College official visits

[Anonymous]

How many did your DD do? Is it ok to ask a coach for one or is that something you wait to be asked? If a coach hasn’t offered one, does that mean they’re not really that interested? Are most of them Junior or Senior year? Thanks

[Anonymous]

DDs were during the summer between jr and sr years. You are limited to 5. DS would mention that she wanted to visit the school sometime and the coach would offer the official. Each school has a different amount of $$$ for visits.

[Anonymous]

Our DS did just one, spring of his senior year after he’d signed the NLI. He got to spend time with the coaches and kids on the team and get a better sense of what summer training would be like.

His friends (boys) who were choosing among school programs mostly did theirs junior year, and only at schools where there was a strong mutual interest.

[Anonymous]

Girl I coached for a long time did visits based on what schools she liked (D3); some coaches had strong interest and others not so much. She made like 4-5 unofficial visits in Dec or Jan before deciding on the school; she's doing official visit after she signs her NLI tomorrow.

She did receive some coach offers after showcase games (D2, D3) that she hadn't reached out to, but I don't think she took them seriously. Her interest was in going to the school she wanted, not playing in any college (never considered D1).

Of the boys I've coached, several more were more active their junior years (for D1).

[Anonymous]

Note that for D1 schools, you are limited to 5 official visits. For D3 there is no cap, but D3 schools rarely (if ever) pay for travel to the school other than sometimes a ride to/from the airport.

[Anonymous]

That's an odd question honestly. How old is your kid?

For any parent who might have a kid interested in playing in college --

1. Talk to your coach. They and their club will know quite a bit about recuiting. Go to any presentations they have.

2. Read. Read. Read. You need to know the rules and guidelines for recruiting kids in your kid's sport, and for their sex. Recruiting for girls is different than guys in soccer. It is important for parents to understand the rules involved so they can advise kids appropriately. There are lots of things out there, but NCAA also has some good stuff.

3. Make sure your kid is keeping options open and doing what is needed academically. Talk to their school counselor and tell them. This is a good thing to do early on so that they can help with things like getting registered with the NCAA and dealing with odd timing of transcripts being sent, etc... College coaches work on different time frames than regular college apps. Having the high school counselor up to date on what is going on can be a life saver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's an odd question honestly. How old is your kid?

For any parent who might have a kid interested in playing in college --

1. Talk to your coach. They and their club will know quite a bit about recuiting. Go to any presentations they have.

2. Read. Read. Read. You need to know the rules and guidelines for recruiting kids in your kid's sport, and for their sex. Recruiting for girls is different than guys in soccer. It is important for parents to understand the rules involved so they can advise kids appropriately. There are lots of things out there, but NCAA also has some good stuff.

3. Make sure your kid is keeping options open and doing what is needed academically. Talk to their school counselor and tell them. This is a good thing to do early on so that they can help with things like getting registered with the NCAA and dealing with odd timing of transcripts being sent, etc... College coaches work on different time frames than regular college apps. Having the high school counselor up to date on what is going on can be a life saver.

How is recruiting different for boys versus girls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's an odd question honestly. How old is your kid?

For any parent who might have a kid interested in playing in college --

1. Talk to your coach. They and their club will know quite a bit about recuiting. Go to any presentations they have.

2. Read. Read. Read. You need to know the rules and guidelines for recruiting kids in your kid's sport, and for their sex. Recruiting for girls is different than guys in soccer. It is important for parents to understand the rules involved so they can advise kids appropriately. There are lots of things out there, but NCAA also has some good stuff.

3. Make sure your kid is keeping options open and doing what is needed academically. Talk to their school counselor and tell them. This is a good thing to do early on so that they can help with things like getting registered with the NCAA and dealing with odd timing of transcripts being sent, etc... College coaches work on different time frames than regular college apps. Having the high school counselor up to date on what is going on can be a life saver.

How is recruiting different for boys versus girls?

Rules are the same. Girls tend to enter the recruiting process earlier (junior year) whereas boys, on average, do the recruiting thing senior year.

[Anonymous]

The big difference in soccer recruiting for guys and girls is maturation. Both sexes will continue to get stronger with age, but the physical difference in size and speed between a 21 year old and a 17 year old is going to be a heck of a lot different for guys than girls.

By winter break junior year a large portion of Div 1 recruiting is done for girls. It is in the midst for guys.

[Anonymous]

The new rules have tried to help girls be able to slow down the recruiting process and be more on par with the guys, which is so much better for them. They may nature physically a little earlier, but that doesn't mean they are any more ready mentally to navigate that whole process.

[Anonymous]

And I should add there are a lot of girls who still get recruited to good D1 schools at the end of junior year and even the beginning of their senior year. I hope that trend continues.

[Anonymous]

The new rules honestly only really affect the top level players who were getting seriously recruited in their Sophomore years and even before for say the top 100 players. Now coach contact starts the end of the Sophomore year though player initiated contact can come before. Unofficial visits are still barred until the end of Sophomore year.

I would say that the new rules change very little for the vast majority of D1 level girls. It just crams things into a smaller amount of time. You still are going to need to look at schools starting freshman year really to get a feel for what you are looking for in a school. That puts a lot of pressure on club coaches to know and communicate about playing levels so they are realistic about what and where to be looking.

It is a rushed process so the more tours you can do early to focus on what aspects are important for your kid, and the more information that you, as a parent, can get about the schools and process -- the better off your kid will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new rules honestly only really affect the top level players who were getting seriously recruited in their Sophomore years and even before for say the top 100 players. Now coach contact starts the end of the Sophomore year though player initiated contact can come before. Unofficial visits are still barred until the end of Sophomore year.

I would say that the new rules change very little for the vast majority of D1 level girls. It just crams things into a smaller amount of time. You still are going to need to look at schools starting freshman year really to get a feel for what you are looking for in a school. That puts a lot of pressure on club coaches to know and communicate about playing levels so they are realistic about what and where to be looking.

It is a rushed process so the more tours you can do early to focus on what aspects are important for your kid, and the more information that you, as a parent, can get about the schools and process -- the better off your kid will be.

That isn't what I'm seeing at all. I've had girls in travel for years, as have friends of mine. There is a shift. It's always been work, so that's not going away, but it used to be panic if a player wasn't essentially recruited by middle to end of sophomore year. Now, juniors going into the Spring still have a lot of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new rules honestly only really affect the top level players who were getting seriously recruited in their Sophomore years and even before for say the top 100 players. Now coach contact starts the end of the Sophomore year though player initiated contact can come before. Unofficial visits are still barred until the end of Sophomore year.

I would say that the new rules change very little for the vast majority of D1 level girls. It just crams things into a smaller amount of time. You still are going to need to look at schools starting freshman year really to get a feel for what you are looking for in a school. That puts a lot of pressure on club coaches to know and communicate about playing levels so they are realistic about what and where to be looking.

It is a rushed process so the more tours you can do early to focus on what aspects are important for your kid, and the more information that you, as a parent, can get about the schools and process -- the better off your kid will be.

That isn't what I'm seeing at all. I've had girls in travel for years, as have friends of mine. There is a shift. It's always been work, so that's not going away, but it used to be panic if a player wasn't essentially recruited by middle to end of sophomore year. Now, juniors going into the Spring still have a lot of options.

Because the rules changed. D1 schools cannot actively recruit until the end of sophomore year. Basically the summer and fall of Junior year.

[Anonymous]

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.