Club Volleyball Set Back

Dear College Volleyball Coach:

I have been following your site for about a year now and really enjoy your thoughts and comments. I could use your words of wisdom right now.

My 14 year old daughter is in the 8th grade and just completed her club team tryouts. She did not make the top team this year. She has been the primary setter on the top team the last two years. In fact she has been the best player on her team the last two years (in my and others opinions) and has played every point of every game. She was named All-Conference on her 8th grade school team this year. Obviously she is very disappointed but she loves volleyball and wants to continue to play, even if its on a lower level club team. She has a dream of playing college volleyball in the future.

The reason I was given for the decision not to place her on the top team was that she is "too quiet". I don't think it helps that she is 5' 3" tall and the other setters are 5' 6" tall either.

All this to ask the following questions:

• How should she use this set-back to her advantage?
• Should she continue with the goal of being a setter in college or should she consider moving to a defensive specialist position?
• What should she do about being too quiet?

After reading your posts for a while I know you are probably going to say "take a deep breath and relax" and "enjoy the 14s" and I will certainly take that advice to heart, but looking to the future, what should she do to make her dream a reality?

Thanks - S.S.


The good news is that your daughter is only in the 8th grade and still has years to get better, even if getting taller may be not in the cards. It is just a set back and if handled properly, this could be the motivation to empower her future success.

Let's get to your questions:

1. She needs to recognize that she has time to address the areas of her game which need improvement, while developing skill to mitigate her smaller stature. Since she looks to be on the small side, she needs to become a very, very complete setter. By this, she should become first rate in setting technique, defensive ability, running an offense, leadership and blocking (yes, blocking - might as well be a good short blocker than a bad short blocker!). Since she is only in 8th grade, she has time to play, train, go to camps, etc. Lastly, I suggest she take the mentality that someone said she was not good enough and then prove them wrong! If she was the top setter for the last two teams and received all conference honors, then she knows she is good and should be fired up about illustrating how wrong the person who made the decision was. Her goal should be so good, as the the second team setter and take them to a level of ability that no one thought possible, that every person would comment "Wow, that setter is unreal good!".

2. Switching positions is easier at a young age and the jump from setter to Libero is not too difficult at this juncture. But, before switching positions, it is important to identify what your daughter wants to play - Don't switch just because you 'think' it is better for college. It is better for college to play the position for which you are the best at! Since she is just in 8th grade, maybe she might grow an inch or two? Yes, small Division I setters are not very common, but they are playing and they are usually very good. To put things into perspective, the setter who was on the floor when Stanford went to four straight final fours was 'small' by Top 10 rankings and their not winning a championship was not her fault. Division II setters tend to be a bit smaller, on average, and coaches are more comfortable (a generality here) using smaller setters - Everyone wants tall hitters, but you don't see 6'3" dominating OH's all too often in the DII

3. Too many folks think the opposite of quiet is being loud. This is not the case. Being loud is just noise and noise is tuned out. She needs to communicate. I have had many quiet setters and they were very effective because they did an excellent job of communicating. She needs to ask her hitters about the set, compliment her passers on the pass, encourage her team to play defense, tell her libero what a great dig, interact with her coach, etc. Loud is not good, communication is.

In summary, she just needs to continue to play, work hard on making her overall abilities better and have fun!

Coach

Men's College Volleyball Program Start-Up

I am a former NAIA mens volleyball player from the Midwest. Since then I have moved towards the southeast. In my time here, I have noticed a strong pool of local mens volleyball talent. However, there are no college programs nearby for these student athletes. Because of this they end up either going across the country to play or not at all.

How could I go about starting a program at one of the local colleges?

Brad

Honestly.....Good luck. Because of the crazy mentality of NCAA Title IX and the REFUSAL of NCAA Presidents to put any type of constraints upon the unreal money race with football and men's basketball, adding male sports to NCAA member schools is not going to happen anytime soon.

Too many folks have taken the slant that supporting women's sports has led to the cutting of men's sports, per budgetary reasons. This is so far off the mark, that to believe it is to accept outright propaganda. You cannot tie up 6 million plus in staff salaries for two male sports and expect to fund other male sports; you cannot also expect to stay within the Federal Law and not make cuts. Unfortunately, these cuts have come to men's sports. I don't condone cutting men's sports anymore than I condone adding token women's sports to satisfy the law.

So, how to add men's volleyball in the Southeast? This region of the country is just starting to wake up to women's volleyball as a spectator sport, which at least provides some recognition of the college volleyball. I need to be careful about how I phrase this; the Southeast can be a bit patriarchal in its view of sports and volleyball many times is viewed as a second tier girls sport. My belief is that you wish to do more than create a collegiate club team, but this is probably the first step.

By creating a collegiate club men's volleyball team, you can at least demonstrate the interest on campus and start to put in place the mechanisms of a team which can eventually lead to a program. Collegiate club teams can play in USA Volleyball events, along with the various college team only men's tournaments.

I don't have experience within the NAIA organization, but my understanding is they may a little more flexibility not being caught up in the arms race of NCAA Division I athletics and more willing to support a start up collegiate program with demonstrated interest.

If you are set on a NCAA program, you are only going to be able to add a men's volleyball program at a college/university which has more female student athletes than male student athletes, or has a more male students than female students. Trying to balance the male/female student athlete ratio and/or matching the general student body population are central features of schools eliminating male sports and/or adding female sports.

Once you are able to determine if a men's sport could be acceptable (per the ratios), then the challenge is to go through the protocols (specific to that school) of starting up a program. Funding, facilities, funding, equipment, funding, student athletes, funding, eligibility, funding, etc.

The reality is men's volleyball is not going to be high up on most athletic department's to do list - You would need to demonstrate how easy and inexpensive volleyball would be to implement.

You have a tough challenge - My strong suggestion is to start building a collegiate club program and build it to such a degree of success, that raising it to a NCAA sport is within the mental realm of the athletic department. I don't think you will have trouble attracting players - Volleyball is a very athletic and powerful sport, and athletes will come to you.

Good luck!

PS - Since I originally published this post, I have received feedback from USA Volleyball folks with regards to information about starting up men's collegiate programs and the support which they offer; please visit www.usavolleyball.org.

Help Us Russ Rose, You Are Our Only Hope!

Russ Rose, Head Women's Volleyball Coach at Penn State, is not doing enough for Women's Volleyball.

Oh sure, he has coached more NCAA Championship teams than just a few others, the current Penn State team is on something like a 185 match win streak, the last team is thought to be best in collegiate history, the last time PSU lost a game was during the Clinton administration, in an effort to save the NCAA some money Nittany Lions said "make it a double" when they were engraving last year's NCAA Championship trophy, the Volleyball Director of Operations routinely makes 8 p.m. dinner reservations on the road and Coach Rose always seems as cool as new fallen snow.

There in is how Coach Rose is doing irreversible damage to Women's Volleyball. The Fans-Sports Commentators-Television Cameras don't want a reserved and composed coach, they want drama, emotion, agonizing facial displays, crazy anger at a play gone wrong, screaming at the referee with pure hatred, berating the players and making sure the the focus is routinely on the coach.

Today's collegiate media sporting world is about the coach. The AVCA for years has been doing everything possible, short of buying a network, to try and get volleyball on television and they/us have made the mistake of believing it is the game/players who will sell the product. It is the personality of the coach who sells - the coach of collegiate athletics is today's show. The coach drives ratings, the cameras want the reaction of the coach, the coach gets put into the promos, the competitions are as much about the coaches as about the schools.

I can't tell you who is on the men's basketball team at Kentucky, but I know some guy named John is the coach. Same with Southern Cal football; can't name the quarterback but Pete has won a lot of games. I hear the name of Bill Self as much as I hear Kansas basketball.

Need more proof - Take a good listen to the promo's used by the networks for upcoming games, "Mac Brown and his Texas Longhorns are in for a battle with Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma Sooners", "Roy Williams takes his boys from Chapel Hill down to take on Coach K's Blue Demons". I must have missed the press release of the Mac Brown purchasing the Texas Longhorn football team!?!? This is now the mode de emploi for sports telecasts of collegiate athletics. It makes sense because the players change every year (if not semester), but the power conference coaches tend to have a bit more stability and if they jump schools, it is HUGE news which only enhances their media appeal.

Back to Coach Rose - He needs to buy into this reality of collegiate athletics and understand that just sitting back and waiting for point number 25 in game 3 is only hurting all of college volleyball. What he needs to do is quit editing War and Peace in that 10 inch folder of his and throw it halfway to the Atlantic Ocean next time his Libero passes the ball at the 3 meter line (still hard for me not to call it the 10' line), he needs to be stomping up and down the sideline ever pushing the "DON'T STAND NEAR THE COURT RULE" on every rally, on that rare occasion when he has to call a timeout it should be filled with flying spit, bloodshot eyes and veins coming out of his neck and when the up official dares to make a call against the Penn State Volleyball team Coach Rose needs to whip that sweater vest off, tie into a lethal weapon of wool and catapult it at the offending official!

Winning with class and cordial sportsmanship seems to be no longer showcased in today's media driven collegiate athletic world. Coach Rose is too old school; intense but not showy, professional but not selfish, successful but not arrogant. He needs to quit this mentality and take one for the team - He is our only hope to get to where we all believe salvation will be; television.

Quiet Time

VolleyFolks - Time for end of the season volleyball shut down mode. This time of the year, the volleyball synapses are fried and zoning out for a week or so is the remedy.

To those readers which have submitted questions, I will answer them soon and I apologize for the delay.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holidays and I wish you and yours the very best.

Coach

Volleyball Recruiting Question #754

Hello,

My daughter is a senior this year who has played volleyball since the 7th grade. She is only 5'8 but she has the vertical of a 6'4. She is one of the OH's for her team but she is also a utility player. Everyone who sees her play, says that she is one of the best players that they have seen in this area. Her coach told me because of her height, she probably could not get her a scholarship with a D1 school. I have found that most colleges aren't looking for seniors anymore. My daughter really would like to play for UT Austin because she wants to study Pharmacy. What are her chances this late in the game to even get a scholarship? Someone offered to make her a highlite DVD but he charges $450.00 is that reasonable? I don't know where to begin. I called the University of Florida and the University of Texas, but again all scholarships for seniors are exhausted. The assistant coach from U of F was really helpful. I was just wondering what you think her chances are, being 5'8 and already a senior?

Thanks,

Behind the 8ball


First of all - everyone take a deep breath - OK, much better.

It is at times like this, in which I have tremendous sympathy for families. Being passionate about volleyball and really wanting to keep playing after high school naturally adds a certain amount of stress to a young person's life. When you combine this with the zaniness of recruiting, high school volleyball, club volleyball, financial burdens and everyone's partially correct/incorrect opinions, it can easily get overwhelming.

B8B presented a number of good questions and I would think there are many players/families which could find themselves in similar circumstances. In an effort to provide some guidance/answers, I will break out each question/comment:

1. Height and Division I - I don't agree with the coach's (high school or club?) comments about not being able to play Division I because of only being 5'8". This comment leads me to believe that the coach may have not seen much Division I Volleyball or just watches the Big 12 or Big 10, etc. There are any number of successful 5'8" OH's on Division I rosters - They may not be playing at Stanford, or Penn State or Florida, but they are playing at many, many other schools (I know because they have played against my team and I have a 5'8" OH (or two)).

2. Colleges Looking For Seniors - A number of colleges are not looking for seniors (Division I), but many are still looking for seniors (Division I, II and III) and this number will only increase after the end of the current season. After the fall semester, things can change - Players get homesick, school sick (flunk out), an injury is not healing (medical hardship), just not into volleyball anymore (burn out); all of these things contribute towards scholarships becoming available. Not every Division I school has the luxury of being able to lock down 3+ recruits by the early signing period (many do - but many, many don't).

3. Scholarship at UT Austin for 2010 - The chances are very slim to zero for a volleyball scholarship at UT Austin for 2010. UT is one of those type of programs which commits their recruiting class 2 to 18 years out (I think they have dibs on Alumni children based on the height and athleticism of the father). The top programs are in a big hurry to lock up their next (never ending) recruiting class because there are only a handful of elite (and I mean All American elite) players each class. The top, top kids are easy to spot because they stand out at a young age and this is why you have the assistant coaches from Top 10 USA 'scouting' the 13's court now (slight exaggeration!). If you want to stay Top 10 USA, then you have to continue to lock up Top 10 yearly talent.

3 A. Another option, should UT Austin just be the end all for Pharmacy and Volleyball, is to pursue a walk-on position. I won't kid you about this because walking on to a Top 10 program is not easy; especially a state school (cheaper cost of attendance) located in a recruiting hot bed (many good players considering same option).

4. Highlight DVD - I do not know the going rate for putting together highlight DVD's, so I cannot give you a reference. I would suggest you consider the time/cost of doing it yourself, versus what the person offers. For instance, you can put together a solid skills tape (that is what most college coaches prefer to see, not highlights) in one afternoon. I have a link on the left side bar for making a Skills video/tape, which is a generic guide for what college coaches are looking for. But, if you don't have a suitable camera, access/ability to edit and burn copies, or a practice facility, then maybe spending this amount is a good deal if it is a quality DVD with a bunch of copies?

5.Calling Schools - Never be intimidated to call any school. This is one feature which I find refreshing about college volleyball, is that coaches (by and large) are still accessible and willing to point you in the right direction. If you are curious about the recruiting status of any program, give them a ring to find out. Glad to hear that the assistant from Florida was cool.

6. Chances - By taking your evaluation of your daughter at face value (5'8", big jump, reputation as a very good player), then her chances are excellent of obtaining a Division I scholarship. Please take a moment to read through my Recruiting Plan link and focus on the Senior year. Again, there are many schools still trying to find talented players for the 2010 class.

In closing, I encourage you to get ready for the club volleyball season by keeping an open mind concerning other schools with high rated Pharmacy programs, in regions outside your of your own and possibly re-evaluate the size and conference affiliation of the school.

In my years of recruiting, it is amazing the number of times a recruit will be dead set on going to a school with certain attributes (i.e. big school, name brand conference, big city), only to end up at a school that completely did not match the opening criteria because they kept an open mind and took some time to experience it all.

Please just slow down, breath a bit, enjoy the Holidays and prepare for a fun, exciting, rewarding club volleyball season! Bet you dollars to donuts that everything will be rosy by May!

NCAA Equity?

Go to a NCAA Division I Football game - Take it all in. Go to a NCAA Division I Volleyball game - Take it all in.

Now, with a straight face, look me in the eye and tell me that there is Gender Equity in NCAA athletics.

Volleyball Early Signing Period

Hey Coach,

Parent of 2010 - I know the NLI can be signed no sooner than 11/11/09 this year, but how long is the "window"? I could not find this on the NCAA site, just the fact that the "dead" period starts on Monday 11/9. Will you post the pertinent dates on your site since signing is next week? Thanks.

Karen


Good question that many Volleyfolks may be curious about. There are two signing periods in NCAA Division I and II Volleyball, Fall and Spring. The term "signing" is meant to include the National Letter of Intent (NLI) and the school's scholarship papers. The NLI is the legal document which obligates the school and the Prospective Student Athlete to each other. In some cases, the NLI can be broken without penalty, provided both parties agree to a release of obligation.

The Fall Signing Period is from November 11th to November 18th (the initial date and the final date to sign). The NLI must be signed and dated by the PSA within this specific time frame.

The Spring Signing Period is from April 14th to August 1st. The Spring Signing Period has a much larger window of issuance, but after being issued, the NLI must be signed and dated within 2 weeks. This is a big difference between the fall and the spring versions.

The National Letter of Intent website with related dates and regulations can be found here.

In conjunction with the Fall and Spring Signing dates, the NCAA imposes a Dead Period. The Dead Period is the most restrictive of the defined periods and if you are just dying to know, then squint very hard:

A dead period is a period of time when it is not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the institution's campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospective student-athletes to the institution's campus. The provision of complimentary admissions to a prospective student-athlete during a dead period is prohibited, except as provided in Bylaw 13.7.2.5 for a prospective student-athlete who visits an institution as part of a group. During a dead period, a coaching staff member may not serve as a speaker at or attend a meeting or banquet at which prospective student-athletes are in attendance, except as provided in Bylaw 13.1.9.1, and may not visit a prospective student-athlete's educational institution. It remains permissible, however, for an institutional staff member to write or telephone a prospective student-athlete during a dead period.

For NCAA Division I and II Volleyball, the Dead Periods are:

November 9th to November 12th, 2009 (Monday through Thursday of the Initial Date for the Fall Signing of the National Letter of Intent).

April 12th to April 15th, 2010 (Monday through Thursday of the Initial Date for the Spring Signing of the National Letter of Intent).


Let me close by clearly and loudly expressing to those families/PSA's which do not have a National Letter of Intent to sign next week - DON'T PANIC!!!!

There are still many, many schools which have scholarships available for the 2010 incoming class. Any number of schools have purposely held a scholarship back until after the New Year. It is only after going through a season, that a coach will understand what additions need to happen for success in 2010.

Also, it is after the fall semester that many players will initiate some type of change (home sick, burned out, flunked out, etc.) which can free up a scholarship.

If you are fortunate enough to be signing a National Letter of Intent next week - Congratulations. If not, don't freak out - Just keep working hard and taking positive action, and you will find the best spot for your future.

Learning Disability and Volleyball Recruiting

I am the parent of a player who had a specific learning disability identified in the 3rd grade.

Since then, she has made great progress through hard work and excellent academic assistance at her schools.

She has an I.E.P. and there are accommodations associated with it that have proven to be very helpful.

She is currently a high school Junior . She began getting some letters from college programs during her 15s club season.

As she begins to respond to inquiries and initiate some of her own, at what point is it appropriate for the learning disability to be addressed?

Her grades are good. We know her ACT score will be important.

She'll be looking for a university that provides assistance for I.E.P. students.

How likely is it that knowledge of her "learning disability" will make her a less attractive recruit in the eyes of a college coach?


One could argue that perhaps college athletics may be the most non-discriminatory organization in the country in terms of considering Prospective Student Athletes. Being specific to college volleyball coaches, my general belief is that we are concerned with talent and attitude. With this in mind, my answer to your question is a learning disability would not be considered a negative when evaluating a PSA.

My concern would be the college/university which the coach represents. I say this because I had a poor experience with a former school I worked for with regards to academic support for student-athletes with a learning disability. In hindsight, I feel that the school did not provide the necessary support for my player to succeed academically considering the demands of being a student-athlete. While I stayed in the employ of this school, I was not comfortable recruiting any other student-athletes with academic challenges, not because of my belief in the player's desire to succeed, but rather my lack of belief in the school.

I guess you could say that there existed a negative, but this negative was not the result of the PSA, but rather the school. An analogy could be made about a school not offering a specific major which the PSA needs - For instance, this same school did not offer any degree programs within the Animal Sciences/Pre-Veterinary discipline so I was not able to recruit PSA's interested within these majors.

In terms of sharing the academic support needs of a PSA, I suggest this being done after a PSA makes the initial selection of colleges she might be considering. There are always selection parameters which dictate the first cull of schools (geographic location, size of school, history of program, etc.). As you move into more detailed examinations of potential schools and you have established an e-mail or telephone dialogue with coaches, then you should share your situation. It is important to know if the college coach is familiar with their school's resources and/or if the coach has any experience with supporting a learning disabled student-athlete.

Many schools are proactive about illustrating their support services for learning disabled students on their website. In addition, a number of athletic departments have academic support pages on their athletic websites which can provide information with regards to the support it's student athletes receive. One would hope that the academic services for learning disabled SA's would be augmented by the athletic department, much in the way that general academic support services are augmented for student athletes by the athletic department.

Academically speaking, it is a challenge to be a volleyball student-athlete because of so many issues. Our season is a one academic term season, many conferences are just way too spread out, the majority of teams don't enjoy the quickest available means of travel (unlike the Big 3 sports) so too many school days are missed, professors can be very unsupportive of SA's missing their classes even though it is for season travel and our players sometimes get punished by association with football (not a pillar of academic focus in the NCAA). These examples all pile up to increase the academic pressures which any serious student faces in college. If you arrive on campus as a SA with specific challenges and needs, the support needed to succeed should be established and comprehensive.

After a PSA has narrowed their acceptable list of schools, considering the presented academic support for their needs (among so many other things), the Unofficial or Official Visit must provide the clear illustration of what has been presented up to this point in the recruiting process. What is told and what is shown can be two drastically different situations from a school. If a coach talks up their great academic support, but the campus visit just topically touches upon this support, then red flags should be flying like it is May Day in the old USSR!

I sincerely believe that college volleyball coaches do not react negatively to any athlete who has a learning disability and if they chose not to pursue a PSA with such a challenge, it has to do only with the school's inability to provide acceptable support. The focus by the PSA and her family should not be on the coach (in terms of a learning disability challenge), but on the school and athletic department academic support services.

More Pepper Please!

No, not on your food - In your volleyball!

I have started having my team play a lot more pepper in practice recently and I feel we have increased our overall ball control. Pepper is a drill which I feel has become overlooked as a valuable tool to improve a series of skills. Some of the things I like about Pepper:

- It allows for a high number of repetitions in a short time frame.

- The risk of injury is minimal.

- It encourages the development of hitting, defensive posture, diving/rolling, setting and ball control.

- There are many, many variations of pepper to keep things fresh.

- The coach can observe and instruct, instead of having to implement.

- There is no jumping impact (on most variations).

- It is easy on the shoulder since it is a controlled hit.

As we have gravitated towards the Asian style of volleyball in the USA, we have become more focused on coach directed/dictated/implemented drills. To this end, the volleyball players are losing the benefits of extra touches since practice make-up is geared towards controlled sequences or situations.

One quick measure of a team's ability is their pepper. When I took over my current program, we could not play pepper consistently - It was pass, set, hit, shank - Nor could we win. When you see a team that plays traditional doubles pepper and the ball rarely touches the ground, then this is a team to respect.

I think part of the demise of pepper as a training tool has to do with club volleyball training. Many times I will watch a club team's warm-up and it is like a popcorn machine - balls are flying everywhere. Pepper is the most basic ball control skill and should be mastered very early in the volleyball career. But, it takes time to get good at pepper and all too often, club coaches move immediately into other drills during practice (and college coaches for that matter!).

This could easily be attributed to a coach wanting to concentrate on other skill groups with limited time on the court, or that pepper is viewed as too basic and the parents want to see other action during training - I don't know exactly why, but I suggest that not enough pepper drills are being used during practice. If a team can't play good pepper, then passing, defense and transition attacks will all suffer.

There are so many variations of Pepper:

- 2 Person: Called pepper (coach dictates touch sequence), traditional (dig, set, hit), dig-tip, dig-roll shot, dig-hit, dig-set-hit, dig-set-roll shot, dig-set-hit, two hits-two digs in row, three hits-three digs in a row, overhead pepper (no digging, just setting digs), dig to yourself and set the hitter 4 times and switch, etc.

- 3 Person: Person in the middle sets one hitter entire time from digs from 3rd person, middle person sets who digs, middle person back sets who digs, two or three hit-digs in a row from the setter, doubles dig-set (two players next to each other dig-set to the one hitter), hit follow your attack and set the player who dug and replace her while she hits and sets the 3rd player, etc.

- 4 Person: Two pairs side by side with one player digging to the partner who sets the digger who attacks back to the other pair, traditional pepper with 4 people (focuses on communicating since not every player will touch the ball each sequence), etc.

If you are a coach, please put a lot more pepper on that practice dish and if you are a player, sometime the best thing you can do to improve or stay sharp is to just play pepper with a friend.