Great blog, absolutely love what you're doing (even though I'm more involved in the men's game!)
My question is this. As the manager\player for a D1 collegiate Men's club team, our first 5 practices this semester have been pretty flat. We have a great balance between drills and scrimmaging, talented players and GREAT motivation (Weird seeing as flatness is our problem).
We have VERY limited court time and have to combine our A and B team practices, thus we have about 20 guys at each practice. We start with a drill called pacific (down balls down the line, passed to a setter at the net who sets the passer for another line hit, then passer goes to down ball) then move to triples, hitting lines, defensive drills which let hitters swing on our D/s's, scrimmage based drills (sometimes wash) then full on scrimmage.
Sounds like a good balance, but every missed serve or hitting the ball into the net just seems to deflate our practice intensity, which we struggle to recover and motivational sideline yelling just turns into frustrated "Come on guys!" How can we make our practices more effective and keep everyone happy? They range from 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Thanks, Kendall
You are stuck with a challenging training situation in that you have limited time and a large number of players on the court. Unfortunately for you, the players are a combination of an A and B team, thus the talent level can drop noticeably from the 1st to the 2nd level. Volleyball is such a team oriented sport, that one player who is not at a comparable talent level with the rest of the team can be a 'drill kill'.
By your example, you are using more of the Latin Style of volleyball in which players manage the drills (deep court ball control team pepper, attacking at defensive players, etc.), but you have included your lesser players in these drills, thus the odds of these type of drills being sustainable are not plausible.
If you intend to stay with the Latin Style (which most men's teams employ), then you need to separate your A and B teams. The A team will better equipped to run the type of drills you are using and will benefit more from these drills without the B team involved - Too many drill kills on the B team. It would be better to take a 2 hour block of time, tell the players to be warmed up before stepping on the court and give the A team 1 hour and the B team 1 hour. They can do the same exact drills and while the B team may flatten out in development because they are not being pushed by the A team, there is a reason the B team is called the B team. Don't let the development of the B team become more important than the competitive ability of the A team.
As a younger coach, I was too caught up in the 'weakest link' mentality in developing a team. You know the old adage from coaches that says your team is only as good as the Weakest Link. Because of this, I used to spend a bunch of time/effort trying to get our weaker players up in ability, trying to make our Weakest Link not so weak. The golf coach and I were talking shop one day, and he explained how he used to subscribe to the Weakest Link theory but moved away from that when he realized (in golf at least) that you don't win because of your Weakest Link not being weak, but rather your best players being great. In golf, some players have the ability to 'go low', to shoot really low golf scores, and these players are the ones who empower a golf team to win tournaments. The golf coach realized that his teams were going to win because two of the top players went low (they had the ability to shoot low scores), not because a weaker player played well (playing at their best, they still could not go low). After coming to this conclusion, he shifted his training/attention focus from the weaker players to the stronger players. In golf, the players are rated 1 through 6 (as I understand it), so the coach gave just enough attention to keep players 3-6 moving forward, but he made sure that the top 3 golfers were constantly being challenged, coached and empowered to shoot low scores.
When I looked at this from a volleyball view point, I think it held a lot of value. Volleyball teams win consistently because the better players play very well, not because the weaker players put together good games. We win because the #1 OH hits .350 every match, not because the #2 MB is able to suddenly put together a match of hitting .250 when her usual line is .100. Not every team has Penn State's luxury of having talented players in every position, so when Hodge only achieves a .125 attack percentage, there are 4 other hitters who are at .300 to fill the gap. Too many other teams must have their #1 OH and their #1 MB at .300 to win, no matter if the other players are hitting positive or negative.
Back to your team, you must focus on your #1's and not let the #2's bring down the drills.
If you get into a court time situation where you cannot separate the A and B team, then I suggest you shift your training to more of an Asian Style. More small group training and coach directed drills. For instance, instead of over the net pepper where one mistake can shut down the drill for 8 people, put the players into 2 and 3 person pepper with rotating partners every few minutes - the ability to play good pepper is very underrated; if you can't master 2 or 3 person regular pepper, then it is fruitless to move onto anything else. Also, use basic hitting lines, but dictate where the hitters need to attack the ball - You can create line/angle hitting challenges without it being a drill kill situation. Think more in terms of breaking down the game into very small parts, where the coach implements the ball, thus allowing the players to achieve a limited, but important, skill improvement.
In team situations, I strongly suggest you stay away from just playing games. A versus B will not be constructive because A will just coast to the win. You don't want to mix the teams, because this will not help the A players get better. I think that using wash games or rotation drills (have your A team in rotation 1 defense and then punch an easy free ball to the B team so they can put together a solid attack to make your A team better) are better situations to provide the on court full team training desired. You can make the B team 'better' by creating easy situations for them to manage (thus presenting a better challenge to the A team), or you can create very tough situations for the A team by a multi-ball wash drill that demands concentration and performance no matter if they are playing a B team or the Biology department (known for being bad volleyball players on any campus).
The last thing you need to worry about is keeping everyone happy. Your job is to develop good training situations which make your teams better while focusing on what is most important. If the players are happy that is a bonus, but if the drills do not make them happy or they are not having fun (but your team is getting better), then they should join the YMCA and just play in recreation or church leagues.
Good luck!
February 26, 2010
February 24, 2010
College Volleyball Conditioning Question
Coach,
What is you opinion of in-season conditioning. My daughters 15 Open team does virtually no conditioning (as well as most other teams at the club) during the season. The coach says he doesn't have time for conditioning during practice and needs the time to work on skills. He gives the team a workout that he expects them to do on their own, but when we run out of gas in the 8th match in a two day tournament he gripes about them being out of shape. Most of the kids start out doing the workout but, with time, it goes by the wayside. I played D1 football and we did conditioning every day at practice. It seems to me that 10 minutes of sprints or line touches would go a long way. How much is done in college?
Thanks, Greg
Us coaches can be full of contradictory statements - The club coach may well be correct that with limited practice minutes, it is tough to allocate time to conditioning and sacrifice touches. Yet, it should not be a surprise when the tank runs dry late in a tournament; I don't know if too many 15 year old volleyball players (or for that matter 21 year olds) who are going to stay focused on a take home conditioning plan.
College volleyball coaches all have their own philosophy with regards to conditioning and much of this relates to our past experiences and current climate in the college game. The switch to rally score lessened the importance of conditioning (in the college game) because games are much shorter in duration and each team still has the opportunity to call two time outs. Back in the day, teams would train for three hours because the match could last for three hours - Now, if a match lasts for three hours, somebody lost the volleyball somewhere in the gym!
Some coaches will include significant conditioning in practice in an effort to fill time (i.e. we need to practice two hours today, but it is easier to make them run for 45 minutes) or to mask frustration in not being able to improve important skill sets/team ability areas (our sideout percentage is terrible, so I will just make them do sprints to compensate). I routinely see many teams which are in great shape, never look winded, but consistently get whacked (technical term for not scoring a lot of points) in matches.
My feeling is that core strength has become a bit more important than cardio for college teams. Again, the matches are not that long and there is plenty of opportunity to rest during games, but the need to jump high and hit hard is still there. There may be plenty of college teams which now do more squats than wind sprints.
Of course, there is some type of conditioning segment in each training session, but college coaches approach this cardio work differently. Some like to get the heart beat consistently up during the first part of practice or warm-up segment; others like to accomplish this during competition drills which are structured to not allow rest and mandate constant high level physical effort; while other coaches like to end practice with sprints.
I don't like to use practice time for cardio, in a perfect world, because I would rather spend less time in the gym, but be very volleyball focused when we are on the floor. Part of this rationale is that I want my team to be fresh and part of it is that I don't like to 'pound' the legs of college players. By the time they get to me, the players have been through 3 to 4 years of intense club seasons that many times are played on nothing more than concrete (don't get fooled by the 1/2 inch of plastic court the tournaments are played upon).
I constantly try to reduce any occurrence of injury and in our sport, repetitive stress injuries are all too common (tendinitis, shin splints, stress fractures) - The less pounding, the less probability of a stress injury. The downside is my players could be a bit out of perfect condition, but my gamble is that I don't lose a key player or two. Dropping a key player is the formula for an average year - Consider Penn State, how well do they do if Hodge gets pulled by the trainers because of stress fractures?
We still do our cardio work, but have luxury of being able to use machines (stationary bike, elliptical trainers, recumbent cycles, stair machines, tread mills, etc) - I am trying to elevate the heart beats without pounding the legs. Yet, just as I reference above, I have to send my assistant in with the team to make sure they are just not cruising along in their work out.
My college volleyball conditioning answer is not very specific, but all over board (just like college coaches). I do think that 5 to 10 minutes of wind sprints would not take too many touches away from volleyball practice, would build a bit endurance and might create a placebo effect for the players later in these two day tournaments. On average, coaches (no matter our classification) tend to reply matches/practices in our minds and even though we can be stubborn/illogical/irrational/emotional/passionate/smell great, we are constantly trying to figure out a way to get our team better.
Coach
What is you opinion of in-season conditioning. My daughters 15 Open team does virtually no conditioning (as well as most other teams at the club) during the season. The coach says he doesn't have time for conditioning during practice and needs the time to work on skills. He gives the team a workout that he expects them to do on their own, but when we run out of gas in the 8th match in a two day tournament he gripes about them being out of shape. Most of the kids start out doing the workout but, with time, it goes by the wayside. I played D1 football and we did conditioning every day at practice. It seems to me that 10 minutes of sprints or line touches would go a long way. How much is done in college?
Thanks, Greg
Us coaches can be full of contradictory statements - The club coach may well be correct that with limited practice minutes, it is tough to allocate time to conditioning and sacrifice touches. Yet, it should not be a surprise when the tank runs dry late in a tournament; I don't know if too many 15 year old volleyball players (or for that matter 21 year olds) who are going to stay focused on a take home conditioning plan.
College volleyball coaches all have their own philosophy with regards to conditioning and much of this relates to our past experiences and current climate in the college game. The switch to rally score lessened the importance of conditioning (in the college game) because games are much shorter in duration and each team still has the opportunity to call two time outs. Back in the day, teams would train for three hours because the match could last for three hours - Now, if a match lasts for three hours, somebody lost the volleyball somewhere in the gym!
Some coaches will include significant conditioning in practice in an effort to fill time (i.e. we need to practice two hours today, but it is easier to make them run for 45 minutes) or to mask frustration in not being able to improve important skill sets/team ability areas (our sideout percentage is terrible, so I will just make them do sprints to compensate). I routinely see many teams which are in great shape, never look winded, but consistently get whacked (technical term for not scoring a lot of points) in matches.
My feeling is that core strength has become a bit more important than cardio for college teams. Again, the matches are not that long and there is plenty of opportunity to rest during games, but the need to jump high and hit hard is still there. There may be plenty of college teams which now do more squats than wind sprints.
Of course, there is some type of conditioning segment in each training session, but college coaches approach this cardio work differently. Some like to get the heart beat consistently up during the first part of practice or warm-up segment; others like to accomplish this during competition drills which are structured to not allow rest and mandate constant high level physical effort; while other coaches like to end practice with sprints.
I don't like to use practice time for cardio, in a perfect world, because I would rather spend less time in the gym, but be very volleyball focused when we are on the floor. Part of this rationale is that I want my team to be fresh and part of it is that I don't like to 'pound' the legs of college players. By the time they get to me, the players have been through 3 to 4 years of intense club seasons that many times are played on nothing more than concrete (don't get fooled by the 1/2 inch of plastic court the tournaments are played upon).
I constantly try to reduce any occurrence of injury and in our sport, repetitive stress injuries are all too common (tendinitis, shin splints, stress fractures) - The less pounding, the less probability of a stress injury. The downside is my players could be a bit out of perfect condition, but my gamble is that I don't lose a key player or two. Dropping a key player is the formula for an average year - Consider Penn State, how well do they do if Hodge gets pulled by the trainers because of stress fractures?
We still do our cardio work, but have luxury of being able to use machines (stationary bike, elliptical trainers, recumbent cycles, stair machines, tread mills, etc) - I am trying to elevate the heart beats without pounding the legs. Yet, just as I reference above, I have to send my assistant in with the team to make sure they are just not cruising along in their work out.
My college volleyball conditioning answer is not very specific, but all over board (just like college coaches). I do think that 5 to 10 minutes of wind sprints would not take too many touches away from volleyball practice, would build a bit endurance and might create a placebo effect for the players later in these two day tournaments. On average, coaches (no matter our classification) tend to reply matches/practices in our minds and even though we can be stubborn/illogical/irrational/emotional/passionate/smell great, we are constantly trying to figure out a way to get our team better.
Coach
February 23, 2010
40 Days and 40 Nights of Volleyball Lent
I only received two Volleyball Lent e-mails and THANK YOU to the folks who sent these to me. Guess the annual Volleyball Lent publication was a one time shot!
"For Volleyball Lent, I will give up the long, tortured explanation to coaches and recruiters of why my DD is playing for “that” club. It “is what it is” and we will make the best of the season and trust that they understand. K"
"I will give up my belief that there is such a thing as the perfect club and realize that while things don't always work out for the best, you make the best of they way they worked out. J"
February 18, 2010
Volleyball Question and Answer Speed Round!
I have been working too hard in my day job and have fallen behind with Questions sent in by VolleyFolk. To get caught up, I am getting through them quick attack style below!
Hi Coach,
I really appreciate your website. You have wonderful wisdom and equally great writing skills.
My daughter is a 2011 Grad. She is 5'9" and played outside hitter this past fall as a junior in high school, and libero on her 17's club. She is on a very good club team, and received a medal at the Junior Olympics last year in the American division. She has sent an interest e-mail and player profile to several Division 1 schools with a video link of highlights on YouTube, but has not received much response so far. A couple of schools have expressed interest and say they have a scholarship position available. A couple have said they are interested, but do not have a scholarship position available this year, and asked if she would be interested in a 'walk-on' position. One school said that she could compete with 2-3 other players as freshmen to get one scholarship for the sophomore year.
My question is what percentage of Division 1 schools offer scholarships for the libero position? Also if she gets an offer from one school, do you think it would be wise to accept it right away, or continue to pursue other schools who have expressed some interest?
Best regards, rr
I will accept your nice compliment about my writing skills (only way I made decent grades in my history classes in college), but the jury is still out on the wisdom reference!
When the Libero position was announced, my impression was that not many Division I schools jumped on board with providing a scholarship. The thought process was, and I also was under this belief, that you would take your best passing outside hitter who was not playing and make them the Libero. As the position developed and more club players started specializing being the Libero and less all around Outside hitters were evident (too many current OH's are proficient back row and get lit up in college passing and defense when they arrive as freshman) , it resulted in more and more colleges providing a scholarship for the position.
Currently, I would be surprised to hear of any Division I program not putting a Libero on scholarship. The exceptions might be public universities which are located in volleyball strong regions (Southern California, Texas, Illinois), which means tuition would be manageable as a walk-on player.
The challenge for Liberos is that only one scholarship is awarded for this position per team and in theory, is only awarded every four years. The other volleyball positions are at least 2 deep scholarship'ed (setters) and some can go 6 deep (outsides). Competition is tough to get a scholarship and mandates that many talented Liberos must walk on at schools to have a chance to be on a college volleyball team.
If your daughter receives a scholarship offer from a school which academically fits her needs, she is comfortable with the location, and she likes the make up of the volleyball program, then I would suggest she accept the offer. Again, because of the limited number of scholarships available for this position, good is good enough.
Continue to contact and stay in contact with schools and do not limit yourself to just Division I programs. As I have written, Division II and III can be great choices for academic and athletic success, along with Junior Colleges. Because of my experience coaching in many of the possible 'categories' of college volleyball, I tend to cringe when I hear of recruits just being so focused on the Golden Ticket of being a Division I volleyball player.
Hi Coach...
Thanks, Loren
I think it is great when current college students explore representing their school in athletics. This is Old School in its process - Student loves a sport, wants to go to the next level of ability and wants to wear the school uniform in competition. That is the Hollywood version, while the reality is much tougher.
1. Contact the head coach at the school and let them know you are a current student who would like to join the program as a walk-on. At this point, the coach can do one of three things; 1) Invite the player to attend a tryout or workout with the staff/current players (bunch of paperwork to complete first before you can even tryout); 2) Watch the player in a campus recreation league or match to evaluate ability; 3) Excuse themselves, leave the building and hope you go away.
2. If the coach feels a player has the ability to positively impact the program and the current roster is not too large, then a walk-on position could be offered. Many coaches, in an effort to manage team chemistry, may create an extended tryout situation to encompass the spring season or delay joining the program until after the fall regular season.
3. The player must register with the NCAA Clearinghouse (do an Internet search). This involves paying a fee, sending in the final high school transcript, the ACT/SAT test scores and completing the NCAA Amateurism questionnaire. For any NCAA athlete to be eligible (save for non-Qualifier Junior College Transfers) they must be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and Amateurism Center.
3. To be eligible, under NCAA Minimum Progress rules, every college player (scholarship or walk-on) must satisfy a certain percentage of degree attainment which corresponds to their year in school. This can sometimes trip up current college student walk on candidates who might have suffered a tough semester or taken classes which do not directly apply to a major.
4. Be persistent and do the leg work - Do not expect this to be a priority for the college coach and do not expect them to walk through all the necessary paperwork. If this is important to a student and potential walk on, then they must do the work.
5. Immediately understand that NCAA Division I volleyball is a complete other planet from college club volleyball. Conditioning, physicality, intensity, pressure, craziness (and this is just from the team manager!) is light years beyond what ever the recreation sports do on any campus.
Again, it is nice when such situations work out for current students, but it is not common and can be a tough transition for those who are not mentally and physically prepared.
Good afternoon, my son is trying to find a list of Colleges that offer Mens Volleyball either Div II or Div III level. We live in Canada and don't really understand the differences between Div II, Div III & Jr Varsity??
How do we find a list of Colleges so we can see if he would qualify for the school and their volleyball program? He graduated high school in 2009 and has taken a year off and is ready to return to school. He has played 5 years of volleyball with school and club teams.
Thanks, Donna
Before I get into your question, I liked the whales in the Opening Ceremony but the grunge dancing fiddlers scared me!
Go to this page, http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/ncaa/sports+and+championship/volleyball/mens to get information about NCAA men's volleyball and the colleges which sponsor the different levels.
Since Men's Volleyball only supports a fraction of the NCAA teams which Women's Volleyball does, we find that many times DII schools (Division II athletic departments) will 'move up' and compete in Division I volleyball. Because of this it can be tough at times to clarify DI versus DII in Men's Volleyball.
As a general rule, DIII is non athletic based scholarships, while DI/DII offer athletic based scholarships (amount available differ by school, conference and division).
Jr. Varsity is just the second group of athletes on a college team; maybe the players who are already at the school and want to participate, and per school rules have to be allowed the opportunity to play/participate, so they are on a Jr. Varsity team. Other names for Jr. Varsity are B team, Practice Squad, etc.
Men's Volleyball is extremely competitive for scholarships and roster positions. NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball caps volleyball scholarships at 4, in an equivalency sport arrangement. This means those 4 scholarships can be spit among any number of players, but a 12 way split of 4 scholarships is not much (assuming we are in an egalitarian volleyball society) - Remember, each school determines how many of the 4 scholarship maximum they will fund.
Because of NCAA Gender Equity (which wrongly, let me say that again, wrongly accuses women's athletics of reducing opportunities for male Olympic sports - The blame goes to football and basketball), athletic departments are loath to support large rosters in Men's Volleyball because student athlete participation numbers are a central component of the Equity equation (the flip side is the AD's love large Women's Volleyball squads!). So, there may only be 12 roster positions with a NCAA Men's Volleyball team.
Right now, my belief is that there are many more quality players than there are roster positions and for sure, scholarship availability! We are also finding that in the men's game, the height of the players is dramatically increasing - middles approaching 7 feet tall and oh's who are 6'9" are common!
Because of all these challenges, especially with your international status (can make it tough on admission and tuition costs), be exhaustive in your exploration of options. Don't get locked into a certain region or division of NCAA participation. Contact everyone, immediately provide a video tape via YouTube or web page link, and don't become discouraged if nothing pops up immediately.
Hey coach...
Thanks, Loren
Congratulations, you are braver than me!!! It can be a fine line to tread with club volleyball and the college recruiting world. Some clubs expressly try to down play the whole college scholarship opportunity by emphasizing that the junior club is focused on volleyball and social development.
Junior Clubs which do things the best, in my opinion, are the ones which take a two pronged approach to college volleyball recruiting. First of all, they have a dedicated person whose sole job is to foster relationships with college volleyball coaches/programs and provide detailed information about their club's PSA's. This means that this club recruiting coordinator or director has all the contact information readily available for each player in their club, already has a feel for the college wishes/desires of their PSA's (stay local, big school, power conference, etc), immediately responds to e-mail/phone calls from college coaches and provides the same level of service to college coaches no matter if they are from Giant State U or No Name College (just outside of Caribou, Maine).
The second interaction needs to be from the PSA's themselves. They must communicate with the college coaches. It does not need to be sunshine and 5 page e-mails, but rather responding to emails, answering questions, asking questions, expressing their parameters for a future college. Sometimes the best thing to tell a coach is you are not interested in their school - We do this for a living and you won't hurt our feelings. I would rather know you are not considering my fine institution, so I can allocate my efforts towards those PSA's which are looking at us. Instruction and direction for this process must come from the Club itself. Clubs cannot assume that parents are managing this process because they could be just as intimidated and overwhelmed as their daughter. Interaction, updating and guidance from the club for the player/family is critical.
Good luck and may you manage Pandora's Box well!
Hi Coach,
I really appreciate your website. You have wonderful wisdom and equally great writing skills.
My daughter is a 2011 Grad. She is 5'9" and played outside hitter this past fall as a junior in high school, and libero on her 17's club. She is on a very good club team, and received a medal at the Junior Olympics last year in the American division. She has sent an interest e-mail and player profile to several Division 1 schools with a video link of highlights on YouTube, but has not received much response so far. A couple of schools have expressed interest and say they have a scholarship position available. A couple have said they are interested, but do not have a scholarship position available this year, and asked if she would be interested in a 'walk-on' position. One school said that she could compete with 2-3 other players as freshmen to get one scholarship for the sophomore year.
My question is what percentage of Division 1 schools offer scholarships for the libero position? Also if she gets an offer from one school, do you think it would be wise to accept it right away, or continue to pursue other schools who have expressed some interest?
Best regards, rr
I will accept your nice compliment about my writing skills (only way I made decent grades in my history classes in college), but the jury is still out on the wisdom reference!
When the Libero position was announced, my impression was that not many Division I schools jumped on board with providing a scholarship. The thought process was, and I also was under this belief, that you would take your best passing outside hitter who was not playing and make them the Libero. As the position developed and more club players started specializing being the Libero and less all around Outside hitters were evident (too many current OH's are proficient back row and get lit up in college passing and defense when they arrive as freshman) , it resulted in more and more colleges providing a scholarship for the position.
Currently, I would be surprised to hear of any Division I program not putting a Libero on scholarship. The exceptions might be public universities which are located in volleyball strong regions (Southern California, Texas, Illinois), which means tuition would be manageable as a walk-on player.
The challenge for Liberos is that only one scholarship is awarded for this position per team and in theory, is only awarded every four years. The other volleyball positions are at least 2 deep scholarship'ed (setters) and some can go 6 deep (outsides). Competition is tough to get a scholarship and mandates that many talented Liberos must walk on at schools to have a chance to be on a college volleyball team.
If your daughter receives a scholarship offer from a school which academically fits her needs, she is comfortable with the location, and she likes the make up of the volleyball program, then I would suggest she accept the offer. Again, because of the limited number of scholarships available for this position, good is good enough.
Continue to contact and stay in contact with schools and do not limit yourself to just Division I programs. As I have written, Division II and III can be great choices for academic and athletic success, along with Junior Colleges. Because of my experience coaching in many of the possible 'categories' of college volleyball, I tend to cringe when I hear of recruits just being so focused on the Golden Ticket of being a Division I volleyball player.
Hi Coach...
Just wondering if you could share any advice for someone who is hoping to walk on to a division program, after having spent time on a club team at the same school. The athlete in question is in her 4th semester at a Division I school, and has been playing volleyball on the school's club team. She is very interested in being considered for a walk on position with the division team. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Loren
I think it is great when current college students explore representing their school in athletics. This is Old School in its process - Student loves a sport, wants to go to the next level of ability and wants to wear the school uniform in competition. That is the Hollywood version, while the reality is much tougher.
1. Contact the head coach at the school and let them know you are a current student who would like to join the program as a walk-on. At this point, the coach can do one of three things; 1) Invite the player to attend a tryout or workout with the staff/current players (bunch of paperwork to complete first before you can even tryout); 2) Watch the player in a campus recreation league or match to evaluate ability; 3) Excuse themselves, leave the building and hope you go away.
2. If the coach feels a player has the ability to positively impact the program and the current roster is not too large, then a walk-on position could be offered. Many coaches, in an effort to manage team chemistry, may create an extended tryout situation to encompass the spring season or delay joining the program until after the fall regular season.
3. The player must register with the NCAA Clearinghouse (do an Internet search). This involves paying a fee, sending in the final high school transcript, the ACT/SAT test scores and completing the NCAA Amateurism questionnaire. For any NCAA athlete to be eligible (save for non-Qualifier Junior College Transfers) they must be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and Amateurism Center.
3. To be eligible, under NCAA Minimum Progress rules, every college player (scholarship or walk-on) must satisfy a certain percentage of degree attainment which corresponds to their year in school. This can sometimes trip up current college student walk on candidates who might have suffered a tough semester or taken classes which do not directly apply to a major.
4. Be persistent and do the leg work - Do not expect this to be a priority for the college coach and do not expect them to walk through all the necessary paperwork. If this is important to a student and potential walk on, then they must do the work.
5. Immediately understand that NCAA Division I volleyball is a complete other planet from college club volleyball. Conditioning, physicality, intensity, pressure, craziness (and this is just from the team manager!) is light years beyond what ever the recreation sports do on any campus.
Again, it is nice when such situations work out for current students, but it is not common and can be a tough transition for those who are not mentally and physically prepared.
Good afternoon, my son is trying to find a list of Colleges that offer Mens Volleyball either Div II or Div III level. We live in Canada and don't really understand the differences between Div II, Div III & Jr Varsity??
How do we find a list of Colleges so we can see if he would qualify for the school and their volleyball program? He graduated high school in 2009 and has taken a year off and is ready to return to school. He has played 5 years of volleyball with school and club teams.
Thanks, Donna
Before I get into your question, I liked the whales in the Opening Ceremony but the grunge dancing fiddlers scared me!
Go to this page, http://www.ncaa.org/wps/
Since Men's Volleyball only supports a fraction of the NCAA teams which Women's Volleyball does, we find that many times DII schools (Division II athletic departments) will 'move up' and compete in Division I volleyball. Because of this it can be tough at times to clarify DI versus DII in Men's Volleyball.
As a general rule, DIII is non athletic based scholarships, while DI/DII offer athletic based scholarships (amount available differ by school, conference and division).
Jr. Varsity is just the second group of athletes on a college team; maybe the players who are already at the school and want to participate, and per school rules have to be allowed the opportunity to play/participate, so they are on a Jr. Varsity team. Other names for Jr. Varsity are B team, Practice Squad, etc.
Men's Volleyball is extremely competitive for scholarships and roster positions. NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball caps volleyball scholarships at 4, in an equivalency sport arrangement. This means those 4 scholarships can be spit among any number of players, but a 12 way split of 4 scholarships is not much (assuming we are in an egalitarian volleyball society) - Remember, each school determines how many of the 4 scholarship maximum they will fund.
Because of NCAA Gender Equity (which wrongly, let me say that again, wrongly accuses women's athletics of reducing opportunities for male Olympic sports - The blame goes to football and basketball), athletic departments are loath to support large rosters in Men's Volleyball because student athlete participation numbers are a central component of the Equity equation (the flip side is the AD's love large Women's Volleyball squads!). So, there may only be 12 roster positions with a NCAA Men's Volleyball team.
Right now, my belief is that there are many more quality players than there are roster positions and for sure, scholarship availability! We are also finding that in the men's game, the height of the players is dramatically increasing - middles approaching 7 feet tall and oh's who are 6'9" are common!
Because of all these challenges, especially with your international status (can make it tough on admission and tuition costs), be exhaustive in your exploration of options. Don't get locked into a certain region or division of NCAA participation. Contact everyone, immediately provide a video tape via YouTube or web page link, and don't become discouraged if nothing pops up immediately.
Hey coach...
Another question for you. I am starting up my own volleyball club this coming summer. The club is going to provide a gamut of volleyball services, including, but not limited to junior development. I want to be able to give junior athletes what they need as far as recruiting. Do you think it is vital for a club to establish connections with colleges? Or is it more important that the club educate players and parents on the recruiting process, thereby allowing them to own the process?
Thanks, Loren
Congratulations, you are braver than me!!! It can be a fine line to tread with club volleyball and the college recruiting world. Some clubs expressly try to down play the whole college scholarship opportunity by emphasizing that the junior club is focused on volleyball and social development.
Junior Clubs which do things the best, in my opinion, are the ones which take a two pronged approach to college volleyball recruiting. First of all, they have a dedicated person whose sole job is to foster relationships with college volleyball coaches/programs and provide detailed information about their club's PSA's. This means that this club recruiting coordinator or director has all the contact information readily available for each player in their club, already has a feel for the college wishes/desires of their PSA's (stay local, big school, power conference, etc), immediately responds to e-mail/phone calls from college coaches and provides the same level of service to college coaches no matter if they are from Giant State U or No Name College (just outside of Caribou, Maine).
The second interaction needs to be from the PSA's themselves. They must communicate with the college coaches. It does not need to be sunshine and 5 page e-mails, but rather responding to emails, answering questions, asking questions, expressing their parameters for a future college. Sometimes the best thing to tell a coach is you are not interested in their school - We do this for a living and you won't hurt our feelings. I would rather know you are not considering my fine institution, so I can allocate my efforts towards those PSA's which are looking at us. Instruction and direction for this process must come from the Club itself. Clubs cannot assume that parents are managing this process because they could be just as intimidated and overwhelmed as their daughter. Interaction, updating and guidance from the club for the player/family is critical.
Good luck and may you manage Pandora's Box well!
Volleyball Walk On to Scholarship
My daughter a senior has some interesting offers which is good because it's late in the season. One offer is a walk-on freshman year and then 4 yrs at a public university. I thought it was good but our club coach says to be careful because it's only a promise not a contract..Any advice? Kathleen
This type of an offer, the walk on to a scholarship, is becoming more and more common within college volleyball. I currently have two walk on student-athletes which came to my school and I am about to place them on a scholarship. In addition, I am talking with two additional PSA's about such an option.
For me, the motivation is to secure an athlete who I feel will have an impact upon our program beyond what the next year's PSA's might/could bring to our program during the year the scholarship comes available. With the current climate of college volleyball recruiting, programs are active with three classes. In this sequence, we are still aware of 2010 PSA's (even though we have no current scholarships), trying to secure 2011 PSA's and establishing/interacting with our 2012 recruits. Pertinent to my program, I have found that an available 2010 player is better or will be a better fit for my program, than the class for which I will have a scholarship for, the 2011 class (which includes projecting the development of the 2011 player).
Also, there may be situations for many programs where the 2010 PSA is a great kid - Smart, great attitude, hard worker, can play a couple of positions, positive presence on and off the court and a coach will always want this type of player. It may happen that the current class allocation only has a scholarship or two which were awarded a long time ago, but the next year's class has 4 or 5 available.
Public schools have a better chance of arranging such a walk on to scholarship scenario, because they are much less expensive for in-state players, versus private school institutions. It can be a tough sell to ask a family to put forth $30,000.00 for a year, while it is much easier to swallow $10,000.00 public in state.
Families should also take advantage of the opportunities for non-athletic scholarship support via the college/university and/or the state and federal government. As a freshman walk on, any non-athletic scholarships do not count towards the NCAA maximum of 12 heads on scholarship. An incoming student athlete should pursue academic scholarships (which range from $500.00 to almost a full tuition scholarship and many states have academic scholarships available based upon gpa or class rank), need based (the Pell Grant is an example, which must be obtained via the US government), or merit based (such as community service, Girl Scouts, YWCA, etc.). When you add up the non-athletic scholarships available, it can really off-set the costs of walking on to a school.
The downside is what the club coach mentioned - This is not a contract or National Letter of Intent, it is just a verbal offer. Most of the time, everything works out as promised and everyone is happy. A couple of things can change this scenario - 1) The coach moves on, either voluntarily or not, 2) A super duper great player magically appears who wants to come to the school.
Example number 2 is not common, but does happen. As much as a coach is a good person or wants to award the scholarship to the promised walk on, they would be professionally silly to pass on a player who can hugely impact the program on day one.
Example number 1 is more of a concern - Things can change which are completely out of the control of a coach, yet have a huge impact upon the security of the coach. Maybe it is a positive situation where the program has done so well, that other schools are active in trying to lure the coach to their institution. Or it could be a case where things have changed on campus (new athletic director, huge budget cuts, conference change) that create a situation that the coach no longer wishes to be a part of - Sometimes these new environments can come up on coaches very quickly.
In the end, all you can do is follow your instincts. If you believe it is a good school, good program, good coach and your daughter is choosing the school for the right reasons (not solely based upon the coach), then move forward and enjoy the experience.
Coach
This type of an offer, the walk on to a scholarship, is becoming more and more common within college volleyball. I currently have two walk on student-athletes which came to my school and I am about to place them on a scholarship. In addition, I am talking with two additional PSA's about such an option.
For me, the motivation is to secure an athlete who I feel will have an impact upon our program beyond what the next year's PSA's might/could bring to our program during the year the scholarship comes available. With the current climate of college volleyball recruiting, programs are active with three classes. In this sequence, we are still aware of 2010 PSA's (even though we have no current scholarships), trying to secure 2011 PSA's and establishing/interacting with our 2012 recruits. Pertinent to my program, I have found that an available 2010 player is better or will be a better fit for my program, than the class for which I will have a scholarship for, the 2011 class (which includes projecting the development of the 2011 player).
Also, there may be situations for many programs where the 2010 PSA is a great kid - Smart, great attitude, hard worker, can play a couple of positions, positive presence on and off the court and a coach will always want this type of player. It may happen that the current class allocation only has a scholarship or two which were awarded a long time ago, but the next year's class has 4 or 5 available.
Public schools have a better chance of arranging such a walk on to scholarship scenario, because they are much less expensive for in-state players, versus private school institutions. It can be a tough sell to ask a family to put forth $30,000.00 for a year, while it is much easier to swallow $10,000.00 public in state.
Families should also take advantage of the opportunities for non-athletic scholarship support via the college/university and/or the state and federal government. As a freshman walk on, any non-athletic scholarships do not count towards the NCAA maximum of 12 heads on scholarship. An incoming student athlete should pursue academic scholarships (which range from $500.00 to almost a full tuition scholarship and many states have academic scholarships available based upon gpa or class rank), need based (the Pell Grant is an example, which must be obtained via the US government), or merit based (such as community service, Girl Scouts, YWCA, etc.). When you add up the non-athletic scholarships available, it can really off-set the costs of walking on to a school.
The downside is what the club coach mentioned - This is not a contract or National Letter of Intent, it is just a verbal offer. Most of the time, everything works out as promised and everyone is happy. A couple of things can change this scenario - 1) The coach moves on, either voluntarily or not, 2) A super duper great player magically appears who wants to come to the school.
Example number 2 is not common, but does happen. As much as a coach is a good person or wants to award the scholarship to the promised walk on, they would be professionally silly to pass on a player who can hugely impact the program on day one.
Example number 1 is more of a concern - Things can change which are completely out of the control of a coach, yet have a huge impact upon the security of the coach. Maybe it is a positive situation where the program has done so well, that other schools are active in trying to lure the coach to their institution. Or it could be a case where things have changed on campus (new athletic director, huge budget cuts, conference change) that create a situation that the coach no longer wishes to be a part of - Sometimes these new environments can come up on coaches very quickly.
In the end, all you can do is follow your instincts. If you believe it is a good school, good program, good coach and your daughter is choosing the school for the right reasons (not solely based upon the coach), then move forward and enjoy the experience.
Coach
February 17, 2010
Questions from Readers
VolleyFolks - A couple of things with regards to Questions.
1. I have received a few questions via the Comments section of a post. Because the Comment comes in via an Anonymous link, I have no way to respond to a question via the person's e-mail. Because of a back log of questions (I actually do have a day job!), I like to shoot back a quick confirmation that I received a question and when I hope to get an answer up on the web.
So, if you have a Question (I hope the person who sent me a Comment with a question today is reading this), please e-mail me directly at collegevolleyballcoach@gmail.com so I can work on it for you.
2. Just confirming once again, that when you do send in a Question, please remember the NCAA rules I follow - I cannot respond to e-mails from players/families who have entered high school but have not reached September 1st of their Junior Year. Also, I cannot respond to players/families who are current NCAA athletes.
If you shoot me a question, please make sure you note if what year your daughter is high school/Junior College or if this does not apply to you.
1. I have received a few questions via the Comments section of a post. Because the Comment comes in via an Anonymous link, I have no way to respond to a question via the person's e-mail. Because of a back log of questions (I actually do have a day job!), I like to shoot back a quick confirmation that I received a question and when I hope to get an answer up on the web.
So, if you have a Question (I hope the person who sent me a Comment with a question today is reading this), please e-mail me directly at collegevolleyballcoach@gmail.com so I can work on it for you.
2. Just confirming once again, that when you do send in a Question, please remember the NCAA rules I follow - I cannot respond to e-mails from players/families who have entered high school but have not reached September 1st of their Junior Year. Also, I cannot respond to players/families who are current NCAA athletes.
If you shoot me a question, please make sure you note if what year your daughter is high school/Junior College or if this does not apply to you.
February 16, 2010
Volleyball Lent
OK - In the spirit of Mardi Gras and the time of Lent, I have decided to forgo getting angry when I coach. I don't consider myself a person who is full of anger or has issues, but sometimes the passion of competition and the drive to create good volleyball lends itself towards frustrating situations, when combined with adrenaline easily comes out as anger. This feeling and expression of anger is what I want to give up, and not for just 40 days and 40 nights.
None of us is perfect and we all have our challenges, no matter what our relationship is to this great sport of volleyball. Please e-mail me with what you might/could/will give up for volleyball Lent this club season.
I will post the responses in one mass e-mail within a week (with just response and first name).
I hope everyone had a wonderful (and safe) Mardi Gras.
None of us is perfect and we all have our challenges, no matter what our relationship is to this great sport of volleyball. Please e-mail me with what you might/could/will give up for volleyball Lent this club season.
I will post the responses in one mass e-mail within a week (with just response and first name).
I hope everyone had a wonderful (and safe) Mardi Gras.
February 15, 2010
College Volleyball Early Commitments
Hello,
My daughter is a junior in NC. When she sent out her dvd's to NC schools, some of the schools said they already had their 2011 commitment for her position and said to pursue other schools. All were D1. These were sent out Oct. of her Junior year. We have sent her links and information to other out of state D1 schools and they say they can not talk to her until July. How can schools commit a player when some say they can not talk to you yet? Is there any difference in the rules for instate players vs. out of state players? I have asked this question a lot and have not gotten an answer. I would appreciate your return of explanation.
Thank you so much,
It can be a confusing situation to hear of so many commitments by players when they are Juniors (or even younger). I know when this was becoming the current trend a few years ago, I was curious how the PSA's had reached the comfort level to make a college commitment.
To answer your questions:
1. Many DI's will commit their classes very early, especially by position - For instance, if they just need a setter, they can lock up one early in the process. Junior year is the verbal commit year, with top schools locking up players early in the year. Sometimes the way a recruiting class can work out, is a program just needs one player. So, the staff can focus all that year's recruiting efforts into one position/scholarship. More and more PSA's are committing earlier in their Junior year (during high school season) and the summer after their Sophomore year in school. This is a trend I do not agree with, but it seems to be the way it is.
2. "talk" to a player, as most folks understand it, is to verbally have a conversation initiated by the coach, which is not possible per NCAA rules until July 1st of the Junior to Senior summer. But, unlimited e-mail "conversations" can occur after September 1st of the Junior year, and a player can call a coach at any time - Yes, a player can initiate the call and talk as long as they want, and call as often as they want. Many, many programs are very aggressive about telling players to call them if they are interested; they use the fear of not getting a scholarship offer to get the players to call them to talk and once they call, it is open season on recruiting. In addition, college coaches will use club coaches and directors as conduits to initiate conversations with PSA's. This is how Juniors are getting offers and communicating with programs.
3. NCAA rules are national and have no state vs state protocol. When it comes to state vs state stuff, it just seems a matter of geography with regards to taking unofficial visits (which a player can take at any time or number) - For instance, in your North Carolina area, there is the opportunity to visit a number of DI schools all within a short driving distance. Unofficial Visits are the new Official Visits. Back in the glorious past of Side Out scoring and illegal double hits, Unofficial visits were rather uncommon and just a casual stop by for a PSA and family. This situation has now changed to where the Unofficial Visit is the important on campus time to take a hard look, ask important questions and get a feel for the environment of the school/program. This new visit protocol has placed quite the financial burden on families, if their daughter wishes to attend a school outside of their home region.
I encourage you not to get frustrated and to stay active in the recruiting process - Sure, some schools have finished and they may be your daughter's first group of desired schools, but there are still plenty of quality schools still active in the 2011 recruiting process.
February 8, 2010
Club Volleyball Challenges
My daughter is 14 years old and currently in 8th grade. She has been playing volleyball since the age of 8 for clubs. She is also a starter for her junior high school team.
She took a year off of club ball last year due to an injury, but she did attend a few clinics and continued to play for her school. This year she tried out for her club ball team again and was placed on a level that I feel is beneath her capabilities.
I'm very concerned that the weaker players on the team (some who have trouble just passing and serving) will bring down my daughter and other stronger players who are vying for a spot on their high school teams come this Fall.
My daughter is an introvert and sometimes struggles with finding that motivation and aggressiveness and I feel that this is what held her back during tryouts.
She is ready for a more competitive and challenging level of play and I'm concerned that she has mistakenly been placed at the wrong level. I plan to speak with the club director but I'm also worried that the higher level may not have a place for her even if they decided to give her the shot. If by some chance, they are unable to move her, what do you suggest I do in order to not decrease her chances of making her high school team?
Thanks - C. C.
There are a number of nuances in the question that CC has presented and many of them could easily apply to other families and club players. Players and parents not being satisfied with the team they are on or the amount of playing time is a common occurrence at every level from the first year of club right through to the US Olympic team (think Willoughby was happy sitting on the bench?).
Allow me to address a few issues which I picked up on with this e-mail:
1. Taking a year off from Club Volleyball (due to injury) could have allowed those in her peer group to pass her up in abilities. The Junior High time frame is really the foundation level of volleyball because players are just getting coordinated enough and tall enough to start to accomplish the more fundamental skills of volleyball at a proficient level (as an aside, this is one of the weakness of volleyball for young kids; it is easier to kick a soccer ball or bounce a basketball at age 9 than it is to pass a volleyball). Even though she did play in school and went to a clinic or two, the other players in her age group were able to do the same thing, plus get 5+ months of club volleyball - The reality could easily be a number of them increased their abilities beyond your daughter's.
2. Many times, a volleyball team's ability is measured by its weakest link(s). We are not like basketball where you can still be successful by having one dominant player and everyone else just rebound and get out of the way - I can understand your concern with regards to the weaker players hindering her improvement. But, that is more of a game situation - She still has the opportunity within a training environment to focus upon her skill improvement, since practices tend to broken down into individual or group training.
3. Volleyball is a sport in which it is tough to hide or to just blend in - being an introvert in our sport is not a good thing. I would believe that this characteristic definitely did hold her back in tryouts, especially after taking the previous year off from club volleyball. Coaches of the top age bracket teams are looking for talent and attitude - They want players who are aggressive and confident within their positions.
4. Before you speak with your club director, have a relaxed but focused conversation with your daughter. Is she OK with being on the a lower team, because this is a more comfortable fit for her personality and where she is with her skill development. It may be that this level allows her the opportunity to extend herself emotionally and be a little less introverted - If she bumps up to the first unit and is surrounded by aggressive and loud players, will this just push her back into herself? Try to find out what SHE wants, what SHE enjoys; don't project your wishes or your goals upon her, no matter how logical they may be (developing skill level for high school volleyball).
5. Is she happy? Remove your pressure or expectations from her and simply find out if she is happy and enjoying playing volleyball. All too often, even at the college level, coaches have to deal with the residue emotion/goals of parents coming through the players. I have had any number of players who were funneling the emotions of their folks, during a talk or meeting. While the player may not be 100% satisfied, they are not as agitated about a situation as their parents, and it is only after receiving this negative emotion from their parents, do they channel it into their own mental framework.
6. First of all, I suggest you do not move your daughter up to the top team. I say this because the training environment will allow her to improve her skill abilities and many times the same age group will intermix in practices. If she did not make the first team in tryouts, even being moved up mid-season will probably not equate into playing time. I understand the other players on her current team are not great, but she is on the court and playing. It is easier to get better when you are on the court, versus keeping passing stats on the sideline.
7. Because of the gazillion number of camps, private lessons and summer leagues, there are plenty of opportunities to gain volleyball improvement outside of Club Volleyball. From local universities (and by the way, the big name university camp is no better than the small college camp), to YMCA/YWCA leagues and open gyms, to private individual/small group lessons with club coaches, the opportunity is there to increase skills. Even as simple as having three of your friends together and finding a beach volleyball court to play, getting better after club volleyball is done is possible.
If your daughter has a solid grasp of the volleyball fundamentals, can perform these skill sets in a consistent manner, and will project herself in outgoing/positive way, then she should have no problem making her high school team. Remember that high school teams are like a pyramid - big on the bottom and each level up gets smaller. This is why the Freshman group usually has a couple of teams or a large roster, then a big JV team and finally a smaller Varsity roster. High school coaches understand that not all young kids develop at the same pace and the last thing they want is for a potential varsity impact player to be cut as a freshman.
My strong suggestion is to keep things positive, to lift up your daughter and DO NOT FOCUS on negative issues. Put her in a position to keep increasing her skill sets through camps, clinics, lessons and summer leagues when Club Volleyball has finished.
Good Luck.
There are a number of nuances in the question that CC has presented and many of them could easily apply to other families and club players. Players and parents not being satisfied with the team they are on or the amount of playing time is a common occurrence at every level from the first year of club right through to the US Olympic team (think Willoughby was happy sitting on the bench?).
Allow me to address a few issues which I picked up on with this e-mail:
1. Taking a year off from Club Volleyball (due to injury) could have allowed those in her peer group to pass her up in abilities. The Junior High time frame is really the foundation level of volleyball because players are just getting coordinated enough and tall enough to start to accomplish the more fundamental skills of volleyball at a proficient level (as an aside, this is one of the weakness of volleyball for young kids; it is easier to kick a soccer ball or bounce a basketball at age 9 than it is to pass a volleyball). Even though she did play in school and went to a clinic or two, the other players in her age group were able to do the same thing, plus get 5+ months of club volleyball - The reality could easily be a number of them increased their abilities beyond your daughter's.
2. Many times, a volleyball team's ability is measured by its weakest link(s). We are not like basketball where you can still be successful by having one dominant player and everyone else just rebound and get out of the way - I can understand your concern with regards to the weaker players hindering her improvement. But, that is more of a game situation - She still has the opportunity within a training environment to focus upon her skill improvement, since practices tend to broken down into individual or group training.
3. Volleyball is a sport in which it is tough to hide or to just blend in - being an introvert in our sport is not a good thing. I would believe that this characteristic definitely did hold her back in tryouts, especially after taking the previous year off from club volleyball. Coaches of the top age bracket teams are looking for talent and attitude - They want players who are aggressive and confident within their positions.
4. Before you speak with your club director, have a relaxed but focused conversation with your daughter. Is she OK with being on the a lower team, because this is a more comfortable fit for her personality and where she is with her skill development. It may be that this level allows her the opportunity to extend herself emotionally and be a little less introverted - If she bumps up to the first unit and is surrounded by aggressive and loud players, will this just push her back into herself? Try to find out what SHE wants, what SHE enjoys; don't project your wishes or your goals upon her, no matter how logical they may be (developing skill level for high school volleyball).
5. Is she happy? Remove your pressure or expectations from her and simply find out if she is happy and enjoying playing volleyball. All too often, even at the college level, coaches have to deal with the residue emotion/goals of parents coming through the players. I have had any number of players who were funneling the emotions of their folks, during a talk or meeting. While the player may not be 100% satisfied, they are not as agitated about a situation as their parents, and it is only after receiving this negative emotion from their parents, do they channel it into their own mental framework.
6. First of all, I suggest you do not move your daughter up to the top team. I say this because the training environment will allow her to improve her skill abilities and many times the same age group will intermix in practices. If she did not make the first team in tryouts, even being moved up mid-season will probably not equate into playing time. I understand the other players on her current team are not great, but she is on the court and playing. It is easier to get better when you are on the court, versus keeping passing stats on the sideline.
7. Because of the gazillion number of camps, private lessons and summer leagues, there are plenty of opportunities to gain volleyball improvement outside of Club Volleyball. From local universities (and by the way, the big name university camp is no better than the small college camp), to YMCA/YWCA leagues and open gyms, to private individual/small group lessons with club coaches, the opportunity is there to increase skills. Even as simple as having three of your friends together and finding a beach volleyball court to play, getting better after club volleyball is done is possible.
If your daughter has a solid grasp of the volleyball fundamentals, can perform these skill sets in a consistent manner, and will project herself in outgoing/positive way, then she should have no problem making her high school team. Remember that high school teams are like a pyramid - big on the bottom and each level up gets smaller. This is why the Freshman group usually has a couple of teams or a large roster, then a big JV team and finally a smaller Varsity roster. High school coaches understand that not all young kids develop at the same pace and the last thing they want is for a potential varsity impact player to be cut as a freshman.
My strong suggestion is to keep things positive, to lift up your daughter and DO NOT FOCUS on negative issues. Put her in a position to keep increasing her skill sets through camps, clinics, lessons and summer leagues when Club Volleyball has finished.
Good Luck.
February 6, 2010
Ramblings on a Saturday
Some random thoughts on a Saturday:
- University of Southern California Football program committed a 13 year old quarterback - I think there should be a NCAA rule that if you can't get a drivers license that you cannot make a college commitment. I think I hear NCAA legislation coming.....
- This has been the year of Assistant Coach candidates landing Head Coaching positions - I don't think I have ever seen a hiring season which has resulted in so many assistants securing Head Coach positions. By my count, only one DI Head Coach vacancy was filled by a current Head Coach, who happened to be a DII Head Coach.
- With all due respect to the newly hired individuals (and I do wish them the best of success), it makes you wonder about the focus of administrators who are hiring for programs that are in obvious turn-around or building situations in highly rated conferences, yet they hire candidates who are not current Head Coaches, much less coaches with demonstrated success turning programs around.
- Me thinks that economics and name of power conference school, played a major role in this year's hiring process.
- Spring Season Volleyball is gaining enjoyment in my world; ability to interact and coach my players without the stress of the season, do a bit of recruiting, and enjoy a life outside of volleyball but still during the hustle and bustle of the academic year.
- If hitting cross court is not working in Club Volleyball, then I can promise you that hitting cross court in College Volleyball is not going to work either!
- Was doing a bit of reading the sports pages and it will take an Act of Congress before Division I Power Conference school Presidents give up the BCS Bowl System - They only have the share the revenue with the conference members and don't have to have the money run through the NCAA.
- I honestly believe that Women's Volleyball is the perfect illustration of the good in collegiate athletics, yet the masses have no idea we exist! For example, I received an Title IX equity survey request from an Ivy League school and when the part came to note my sport, women's volleyball was not even among the 14 choices and this survey was from two female professors!!!
- Administrators love shoes - If you have extra shoes from year's past, get them off the shelf and onto the feet of those higher up. It sounds simple, but it is a nice gesture which is appreciated.
February 3, 2010
College Volleyball Recruiting Response from Coaches
Hello Coach -- My daughter is a high school junior. She and I appreciate your site, since it is really a terrific aid and presents a realistic outlook for those of us -- girls and their parents -- new to the possibility of playing at the collegiate level.
This is a real practical question. If a player does not get a fairly quick response from a coach who has been sent a letter of interest from the player, which also includes basic background and skills, game and team performance and scholastic information, should we assume that there is no interest from that program? Will coaches or programs typically just ignore a player's letter of interest? My daughter has not yet forwarded a skills video, and will do so soon, but she is an accomplished player in very strong high school and club programs, and is a top student as well.
About half of the ten coaches she contacted responded, the others did not.
Is it silly or just a waste of time to make a call or reach out again to these programs which have not replied, and is it worthwhile to send them a skills video if there is no response after a few weeks following the letter to the coach? We realize that the coaches and their staffs are busy, but if no response means no interest, we will take the hint and move on to the coaches who responded. Will a skills video change the way her letter is viewed by the coaches?
Maybe these are really naïve questions from an uniformed mom, but my player is looking for some guidance. Thanks again -- Sel
This is a very good question and I think would reflect upon any number of families going through the craziness of college volleyball recruiting.
As I lead up to answering your question(s), there are a few things which VolleyFolks (I really need to sell t-shirts on my site!) should keep in mind:
1) There are huge variances in support for NCAA Volleyball programs. Some are fully staffed with two full time assistant coaches, a graduate assistant and a director of operations; others are trying to accomplish the same tasks with one low paid assistant coach (who must work club volleyball to make ends meet). In addition, all too many College Volleyball programs may not have access to a secretary.
2) The administrative details of operating a NCAA Volleyball program are tedious and time consuming, easily taking up way too much of the day with a small staff - Practice logs, academic progress report reviews, team travel authorization, recruiting travel authorizations, team travel post competition expense reports, recruiting travel expense reports, prospective student athlete observation/evaluation logs, practice and competition facility requests for fall and spring seasons, hotel accommodation contracts and direct bill paperwork, campus vehicle requests, unofficial visit paperwork, official visit paperwork and expense reports and student host forms, ......
3) The Fall is a sprint from August to Thanksgiving, 10 days of recruiting, then shut down mode until after the New Year. Before we know it, the recruiting dead/quiet period is over and our college players are already back on campus!!! By mid-January, we are back into full recruiting mode for the never ending next recruit and we need to keep trying to make our players better by group training, conditioning and lifting. We go at this pace, which at times can be more chaotic than the fall because volleyball programs have to go around basketball or bounce into campus recreation facilities to get court time - On top of this, comes the unofficial visits of the Junior class. Come May, we get to slow down a bit with the quiet period and the spring semester ending. That wonderful time of nice weather, no recruiting and no players ends all too quick, and with the 23 National Championship events in club volleyball, the recruiting efforts ramp right back up in June!
With this rant out of the way, let's get to the questions:
- Don't sweat it too much if you don't receive a quick response from a coach/program. Depending on the time of year, things can get busy, especially for small staff (not small like a staff of former Liberos). Even though recruiting is paramount, the business of running a college volleyball program can get in the way.
- Sometimes snail mail is delayed or lost (remember it goes from the US Postal Service to Campus Mail Service). E-mails come pouring through the campus e-mail server and unfortunately, this server is not always 100%.
- With the time demands on coaches, I am not too sure how many programs will respond to letters if there is no interest. In a perfect world, you would hope to receive some type of response/acknowledgment, but then again, I have applied for many, many jobs and did not receive a courtesy e-mail or letter when the job was filled by another applicant. If I had to wager a quarter, I would say introductory letters just get recycled (I hope, let's save some trees) by the volleyball program, if there is no interest.
- I would not mail a video to those schools which did not respond to introductory letters, but I would take the time to shoot of an e-mail with a video link (Youtube) on the possibility that your letter did not find its way to the coach. E-mails are free (as opposed to mailing out videos) and better to give it one more go - As I have written previously, coaches will always look at video.
- 5 out of 10 is a good response rate, considering the overwhelming number of club volleyball players and how accelerated the recruiting time frames are today.
- I would not make a follow up call because the letter has not arrived or is of no interest, but definitely send a video or video link.
- The reality is that what is on paper gives a very, very limited perspective on a PSA. Sure, we can see height, weight, position and statistics, but we can't see if the PSA can pass, do they broad jump, do they close the block or drift on their three step movement, etc. Video is always, always, always better to send and I suggest that the first, let me say that again, the first contact made with a college volleyball program should be with a video (unless you are playing for super stellar juniors and have been getting the introductory letter and questionnaire from all the greatest schools in the country since you were a freshman in high school).
- If there is no response, after providing a video or video link to a college volleyball program, then it is time to move on - Don't chase what is not there, but rather focus upon those programs which have expressed interest and fall within the parameters of potential colleges/universities.
- Again, a letter is of marginal impact, while the video is key; so, yes, a video will definitely impact the information of an introductory letter.
All of these questions were very good and I believe you are going about the process correctly - Make contact, give it a second chance and then move forward.
I caution any player or parent from taking this initial process too personally - The introductory or opening contact stage is just about exchanging information. If a program does not respond, after a couple of contact attempts, then they have just let you know they are not interested (and it may be something as simple as they don't need to recruit a setter in the 2011 class).
Good luck!
Coach
This is a real practical question. If a player does not get a fairly quick response from a coach who has been sent a letter of interest from the player, which also includes basic background and skills, game and team performance and scholastic information, should we assume that there is no interest from that program? Will coaches or programs typically just ignore a player's letter of interest? My daughter has not yet forwarded a skills video, and will do so soon, but she is an accomplished player in very strong high school and club programs, and is a top student as well.
About half of the ten coaches she contacted responded, the others did not.
Is it silly or just a waste of time to make a call or reach out again to these programs which have not replied, and is it worthwhile to send them a skills video if there is no response after a few weeks following the letter to the coach? We realize that the coaches and their staffs are busy, but if no response means no interest, we will take the hint and move on to the coaches who responded. Will a skills video change the way her letter is viewed by the coaches?
Maybe these are really naïve questions from an uniformed mom, but my player is looking for some guidance. Thanks again -- Sel
This is a very good question and I think would reflect upon any number of families going through the craziness of college volleyball recruiting.
As I lead up to answering your question(s), there are a few things which VolleyFolks (I really need to sell t-shirts on my site!) should keep in mind:
1) There are huge variances in support for NCAA Volleyball programs. Some are fully staffed with two full time assistant coaches, a graduate assistant and a director of operations; others are trying to accomplish the same tasks with one low paid assistant coach (who must work club volleyball to make ends meet). In addition, all too many College Volleyball programs may not have access to a secretary.
2) The administrative details of operating a NCAA Volleyball program are tedious and time consuming, easily taking up way too much of the day with a small staff - Practice logs, academic progress report reviews, team travel authorization, recruiting travel authorizations, team travel post competition expense reports, recruiting travel expense reports, prospective student athlete observation/evaluation logs, practice and competition facility requests for fall and spring seasons, hotel accommodation contracts and direct bill paperwork, campus vehicle requests, unofficial visit paperwork, official visit paperwork and expense reports and student host forms, ......
3) The Fall is a sprint from August to Thanksgiving, 10 days of recruiting, then shut down mode until after the New Year. Before we know it, the recruiting dead/quiet period is over and our college players are already back on campus!!! By mid-January, we are back into full recruiting mode for the never ending next recruit and we need to keep trying to make our players better by group training, conditioning and lifting. We go at this pace, which at times can be more chaotic than the fall because volleyball programs have to go around basketball or bounce into campus recreation facilities to get court time - On top of this, comes the unofficial visits of the Junior class. Come May, we get to slow down a bit with the quiet period and the spring semester ending. That wonderful time of nice weather, no recruiting and no players ends all too quick, and with the 23 National Championship events in club volleyball, the recruiting efforts ramp right back up in June!
With this rant out of the way, let's get to the questions:
- Don't sweat it too much if you don't receive a quick response from a coach/program. Depending on the time of year, things can get busy, especially for small staff (not small like a staff of former Liberos). Even though recruiting is paramount, the business of running a college volleyball program can get in the way.
- Sometimes snail mail is delayed or lost (remember it goes from the US Postal Service to Campus Mail Service). E-mails come pouring through the campus e-mail server and unfortunately, this server is not always 100%.
- With the time demands on coaches, I am not too sure how many programs will respond to letters if there is no interest. In a perfect world, you would hope to receive some type of response/acknowledgment, but then again, I have applied for many, many jobs and did not receive a courtesy e-mail or letter when the job was filled by another applicant. If I had to wager a quarter, I would say introductory letters just get recycled (I hope, let's save some trees) by the volleyball program, if there is no interest.
- I would not mail a video to those schools which did not respond to introductory letters, but I would take the time to shoot of an e-mail with a video link (Youtube) on the possibility that your letter did not find its way to the coach. E-mails are free (as opposed to mailing out videos) and better to give it one more go - As I have written previously, coaches will always look at video.
- 5 out of 10 is a good response rate, considering the overwhelming number of club volleyball players and how accelerated the recruiting time frames are today.
- I would not make a follow up call because the letter has not arrived or is of no interest, but definitely send a video or video link.
- The reality is that what is on paper gives a very, very limited perspective on a PSA. Sure, we can see height, weight, position and statistics, but we can't see if the PSA can pass, do they broad jump, do they close the block or drift on their three step movement, etc. Video is always, always, always better to send and I suggest that the first, let me say that again, the first contact made with a college volleyball program should be with a video (unless you are playing for super stellar juniors and have been getting the introductory letter and questionnaire from all the greatest schools in the country since you were a freshman in high school).
- If there is no response, after providing a video or video link to a college volleyball program, then it is time to move on - Don't chase what is not there, but rather focus upon those programs which have expressed interest and fall within the parameters of potential colleges/universities.
- Again, a letter is of marginal impact, while the video is key; so, yes, a video will definitely impact the information of an introductory letter.
All of these questions were very good and I believe you are going about the process correctly - Make contact, give it a second chance and then move forward.
I caution any player or parent from taking this initial process too personally - The introductory or opening contact stage is just about exchanging information. If a program does not respond, after a couple of contact attempts, then they have just let you know they are not interested (and it may be something as simple as they don't need to recruit a setter in the 2011 class).
Good luck!
Coach
February 1, 2010
Junior College Volleyball
Coach,
I thought your posts on JUCO were interesting. My senior daughter in HS daughter is looking at JUCO even though she could play for mid level D2 schools. I have 2 questions;
1) Does it matter which JUCO programs you play for to have a decent chance of playing for D2 during her Jr year?
2) While in JUCO for 2yrs when she should be contacting coaches at 4 year schools about transferring into their programs? At end of freshman year?
Thanks, Terry
This is a good question(s) and I have advocated in a number of posts about playing Junior College Volleyball. As the recruiting commitment time frame keeps accelerating (which I strongly disagree with), I believe we will see more and more NCAA athletes choosing the Junior College route because NCAA schools may have locked up their recruiting class before a prospective student athlete was able to demonstrate their abilities (not every PSA is from a large city or region of the country that supports elite level club volleyball).
To answer Terry's questions:
1) Yes and no (how is that for an answer?) - There are different levels of Junior College Women's Volleyball and actually different organizations which sponsor and hold championships in Junior College Women's Volleyball. The NJCAA (web site here) has three levels of Women's Volleyball sponsorship and I would not be able to tell you the exact distinction between the levels, but it is my understanding that Division I receives the most funding and hence is the more elite playing level of the three. The Junior Colleges in California have their own competitive association and it is called the CCCAA (web site here) - Again, I am not exactly sure the distinct characteristics of this association or level of play. In addition, there could be other state or region based Junior or Community College athletic associations which I am not aware of.
In terms of where to play, it would be a combination of academics and athletics. On the athletic level, it would be important to be in a program which competed at a certain level, with regards to the team level of ability and the conference level of ability. If a PSA goes to a bad JC program which competes in a poor JC Volleyball conference, then the PSA is probably not gaining the playing experience to successfully transition into the NCAA realm. You can do some research about team/conference abilities by doing some basic research via the national organization sites. A PSA does not need to play for a top team in a top conference, but you would hope to be in a spot where you had a good training environment and could refine skills in competitive situations.
Academically, a PSA needs to be comfortable knowing that the JC units she is earning will be transferable to an NCAA school. This is like two ships in the night because each JC has its own academic protocol and each NCAA school has its own academic protocol; in the end, you hope to have the two academic organizations be somewhat on the same page. I have been at NCAA schools which ranged from awarding 4 hours for a CPR class to others which would not accept a transfer class even though the class description was literally the same in the JC and NCAA school catalog!!! Once again, doing a bit of research about the academic standing, history and focus of the Junior College will help. For instance, a Vocational or Technical type JC would tend not to be as applicable with classes to a NCAA member school.
2) In terms of contacting coaches, I would think that the fall to early winter of a PSA's freshman year in college would be the best time to initiate contact. We need to think about the reality that a JC PSA is 'competing' with High School PSA's for the NCAA scholarship spot. For example, a freshman in Junior College right now, would be graduating in May 2011, so they are in competition with other 2011 recruits for scholarships/roster spots. Many, many and too many DI programs are done with their 2011 incoming class and any number of DII schools are well on their way toward this end. Now, don't panic, because many, many, thankfully many DI schools are still actively recruiting the 2011 class, along with DII programs.
When contacting NCAA programs, it is important to link or provide video footage from a PSA's first year in JC. Right now NCAA coaches are all going to Club events to recruit and not too many are going to JC's to see practice, especially in January/February. A JC PSA needs to provide a visual to compete with the visual that HS PSA's are showing each club tournament.
Not only does waiting until the end of the fall or early winter allow for increased skill presentation because of having one season of college level experience, it also allows the opportunity to present fall semester grades to a future school. Many times, athletes may have to take the JC route because of academic issues, and being able to show good semester grades to a coach will provide a positive impression.
To finish, I support the Junior College avenue for college volleyball. It provides the opportunity to garner immediate playing time at a high level, to gain academic experience and transfer units, and to capture a bit more time to determine exactly what you want from a 4 year school both academically and athletically!
Good luck!
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