A college athlete walks through official recruiting visits: overnight stays with coaches, players, and campus tours scheduled in fall when teams look strongest. He visited Hofstra, Irvine, Cal Poly, and Valparaiso, getting a full-ride scholarship offer from Valparaiso after finding the right fit.
You have to go on an official visit. You must sleep over at least one night, maybe two at a max, where you get to experience being a college athlete at the school, where you would spend a night with the players, you would meet the coach, you would eat with them, you'd go to the locker room with them. And to get this, what we call an official visit, or a visit where you'd sleep over with the team, this happens during the fall season because coaches don't really want you to sleep over during the spring. They're just doing fitness all year and it's not very fun looking and it's just not the epitome of the year. The epitome of the year is during the fall season. If you decide during that visit you don't like the experience, like I I went on 5 official visits. I didn't just get one interest and then say yes. I went to Hofstra University for one of them, and I remember so vividly, it was the night before the game and the players were drinking, and there was a roommate who we like locked out, passed out, we drew on his face, and it was very fun. And I remember thinking as a 17-year-old high school kid, like, this is crazy. But that wasn't the environment I wanted. I wanted like super serious. I did not want there to be silly. And my roommate actually scored the game winner despite, you know, staying up too late that night. And it was still really fun and cool, but that was not the experience I wanted from my experience. Then I went on another visit at Irvine. I wanted to go to that school. I wanted them to say yes, and they did not say yes to me after the official visit. And then I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and I really liked the coach, and they did make me an offer, which they later rescinded. And then I went to Valparaiso, which the coach and I basically loved each other. I loved the players, and I was offered a full ride. So I went on many visits before I got to the school I wanted. And I knew when I picked Valpo, because I'm from Malibu, California, and Malibu was not my dream school, I needed to be sure I would love this program. And the way I was able to know I loved it was because of my official visit. If you want more help, book a call, and I'm happy to talk to you and your parents.
