February 6, 2012

Webinar Reminder and Getting Recruited on a Bad Club Team

REMINDER - No Senior Left Behind live webinar, Monday, Feb 6th at 7 p. pacific/9 p. central.  This webinar focuses on empowering Seniors to find that collegiate spot!

Very simple to join in, 1) Click url link below,




2) Click 'Guest', (please check to make sure you are using the latest Adobe Flash software, as VolleyFolks had issues joining our last webinar via the Firefox browser.  Explorer, Google Chrome and Safari are connecting well)

3) Type your Name,

4)  Click 'Enter Room'

You will then be taken to a screen which will have slide show on the big box, a chat room on the lower right box and a webcam screen upper right (which I will turn on at 9 p.m)  Please remember to enable and turn up your volume!



=======================================================



HELLO COACH,

 My daughter is a junior and beginning her second year in club volleyball. I have learned there are a lot of politics in this club as far as who makes what team. My daughter was put on a team with a mix of ok players and some bad players. 

She is wanting to play in college and sent out info and a skills tape. She got a couple responses and at the first tournament one of the coaches was there watching. The problem is her team is bad and she is getting very frustrated. They came in last place. Does she have any chance of college coaches watching her on this team? She is a great hitter, we are looking at Division ll schools. She is still working on passing with lessons. If you are on a lower level team does that hurt your chances? 

I am so frustrated with this club and there are not that many clubs in our city in Florida. What advice can you give us? The club also does not do much to help with recruiting.  S.



When College Volleyball coaches recruit, we seldom consider how the team does.  Our primary concern is the skill sets, attitude and effort of the PSA.  We will stay aware of how a team finishes, but this is more to stay in the loop for information reasons; we would enjoy having her team win the tournament but our focus is individual not team. 

Many coaches will tell the white lie of how a team finishes, factors into their evaluations, but I can promise you that if a player passes nails and hits .350, we will overlook the team not doing well.  I constantly remind VolleyParents not to freak out if their PSA's club team bombs a tourney, or has a down season or does not qualify for Nationals.  College coaches are evaluating players, not teams.

By your geography, you are limited in your choices.  If you were in Dallas, or Chicago, or Los Angeles then you would have some alternatives, but you will need to make the most of the hand which you have been dealt.  

Being on a lower finishing team, just means that you will need to put in more effort into recruiting outreach and maybe look at a recruiting service (or consider Inside College Volleyball).  The lower finish/ranking means you may not be playing in the prime round of a tourney, or being in the sweet spot of the physical set up of the facility; these instances can limit the 'drive by' discoveries by collegiate coaches.


This is no different than if you were from a small town which only had a regional club team or being a good player off the bench on a great team.  Each PSA's situation will have some type of challenge and the key is to control what you can control.  Very few PSA's have the Golden Ticket handed to them by Pegasus; and with the changes in the culture of College Volleyball and recruiting, I would take a moment or two before accepting!

Keep your VolleyPSA focused on improving skill sets, working hard and staying positive.  That way, when the college coaches do see her play (either by your email invitation, your recruiting service or just wandering around a large club event), they will see her at her best.  Again, college coaches are first and foremost concerned with individual ability because it is only the individual they are recruiting, not the team.


2 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this! It describes my daughter almost exactly, except that she is a libero. She missed the 1's team by thismuch this year and last year and I worry about her being seen by coaches. I will say she has sent out a ton of emails with her stats and video and she uses NCSA recruiting as her recruiting tool. She has gotten a lot of positive responses, but her club team isn't very good and the club itself doesn't do anything to help with recruiting, unless you are on the best team. I hope something positive happens for you since she has put in so much effort!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are doing the right thing. With back row players, the toughest challenge is patience.....this position can be the last one selected in the recruiting world. Keep up the effort, keep improving skills, and stay positive.

    ReplyDelete

Please stay positive or at the minimum present constructive criticism - Negative comments or attacks upon other reader's opinions will not be posted.