July 1st expectations - swimming

<p>@VMT - First congratulations to your daughter! Not to fear, most of these trips go very well and are great learning experiences. Our son was really nervous before his first one, flight across the country, airplane connection in the middle. The night before he cleaned his room, decided that was the night he needed to weed out his book shelves, and underneath the bathroom sink has never been more organized! By the time he got back from that trip, he was like a seasoned traveler. I heard him explain to a friend that travelling alone made him feel kind of 'adulty." Sadly, as his confidence grew, his hyper cleaning shrank…</p>

<p>I hope you will keep us posted as to how the trip goes.</p>

<p>Cute story @1HappyDad. My D isn’t going far enough to require a plane ride. But, she traveled on her own this summer, and when I picked her up at the airport at the end of the trip, she said the same thing about feeling very adult travelling on her own. Unfortunately, that cleaning the room business never happened for her. </p>

<p>Lol how funny! My S said if he got his LL he would start to put away the months of clean laundry that I have been folding and depositing into his room. He has finally started, so maybe I will be able to see the floor soon…</p>

<p>In general my S had great hosts and trips. Even that one drunken host experience didn’t completely cross that school off the list, and I’m actually a little relieved that he got to check out the party scene and see what happens when people lose control. It ended up being harmless but I think he won’t forget it any time soon.</p>

<p>D1 did have a great OV at her other D3 school. She clicked with the girls, no alcohol in sight, liked the class she went to, the meals, the team activities. S1 went to the same school, so coach had D1 on her radar when she was 12.</p>

<p>But, that bad visit turned her off to the school that was her first choice.</p>

<p>As I am reading these posts about people’s OV experiences, I am again reminded why it is/was so important for the kids to go visit the schools. They all look so great on paper, but it can be a completely different story once they are on campus and get a feel for both the campus and the team. My S knew immediately which ones he liked and which he didn’t. At one school they didn’t even make it to campus - on their way to the school from the airport, they witnessed a woman getting her purse stolen. Right there he decided that no matter how good the school was, he didn’t feel safe even leaving campus, which made the decision that much easier for him. It turned out that there were other factors, too, so it wasn’t a hard decision, but his experience there was invaluable in making the final decision.</p>

<p>So…It’s NLI week, do we have anybody who’s son or daughter has appeared (or will soon appear) on SwimSwam yet?</p>

<p>My son committed on Wednesday in a really nice ceremony at his high school. Doubt he’ll get an article on SwimSwam, though! </p>

<p>@Lovemyswimmer - A signing ceremony – How cool is that? Looking at the list of signees on SwimSwam the other day, I noticed that if your son wants to have an article about it in SwimSwam, he can send an e-mail to: <a href="mailto:share@swimswam.com">share@swimswam.com</a>.</p>

<p>Also, for those who decided to forego ED and wait a little longer, SwimSwam ran an article today about how coaches, even those that originally were pursuing other swimmers, may be coming back to you:</p>

<p><a href=“http://swimswam.com/college-recruiting-its-a-business/”>http://swimswam.com/college-recruiting-its-a-business/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My daughter had her first OV and it went really well. We had already visited the school once last April. But, this gave her some good insight into being a college athlete at that school. She had a great time with the other recruits, too. A few had attended other OV’s and said this one was the best. I think the recruits are all hoping they land together, though that is unlikely. </p>

<p>My daughter signed in the fall, but delayed her signing ceremony until April to do it with a big group at her school. It really was one of the best times I had in all my kids’ school years. It really was better than graduation. Our school allowed everyone who was headed to college to play to ‘sign’ even if they weren’t really signing an NLI (D-3, Naval Academy, men’s rowing, community college). It was just a big celebration.</p>

So, my daughter has gotten into a few D3 schools where she can swim, and is still waiting for a few more. She won’t hear until March. All the schools she applied to are very good fits academically and athletically. One of the schools she was accepted to was high on her list. And, the team appears to be in need of her stroke. However, the coach has not responded to recent emails.

She has emailed him a few times since the early fall and he only responded to one of those emails. Once was to ask a question about the admissions process (a follow-up to info he sent her) but he didn’t respond. Another time she emailed about a second visit (he never invited her for an overnight with the team.) A third was an update of her times. And then she emailed him when she was accepted and he sent a brief though friendly response. She emailed him a last week to say she signed up for an admitted students day and would like to stop by and say hello. Again, no response. She would not have even emailed this much if he had responded to the email in the early fall. But, she kept checking in hoping to get something. She is actually very low maintenance and is quite happy with minimal contact with the coaches at this point. She is still waiting for other decisions and is busy with school and swimming, so she isn’t looking for coddling at all. But, she is concerned with the lack of response.

She would be a big contributor to the team, and he seemed very enthusiastic when she first visited last year. She has pretty much moved the school down the list because of this uncertainty, even though she liked the school a lot. Our instinct is to just let it go. For some reason, he isn’t interested in having her on the team anymore and she has other very good options. Is that how you would read this?

VMT
the last two weeks have been swim champs for many schools,some still going on so his lack of responding might not have anything to do with your daughter but just that he is involved with championships.
many of the coaches will start sending replies in the next few weeks.
try sending the email to the asst coach
many of the assts are the ones involved with recruiting etc
good luck

VMT;

So…if she really wants to go to school here do two things:

  1. Determine when their conference championships are, and if the coach has swimmers qualified for NCAAs. If conference championships are over, and there are no NCAA qualifiers, that coach is probably taking a week or two off from swimming–very typical. They have lives, families, Spring Breaks, just like everyone else.
  2. If the coach still has swimmers on campus due to NCAAs…then its simple. Pick up the phone and CALL. Call, call. Call the assistant coach, and say on voice mail…"I am accepted, I am very interested in the school and swimming for you, and I am coming on XX date to admitted students day. I would like to meet with you during this timeframe of 9 to noon on that day (or whatever works). Say…I have filled out the recruiting questionnaire, and exchanged emails with the coach.

If no response after 2-3 phone calls to head coach and assistant–then you have your answer. Whatever you do, if she wants to go to school there, be the squeaky wheel. It could be they are simply overwhelmed with their current activities. It could be that they receive hundreds of emails a day from recruits and no one can read them. It could be that they have secured a recruit for next year in your D’s stroke and distance and are no longer interested.

Except for the largest teams in the US, we have found that recruiting is haphazard, unorganized, sometimes completed on post it notes (no joke there), and is left to assistant coaches who have just graduated from college.

Be politely persistent.

I have an official visit and money question. I’m worried that my junior will go on an OV and receive an offer afterwards, only to discover that it’s not nearly enough money for her to be able to attend the school. Thus the OV would be wasted. This seems like a common circumstance that both the junior and the coach would rather avoid. Any suggestions on the protocol to find out what the range of an offer might be before accepting the OV? Is that even possible?

Another OV question - Does anyone know how many OVs Division 1 schools typically extend?