NCAA Official Visits

[Flicfliclay]

Here we are getting ready for my daughters 1st official visit. What should we expect? What are the expectations of parents who are going? What did your itinerary look like? We have the itinerary, but what did you do on your visit?

 

[gym_dad32608]

Our visits were during football season. Arrived that Thursday night. Friday morning started early, and went through dinner around 7-8pm. The order of these things might differ from visit to visit, but all had these basic elements:

• Attend a practice (if youre going off-season not sure how that might look)
• Tour facilities including weight training, nutrition, recovery
• Tour campus
• Meet with academic interest/academic support team
• NIL meeting
• Tour dorms
• Campus bookstore visit

Girls usually spent night with host (current team members). Parents went to hotel after friday dinner. Saturday morning breakfast with coaching staff or coach. Meet DD for photo shoot, depending upon time of football game, get VIP tour/access to football field prior to game, tailgate with coaches and team. Again, depending upon day or night game, maybe a dinner after the game with recruits, hosts and coaching staff. Back to hotel saturday night, Sunday morning, +/- breakfast with a coach and some type of debrief. Either scholarship offer, want you to accept earlier offer, or just let you know where you stand. Trip to airport and done!

There really isnt a lot of down time. I think one visit we had a 2 hour, chill at you hotel type break. The rest of the time is on golf carts, talking to coaches, support staff, current team members and EATING SO MUCH. No real expectations of parents, just a lot of talking.

 

[Ty’s Dad]

Our visits were during football season. Arrived that Thursday night. Friday morning started early, and went through dinner around 7-8pm. The order of these things might differ from visit to visit, but all had these basic elements:

• Attend a practice (if youre going off-season not sure how that might look)
• Tour facilities including weight training, nutrition, recovery
• Tour campus
• Meet with academic interest/academic support team
• NIL meeting
• Tour dorms
• Campus bookstore visit

Girls usually spent night with host (current team members). Parents went to hotel after friday dinner. Saturday morning breakfast with coaching staff or coach. Meet DD for photo shoot, depending upon time of football game, get VIP tour/access to football field prior to game, tailgate with coaches and team. Again, depending upon day or night game, maybe a dinner after the game with recruits, hosts and coaching staff. Back to hotel saturday night, Sunday morning, +/- breakfast with a coach and some type of debrief. Either scholarship offer, want you to accept earlier offer, or just let you know where you stand. Trip to airport and done!

There really isnt a lot of down time. I think one visit we had a 2 hour, chill at you hotel type break. The rest of the time is on golf carts, talking to coaches, support staff, current team members and EATING SO MUCH. No real expectations of parents, just a lot of talking.

Thanks for this

 

[Flicfliclay]

Our visits were during football season. Arrived that Thursday night. Friday morning started early, and went through dinner around 7-8pm. The order of these things might differ from visit to visit, but all had these basic elements:

• Attend a practice (if youre going off-season not sure how that might look)
• Tour facilities including weight training, nutrition, recovery
• Tour campus
• Meet with academic interest/academic support team
• NIL meeting
• Tour dorms
• Campus bookstore visit

Girls usually spent night with host (current team members). Parents went to hotel after friday dinner. Saturday morning breakfast with coaching staff or coach. Meet DD for photo shoot, depending upon time of football game, get VIP tour/access to football field prior to game, tailgate with coaches and team. Again, depending upon day or night game, maybe a dinner after the game with recruits, hosts and coaching staff. Back to hotel saturday night, Sunday morning, +/- breakfast with a coach and some type of debrief. Either scholarship offer, want you to accept earlier offer, or just let you know where you stand. Trip to airport and done!

There really isnt a lot of down time. I think one visit we had a 2 hour, chill at you hotel type break. The rest of the time is on golf carts, talking to coaches, support staff, current team members and EATING SO MUCH. No real expectations of parents, just a lot of talking.

What are some good questions we should ask? Or that my daughter should ask?

 

[gym_dad32608]

What are some good questions we should ask? Or that my daughter should ask?

Really its up to you. Most questions have probably been answered via the weekly calls leading up to the visit. Some follow-up with questions or topics that might have been brought up during the calls might be covered during the visit. Like if you brought up FCA during your calls, they may bring a rep in. Your daughter will probably spend more time with the girls on the team than with the coaches so she can ask them about team culture, practice, school environment stuff. As a parent, you will probably just have questions around whatever they are presenting you. So for example at UF they showed us the sports performance lab where they used all this high-tech stuff to break down an athletes form and how they used it to identify potential weak points. This generated some nerdy questions. Most of the time you are gong to be a bit exhausted and information overloaded lol.

 

[Flicfliclay]

Really its up to you. Most questions have probably been answered via the weekly calls leading up to the visit. Some follow-up with questions or topics that might have been brought up during the calls might be covered during the visit. Like if you brought up FCA during your calls, they may bring a rep in. Your daughter will probably spend more time with the girls on the team than with the coaches so she can ask them about team culture, practice, school environment stuff. As a parent, you will probably just have questions around whatever they are presenting you. So for example at UF they showed us the sports performance lab where they used all this high-tech stuff to break down an athletes form and how they used it to identify potential weak points. This generated some nerdy questions. Most of the time you are gong to be a bit exhausted and information overloaded lol.

Thanks, just was curious as to some people may have wished they would have asked on a visit or before committing to a school.. maybe that is a separate question.

 

[rjb123]

As a parent I asked what I called "mom questions" - campus safety, blue light stuff, parking locations, what do they do when the girls get back super late from meets, as far as getting them safely back to dorms if they don't have cars. I also asked academic questions that DD might not have thought of. I asked about general schedules for the year too. I also liked asking the girls on the teams what their favorite part of the school was, their favorite part of being on the team and what they were majoring in.

 

[rjb123]

You also may want to ask how they manage meals etc if not in an apartment style dorm during school breaks when dining halls are closed. This is something that I did not think to ask about but is a very real thing that comes up. I also think it is a good idea to really look at rosters for the past 5 plus years and see how many girls transfer or leave each year.

 

[Coach Kate]

As a parent I asked what I called "mom questions" - campus safety, blue light stuff, parking locations, what do they do when the girls get back super late from meets, as far as getting them safely back to dorms if they don't have cars. I also asked academic questions that DD might not have thought of. I asked about general schedules for the year too. I also liked asking the girls on the teams what their favorite part of the school was, their favorite part of being on the team and what they were majoring in

These are solid! I did cross country and track at a division 3 school, but there were some LATE nights, especially with indoor track. Too many heats, things run late, and then you run the 4x4 at 11pm and don't get home until 3am. Very valid concerns.