Lets See if I can help you...
1-A few questions where I have no idea where to ask-I have a high school soph and we are ready to pull the trigger and start contacting for recruiting.. You can contact all the coaches you want ( D-1 & D-2) they will not contact you back until 9/1/2021 .. if ever.
2- Are any schools hosting campus visits/open houses for prospective students? (Not just athletes) I’m aware of the virtual visits. Nope... Not until Covid is gone.. your guess is as good as any as to when that might happen..
3-If we visit a school on our own should we register as a visitor first? We almost used a day this past weekend to drive two hours and to hit some schools but we weren’t sure if our visit should be official or not? (Again not as an athlete) All Campus's are closed to visitors during the Covid Crisis.. you can probably walk around outside and maybe sneak into a building or two, but there are no sanctioned visits occurring. An "Official recruiting" visit is very different then you driving to
a school and walking around..again no coaches are going to talk recruiting to a 2023 at this time
4-We live in a “target rich environment” so we have seen many campuses through festivals, clinics or camps but have never been officially registered for a visit. I want to officially start visiting other schools on our radar so my daughter knows what to strive/work for. She’s not going to Hopkins and Goucher's way too small and not remote enough for example. You are confused about what an Official Visit is, you should do some online research to get a clearer understanding... you need to be invited to an Official Visit. There are no limits on how many visits you can make to a school if you are not receiving athletic scholarship money.. if your daughter wants to go to Maryland ( and it was open) you could go there every day for a year, once you add the athletic scholarship part into the equation then the rules apply about the number of visits you can make.
5-Another example is that there’s a school in our family on our radar that is Div 1 but is never at any showcases, tournaments etc. they don't have summer camps. I guess they just send in coaches when needed to recruit? I guess with tape they don’t need to travel or hold live events? Does this have a reflection on their operation? Id be curios to know who this mystery school is and are they competitive with such a laid back attitude. If I had to guess they are out there doing their recruiting diligence but you are missing the events they are holding or attending. follow their social media, they often post events they are planning to attend there.
You should really speak to your club director.. you pay them to help answer your questions. | 
