Tour during the day, meet with the coaches, have lunch with the team, see a game or practice live, and then hang out with the team that night. Recruiting visits can be a great time and it is one of the best tools for an athlete to decide if they want to attend a certain school and play there. But what if the visit doesn't seem right? These are the warning signs to look out for on your visit. If you see them turn, run and don't look back.
Bad Campus
If you do not like the campus/school when you visit, do not go to that school. Your sport might not go the way you want (especially freshman year), and if that's the case, it's important that you like the school you're at, otherwise you are going to have a terrible time and want to transfer out of there. Use the tour on your visit to really look at the campus and even try to meet a professor or two to ask about the classes and majors.
Evasive Coaches
When you meet with the coaches, have questions ready for things you want to know. There's a chance you don't get the answers you want and that's ok! However, if you are asking multiple questions, and all the answers you are getting aren't the answers you are looking for, it is likely that the program isn't for you.
Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits
You're Not Vibing With the Team
Whether you are going to lunch with some of the team or meeting them at a team workout, pay attention to the team vibe. No one wants to be on a team that doesn't spend time together or that has bad chemistry. A good sign to look for is if they are joking around and making fun of each other in a lighthearted way. If it seems the vibe you're getting is off or the team isn't close to each other, that's probably a red flag for what the team culture is like.
Practice Seems Off
When you attend a practice or game, pay attention to how the coach is interacting with the players. This is a good way to tell if she or he is genuine. In addition, you can see their coaching style and see if that matches the coaching style you are looking for. Lastly, you should look at the drills/gameplay and see if that matches the style of play you are looking for. If these factors are not matching the ideals you are looking for then it might be a good idea to consider your options.
Related: What You Need to Know About Campus Visits
Inconsistencies With the Team
After many recruiting visits, you will have a chance to hang out with the team that night. This is a great chance to get to know some of the team, ask any questions you didn't want to ask the coaches or didn't get to ask at lunch and get a final idea of what the team vibe is like. If the answers you get from the players are different from the answers from the coach, then it might be a red flag that the coach isn't being truthful to you.
In addition, if all the athletes are going a separate way and none of them are hanging out, the team culture is probably not great.
A campus visit can be one of the days that influence the next multiple years of your life. It leads to one of the major decisions of your life and shouldn't be taken lightly. With that in your mind, look out for these red flags when you're on your next visit.
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* Originally published on October 3, 2022, by Scott Abramson
