The Official Visit

The official visit. This is an opportunity for a prospective student athlete to experience their potential future institution at the expense of the school. The student gets to experience many great aspects of their ensuing academic year. They attend classes, tour facilities, meet with coaches, eat with the team, etc. The problem with the official visit is the bad activity which generally goes on when the players stay with a member of the team that night. It has almost become a tradition for the players to take out the recruits, get them drunk, and show them a good time that hopefully will sway them in their decision making process to attend that certain school. This raises the question as to whether or not this is ethical and proper. I personally feel that it is just another factor in the recruiting process and as long as players and recruits don’t get in trouble, so be it. But my mindset changed a little after I talked about the recruiting process with Dr. Heather Lawrence, a professor of Sport Management here at Ohio University. She has done a lot of work pertaining to the official visit and I found it interesting to hear a professional perspective on the matter. She explained to me that most schools do not condone the alcohol side of things and do their best to eliminate the possibility of it. She said only about 10% of schools actually have the inappropriate activity that is portrayed in the media. Schools like Colorado, who had a big recruiting ethics scandal a few years ago, are the ones who give the black eye to the recruiting process. This made me realize that maybe drinking shouldn’t be a factor in the recruiting process. Maybe the players should just get a feel for how their experience will really be: sober. This will be the best way for the best athletes to go to the place most suited for them to fulfill their ultimate purpose in school, which is learn and perform.