This week on our recruiting radio show we talk about the keys of planning and having a successful college recruiting visit. We also run down this week's additions to THE CaptainU LIST 2009 of committed athletes. Lots of athletes are committing, which is great news. Don't sweat it if you're not there yet. Just stay focused and follow the advice on your CaptainU Dashboard.

Learn more about NCAA unofficial visits and NCAA official visits.

Be like Joey, Vittoria, Amber, Dana, Kyle, Jennifer, Duran, and Jess. Learn more about how to win college soccer scholarships, or college sports scholarships more generally.

May 1st is Decision Day, when most high school seniors choose which college to attend. Admissions officers can breathe a sigh of relief, because the inevitable financial aid haggling is over -- at least for this year.

Many athletes have long since made their decisions, but if you're still trying to figure it out, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• 1. Based on everything you know, where will you be happiest?


• 2. Where will you get the best education?


• 3. What team do you like most in terms of the coach, other players, and level of competition?


• 4. Is there athletic money available for you -- for example, soccer scholarships?

Balance the answers to those three questions and you'll have the right balance of academics, social life, and athletics. And that's what it's all about.

Once you have put yourself in the spotlight and have given a coach a strong sense of you personally and as player, it's time to request his honest opinion of your chances with his team.

College coaches place a premium on the few precious weeks of preseason they have to prepare their teams. Most coaches want to spend these practices working closely with the players that they know will be on the team. Freshman recruits are invited to preseason practices. There are no tryouts for recruits.

Most coaches conduct open tryouts during the first preseason week, in the morning or afternoon when they are not working with their core group of players. Recruits do not participate in tryouts. For walk-ons, however, tryouts represent the proving grounds; tryouts are a make-it-or break-it situation for walk-ons.

What does it mean to walk onto a college sports team?

A walk-on is an athlete who must try out to make a college team. Athletes who haven't been offered a roster spot -- and therefore aren't "recruits" -- typically have to go to open tryouts.

This is a situation that should be avoided at all costs. Walk on tryouts are famously unfair. Players often find themselves having a very limited opportunity to prove their ability. Instead, you want to show up on campus knowing that there's a place for you on the team.

What does it mean to be a "recruit?"

A recruited college athlete is someone who is guaranteed a spot on the team when she arrives on campus as a freshman. Recruited athletes don't have to "try out" to make the team.

Though the goal of recruiting may seem simple, most prospective athletes don't understand what exactly they're trying to accomplish.

The goal is as follows: you want a spot on the roster of a team that's right for you as a student and as an athlete.

Beyond that, everything is gravy. Athletic scholarships included.