<p>how are you parents of recruited athletes holding up? Many of you are behind the moon now, waiting for communications to re-engage from coaches and universities, waiting for LL's or special admissions documents to really come through. Waiting to know if your kid really gets in!</p>
<p>who needs help with this stressful time? let us know how you're holding up. Let us know if your athlete is in!</p>
<p>As I have posted before, I’m resting my wine glass on my lap! My daughter has eliminated one school after an OV, put one close to the chopping block after she was taken to a hot sweaty drunken packed basement frat party, and loved one school but has yet to hear back from the coach. This upcoming weekend, however, is the visit to her #1 choice throughout most of this. She’s very hopeful for this, as are we. I hope she will (a) love the team (b) love the school and (c) get a nice offer of either athletic or merit aid.</p>
<p>I just ran into a friend whose daughter is graduating from this school in May, and she has loved every minute of it. I wonder if that was a sign?</p>
<p>Oh, my daughter also canceled her ivy visit which had been scheduled for next weekend, after we got the preread back as $0.</p>
<p>She’s also had some last minute interest from some schools with teams where she’d be challenged, but academics where she would not. I’d prefer the opposite, and she has a few D3 schools that fit that bill as well. Alas, they’re also quite pricey. One, a NESCAC, sounded very appealing despite the price tag. But I don’t know - if she didn’t end up going ED, does she even have a chance?</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>Wilberry, best of luck to your daughter this weekend! I hope it is everything she has hoped for. I will be sending good thoughts your way!</p>
<p>Thanks fishy! I hope so too. She really does have her hopes up high. A funny story … she met a girl on another trip, whose sister goes to the school she is visiting this weekend. This is their <em>only</em> recruiting weekend, and that girl is going too. So my daughter was happy about that. But then she found out that another girl she knows, just from competitions in the state, will be there as well. And when they were both 14, my daughter and this girl tied for 1st place at a state championship - it’s such a small world and I do believe in fate. Oh, and they’re also on the same flight out on Friday!</p>
<p>This nerve wrecking roller coaster ride is much more intense than I thought it would be. But I want to say thanks to all of this cc friends for your support and helpful advices. It’s priceless!!! :)</p>
<p>And I wish GOOD LUCK to all of you and your Kids!!!</p>
<p>^^^^I agree with everything xoxojjj says!!</p>
<p>I’m holding up OK. I try to act like a wise old sage here, helping the kids and new parents with advice, but the truth is I’m a nervous parent at the same time. DD is about to submit her ED app to a school that is a perfect fit, both academically and athletically. She’s pretty confident, as am I, but I know I’ll have tough time waiting for her acceptance.</p>
<p>While I wait, I’ll just hang out with willberry, enjoying my glass of wine while tuning in here daily for each episode of “As the Athletic Recruiting World Turns” (AARTW).</p>
<p>It’s so nice to have this subforum and all the helpful, supportive participants. When I went through the process with DS two years ago (pre-this subforum) it was a lot tougher. </p>
<p>Last night I pulled up an old CC athletics thread I had started in the Parents forum from back then just for memories. I had started the thread under an alternate CC username out of paranoia in case some coaches were cyber-stalking DS. Anyway, how times have changed. Now it’s so much easier to find help and support for recruits, right here.</p>
<p>So I’d like to give a belated thanks here and now to riverrunner and GFG for all their help from my 2 year ago thread. I had remembered RR’s help, since we exchanged numerous emails at the time. It wasn’t until I reviewed the thread last night that I realized that GFG had been weighing in, too. Thanks to you both for your two year ago help.</p>
<p>And thanks to everyone here now for making this subforum a great place for recruits and their anxious parents.</p>
<p>Cheers.</p>
<p>Sherpa, I also take the occasional stroll down CC memory lane. I stumbled upon this subforum just last year when D had submitted her one and only ap and was waiting for her LL with nothing more than encouraging words from the coach. It was a totally alien concept and there was a lot of anxiety. You were a much needed calming influence at the time. Things unfolded just as they were supposed to and today D is a happy athlete at her dream school. It’s nice to be in a position now to help someone else through the same patch.</p>
<p>Hey, you’re welcome, sherpa! My D1 and I were trying to figure all this out in the fall of 2007. At that time, if you posted a question about Ivies/selective schools and athletics on CC you took a big risk. There wasn’t an athlete’s forum, so within about three replies you’d attract a crowd of athlete haters carrying rotten tomatoes. This little corner of the site has held to a high standard of honesty and true concern about the other families who come here with questions. That’s why I stay. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Cue:D Dark Side of the Moon/ Pink Floyd music—that album was terrific!</p>
<p>Other than a creeper cyber-stalker who thinks they might know me and then PMed another CCer about me–( about my thread on FinAid pre read)
…all is well in our corner of the world. Really!
Our newest development is that our GC seems to not understand LLs…
sigh…Really ??
and this person is getting paid to do the job!</p>
<p>We are waiting to hear as well, from 1st choice D3 LAC. I’m not sure if my blood pressure can take the stress, but being able to see we’re not the only ones has been helpful, as has the information and advice I’ve been able to glean from all on this site.</p>
<p>We have one firm offer of commitment from a great school that is not the 1st choice, unfortunately. But would be a great place for our D to learn and play. Wish she’d let me make the decision!!!</p>
<p>I have a nervous pit in my stomach -didn’t think bout a glass of wine- thanks for that advice and all the other great advice! We’re waiting on an early read that got delayed and getting stressed out, because my son has only two other schools that he likes enough after visits, but nothing comes close to his first choice. Feeling like we need to go back to some of the other schools that he didn’t pursue, because he felt he had enough good choices.
Anybody have any good advice on how to read coaches? Some are more reserved, some are super positive and some are in between and there’s not necessarily a pattern to it I.e. Strong program equals weaker interest. Hard to figure out. Any advice on this difficult period of finishing applications, communicating with coaches, visiting and juggling an all AP schedule and his sport, of course would be great!</p>
<p>My D is applying ED to a highly selective LAC. Went on an OV which was great, and Coach encouraged her to apply ED, and is supporting her, but made it clear her support was limited. She’s had good communication with the coach since she committed to apply ED, and has been back since her visit to watch a game and had a quick chat with coach. </p>
<p>My D said it best: “It’s either going to be a really, really good or a really, really bad Christmas”
That’s the truth!</p>
<p>photogirl99: the advice a lot of folks on here have given other posters is to just ignore any worries about being too forward or fears of rejection and simply ask the coaches outright where your D stands. How to phrase the questions depends on what you’ve already been told by the coach. You could say “You said X. Does that mean that <strong><em>, or does it mean _</em></strong>__?”, For one school we basically said to the coach something polite but that could have been boiled down to “You haven’t been nearly as attentive as other coaches have been. I’m not sure how to read that. Is it just your style, or the fact that you are in a more competitive, more attractive league than my other schools and perhaps have less need to court recruits? Or should I take it as an indication of your level of interest and assume I am not a priority recruit for you?” The coach had no choice but to be honest. D is now attending that school, and it almost didn’t happen! D didn’t want to be pushy or seem to be begging, so she didn’t ask them the tough questions about where she stood. She was too willing to stick with her assumption that they just didn’t want her that badly. While she definitely wouldn’t have been their top recruit ever, she let that play on her mind. Actually, she was a priority recruit for them and eventually got the special envelope for her application.</p>
<p>It is a nerve wracking time… I remember it well… and Riverrunner was a great help to us also, Sherpa… I think that this forum has held its own very nicely… in the beginning, the questions seemed too basic, now I turn to it just to see the latest status updates. And RR, you are right about the athlete haters and tomato throwers… gosh, there was an abundance of that. It is so funny because I am convinced my athlete is a better student because of the time constraints that athletics creates. Always been good with time management, but my favorite aspect of it is that there is no resentment of the need to stay on top of their assignments/commitments/practices. </p>
<p>For us, the OV’s were a lot of fun…and rewarding in their own way. Nice to try on a school to see if it was a fit… and helpful to know that preferences were actually being formed by the athlete, even though some were deep background preferences, we had to work hard to get the issues airtime!! </p>
<p>there is excellent advice here … along with support and encouragement… we had such great experiences with all the different coaches… maybe it is because we did ask basic, blunt questions. We did have our athlete practice a few passes on a conversation prior to the more important phone calls… just to get the words to sound “normal” and not seem so tentative. It is a stressful, yet wonderful time. Enjoy the time you have with your kid, as it will fly by and you will find yourself crying at graduation!!</p>
<p>You “newcomers” are doing great. You’re handling it much better than fenwaysouth and mrs fenwaysouth did last year. At this time of year, youv’e done everything you can possibly do to get ready for LL, ED, EA or RD. You know how to play the game of recruited athlete or at least…ask the right question to get the right answer. It was a steep learning curve, but you know what you are doing now. We all went through it at one time or another. Nobody came to this site as an expert. We learned through others, and that is why CC is such a great resource. We’ve made some friends along the way as well. I’ve met some of you, and I’ll be meeting more of you this Spring on the baseball field. Make sure you pass your wisdom and experiences onto the next “newcomers”.</p>
<p>You’ll get through it, and move onto the next challenges as up and coming college parents. Hang in there!</p>
<p>Just to echo the above posts-the advise we got here was INVALUABLE. No one at our school had a clue about athletic recruiting, what to ask and how to ask it-so post away-the collective wisdom of the CCers will get you the advise you need!</p>
<p>The wait to hear from 1st choice is over and the news is good!</p>
<p>Wow, fabulous! Congrats!</p>
<p>Thanks THEGFG! I made my son call today, hopefully we’ll know something soon. If we go back to the drawing board, definitely taking your advice and being more open with these coaches and ask the hard questions.</p>