People not Places

On the statistically minimal chance that an Athletic Director or athletic department Donor is reading this site, I want to provide a suggestion - Invest in People NOT Places.

This is the contrarian thing to do and as such, will not be attractive to many AD's and Boosters.

Athletic Directors and Donors wish to build monuments, they want to create Places; build a new basketball arena, update the football stadium, build a new weight room, academic support center, horse shoe pit, etc. This is a natural desire because these Places will be there for years to come.

For AD's the motivation is the resume - It looks really good when they directed the creation of a 30 million dollar athletics center, when they oversaw the upgrading of facilities which included all of the above mentioned items. The modern Athletic Director has very little to do with Athletic teams anymore; their functions are focused on raising money, providing the needed support criteria for Football and Basketball, keeping all other sports within/below budget and being the face of the athletic department for anything needing media attention.

The drive for Donors is even more understandable - Getting a building named after them, or at least a very nice brick, plaque, floor tile, sticky note.....; something which will keep their name on the facility until it becomes out dated and torn down by our children's children.

From an intellectual point of view, I understand this motivation and if a university/college is without a facility (I was at a DI school where the Softball team was playing at a junior high and the Track team used a high school facility - this was not too long ago!), then there is the reason to create facilities. My radical suggestion is based upon the redo, refurbish, tear down and create again mentality of facilities.

People are the key to teams winning; People are the key to a Student-Athlete having a great experience. People will create outstanding Alumni. And People cost a lot less. I believe the validity of this argument is based upon the changeover in college football coaches. For example, Notre Dame football losing is because of the People coaching, not because of a lack of facilities. The top flight football programs all have comparable facilities, yet success or failure is because of People, not Places.

I was at a Staff/Coaches meeting at a former school and our Athletic Director was outlining some new facility projects that are in the pipeline and an interesting comment was made. Our AD said, "...this new weight room and academic center, for example, will be better for your program than an extra $10,000 in your recruiting budgets or raises for your staff....".

That was one of those times where if I were Lottery rich, I would have stood up and said, "WRONG!". Sometimes, well almost all the time, I wish I was outrageously rich and coaching college volleyball because I would be legendary!

What was not missed by anyone in the room at this meeting, was that these new facilities are all based on the needs of the football team, even though it is supposed to help us all. The new weight room is in the football facility, as is the academic center, yet they are supposed to help all of us. All too often this is the case with athletic departments - The administration "sells" the benefits of facilities for all, when the reality is it is a facility for one.

People are the key. I had one AD, in fact the best AD I ever worked for, who actually made the investment in people. Our school had probably the worst facilities in the conference, yet we were among the highest paid coaching and administrative staffs in the the conference. The result was our department was at the top of the league in total athletic department success. It was clear that quality student-athletes were not coming to our school because of the new strength facility, or brand new locker rooms, or the mega-tron video board, but rather because the coaching staff was first rate - Good coaches and good people. My ATFAD (All Time Favorite Athletic Director) realized that the amount of money needed to update/create new facilities would be huge and the time frame was many years to completion, while the benefit of investing in People was significantly cheaper and the results immediate.

There is that old saying, 'If Momma ain't happy, Then nobody's happy'. This same idea applies to coaches and their programs. If a Head Coach is having trouble paying the bills, having to run 900 camp days and associate with a USAV Club Team, while trying to run a NCAA Volleyball program, odds are they are not going to be happy. If a Coach is not happy, then this will trickle down to the players - right or wrong, this is just human nature. The crazy thing is that the amount of money needed to make a college volleyball coach happy is really just pennies on the Dollar in relation to facilities or the budgets of Football and Basketball.

In my interaction with Volleyball Coaches and other Olympic Sport Coaches, the number one complaint is salary. It is not marketing, or budgets, or needing more staff - The main gripe is not having enough salary to take care of their needs. All of us know that being a College Volleyball Coach is not the avenue towards great wealth, and we come into this profession with our eyes wide open. What generally gets to us, is the inability to provide a comfortable lifestyle for our family, while trying to put a bit away for retirement. We understand we will not get rich, but with the sheer volume of time needed to conduct a Division I (or for that matter, any Division) Volleyball program, coaches want to be able to cover their costs, provide a comfortable life for their family and put away for retirement. Too many times, not being able to accomplish these basic desires motivates quality college coaches to step away from the profession or the ones that hang on, to have a certain bitterness about it all.

Once again, the amount of money needed to lift Volleyball coaches above this satisfaction thresh hold is minimal in terms of athletic department budgets. I would guess that for many coaches in this position of financial stress, a $20,000.00 raise would be huge and create a much happier mental state. 20K is such a drop in the bucket for athletic departments. To put it in perspective, a DI football team drops more than 10K to put its team (players, coaches, staff) in a hotel and feed them the night before a HOME game. One time, I inadvertently received the meals invoice for the football team's away game (we stayed at the same hotel a few weeks apart) - One part of the bill was $2,300.00 for a late night snack!!! A snack!

I would suggest to Athletic Directors and to athletic department Donors, that if you want long term program success, student-athletes who matriculate into contributing Alumni and a cohesive athletic department, that you invest in good coaches and put forth the resources to keep good coaches. I absolutely promise you it will work and it will cost pennies on the dollar in comparison to other projects.

When Volleyball Student Athletes leave college, their memories are going to be of the environment which the COACH created, not the great weight room they had, or the academic center's cubicles for studying. They are going to talk stories of great matches, funny road trips, respected coaches; they are not going to talk about what a great training room they used.

I know having good facilities is important to attract quality Student-Athletes, but the gym does not provide leadership when a player is going through the college transition, the weight room does not give you a call to make sure you are OK when something is wrong back at your home town, the new sky box can't check your unit count to make sure something was not overlooked to be sure you are still on track to graduate.

People are the reason a team is successful, not Places.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble (Recruiting)!!!

2010, Holy Cow! When did the year become 2010 - That was a fast decade!!! Remember all the Y2K zaniness? That was 10 years ago!!!! Oh my, time flies when you are having fun.

In my never ending quest to do good deeds (and absolve my sins of poor interaction with Volleyball Referees), I have created a To Do list in preparation for the recruiting portion of the Club season - I know some families have already been in Club ball for at least a month, so this listing is geared more towards the Wonderful World of Recruiting!

• If you are still in Junior High school, you are not allowed per the Federal Law of the Volleyball Galaxy to even think about recruiting. The Cosmic Volleyball Powers have decreed that you are only allowed to have fun.
• Please read my Recruiting Plan, which is under the Labels side bar on the left of the opening page.
  
• Should you be a Freshman, you are allowed to think about recruiting but cannot under penalty of smelly socks to act upon these thoughts.
  

For the suggestions below, don't go nuts and try to get these done within the next 72 hours - Now that the NCAA Championship and Coaches Convention is finished, we are all on vacation (either physically or mentally, or in a perfect word both!).

Start getting information out to college coaches during the first weeks of January, which provides time for us absolutely wonderful human beings to prepare our per tournament recruiting game plan (I am surprised we have not started requesting recruiting tape from other coaches like we do for matches!).

• Sophomores - Take a moment to sit down, in a quiet place, with a nice cup of eggnog (which by the way is a perfect batter for French Toast!!) or some hot apple cider (a winter drink which should receive much more recognition) and write out a listing of schools which sound attractive to you. I STRONGLY encourage you not to limit your list, but rather to keep an open mind towards region, school size, academic strengths and program standing. After you have your list, create a brief information sheet (remember you are just a sophomore, so you don't have to fill out a 1040 Income Tax Return) which lists your name, address, e-mail, year of graduation, height and position(s) played, club name and team playing on (be very specific because the larger clubs have about 65 variations of being on a 16's age group team) and your schedule. Creating a list of schools and putting together a brief introduction document is the easy part - The tougher thing is to go through the process of finding the e-mails of coaches and shooting out the information. Remember that each school will have an athletics website and if you look under the Staff Directory or Inside Athletics or Administration links, you can find a listing of e-mail address for coaches (many times, the volleyball web page may not have the e-mails of the volleyball staff). Finally, this is a Fire and Forget recruiting effort. After you send this contact information, forget about all of it and just play volleyball. DO NOT over-analyze who wrote back, who watched you play, who walked by, who smiled at your parents or brother or friend, etc. Just fire off those e-mails and play some volleyball.
  
• Juniors - If you have not already contacted a large group of colleges, then please do as the Sophomores are now doing. If you have already developed a comfortable Crew of Colleges which you are interacting with, then I want you to do two things, 1) Make sure this C of C is an accurate grouping of programs per playing ability (for instance, if your daughter is a 5'9" outside hitter with a 18" jump and has a few letters from Top 20 programs, this is not an accurate reflection of her recruit standing - this is an example of Top 20 programs having the resources to shoot letters off to shiny Freshman/Sophomores); 2) Make sure your possibilities have the most current information about you (schedule, current e-mail, any changes in height/jump, any changes in club coach contact information, etc). As you enter this critical year of recruiting (but not a Do or Die year of recruiting), you want to make sure that you have and are effectively communicating with the programs you are considering for your future.
• Seniors - Now is the time to re-group and get ready for a very important club season. First of all - Don't Panic. There are still many, many available scholarships in Division I and Division II is just now getting serious about their scholarship efforts. 1) Put together a fresh list of schools which reflects your senior status - Many of the bigger name, higher ranked programs will be done with scholarship recruiting, so I would hesitate from e-mailing such teams. 2) Shoot out your complete information to your fresh list of programs - Name, address, cell phone/home phone number, graduation year (so there is not doubt you are a Senior), height and position(s) played, club name and team, club coach/director contact information, SAT/ACT scores, current gpa and schedule. With this e-mail of written information, include a link to a video of your skills via YouTube or another provider. Remember that college coaches will be receiving many Senior e-mails and we just don't have the time/money to go see every potential player. We will always have time to watch a video and this video could be what puts you at the top of the list of recruits to see at a tourney.

Remember that the Recruiting Plan posts have more complete information for managing each year (I also will be updating them soon). Today's post is just for getting ready for the recruiting portion of the current club season.

If you have read this far, the conclusion is to get information out to college coaches to get us to come watch you play!

By the way, I hope you had a GREAT Christmas Day!

New NCAA Volleyball Rules ;-)

Since this is the time of Holiday Wishes, I wish for these rules to be adopted by the still unknown powers that be with regards to NCAA Volleyball rules:

• No more NCAA Playing Rule changes/additions for the next 10 years - Leave it alone!
  
• Obtaining/exchanging match tape is not allowed - Let's play 'blind'.
• Should a school's men's and women's basketball teams have a director of operations, the volleyball team must have one also.
• If a player arrives on campus with a nicer car than the coach, then the coach drives this car until the player graduates.
• NCAA Volleyball players are exempt from the TSA rule limiting carry on liquids to 3 ounces on airplanes.
• Once a coach has heard the same pre-match song 25 times, this song is banned from further use at any matches.
• The FIVB has no interest in NCAA Volleyball and NCAA Volleyball will have NO interest in the FIVB.
• Each volleyball student-athlete will have the opportunity to play in front of 5,000 or more fans.
• College coaches should only be allowed to attend the Friday and Saturday play of a three day tournament.
• All Elite 8 matches must be on a traditional network (ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX) or ESPN/ESPN2.
• That Referee evaluation forms are actually applied to the assigning of referees for college matches.
• All referees must have playing experience at some level.
• That at all times, football and basketball coaches must display better behavior towards volleyball student-athletes than their players.
• That all members of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee have volleyball playing experience at some level.
• No more NCAA Volleyball Playing Rule Changes....oh, I already said this.
• A college coach must have actually won a NCAA Championship before they can walk around club tournaments acting as such.
• Assistant coaches are provided a magical mute button for when the head coach starts to wig out.
• Volleyball coaches have the right to disappear from campus at the conclusion of the season for an undefined amount of time, like the football coaches do.
• The phrase, "Student Athlete Experience" is never used again.
• All Athletic Directors must have been collegiate student athletes or college coaches at one time. To be exempt from this rule, an Athletic Director must have school age children (high school or younger).
• That there be equal treatment of male and female student-athletes.....hey, isn't this already a Law of the United States of America?

I am allowed to Dream a Little Dream.

Coach

Slow Down, You Move to Fast, Got to Make the Moment Last!

Dear Volleyball Coach,

I'd like your advise about our daughter. She is in the 8th grade this year and plays volleyball, school and club (U14). She is now 6'1" and comes from a VERY tall family and is continuing to grow. Her club team the last two years has finished runner up at Nationals in the gold division. Hopefully this continues because she loves the game. My question is, should we as parents begin contact with colleges about her should her team goes again to Nationals as a way of helping her with giving her exposure to colleges or is it too early? Thank you for any help that you might be able to give.

Thanks,

Joe and Kim



No - Too early.

Coach





OK - Now I will give you the long, drawn out, gotta fill up some Blogger google bytes!

It really, really, really is way, way, way too early to even worry, consider, pursue anything having to do with us crazy, over worked, under paid, self important, short sleeve logo shirt underneath a dark sweater/jacket wearing, chit chatty, hair gel'ed/sprayed, smile at everyone oh so sincerely college volleyball coaches.

Your daughter is in 8th grade, that is awesome! Your daughter is already taller than 100% of Division I Liberos and 50% of the Outside Hitters - this is even more awesome! Your daughter is on a club team that is good on a national level - super duper awesome! Your daughter loves the game of volleyball.....wait for it....., awesome cubed!!!

Seriously, don't worry about contacting college coaches until Christmas of her sophomore year of high school. Please just enjoy her playing volleyball and having fun for the next 2+ years before shooting out one e-mail. If your daughter continues to grow (tall family genes) and continues to participate with a team that is nationally rated (which lends itself towards playing in a number of the larger tourneys), then you probably won't have to worry about sending out anything at all.

I also caution you from jumping on the 'let's contact colleges' treadmill for two reasons:

1. Once you hop on the treadmill you won't get off it and will be on it for the next 5 years. I guarantee you that by your daughter's Junior year, you will be tired of the whole process. You have to remember that there are three of you (Mom, Dad, Daughter) and there are THOUSANDS of us - we have the better odds to outlast the families with focus! Once you start contacting coaches, even though there are NCAA rules with recruiting, you are inviting the vampire into your house!!

2. Your daughter is just in 8th grade; who knows what her collegiate desires will be when she is a Junior? To do anything this early, even though it is just making contact, is really like throwing darts in the dark.

If you have not done it yet, read the Recruiting Plan posts I have written (left side by - broken down by year). I wrote these based upon practical experience from my recruiting efforts at many different schools, from friend's daughters going through the process and from feedback about the recruiting experience my college players went through.

The best thing you can do as parents at this age is to keep if fun and keep it slow. When I say 'slow', don't get wrapped up in extra practices or cardio/physical training or worrying about if she is on the top team of the top club with extra shiny hair clips. Keep it fun, keep it light and keep her fresh. If she is talented to enough to go to college to play volleyball, she is looking at 9 years of every increasing volleyball intensity, not to mention just being a kid in college.

I want you to enjoy the view, because before you know it you won't be able to see the forest for all the trees.

Coach

Recruiting Tape

Hi I'm Bridget, a junior in high school and i have been asked to send in a skills tape to a college for the Libero position. What all should i put in to this tape? And should i put a little game film in it to show how i work with others on the court and how i talk?

Thanks for your time.


During the Quiet/Dead Period of the recruiting calendar, I have all the time in the world!!! In fact, I can finally get some stuff done around the house which I have been stalling out for way too long - much more fun to watch video than check off the 'to do' list!!

I should have a post or two under the label 'Recruiting Tape/Video' on the left side bar on the opening page. This should have some general guidelines for making a skills tape along the lines which college coaches wish to view.

The Libero/Defensive Specialist and Setter are positions which can be difficult to capture a true perspective of ability on tape. With hitters it is easy to see how high they jump, how long the broad jump, the armswing, etc., but with Liberos the skills levels are not as clear. For instance, anyone can look like a great passer to target while taking free balls. Defensively, a player can look like a Japanese skill's demonstration if the ball is hit easily and from a box.

What I suggest you do is put way too much video of your abilities on the tape. If you have been asked to submit video footage, then the school is interested and better to have too much money than not enough!!

Some suggestions specific to the Libero position:

1. Passing - Make sure you have one segment where the camera is tight on you; this will allow coaches to get a good look at your platform, body position and arm movement.

2. Passing - Make sure you have one segment where the camera is from behind the server - this allows for perspective to how tough the serve is; this also allows for a deeper view of your court movement.

3. Make sure you show passing in all three serve receive positions - College coaches know (and other coaches for that matter) that some players statistically pass better in different parts of the court. The Libero must demonstrate the ability to pass great in all parts of the court.

4. Defense - Tight shot to show body position and movement.

5. Defense - Behind the hitter to show deeper perspective on court movement.

6. Defense - Be sure to show all the movements to the ground; sprawl, shoulder roll, barrel roll, j-dig, overhead dig.

7. Defense - Dig balls from every attack option - Left front, middle attacks, right front and back row defense.

Then, I do think it would be good to splice in a fair amount of edited game action defense - I say edited because you might as well make it easier for us way to busy and self important college coaches to watch your tape. Live action will illustrate your cover ability, your over-all court movement and your support/energy with team mates.

Again, with your position, too much tape is better than not enough - Just make sure it is focused and to the point!!

Good luck!

Coach

Super Duper Long Question - But a Good One!

What considerations or advice do you have in this situation?

My 8th grade daughter is a top player on her 14s team for our metro area's top club that year after year in all age groups wins their region, goes to JO Nationals and produces 10 DI players each year. This is my daughter's 3rd club season. She lead her 13s team to JO Nationals last year (captain, MVP). Her goals are to play varsity as a freshman next fall on her HS team and to play DI in college. She's on track and on her way. She's one of the most internally motivated athletes the club has seen (they tell me). Academically, she's an A+ student.

We're set on the club that is a match for her that will help her get DI exposure, Our situation is the opposite of many questions you get...NOT the importance of club volleyball or what club should she play for, but what high school. We're trying to figure out which high school volleyball experience will be best for her continued development as a player and to support her goals.

Because local club volleyball is so strong here, it produces high school state champions from our area, for all levels (A-AAA). Here, HS volleyball is inferior to club volleyball. No technical teaching at HS, just playing and reps. Most HS coaches here do not coach club volleyball and are not as skilled as our club coaches in their strategies or technical knowledge. The technical teaching is at the club level here. So, we are viewing HS volleyball for off-season reps, playing with and against good competition every day, etc.

Two years ago we moved across country to this suburban neighborhood for schools - especially high school (top academic school in area, nationally known for HS sports). We literally moved across country from a state and area with poor public schools to this suburban area with nationally ranked public schools. We chose our neighborhood for schools!

Last week, the school district changed the boundaries and incoming freshman from our neighborhood , where my daughter will now go to a new school in the Fall that was just built and not the one we moved for. They are phasing in 9th grade students each year. No 10th-12 graders at the HS next year. So, basically she won't be playing with any upper class(wo)men and will likely be the best player for 4 years from day 1. This new school is in a very competitive league, with the 3 consecutive year state champion. So, compeition will be good in games, but not in practice every day. At this HS she will have no playing or social experience with upper class(wo)men. It might look good for her scrap book (4 yr starter, 4 yr team captain, school records, etc) but we are concerned about her DEVELOPMENT as a person and player not awards.

We are deciding if we should stay where we are and go to the new school or move a mile away to go to the HS we previously picked. Our decision is based on academics, student demographics and then HS sports. For purposes of this question and your response, let's solely focus on sports/volleyball as to what will give her the best volleyball experiences for her development. We are dealing with the other two factors separately and not part of our questions to you.

The established HS we could move back into is full of upper class(wo)men (older girls from her club) that will be playing DI. There she will be challenged on a daily basis against good competition to help improve her game. Plus, she will have the opportunity to be on a good team to challenge for a state championship every year - a good experience going into college.

We know that most college coaches don't care about what HS you come from...that is not our question. We are looking at the impact on her DEVELOPMENT as a player. Our initial thoughts are to go with the HS that gives her the most competition day in, day out. Do you agree? What other volleyball factors would you recommend we look at? What have we missed in our analysis?

Thanks! JB

This is an interesting question. Please be assured that for college coaches, high school volleyball is really a non-factor - we honestly just hope they make it through their Junior/Senior season without an injury.

I actually had a similar situation when I was in high school - My family had moved cross country and the high school I went to was a new built school, but they started with Freshman/Sophomore classes and I joined as a Junior. As it turned out, mine was the first year with varsity level sports. Junior year season was rough, but Senior year we won the district title in the toughest league in the state.

My suggestion is to go with the new school - Stay in the district you are in, don't make any moves with your family. While you have illustrated some of the challenges (not training with older/better kids, being the best on the team, etc.), I believe the positives of the situation will benefit your daughter in the long run. Keeping in mind that the elite level training and competition is via club, and by your e-mail, your daughter is talented and enjoying a quality experience.

Positives:

1. New school equals new gym, new locker room, new equipment.

2. The school may, just maybe, hire someone who has volleyball experience - Again, new school means that the AD can hire fresh coaches without political consideration - Usually new schools get younger teachers and younger teachers today have played college sports quite often.

3. While she won't train with experienced kids, she will be placed into a challenging competitive situation immediately even just playing Freshman volleyball. If she makes the Varsity at the original school, odds are she will not get quality time or be the go to player with so many older/talented players on the roster.

4. Leadership - The really great players are also leaders and college freshman don't lead upper classmen, they lead their own class. Learning to be a leader is learning to lead your peers and her peers are those players who are her same age. I don't want freshman to lead my team, that would be a disaster; I want freshman to lead other freshman.

5. Sometimes the wings needs to be clipped a little bit with younger players. You know that old saying how a loss is sometimes good for an undefeated team? Sometimes slowing down an elite younger player is important also. I have seen too many situations where young studs turn out to be older spoiled players because they always played up and were always told how great they were. Eventually other players catch up in ability with age or the stud joins another team where everyone is that good - In these situations, not pretty transitions can occur. By slowing her down in high school, by surrounding her with players her own age and not as good, I sincerely believe it will pay off 10 times when she gets to college.

6. There is something special about being the first. Not too many players can say they were the First - For instance, the current Penn State team is awesome, but they are not the first National Championship team for Penn State Volleyball. Your daughter will not be the first good player at the original high school and her team's will not be the first great team at her original high school, but she could well be the first of each at her new school.

I say stay put, trust a little karma (maybe there is a reason your house is in the new district), allow her to slow down a bit but still develop crucial leadership skills and keep your focus on club.

Coach

Options for Older College Player

Dear Coach,

I am interested in playing volleyball at the college level. I've played my entire life and was to play Division 2 (at Palm Beach Atlantic University) until I got into a car accident. Since, I have been a full time worker and more recently, enrolled back full time in school. I play in several leagues in my county as well as AA and Co-ed beach. I am interested in going to UF for grad school. I've contacted the volleyball recruiting office at UF already and was told that I need to be accepted to UF and submit a videotape. I am 5'2" and have played entirely as defensive specialist and at times libero. What is the best way to showcase my skills on video? Are there any other tips you can give me on promoting myself as a great defensive specialist?

Sincerely, Gina

I commend you for setting your sights high and wishing to play at a Top 25 program while you are in graduate school. As you pursue this goal, here are some observations and suggestions:

1. If you are in a position to consider graduate school, then you are probably 21 years old or older. Per NCAA rules, your 'clock' starts when you are 21 and play volleyball with any organized team or league. So, by your question, even though you did not play at Palm Beach Atlantic University and are still eligible (simple version) to play NCAA athletics, you may have inadvertently used a year or so of eligibility by competing with other volleyball teams.

* FYI - The NCAA says Division I Student-Athletes have 5 years to compete 4 (on rare occasion, a 6th year is granted for injury or extreme situations). For Division II, the SA is able to use 10 semesters, but without a time clock (I am not 100% sure on this though).

2. Also, even more of a concern for eligibility, you need to find out if you have any eligibility left because your clock may have started when you began college - Believing again, you are in a position to start graduate school means you finished your undergraduate studies.

3. Before you move forward with the University of Florida, or any program for that matter, you need to determine if you have any eligibility left. To do this, you must contact the NCAA Clearinghouse (just google NCAA Clearinghouse) and explain to them your exact situation. Even though the NCAA Clearinghouse gets a bit of reputation as the bad cop with eligibility, they also understand unique situations like yours and try to do what is right.

4. Should the NCAA determine you do have eligibility left, then I would widen your horizon a bit as your consider your academic and athletic future - Just don't focus solely on the Gators.

5. The reality is that an elite program like Florida has many, many talented players wanting to go there. Combined with their elite volleyball status, Florida is also a good academic institution and a public school located in a state which supports high school volleyball. All this adds up to the odds of a defensive specialist earning a roster spot a long shot - especially one that was looking at playing Division II and has not played elite level volleyball for a number of years.

6. Once again, should the NCAA Clearinghouse say you are good to go, then approach finding a college volleyball program just like a high school player - Market yourself to programs which have your academic major; or in your case, graduate degree. I would suggest taking a read through of my Recruiting Plan post(s) with emphasis on the Senior Year - Some of this post won't apply to you, but much of it may.

7. To do this (and also to market yourself to the Gators), you must put together a very good video tape, because it is not like coaches can see you at the Atlanta National Qualifier or at AAU's in Orlando. Basically, you need to film yourself passing in every position, short and deep and then playing defense in every position with all types of attacks. With your unique situation, you must provide too much footage as opposed to not enough. In this situation, quantity is as important as quality.

8. Remember that Division II rules allow you to try-out for a team or practice with them, but this is not allowed for Division I.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck as you chase this dream. First and foremost, you must find out via the NCAA Clearinghouse if it is even possible.

Coach

NCAA Womens Volleyball Championship

OK, the first three rounds are now in the books and time for some random, yet profoundly observant observations:

• Penn State; yadda, yadda, yadda. Worthy of all the hype and more.
  
• I don't know what Coach Poole inherited at Florida State, but for a coach who was not good enough to get a legitimate contract extension from Arkansas, I congratulate him for obtaining a #3 tournament seed and then backing it up to the Elite 8! Odds are with the Seminoles because their match to the Final Four is #11 seed Minnesota (but, those Big 10 teams have an annoying habit of being talented!).
• Texas and Texas A&M could have saved a trip to the blizzard by just playing their 3rd conference match in Lexington, Texas and sent the winner north. Omaha after a huge snowstorm....brrrrrrrr.
• Speaking of Nebraska; nice home court advantage. The positive is that you know the matches would have drawn very good crowds and created an exciting atmosphere. If the Huskers do make it to Tampa, the staff needs to be aware of heat stroke with the temperature differential between NE and FL!
• I am still trying to figure out why the NCAA selection committee continues to give Hawaii terrible seeds. Did Coach Shoji run over some one's dog by accident while on a trip to the mainland? I have heard all the arguments that the WAC is a weak conference and Hawaii plays their tough matches only at home, but 30-2 is a result of being very good.
  
• Kentucky gave their all in what must have been a heart breaking 5th game loss to Florida State. Nice tournament run for the Wildcats, with all the matches coming against power conference schools - Bet they wished they could have stayed at home for that match against FSU.
• Looks to be some good matches to punch tickets for the Final Four. Texas and Nebraska in Omaha will be good - Texas is the higher seed but the sea of red can easily add a few rally score points for the Huskers. Florida State and Minnesota is interesting to me - FSU is in new territory with a high seed and sometimes it takes a bit of time for a program to be comfortable being nationally good; it doesn't hurt the GG's that this match will be a short drive from their campus apartments. Penn State and Cal? Penn State, yadda, yadda, yadda.
• Stanford and Michigan match is still being played as I write this (tied 1 game all), but one would expect Stanford to come out on top playing at home. But, that is why they play the game isn't it!?!
  
• The Elite 8 games are on ESPNU, as in do U get this channel? Bit disappointing that we can't get on the real ESPN on a non-football bowl Saturday? Not like this is the National Championship of the most popular women's sport in the world or anything. Heck, softball gets all 55 of their regional and final pool games on the real ESPN's. Maybe the AVCA can sponsor pool volleyball, like they play at apartment complexes - that will help indoor volleyball for sure!!!
• It is a bit disheartening to have one conference put 80% of its teams into the National Championship. I understand that each team is RPI'ed in such a way to be a legitimate selection but come on! At least throw a couple of bids to the 2nd and 3rd place teams in mid-major conferences. "How did you do this season?", "We got 8th place in our conference", "Oh, kinda a rough year huh?", "No, we still made the NCAA Tournament".
• My dream match up would be Hawaii and Florida State for the National Championship!!! But, it will probably be Penn State and Texas. Penn State, National Champion, yadda, yadda, yadda. I would be more disappointed if I did not have such tremendous respect for Coach Rose!

May all the college coaches who are reading this enjoy a wonderful off-season, recruiting quiet/dead period and Happy Holidays.

To all the parents and club volleyball players, I wish you a healthy and FUN season of club ball and please remember that all us college coaches are just playing games on our palm devices at the end of your court, so don't stress.

And to those readers who don't fall into the above two paragraphs, thanks for being college volleyball fans!

Coach

NCAA Clearinghouse Question.

I enjoy your web site, and as a father of a prospective college player have learned quite a bit. I'm confused about the questions my daughter was required to answer about club affiliation on the Clearinghouse web site. Assuming one pays a global fee to cover all expenses that season, including coaching, court rental, uniforms and equipment, travel, and hotels, should a player then check none of these items on the web site? Or alternatively, if a player plays for a club which charges only a basic fee to cover coaches and courts, should the rest also be left blank since the costs were covered by the player? It seems to me the intent is to question a player if they have received any other type of reimbursement or incentive outside that which has been payed to the club or directly paid by the family.

Thanks for any advice. If this has already been addressed on your web site I'd appreciate a link to find it.

Jon


This may be the first question which I have had with regards to the NCAA Clearinghouse and the Amateurism section.

Remember that the NCAA Clearinghouse has two parts now - The Initial Academic Eligibility and Amateurism. In the past, determining if a player was an Amateur or Professional was handled by each school and just consisted of completing a written questionnaire. This led to many occurrences of professional athletes, international players by and large, gaining clearance to participate in NCAA athletics by simply answering "no" to each question on the paper. The NCAA moved to take this protocol to a central national effort, just because individual schools did not have the time or resources to validate the questionnaires.

As it stands now, the NCAA Clearinghouse Amateurism questionnaire is on line and consists of about 20 or so questions. For the most part, this effort is focused on international student athletes, but must also be completed by USA Prospective Student Athletes. The challenge that the NCAA faces with international players is that each country around the world determines its own definition of professional. For instance, in Europe, you can start receiving a salary to play sports at a very young age, still be in high school or go to college while playing professional sports. On the other hand, there are other countries where the governing bodies don't allow payment to athletes until they have reached a certain age (19 or 21 for example).

For USA PSA's, most of the focus of the Amateurism questions would be directed toward club sport organizations like USA Volleyball Junior Clubs or AAU clubs (basketball, baseball, etc). What the NCAA is concerned about are elite players receiving payments or scholarships to play for certain teams. AAU men's basketball teams are big business, where teams are sponsored by Nike, Adidas, etc. and conduct themselves with travel and training similar to the best college basketball teams in the country. With all the money associated with such teams, the NCAA has cast an eye towards trying to determine if the PSA's are receiving any type of compensation or free benefits (travel, clothes, per diem) which would not be allowed.

Because of the 'guilt by association' of being a club sport, the NCAA also is aware/concerned about Junior Club Volleyball. I don't think that Club Volleyball in any way, shape or form approaches the corporate world of AAU basketball, but the NCAA must apply the same philosophy.

Back to Jon's question - The NCAA is just trying to determine if a PSA received any special treatment or improper benefits with regards to their participation with club volleyball. To make things more convoluted, each club team has its own business protocol with regards to payment of club fees and what is included or not included. Some clubs charge a basic fee which covers not too much and the parents are out of pocket for travel, clothes, food, etc. On the other hand, some clubs charge a substantial monthly fee which will cover almost everything associated with the club season.

The best way to answer the questions on the NCAA Amateurism website is just straight up honest. Don't over think a question or try to determine the peripheral subjects; just answer the question to the best of your knowledge.

If the folks at the Clearinghouse have any questions about your answers, they will just e-mail you for clarification. My experience is that for USA PSA's, the NCAA just gives a cursory glance at the Amateurism section. The reality is they are too busy churning through international, football/basketball and transfer student athletes to focus upon incoming USA freshman.

By the way, the paperwork/questionnaires via the NCAA websites are just the tip of the ice burg for your daughter - Just wait until she gets to college, then the real paperwork begins!!!!

Coach

International Player Question

Hallo,

My son William was born in New York on 8/25/92 but he is an Italian citizen.

He is currently playing for the Under18 and Under20 team of SYSLEY TREVISO www.sisleyvolley.com and for the National pre-Juniors team.

Last year his team ranked second in the Italian league and the year before he was nominated best player of the region.

He is 1.98cm.

For the year 2011-2012 I would him to attend a University in the States playing I Division. I already enrolled him to NCAA eligibility center.

In order to improve his SAT he needs to improve his English. What is the best solution for him to spend the summer in a College and get acquainted in order to join the following season.

Which campus/university would you suggest?

Thanks, Pierpaolo

Well, before I can give you just a basic answer about where to go in the USA for Men's College Volleyball, there are some other issues which must be considered. As I read your e-mail, it is apparent that you have a good grasp of some of the steps needed to come to the USA and play college sports, but there are some specific areas which must be brought to your attention.

I hope that my information, in response to your question, might help a number of Prospective Student Athletes (PSA) from Europe in their consideration of coming to the United States to compete in college volleyball.

By my reading of your e-mail, the following questions/observations have come to mind:

1. Your son is 17 years old? Has he graduated high school yet? Have you submitted translated high school transcripts to the NCAA Clearinghouse? Remember that the Clearinghouse has two distinct areas - Amateurism and Academic Eligibility. The reason I ask about transcripts, is that the NCAA Clearinghouse has two views with international high schools when it comes to classes and being eligible to compete in NCAA Athletics. One view is like here in the United States; a certain number of core classes (14? - I know I should know this!!!) must be passed to be eligible.

The other view is that Exit Examination (comprehensive examinations covering all subjects while in high school) scores determine eligibility. This second type of view is more often applied to European high schools (for instance, France). A PSA could make fantastic grades in all their classes all through high school, but if they score poorly on their Final Examinations for High School, they will not be eligible. I know this because the tennis coach at my school lost two elite European players because they did not take their Final Examinations seriously and did poorly, even though their yearly academic marks were excellent, and the NCAA Clearinghouse said they were ineligible. You must find out this information from the NCAA.

2. By your e-mail, your son is playing for an established volleyball club with the under 21 age groups and on the Junior National Team. NCAA Amateurism currently has a very broad interpretation of Professionalism (what makes a player a professional), which includes playing matches on a professional team, even though the player does not get paid (there is a current NCAA Proposal to eliminate this specific example, but it has not yet been passed to my knowledge). I know that many times within the top flight European programs, younger players may be brought up for a match or two with the pro team, just for experience or as a reward for doing so well with the younger age groups. Your son would not become ineligible for having played a match or two with the professional team, but rather might have to sit out a few matches here in the USA - All this must be determined by the NCAA. If your son has not participated with a professional team, make sure he does not start playing matches with a pro team or sign a contract or hire an agent or accept money for participation (above expenses) on any team.

USA sports can be confusing for international families, because in Europe, many universities sponsor professional sports teams and students will play on the team with full time professional players. Here in the USA, there is complete separation between college and professional sporting teams.

3. Congratulations on your son's Region award. I will caution you that the level of USA Men's College Volleyball is very high and the competition for scholarships is intense (remember that the NCAA only allows 4 scholarships for men's teams, but the women's teams receive 12 in Division I). One of the reasons that the level of play is elite, is because there are significantly more players than there are college teams to play on (NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball has less than 30 teams!). So, for an international player to come to the United States, be selected to a team and also receive any significant amount in a scholarship, this international player must be very, very, very good!

4. Since your son is still a PSA, there are limited options for him to spend significant amounts of time on a USA college campus because of recruiting issues. He can come over and take summer school classes (paid for by the family), if a university/college offers dual credit (high school applicable) classes. Or he can attend a series of summer camps for men's players; but these can really cost alot of money. The best region of the USA to do this is southern California because there are a number of DI schools which sponser Men's Volleyball in close proximity.

Another option, depending on your son's class schedule in Italy, is to consider joining a USA Volleyball Men's Junior Club (visit the USA Volleyball web site). Men's Club Volleyball happens in the Spring and into the summer. Once again, this will cost money, but may be a good option for extended time in the USA.

Honestly, it is tough to spend an extended amount of time in the USA unless you have a lot of money or can arrange an exchange student situation.

OK - Since there are not too many Men's college volleyball programs, if you click here and select Men's Volleyball and Division I, and click on 'Run Report) you will see a page of schools. You can go directly to the NCAA listing of each school and I think this page will allow you to link to each school. With the exception of Penn State University, the better volleyball teams are located in California.

Good luck!

How to Improve as an Assistant Volleyball Coach?

Hi Coach,

I'm an assistant coach at a small D III school and first of all just want to wish you a happy recovery from your season. I think I'm finally starting to enjoy being around people again and able to complete coherent sentences being two weeks removed from our season.

Here is my background: I completed my undergrad in 2008 and miraculously became an assistant coach for my alma matter this past season. My volleyball experience is pretty much limited to being a volleyball junkie and playing as much as I possibly can. No club or collegiate experience. And oh ya, I am male coaching a female team.

My question is simple, what is the best/most efficient way to spend my time to become a better assistant for my coach and players? Conferences, seminars, CAP programs? What are things your assistants do that you really appreciate?

Thanks again,

J

Congratulations on obtaining a position - It can be a tough thing to get your foot in the door of Collegiate Coaching and I commend you for wishing to maximize your abilities.

Because of your limited experience in collegiate volleyball, I suggest you expose yourself to as much collegiate volleyball situations as possible. Various suggestions:

1. The American Volleyball Coaches Association National Convention and NCAA Women's Volleyball National Championship. This co-event will allow you to attend a series of professional development seminars, watch the Final Four teams practice and compete and interact with other college coaches. The down side is this event can be a bit expensive to attend; hopefully your school can support you attending.

2. USA Volleyball offers developmental opportunities via its Coaches Accreditation Program or CAP series. Also, USA Volleyball sponsors a number of summer international competitions for college age group teams, and college coaches usually fill the coaching needs. I have no idea how 'competitive' it is to obtain such a spot as a coach on these teams thought? Information on the CAP series and other education can be found at www.usavolleyball.org.

3. Reach out to other college programs, especially Division I schools within your area. Division I teams train a lot, sometimes too much; but, what this means for you is the opportunity to observe them practicing. The DI season starts early in August, runs until after Thanksgiving, starts up again with group training immediately after the Spring Semester and finish with full team training for 6 weeks in the late spring. Make a courtesy call to the head coach asking to come observe practice; and I think you might be suprised in what you can learn.

4. Consider coaching an older age group in Club Volleyball. I know it is not college volleyball, but getting game coaching and player management experience is very important.

What my assistant's do which I appreciate? - Everything which I tell them to do!!! I say this in half jest - Assistants need to remember that they are there to assist the Head Coach and are not an autonomous coach for the program. It gives me one less thing to worry about knowing that the 'to-do' list I assign my assistant will be taken care of quickly and completely. Also, it is important that my assistants are very careful in their interaction with players concerning anything substantial. Shooting the breeze is fine, but manageing delicate playing, academic or team issues are not to be undertaken without my direction, if at all.

My feelings about this are due to the fact that if something goes haywire with the program, the head coach is the one who has to explain/meet with athletic directors; not an assistant. If an assistant does their own thing or injects their wishes into the equation, it can be a tough situation for all.

Good luck!

Club Volleyball and Other Sports?

I have no ties to volleyball other than I am a fan of our high school team which just won the state championships. I have read your blog with great interest. What sticks with me are your comments about the need to be a fit player, but also your concern about burn-out from playing too much volleyball year-round. I think I also remember you mentioning speed and the ability to move your feet and the ability to jump as key components to volleyball success. This leads me to wonder about high school volleyball players competing for their high school not only in volleyball but also in other sports. For example, would athletes who train for the throws, jumps, sprints and/or heptathlon in track and field make gains to aid their volleyball game? If these athletes played high school volleyball in the fall and club volleyball during the summer, which travels for showcases and tournaments, would they still be able to have a good experience getting college volleyball coaches to look at them? What are your thoughts? Skills and other playing factors being somewhat equal, do college volleyball coaches put any higher value on the multi-sport athlete over the athlete who competes only at volleyball?

Thank you for your time.

Johnson

I am all for having balance in one's sporting life and I do think that cross-over training with other sports is a good thing, yet there is significant value in club volleyball. For many folks, high school volleyball has become the off-season of volleyball training.

Let's review the typical calendar for a solid high school age volleyball player - August through mid November is high school volleyball, one week after high school season finishes the club volleyball training/season commences and with the exception of a short breather at Christmas, runs anywhere from may to mid July! In that 3 to 5 week span between ending club and starting high school, there are any number of camps and clinics to attend. Unfortunately, this schedule leaves precious little time for other physical activities; and I am not including lifting, personal volleyball practices, etc.

In terms of recruiting, the early club season is much more important than the late season - initial evaluations, reviewing players from the previous club season, interaction with club coaches, meetings with eligible seniors, offers of scholarships - All of these examples are done in the early club season.

I believe it is great to have a multi talented athlete as a volleyball player, but missing the early months of the club season to participate in track or softball, would be a negative for a great many coaches. Our sport is one which you can't practice by yourself - Rather hard to play one person pepper! Our sport is very much a team sport and players must practice together and then test how well they have trained by competing. There are so many nuances and improvement opportunities which are only demonstrated by playing.

A better suggestion might be to join a club which does not play every single weekend and trains in such a manner, which allows for these other sports to be enjoyed. Unfortunately, it is the high school coaches (all too often) which shut down such dual sport participation.

My biggest push is not to do too much volleyball and related training. There is a point of diminishing returns - Too much volleyball, lifting, conditioning will lead to mental burnout and physical issues. College coaches are always afraid of having an athlete arrive to campus who is bordering on mental and physical burnout because the demands of NCAA Volleyball are much more than club. I like the restrictions which the NCAA places upon training and especially the off-season limits; this allows the opportunity to keep the student-athletes fresh and hopefully, experiences all the different aspects of collegiate life.