UNOFFICIAL VS OFFICIAL VISITS
What are the differences between an unofficial and official visit?
Unofficial Visits - Pertains to D1, D2 and D3
- All visits before senior year are by definition unofficial.
- Prospective student athletes pay all travel expenses associated with the visit.
- Prospective student athletes can stay on campus with a member of the team or another student.
- Prospective student athletes can take as many unofficial visits as they like to any number of colleges at any time.
- Prospective student athletes can meet with the college coach while on campus.
- Coaches can help prospective athletes coordinate NCAA unofficial visits.
LacrosseRecruits.com Insider Info
How does a coach know who is really interested?
How does a player know who is really interested?
The answer to both questions is the unofficial visit. After a player receives a letter or email from a coach, it is up to the player to contact the coach and provide the coach with a highlight reel and a letter / email alerting the coach that he / she is interested in the program. As we touched on in the last newsletter, a large majority of the letters sent to recruits on September 1st are simply to see who comes back with video and expressing interest.
If the coach considers the player a real prospect, he / she will go out of his / her way to invite the player on campus for an unofficial visit. If the player accepts the invitation, then the coach knows that the player is truly interested in their school.
If you have not heard from a number of programs you are interested in, you must put a highlight reel and your information in front of them ASAP before the coach runs out of weekends in the fall to have you up for a visit.
If the coach has not invited you up for a visit, you must show him a highlight that displays your talent.
Official Visits - Pertains to D1 and D2 programs
- Prospective student athletes can only make one official visit to any given college.
- Prospective student athletes can only make official visits during their senior year of high school.
- Prospective student athletes can make no more than 5 total official visits.
- Official visits can only last 48 hours.
- The college team can pay for your travel and lodging. This is the main distinction between official and unofficial visits.
- Prospective student athletes may receive free admission to the team's games, but can only sit in the general seating area.
- Your host can be a player on the team, who receives a set amount ($30) to cover your expenses while you're on campus.
- Prospective student athletes cannot use the $30 to buy souvenirs or swag.
LacrosseRecruits.com Insider Info
Official visits are becoming more of a formality with the acceleration of the recruiting process as most prospects have committed before their senior year even begins.
At Division 1 programs and Top Tier Division 3 programs, most players will have verbally committed before their senior year or in September of their senior year. The official visit has become an opportunity for a player to visit campus on the school's dime while meeting other recruits and current team members. For players who have not verbally committed, we suggest taking all 5 of your offical visits. Looking back on our recruiting trips, they were all great weekends where we were able to fine tune our ability to see what we were looking for in a college.
What are some coaches' tips for prospects before they go on unofficial or official visits?
The best tip we can offer for an unofficial / official visit is to take a Friday off from school and spend the day and night with players on the team. Meeting with the coaches and getting a tour of the athletic facilities is a good start but you want to spend time on campus with current players and the general student body.
- Take a standard admissions tour of campus (This enables you to see what other types of students are considering the school).
- Go to classes with a player on the team (Are classes what you expected? Can you see yourself in only small classes? Are large lecture classes suitable?)
- See where players eat meals (You get a great idea of who they socialize with. Do they only eat with lacrosse players? Do they have friends outside the team? Are they in fraternities?)
- Go to lacrosse practice (Is there mandatory practice or conditioning? Are there captains practices?)
- Go out and see what a Friday night on campus is like (Are there lots of campus run activities? Do students go to campus parties? Do students go into a nearby town or city?)
- Stay in underclassmen dorms (Do most students live on campus? Can you see yourself living in a 2 person double or a 4 person suite? Are there coed dorms? Is campus housing close to the academic buildings?)
Doing all of these things will enable a player to see if he / she is a good academic, athletic and social fit!
You NEVER want to go to a school just because you can play lacrosse there. You want to choose a school that is a good fit for you academically. Use lacrosse as a vehicle to get into the best school possible. Over the course of your life, your degree is going to shape a lot of the options you have after your playing days are long gone.
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