We've completed our second official recruitment visit and overall, I have to say that I was unexpectedly surprised. From the beginning, Anna and Patrick both liked the coach over the phone. He was very conversational, interested in Anna, authentic and approachable. Based on that along with the fact that CofC is in state and she would be competitive on their team, we decided to at least take a look. I'll be honest...I wasn't thinking that Charleston would be the place for her both city wise and school wise. She's gravitated towards larger schools and large downtown spaces. But of course, those are her non-running options. I'll also say that it's been tough finding a school so far that offers her both academics and athletics while also meeting some of her other criteria like size and location. It's a unicorn for sure! Add on top of that the non-commitment to running in general and it leaves a lot of options on the table which has made the search difficult and stressful for Anna.
Regardless, Patrick and I have said from the beginning that if there's even an inkling that she will want to run in college, she needs to keep those options open. It's especially important as she considers out of state options because that would bring in much needed scholarship money. Out of state costs have sky rocketed and the larger schools don't need to give as much money to out of state students and by leaving SC, we are leaving significant lottery money on the table. It's all a fine balance. Money is not the top factor, but it has to be an important one in the mix.
With that said, I didn't roll into Charleston with much expectation other than we needed to go through the motions. Anna was being curmudgeonly as usual because it takes a lot of time and effort to be "on' during these two day visits and she's been very busy with school work, applications and her internship started up. I did remind her that it's a privilege and honor to be invited to things like this, but what does Mom know!?
Anna received a really cool personalize agenda on a website that showed what she would be doing and who she would be staying with. Her host was Lydia who ran at Lexington High School last year and they both knew each other from competition. It was a good pairing and I knew Anna could connect with Lydia to get some real answers to her questions. Patrick, Anna and I headed down on Sunday morning while Paige held down the home fort, going to church with friends and then Bible study afterward. The Currys were so sweet to invite her to dinner and pick her up for that later in the day which was a blessing to all of us and I know Paige had fun. I've said it before, but she is responsible and independent which makes these day trips manageable knowing she's at home doing chores and homework.
We dropped off Anna with the team as well as the other three recruits from WI, NC and FL. They went to do a fun activity without the coaches which turned out to be pumpkin carving. Patrick and I hit up the outlet mall real quick and then grabbed a table at Starbucks to do some work. When we rejoined Anna, we met the coaches and other parents before taking a tour of the facility. Parking was obviously awful and expensive, but the downtown arena was nice and the coaches were great. I liked the "homebase" feel with a study room and locker room so the athletes could use it between classes and didn't have to leave campus.
Next we hopped on a van to tour their running spots around town. Being in the city means they have to drive to some locations which I thought I would hate, but it turns out it gives them a lot of variety and they always provide transportation. So I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would and it was very scenic. We were in the way back which was hilarious because we were definitely being bounced around! Our tour ended with dinner together at Home Team BBQ. I was able to sit close to the three coaches and got to know them pretty well. Definitely liked them a lot.
Patrick and I left Anna over night with her host Lydia and travelled back home so we could teach the next morning. Strangely, I didn't feel weird about her staying there and I could envision her as a student navigating Charleston. It has a city energy that she enjoys and the campus is pretty tucked away within it. I was worried that again the size of the college might be too small for her, but as Patrick and I have processed this aspect, we're leaning more toward a medium or smaller college that could offer her the big fish in a small pond feel. It's so hard to stand out and grab those opportunities when you are one of 40,000-something I heard just the other day from one of my best students. CofC seemed to have a good feel in terms of size and being in Charleston means things to do and internship opportunities with connections that Patrick has down there.
After an evening walk to the battery with several teammates and a stop by an ice cream shop, Anna and Lydia tucked in for the night. The next morning Anna was up early to go to practice with the team. They start with breathing exercises and journaling (I'm a huge fan of this!). Then Anna got to run on the Cooper River Bridge with the other recruits. She enjoyed that even if she didn't get a lot of sleep because "at 1am there were people in the hall whistling, singing and shouting." Uh, dorm life! Then she went to breakfast with other athletes. The girls and boys teams are coached by the same coaches, but the athletes all mix in together, using the facilities and it didn't seem like one was more valued than the other, minus basketball. Anna did say she spotted the soft serve machine!
Patrick joined her for the coach's meetings and official pictures after that. They met the trainer who works closely with MUSC, the academic advisor (who apparently is awesome), the strength coach and the head coach. They also have a dietician which is something Anna and I have gotten really into this past year. Patrick said the convo with the head coach went well and they got lots of questions answered. He used to work for the Honors College so after hearing about that Anna will apply to it. As a conference, they have opted into the NCAA changes which means a roster cap, but hopefully more scholarship money. They have two spots to offer with the potential of more if they move some athletes around. Based on current times, Anna would make an immediate impact to the team. She liked the girls that were there and could see them as her people. Is it a top-notch running program cranking out Olympic athletes? No, but what was appealing to Anna is the balance. She would get to run, achieve goals, improve, be a part of a team with structure, but not go overboard with tons of pressure. And then she could also put effort towards her studies in political science as they have a great department there. It's really the first place I could see her doing both in a healthy way that helps her achieve her goals.
After the meetings, Anna and Patrick headed home to practice and I was able to catch up with them over dinner. When Anna talked to both of us separately, she was very positive and continued to find things she liked about it. In fact, we all liked it! There are definitely pros and cons, but overall it was the first time we saw a real option that checked a lot of boxes for her. The coach will call us back next week to talk over the visit. No scholarships were offered at this meeting, but we were told that on top of the lottery money, there is a scholarship she will automatically receive based on academics. If she ends up off campus, she gets to maintain her scholarship levels and use that for off campus housing. So, I'm curious to see what they will offer her and how our other recruitment visits go. This visit will certainly set the bar for what else we see and I'm excited that we are starting to get some clarity.
