How do I schedule an “unofficial visit?” The college recruiting process often times is compared to a marriage.
I first heard this comparison from Coach Pete Gonzalez, while he was recruiting at a volleyball tournament, a few years ago. After thinking about it, I realized he is so right! Emails are exchanged, several phone calls, a couple of visits, all while you are building a trusting relationship, and before you know it you are committed.
I strongly recommend, throughout your journey, you go on several “unofficial visits,” beginning your freshman year in high school. An unofficial visit is any visit to a college or university campus that is not paid for by the institution. When you receive your club schedule at the beginning of the season, you should have a pretty good idea of where you will be traveling throughout the year. I would begin to create your strategy at that time. You can begin emailing college coaches, include your video link, and work on establishing a relationship. Let the coach know that you will be traveling to that part of the country on the dates you are traveling and ask if it would be possible to set up a visit before or after those dates. If you are interested in programs located closer to your home, you will follow the same procedure, email the coach with your video, and follow up with a phone call. It is in your student athletes best interest to visit many schools, to understand what is important to them for their college experience.
During an unofficial visit, your student athlete needs to be prepared to answer questions, be knowledgeable about the school, and have a list of questions to ask the coaching staff, as well as an academic advisor! The college coach, or one of the players on the team, is likely to give you a tour of the school. After completing your tour, the coach will usually want to meet up and talk about your thoughts and what you are looking for in your college experience. In some cases, athletes have received offers while on an unofficial visit, or shortly after. Try to schedule your unofficial visits before, or shortly after a tournament. It will peak the interest of the coach, and they would be more likely to go out of their way to evaluate you!
As a college volleyball recruiting expert, I travel throughout the United States and Canada helping families understand the recruiting process, and help college coaches develop a strategy on how to attract players to their program. I offer college recruiting workshops, and take on clients who want to take advantage of our services.
M.R.S. services include: an athletic evaluation by 2 time Olympic medalist Eric Sato, ranked one of the top 35 volleyball players in the world, editing of game footage (provided by family), by former Division 1 assistant Coach John Gaido (over 20 years of coaching experience), and guidance throughout the recruiting process by me. See bios here. Our staff spends over 100 hours with each family throughout this process. I walk you through this process every step of the way with careful consideration of your athletes goals. The main objective is to find the perfect academic, athletic, social fit, and graduate in the least amount of debt as possible. The average financial package for my athletes is over $100,000.
If you would like to schedule a free consultation, send me an email at Kara@myrecruitingsolutions.com, call me at 888-354-0052, or fill out the contact form on our website. You can also subscribe for more tips, and take a look at our event calendar to see our upcoming workshops!