Hello again, field hockey-ers! For Koa’s third blog on being a student-athlete in college we would like to discuss recruiting “overnights” and everything that, that process entails!
Overnights
Often when a school is actively recruiting you they will ask if you would like to partake in an overnight on their campus. It’s similar to your ordinary sleepover, except it’s generally with people you’ve never met before, and you’re trying to decide if you want to live in this particular place for 4 years of your life.
The purpose of an overnight is so that you can truly experience what it would feel like if you attended that specific college or university and were a part of their team. One player who is currently on the team, typically a freshman, will be your host for the day/night and you will travel alongside of her all day in order to see what an ordinary day is like. Most likely a coach will ask you to come on a Friday for you to be able to attend a few of your host’s classes; you will also have your meals in the cafeteria with your host and a few teammates or friends, spend some time in the dorms, walk around the campus and partake in other fun college shenanigans!
It is also beneficial for you to have an overnight on a Friday to a Saturday because coaches often want you to be able to see a weekend home game. That way you can experience what game days entail and how the team prepares as well as how they perform. It seems weird to think that you will be able to know exactly what it will be like attending a school if you’re only there for 24 or so hours, but it can be extremely helpful in determining whether or not you feel you mesh with a certain environment. There will be some overnights that you hate and realize almost immediately that you do not want to go to that particular school, however, there will be other overnights that you absolutely love and that will solidify your ultimate decision in where you want to go.
Yes, overnights can be intimidating—you’re entering an environment completely novel to you and you have to shadow a stranger and her friends for the day in hopes that the school is a good fit for you. Though if you go into each overnight with an open mind, believing that you will meet new people, make new friends, and see how your average day might look, these small glimpses into college life become an awesome opportunity to learn what you’re truly looking for in a college.
