First unofficial visit is on the calendar

DD just scheduled her first unofficial visit. She is a sophomore. Where does the time go? I'm pretty sure she was playing 10U not long ago. Now she has been an all region selection and her team finished 6th in the state. Ok I'll stop being sappy.

What is the most important thing to do on an unofficial visit? I wish she could stay overnight with a player on campus, but we won't get to the area in time for that. She will get to attend a class and watch a practice.

fastpitchaddict said:

DD just scheduled her first unofficial visit. She is a sophomore. Where does the time go? I'm pretty sure she was playing 10U not long ago. Now she has been an all region selection and her team finished 6th in the state. Ok I'll stop being sappy.

What is the most important thing to do on an unofficial visit? I wish she could stay overnight with a player on campus, but we won't get to the area in time for that. She will get to attend a class and watch a practice.

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Talk to the coaches and players and ask lots of questions. If she is a pitcher find out who works with the pitchers. Who calls the pitches? If she hits who works with the hitters? Outfielders? She may spend the whole time talking to the HC and then get there and spend most her time with the AC. What do they so to ensure that you succeed academically? Ask the coach to talk you through a typical day in the life. Then ask a couple players the same question. Compare and contrast the results.

Tour the facilities and the campus. Talk to current players whenever you can. Watch the coaches and how they interact with the players. How do they run their practices? What is a typical weekly schedule during the season? In the off season? What are the academic requirements for athletes? What type of academic help does the school provide? Where do athletes live? What are their recruiting plans for your DDs position? How many players to they plan to carry on the roster? What is the breakdown of the current roster - Fr, Soph, Jr, Sr?

When your daughter is talking to players, make sure she finds out what year of school they are. And finding out how much they played helps also. A freshman's tales can be different than sophs, and on and on.

And now it is 2 unofficial visits on the calendar. They are on the same trip.

Thank you all for the advice. Keep it coming. We are brand new to the recruiting process.

You can get sneaky and ask questions that are semi personal to coach(es), especially if he is having success and there is a chance he could be lured away. "You like it here? You live close to campus? Oh, you just built a new house?". You can get an idea if they have long term plans and not just get coach talk.

Ask how many 2017's they have verballed already, what positions they play, how many they intend to have total. Ask what they see her role being on the team(both defensively and onfensively). Ask what her chances are to compete for starting position freshman year. Even if you already know, ask what style of play the team is building to when she gets there. Ask the coach how long they plan on being with this program. Ask what kind of money they have available to offer her probably will be a percentage number(prefer to know this before you go on unofficial visit, maybe recruiting coordinator or HC can find out before you go). If its an out of state school will she get a in state tuition exception(if there is such a program in that state). What percentage of offer will be athletic money?

Get a tour of the campus (Can be set up with admissions), talk to one of the admissions councilors and see how much it will cost to go there and how much aid she can get from them (In-State/Out-State Tuition, GPA/ACT scores needed to qualify for academic scholarships) make sure they offer programs she is interested in and then set up a meeting with the coach and ask a lot of questions about the program. You will get a sense of his interest in her because he will be asking questions of you and your daughter.

Do some research on the coach and school and this will help guide you in the process. Go into this process remembering that coaching is their job(Supports their family), they want to do everything to keep that job and in some cases your daughter may not fit into their plans/program (That was the toughest thing we learned...rejection is part of life and she may not fit in where you think she does).

Good luck and enjoy the time with her, because these last few years go by awfully fast!

Congrats! That is awesome and yall will enjoy these trips together. Like everyone is saying learn some things about the school and coaches before you go so you can show you have sincere interest in there school. I would wait till a offer is made before asking about moneys and where they see your daughter fitting in there program. Every school we visited laid out where they saw daughter fitting in there program and they gave us the amount they allocated for her. You can get a feel for how much they value your daughter by how the trip goes. I wish you and her the best of luck and tell her to have fun and enjoy the trips. Congrats on All region and making it to Columbus!

Let DD do most of the talking and asking. Time for parents to fade into the woodwork for the most part.