn't it be better to do that before you commit?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, it just seems counter intuitive to me. I'm not doubting you or debating if that is really how it is, I just thought they were done in reverse.

Thanks for the insight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the hell is the value or the point of the official visit AFTER you have committed?

College pays for a visit so you can meet teammates, coaches, participate in practice, see training facilities, gym, learn how program is run, have fun.

I get that, but wouldn't it be better to do that before you commit?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, it just seems counter intuitive to me. I'm not doubting you or debating if that is really how it is, I just thought they were done in reverse.

Thanks for the insight

Since the college program is footing the bill for an OV, it depends on what they want to focus on. Many programs don't feel they need to budget dollars for OV for pre-commits. Football and BBall are different but those are money sports and budgets are higher.

[Anonymous]

It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the hell is the value or the point of the official visit AFTER you have committed?

College pays for a visit so you can meet teammates, coaches, participate in practice, see training facilities, gym, learn how program is run, have fun.

I get that, but wouldn't it be better to do that before you commit?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, it just seems counter intuitive to me. I'm not doubting you or debating if that is really how it is, I just thought they were done in reverse.

Thanks for the insight

Since the college program is footing the bill for an OV, it depends on what they want to focus on. Many programs don't feel they need to budget dollars for OV for pre-commits. Football and BBall are different but those are money sports and budgets are higher.

That makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

This was how things worked before the rule change last year, now, more schools are offering OV before commitments and girls are making use of the OV as a decision making tool. Things have really changed and will be much clearer after the 2022s go through it all this summer and fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

What year should I a kid go to one of these camps (after vetting the legitimacy of the camp and the coaches actually attending)? Freshmen? Sophmore?, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1

Based on my DD's experience and those of her teammates, most girls won't be offered official visits until they have committed. Now, if you have a VERY high level player, then you might get offers to officials before you're committed to help make a decision but that's very much the exception not the rule. On my DD's team, which had 15+ D1 commits, I don't know of anyone taking more than 1 official, or taking it before they committed.

This was how things worked before the rule change last year, now, more schools are offering OV before commitments and girls are making use of the OV as a decision making tool. Things have really changed and will be much clearer after the 2022s go through it all this summer and fall

That's because the recruiting window has been both pushed back and compressed. It used to be that recruits would do unofficial visits as Freshman and Sophomores and get the offer at that time. Therefore OVs were almost always be reserved for commits. Now, no official or unofficial visits are allowed until Aug 1 before Junior year. No phone calls allowed before June 15 that year. So OVs are more in play for programs that have the budget. These will be offered to top recruits, by the top programs. They are not cheap for the programs. OVs are a great indication of interest and will hopefully work more like they are designed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

What year should I a kid go to one of these camps (after vetting the legitimacy of the camp and the coaches actually attending)? Freshmen? Sophmore?, etc.

Here is my advice. Determine your budget. Decide based on that how many camps you want to do.

Timing - Do not do a camp until you think the player is ready when they will show well vs other HS aged players. As a Freshman you will be competing vs Sophomores and Juniors. Would it be better to wait a year? Depends on the player.

Which camps to attend - Make sure you have already reached out to the programs before attending the camp so they at least know you are coming. Ideally the program should show interest in you first before signing up for a camp.

How do you know if a program is interested? Has the program expressed interest through your coach? No phone calls allowed but they are allowed to do that. If you got emails invites to attend, were they personalized at all ("We saw you play at the Spring showcase in Florida and think you might be a fit"), and if you got an email after a showcase - did everyone else on the team get the same email (MoneyGrab) or just you (Interest)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

What year should I a kid go to one of these camps (after vetting the legitimacy of the camp and the coaches actually attending)? Freshmen? Sophmore?, etc.

Here is my advice. Determine your budget. Decide based on that how many camps you want to do.

Timing - Do not do a camp until you think the player is ready when they will show well vs other HS aged players. As a Freshman you will be competing vs Sophomores and Juniors. Would it be better to wait a year? Depends on the player.

Which camps to attend - Make sure you have already reached out to the programs before attending the camp so they at least know you are coming. Ideally the program should show interest in you first before signing up for a camp.

How do you know if a program is interested? Has the program expressed interest through your coach? No phone calls allowed but they are allowed to do that. If you got emails invites to attend, were they personalized at all ("We saw you play at the Spring showcase in Florida and think you might be a fit"), and if you got an email after a showcase - did everyone else on the team get the same email (MoneyGrab) or just you (Interest)?

Well, of course. The point of the post was to illustrate that for some schools, these camps are becoming more important as discriminators. And necessarily, there are only so many camps that players can/should afford. I think what is happening is that with the window pushed back some, more girls on the market, and it being easy to keep your field wide by blasting out emails, that scouts are bombarded by more emails/contacts than they can handle. Just another change in this ever evolving process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

What year should I a kid go to one of these camps (after vetting the legitimacy of the camp and the coaches actually attending)? Freshmen? Sophmore?, etc.

Here is my advice. Determine your budget. Decide based on that how many camps you want to do.

Timing - Do not do a camp until you think the player is ready when they will show well vs other HS aged players. As a Freshman you will be competing vs Sophomores and Juniors. Would it be better to wait a year? Depends on the player.

Which camps to attend - Make sure you have already reached out to the programs before attending the camp so they at least know you are coming. Ideally the program should show interest in you first before signing up for a camp.

How do you know if a program is interested? Has the program expressed interest through your coach? No phone calls allowed but they are allowed to do that. If you got emails invites to attend, were they personalized at all ("We saw you play at the Spring showcase in Florida and think you might be a fit"), and if you got an email after a showcase - did everyone else on the team get the same email (MoneyGrab) or just you (Interest)?

Well, of course. The point of the post was to illustrate that for some schools, these camps are becoming more important as discriminators. And necessarily, there are only so many camps that players can/should afford. I think what is happening is that with the window pushed back some, more girls on the market, and it being easy to keep your field wide by blasting out emails, that scouts are bombarded by more emails/contacts than they can handle. Just another change in this ever evolving process.

Sounds a lot like AMWAY to me. Here, pay us money and then we'll decide if we want you to come work for us, possibly for free.

Maybe it would be better to go and test the waters in Europe or South America and actually get paid to play. :-?

[Anonymous]

Getting a scholarship is a kind of being paid to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there is a population of schools who are increasingly relying on their ID camps to recruit from vs showcases. It's not like they aren't going to showcases, but it seems like they may be using their camps to cull their lists down. Perhaps the logic is if a player isn't willing to come to an id camp, perhaps they aren't really interested. This could be a byproduct of their being alot more players in the market now due to the growth of DA and ECNL. Curious to hear from those of you at the end of the process if you agree with this observation or not.

That's interesting. I thought those camps were just a money-grab. My email inbox is over-flowing from all of these various ID college camps and my kids are in middle school. Delete, delete, delete.

What year should I a kid go to one of these camps (after vetting the legitimacy of the camp and the coaches actually attending)? Freshmen? Sophmore?, etc.

Here is my advice. Determine your budget. Decide based on that how many camps you want to do.

Timing - Do not do a camp until you think the player is ready when they will show well vs other HS aged players. As a Freshman you will be competing vs Sophomores and Juniors. Would it be better to wait a year? Depends on the player.

Which camps to attend - Make sure you have already reached out to the programs before attending the camp so they at least know you are coming. Ideally the program should show interest in you first before signing up for a camp.

How do you know if a program is interested? Has the program expressed interest through your coach? No phone calls allowed but they are allowed to do that. If you got emails invites to attend, were they personalized at all ("We saw you play at the Spring showcase in Florida and think you might be a fit"), and if you got an email after a showcase - did everyone else on the team get the same email (MoneyGrab) or just you (Interest)?

Well, of course. The point of the post was to illustrate that for some schools, these camps are becoming more important as discriminators. And necessarily, there are only so many camps that players can/should afford. I think what is happening is that with the window pushed back some, more girls on the market, and it being easy to keep your field wide by blasting out emails, that scouts are bombarded by more emails/contacts than they can handle. Just another change in this ever evolving process.

Sounds a lot like AMWAY to me. Here, pay us money and then we'll decide if we want you to come work for us, possibly for free.

Maybe it would be better to go and test the waters in Europe or South America and actually get paid to play. :-?

It probably would. Better soccer, lifetime experience. And some of the players I know actually enroll in universities over there at the same time.