Each college program has its own set of criteria when evaluating potential athletes. And having a parent micromanaging the entire recruiting process isn’t one of them.

Aaron Ingram, senior manager of the U.S. National Team, has witnessed and been a part of many recruiting trips that go sideways due to the over-involvement of parents.

“As a parent, it’s hard to take a step back and place your son’s future in someone else’s hands,” Ingram said. “But it’s completely necessary so that coaches can truly get to know your athlete and provide them with the best support possible.”

There are a few different situations where college coaches and parents might interact. The two that give parents the most access to coaches are official visits and in-home visits.

Ingram urges parents to remind themselves that in-home visits, while they may seem like a great opportunity to be a part of the recruiting process, are an opportunity for coaches to focus on athletes.

“Coaches don’t want to recruit parents,” Ingram said. “The parents aren’t going to be going to class, they aren’t going to weights in the morning. Coaches are there to make a major decision about the talent they are bringing to their program.”

Just because these recruiting trips are crucial times for coaches to evaluate athletes, it doesn’t mean an athlete's parents and their opinions aren’t important to coaches.

“Home visits are about getting to know how players interact with their family,” Ingram said. “It’s an opportunity to share the coach’s vision of the school and program with athletes and their families. It’s about building a strong relationship with a player and those that are close to him.”

Although parents can negatively affect the recruitment of their athlete, they can just as well have a positive impact on their athlete’s chances of earning a scholarship.

Ingram offers parents five tips on how to make the best impression on college coaches and give their athlete the best chance to impress them:

• Parents should never tell college coaches: “My son has to go to your school.”
• Parents typically should not talk to coaches without their child present.
• Parents should lend support to the child and facilitate the recruitment process—not take ownership of it.
• Parents should let their child do the talking in meetings.
• Parents should prep their child about the college and make sure the athletes asks good questions so that the college coach sees that he or she is taking the meeting seriously.

By preparing athletes and giving them the information they need, parents can remove themselves from the process and allow their athlete to actually interact with the coaches in a productive, mature and impressionable manner.

This not only gives an athlete the best chance to impress recruiters, it gives them the best chance to truly connect with a program.