Come back every Tuesday for Recruiting Horror Stories™, athletes' first-hand stories on what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

Everyone always talks about their own official visits, but we never receive the perspective of the recruit's host. Well, buckle up because as a host to an…interesting recruit, do I have a story for you. Of all the recruits that I have had the pleasure to host, I have never met a recruit like this before. 

This story begins with dinner at the dining hall on a Saturday night. We played a game earlier in the day, and the entire team decided to have a nice meal together to decompress afterwards, as well as meet one of our prospective teammates for the next year. As we all sat down for dinner, we asked the recruit the usual questions:  “Where are you from? What are you interested in studying? What do you think of the campus?”  However, the recruit didn't return the boring question favor–we were all greeted with a surprise as the first questions she prompted us with were: “So are there cute boys here? “Do you guys ever break the drinking rule on the team? “What are the parties like here?” 

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I think we can all agree that social life is a large factor in the college decision process, but much of the culture at our particular university surrounds academia and a strong commitment to our sport first. With that being said, no one on our team breaks our drinking rule during the season. It is the golden rule that is never contested. And yet when we replied “no” to breaking our strongly-held rule,  this recruit pushed on exclaiming that she would. That was red flag #1. 

The second red flag came later in the night. After dinner, we all split up to go back to our respective residences until we had a team get-together later in the night. However, as the team does, we each asked what type of impression we got from her, and most said they weren't sure what to make of her. It was only when we got to one of our senior's houses that more chatter began. During the time in between dinner and the get together, the recruit continuously begged some of my teammates to take her out to a party, but my teammates mentioned that there was a team get together tonight that we would all be going to, but it was only going to be our team, and the men's team, whom we are very close to. The recruit seemed satisfied with this answer. However, upon arriving at the house, her first question to our team was, “When are the boys going to be here?” There was clearly no interest in getting to know our team–red flag #2. And once the get together commenced, the third and final red flag arose. 

Related: Peer Pressure: This Recruiting Horror Story Was No Party

Everyone knows the number one rule of being a recruit: do not consume alcohol while on your recruiting visit, no matter what. Well, as you could guess, our recruit found alcohol and consumed it, and then she disappeared from the party for several minutes without any of the team's knowledge. Upon her return, she gloated about her hook up with some boy who happened to be at a nearby party! She had made it very clear that her visit was not about getting to know the team, or becoming familiar with the school, but rather to have a good time. And that was red flag #3.

As a recruit, it is not only time for the school and the team to make an impression, but also for you to make a positive impression. So hold yourself accountable and remember: during a visit, you still need to prove that you are a good fit for the program, just as much as they are a good fit for you.

Have a horror story of your own? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on August 30, 2022, by Madison Kimball