<p>Hello college confidential people, </p>
<p>I am considering making an unofficial visit to a college. Is it against the NCAA rules to practice with their (a college team) team? My sport is cross country by the way. I'm not entirely familiar with the long list of NCAA rules and regulations and this is one of them I am unsure of. Any helpful replies would be appreciated.</p>
<p>At a D3 we were specifically told it was against the rules. At a D1, the agenda specifically said “watch team practice”. I do believe it is against the rules. </p>
<p>I’ve recently heard that some club lax teams, conduct group visits to colleges, and then “rent the field” – so they are playing in front of the coaches. Interesting twist,eh?</p>
<p>It is against the rules for the coach to watch you practice. I totally don’t get that rule, but there it is. At my daughter’s visits, she was sometimes given a time when the recruits could practice alone, but they had to do their own workouts, and the coaches couldn’t be there. I think she did it once. ;-)</p>
<p>I think at D2 you can practice with the team. You definitely cannot do this at D1 (the only exception would be if you were attending a camp that the team was working at). The coach can watch you practice, but at your own school or with your club (and not with his team).</p>
<p>I think the rules also include that college coaches cannot speak to recruits during competitions, and can only speak to recruits after they have finished the game/meet etc…
The coaches can watch you compete…</p>
<p>It is confusing…</p>
<p>… some coaches will visit a school to watch a group practice though they may be looking at a specific player</p>
<p>I believe you can at a D3 but it is absolutely prohibited at a D1 or D2. It is deemed a “tryout” and forbidden. That is why there is extreme interest in having college coaches at club play tournaments. When in doubt contact the NCAA online and ask. They will not chastise nor berate you for the question. Better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>My d visited only Div III schools and she was not allowed to practice with the team.</p>
<p>you can’t practice with the team at ov’s. although in a few sports it’s possible via camps, us teams, and “playing fields” that an athlete can get opportunities to “practice with the team” or team members and meet/be-observed by college coaches.</p>
<p>this was the case with my daughter, so when recruiting time came around many of the top college coaches and athletes already knew her. The recruiting was essentially already done…although still stressful when it came to academic admissions:)</p>
<p>I think cross country is a little different in that there may be an informal practice that the coach doesn’t attend (often on a Sunday). Additionally, because the nature of XC practice - it may be a long run away from campus. I have known of recruits who participated in that type of practice. </p>
<p>My impression of the intention of the NCAA rule is to prevent coaches from evaluating recruits’ skills on official visits by turning those visits into try-outs with the team. For all those team sports where practice is always organized with the entire team participating and coach supervising, I think having a recruit practice violates the rule. But to the OP - if you’re running with the XC team off campus, without the coach observing you, I’m not sure that violates the rule. As was suggested earlier, you can always contact the NCAA and ask.</p>
<p>I agree ^, but isn’t that silly? It’s not as though the coach can’t ask his runners how the recruit held up, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, GFG, I agree it’s a little silly, but then I think many of these rules are a little silly :)</p>