Not Playing High School Volleyball

Hi coach:

I was recruited by several D2 and D3 schools to play in 2021.  I committed to a school a few months ago. There was a coaching change and the new coach is welcoming me with open arms.

I don't want to get into all the specifics but my high school situation is a very negative one.  The coach is playing favorites to the extreme and doing a lot of unethical things, and I don't want to play my senior year there.  We are on a third coach in 4 years and it is a very unhealthy and toxic environment.  No one likes it and no one likes each other. He has pitted the team against one another.

I feel like I need to be open and honest with my future college coach but I don't want to talk bad about my high school coach.  What should I tell the college coach?  I am still planning on training hard and playing club volleyball to get me ready for my collegiate career.  Getting out of this program will actually be good for me as an athlete.

Thank you coach.

Z.Z.

More and more volleyball players are stepping away from their high school seasons in today's youth volleyball world.

Some don't play High school volleyball because they want a recovery time from the lengthy club season (both physical and/or mental), while others realize that high school volleyball is not a good fit for them because of coaching/player/parent issues.

While college coaches support high school volleyball, we also realize how often it can be a challenge with unqualified coaches, level of play, snarky teammates and nutsy parents.  As a college coach, I was never really too concerned with high school volleyball; I just wanted my incoming recruits to not get injured and to enjoy the 'free touches' on the ball.  Didn't matter if my recruit won or lost, made all region or didn't start; just stay healthy.

As long as you are playing a full club volleyball season, then you will receive the repetitions needed to continue your skill development in preparation for your college career.  College coaches would be much more concerned if a player skipped a club season, rather than a high school season.

Just be honest with your coach, and let them know that you will be playing club volleyball like always, but to avoid team drama and a negative high school volleyball situation, you have decided not to play high school volleyball.  I would not worry about providing specific details and even if your coach asked, just say it is the 3rd coach in 4 years at the school and the team situation is not healthy.  

This also allows you to focus earlier on your last club season, without having any physical issues from the high school season.

Don't stress; just shoot straight and trust that your college coach understands the challenges of high school volleyball!

Coach

Is the Club Volleyball worth it?

My daughter is a sophomore and is 5’9”. She plays front and back row on her high school team.  As she is attending a small school, she is forced to play front row as she hits hard and has a decent game vertical at about 2’ but her scrappiness is impressive in the back row. 

She has a hudl account and keeps on getting emails from ncsa, which she is hoping that it means colleges are interested but it’s more likely that paid recruiters want our money. She has been offered to play on a travel team but there is so few girls on the team that are college level girls and the cost is over $3000. Are we better to save that money for our daughter’s college or investing it toward her getting a scholarship? 

My daughter also is a softball pitcher and a basketball player and has a perfect gpa. She managed to play varsity as a freshman in all three sports.  She’s also a kind and a terrific team player.  She does love volleyball. 

I don’t know if contacting coaches is a good option. Should she get attend a camp to get some data on her athletic abilities?  Should we spend the money on her playing on a travel team?  Is she tall enough to make a D1 team?  Is her making a D2 or D3 team even worth the cost of travel volleyball?

K.O.

Thank you for your email and there are a number of questions to work through - Before answering, I will provide some additional context and information.

Club volleyball is looked at as the entry into college volleyball, but that is a little bit like "putting cart in-front of the horse".  Talent determines an athlete's ability to play college volleyball and club volleyball provides the opportunity for athletes to develop their talents.  Because an athlete will receive a significant amount of extra repetitions and hundreds of extra matches versus just playing high school volleyball, club volleyball is the dominant vehicle to increase a player's abilities.

As college athletic scholarships are limited in numbers and/or amounts, it is a competitive situation to obtain an athletic scholarship.  A player's talent will determine the opportunity to receive an athletic scholarship and the amount of such a scholarship.

Traditionally, club volleyball is commonly viewed as the pathway to college volleyball because of all the college coaches which attend club volleyball tournaments to evaluate/scout recruits.  If college coaches can't see an athlete in person, it can be uncomfortable for them to offer roster positions and scholarships to players via video tape.  Club volleyball tournaments allow college coaches to evaluate hundreds of players over the course of 2 to 3 days.  From January to the end of April, there is a large club volleyball tournament every weekend in the more populous states, which allows college coaches to constantly evaluate athletes in person!

NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball has 12 scholarships to award and since women's volleyball in DI is a 'head count' sport and only 12 heads can be on a scholarship, each player gets a full scholarship (provided the program is fully funded with scholarships, which the majority of DI women's teams are) - Obviously, the DI Full Scholarship, especially considering the crazy cost of college these days, is a huge motivation for families to participate in club volleyball.  

Families need to be aware that NCAA DI Women's Volleyball rosters are larger than 12 - Take a look at the roster page on the school's athletic website in the fall season, and you will see Volleyball teams with 16, 18 or 20 players.  This means that all the players outside of the Golden (like Greenwood) Ticket holders, are not receiving an athletic scholarship; they may well be receiving academic and/or merit scholarships, but these are not influenced or controlled by the athletic department.

NCAA Division II and NAIA have 8 scholarships (if the school fully funds the volleyball program) and these type of scholarships are called 'equivalency'.  A coach can take those 8 scholarships and divide them among 20 players, as long as the total amount awarded is equivalent to 8 full scholarships.  In Division II and NAIA volleyball, athletic scholarships are rarely awarded in full amounts, but rather in partial scholarship amounts.  But, unlike NCAA Division I, DII and NAIA schools can stack or package a variety of scholarships together; a player can receive an academic, an athletic, a merit and/or need based scholarships.  Often times, especially if the player has very good academics, the scholarship package at DII/NAIA schools can total out to a Full Scholarship.

NCAA Division III does not offer athletic scholarships.  Doesn't matter how great of a volleyball player, the division rules do not allow the awarding of an athletic scholarship. However, players can receive academic, merit and/or need based scholarships, but they cannot be influenced at all by athletic ability or the athletic department.

Junior College has a variety of athletic scholarship opportunities, depending upon the category of JC.  Junior Colleges have 3 divisions or categories of athletic programs, much like the NCAA.  DI Junior Colleges have full scholarships and the limit is 14 full scholarships if the program is fully funded.  DII gives out partial athletic scholarships, and DIII Junior College is not allowed to provide athletic scholarships.

That should provide some background information to move into your questions - As you have a number of important questions, let me break them out, along with a few other lines from your email which merit comment: 

• .....she is forced to play front row as she hits hard and has a decent game vertical....

As she is only a sophomore and she is 5'9", it is a good thing that she is playing all the way around.  The most competitive collegiate recruiting position is the Libero/DS/Back Row player because there are so many talented players and not a lot of opportunity.  All to often, the back row players don't receive much of an athletic scholarship, if any at all.  I believe 'good' all around Outside Hitters have more recruiting opportunities, than 'good' back row players.

• ....but it’s more likely that paid recruiters want our money....

Recruiting Services are businesses and they have well developed systems to encourage families to sign up for their support.  Some families do need a recruiting service and this can be a wise investment to manage the collegiate recruiting process.  

• She has been offered to play on a travel team but there is so few girls on the team that are college level girls and the cost is over $3000.

Club volleyball is expensive, but it is the protocol to increase ability and to be effectively seen by college coaches.  College coaches don't recruit the club team, we focus on the player were are evaluating.  The majority of time, we don't even know the score of the game much less stay for the entire match.  We don't judge a player by the abilities of her teammates; we judge her interaction with team mates though.

• Are we better to save that money for our daughter’s college or investing it toward her getting a scholarship?

The current club season has ground to a stop with the COVID 19 pandemic, so we will consider the Junior and Senior year of high school playing club volleyball - If we look at this from a return on investment viewpoint; $3000 per year for the next 2 years of club volleyball, plus related expenses of equipment, travel, meals, etc: say....$8,000.

If an athlete plays for 4 years and graduates in 4 years (we won't consider the possibility of a redshirt year), the per college year investment is $2,000.  To make the math work, a player would want to receive at least a $2,000 per year athletic scholarship.  There is a certain in-college value to playing collegiate sports (academic support, priority scheduling, athletic clothing and equipment, representing something larger than yourself, developing lifelong friendships through a common experience, etc.), not to mention post college life of having athletics on your resume and potential employers rating you higher.

Because of my experience as a collegiate player and as a collegiate coach, I feel that eight thousand dollars is a good investment.

• ....and has a perfect gpa....

If her ACT/SAT test scores will reflect this great g.p.a., she will be in a good position to garner academic scholarships.  For the majority of non-Division I players, the academic scholarship will be the largest scholarship award and, as long as you keep up the college mandated g.p.a, this academic award will continue until graduation!

• I don’t know if contacting coaches is a good option.

It is not only a good option, it is the only option to reach your recruiting goals.  As presented above, college volleyball recruiting is competitive - Your 5'9", all around outside hitter daughter, with the great gpa and personality, is competing against thousands of other 5'9" all around outside hitters with great grades and personalities.  Waiting for college coaches to find a player is not a plan, it is a dream.  Because there are so many talented players of average height, it is absolutely necessary for players/families to reach out to college coaches via email with player information and current video.  Even if a player is participating in club volleyball, they still need to reach out to college coaches to convince them to come to court #52 in the Dallas Convention Center during the MLK Classic tournament.

• Should she get attend a camp to get some data on her athletic abilities?

Camps are generally not designed for recruiting, unless the camp specifically says it is for recruiting and has the itinerary to support such a statement; a college camp where the only coaches are from one school (the host college) is not a recruiting camp.  A better option would be recruiting combines or showcases, where a bunch of college coaches attend and would contact an athlete if interested.  The best, but most expensive option, is club volleyball, in which the team plays in large tournaments and the player/family can easily see how they stack up!

• Should we spend the money on her playing on a travel team? 

Yes, if she does want to play in college, she needs to have the training and repetitions needed to develop her talent, along with putting herself into the live view of college coaches attending big tournaments.  There are rare occasions that a gifted volleyball athlete can secure a collegiate opportunity by playing only high school volleyball.

• Is she tall enough to make a D1 team?

Yes, but not at the Power Conference or upper mid major level.  There are plenty of 5'9"-5'10" outside hitters at the mid to lower level NCAA Division I programs.  Her ball control/passing, attacking ability and volleyball intelligence will be more of a deciding factor for these type of DI programs, rather than just her height.

• Is her making a D2 or D3 team even worth the cost of travel volleyball?

I believe so - Think of DII/NAIA in terms of a combination of scholarships and collegiate experience.  Even a partial D2/NAIA 'partial scholarship' will routinely be more than $2,000 per month.  Again, the packaging of D2/NAIA school scholarships can approach and easily total a full scholarship.

There is much to digest when it comes to today's college volleyball recruiting environment.  Hopefully my answers and background information will provide some direction as your daughter moves forward with her volleyball career!!!

Managing Recruiting Amid the Coronavirus

Club Volleyball, along with the sports world, has been turned on its ear this past week.  As all of us work our way through this challenging time, I wanted to share my advice/thoughts on moving forward with the recruiting process.

• The COVID 19/Coronavirus will run its course as all flu viruses do; I hope that the steps which sports, education and city/state governments have taken will encourage a quicker return to our traditional way of life, while protecting the most vulnerable members of our society.

• Club Volleyball has been effectively shut down for the month of March; USA Volleyball's decision to remove insurance coverage and sanctioning for any volleyball activities may well result in no practices, individual lessons and obviously, no tournaments.

• We all know that Club Volleyball will return - The question is when? I believe how large or small the spread of the Coronavirus is in the next 2 weeks, will determine if Club Volleyball is able to resume in late April and recapture some March cancelled/postponed events in May or if everything gets shut down for the season (including the June/July national championship events).

• That being said, college volleyball coaches will still need to recruit and families will still need to manage the recruiting process.  Unfortunately, the Coronavirus is a flu virus and will have to run its course; hopefully sooner rather than later, we will return to our usual volleyball routines.

• As no in-person player evaluations are able to occur until further notice, families must use video and emails to manage the recruiting process.

• In a very real sense, the same recruiting management that you would use when you are not playing volleyball but need to promote and reach out to college coaches, you will employ now.  If your team does not usually play in or qualify for one of the national championship events, then May, June and July are months where college coaches would not be watching you compete.  It is not until mid-August that you would be back in a team environment (with the exception of high school camps/summer leagues).

• Continue to reach out to college coaches, continue to send video which you had taken before this mandatory break in Club Volleyball.  College coaches can only recruit you if they know about you, and since Club Volleyball has been put on pause, you have to make sure they know about you by reaching out to them!

• If you are not able to practice, because of the USA Volleyball mandate, you still have a responsibility to stay physically fit.  The last thing you want to do is take the next 3 or so weeks off, then try to ramp immediately back up to mid-season speed.  Go for runs, do sprint work at the school track, do push-ups and sit-ups, do sets of block jumps in your back yard, continue with your shoulder strengthening exercises in your room, pass the ball agains the garage door for 500 reps, set against your brother's bedroom wall for 500 touches, etc.

Just because the Club Volleyball world has been put on hold, does not mean that your recruiting management efforts should be put on hold - College coaches will still be managing their recruiting databases, will still be recruiting for the future.

Club Volleyball team selection - Question #5847

First, thank you so very very much for answering questions and posting them in your site, your answers and site were extraordinarily effective and comforting during the recruiting process for our older daughter (MB).   Last November our older daughter signed her scholarship NLI at a mid level D1 school that was a perfect for for her.  You were a significant part of the “village” that got her and her hard work to that point.   Thank you!!  

Now....  :)  our younger daughter...   she just turned 15, is a HS freshman (following your “freshman free” advice), she plays OH, is 6’ and will probably end up 6’ 1” or 2”, she’s still a bit long and lanky and is just now starting to grow into her body.  

My question:    Well, questions: 
From a college recruiting point of view, would it be better to be on the “B” team of one of the nations top clubs (easily the states top club), but they only play in USA, not OPEN, and not stand out too much, or, would it be better to be on the “A” team of a competitive (only in the state, top 5-ish club) club and stand out as the best OH/player on the team.  

The “B” team, highly rated club, has a “A” team that is LOADED, with some surely future high level D1 players.   Would the coach tend to overlook the “B” team players?  

On the locally competitive “A” team club (Open qualifiers), what if the number 1 outside is super high level? Would it hurt my daughters recruiting to be the “2nd best” OH on the team?

Last question..  sorry.  Recruiting in qualifiers..  open vs USA ?  Does it matter?

Thank you so much!!!!
Almost empty Nester ;)

​Congratulations on the recruiting success with your first daughter!  ​

When looking at club teams for your freshman daughter, focus on the training/practice quality of a club rather than the schedule.  While players are growing into their bodies, improving skill sets is the critical factor for later recruiting success.  In a nutshell, determine which club team will train her better?

College volleyball coaches recruit talent and our job is to locate and evaluate talent.  Our first look is talent driven; all the other periphery items fade into the background.  

At Qualifiers, the Open division tends to 'attract' more coaches but this can be misleading - the power conference programs will be at the Open division and seeing all those big name program coaches tends to skew the recruiting picture for families. Waxahachie State and Penn State are inverses of each other; Penn State will be at the Open matches and drive by a couple of USA courts while Waxahachie State will be at the USA matches and drive by a couple of Open courts.

Power conference programs attend the Open clarification because this is where the vast majority of their recruits will be playing but but but, if they get a video from a player who they feel has the talent to make their team better then they will go watch the Tailgate division!

No matter what division an athlete plays, they must market themselves to those types of schools which are the best fit for the player and the family!  Unless you are a stud player with early developed height and skill sets, you still must be reaching out to schools to get yourself on their radar.  If the coach thinks you have the potential to make their team better, they will come see you play.

Last comment on club team selection; it is better to be on the court than on the bench - If being with Super Duper club means riding the pine (old school term, as I don't think there are more than 20 wood benches left in the United States), then that makes it tougher for college coaches to evaluate you.

Good luck and focus on skill development now!

Coach

Volleyball Recruiting and Academically Elite Schools

Hello;

I came across your website and QAs. I am not sure if your site is still active. I enjoyed reading your answers to other parents and find them very informative. 

I would like to receive some insight from you about my daughter’s options. 

She will be a junior soon. She has a 4.0 GPA with many AP classes. She has a good record volunteering. She’s been playing volleyball since 4^th grade and has been in variety of clubs since 5^thgrade (U11), most of those clubs were well known in our state of Washington but she was not in the top teams. We tried different clubs each other and she had many summer camps as well. She’s been playing varsity at her high school since freshman year. However, her school is relatively small and though it should have been under D3 category, they actually compete in D2 since there aren’t any other similar schools around, hence they always rank low in the region. She’s been one of the top players in that school and captain of the team. She’s 5’5”, has been playing as a left OH and her hits are consistent. She’s a great server. Her secondary position is DS which she’s good at. She can also set and is a back up setter. She’s not great at jumping though. 

Academics are more important to her. But we wonder if applying for volleyball D3 would increase her chances of getting into an exceptionally good school. What Elite schools and Ivy Leagues have D3 and D2 that she would be a good fit for and we should consider? Would volleyball help her get an acceptance over other similarly honored tudets? Any comments, suggestions, and ideas are welcome. 

Thank you,

F.D.

Thank you for your email question and I have been quite lax on keeping the website updated - My day job with NCSA = Next College Student Athlete was a bit nuts through the club season but now I am back answering questions!

The first thing that college coaches look at is talent; does a player have the talent to make their team better.  All the other attributes of a player (grades, personality, work ethic, hair style, etc) are secondary to talent when coaches take that first look at a recruit.  Recruiting elite talent allows coaches to keep cashing a paycheck, and hopefully jump to another better paycheck.  

Because of your daughter's height and her average jumping ability, she would need to focus on the Defensive Specialist/Libero position if she wishes to play college volleyball at any level.  Her talent level will determine what collegiate level she can play at.

In terms of admission to academically elite schools, it depends upon the admission criteria of each school.  Some schools take athletics into account when reviewing a prospective student, while others pay no attention.  

My suggestions:

1) Have your daughter focus on the Libero/DS position moving forward with club (high school is a situation where she needs to play where the coach needs her to play), and then concentrate on skill development.  The better her talent the more numerous her collegiate options will be.

2) By using the web or NCSA's Free or Premium site, you can start researching which schools are academically elite, along with fitting any geographic and financial preferences of your family.

Because of her position, she needs to cast a wide net (all divisions/all organizations - NCAA and NAIA) when considering schools and then she must use email/videos to reach out to college programs as to promote herself.  

The Libero/DS position is arguably the most competitive recruiting position as a result of the sheer volume of players within this position.  Sitting back and hoping that something works out just because you play club is not going to get the job done; club is the vehicle but the player/family must be the one doing the driving!

Good luck!

Coach

College Volleyball Recruiting and the Short Player (#876)

Coach, 

Good day to you. I recently ran across your post on collegevolleyballcoach.com and I have a few questions. 

But first, a bit of background: my daughter is a veteran on her HS varsity volleyball team. Last year (10th gr), she was one of only 2 underclassmen picked to play on the varsity team for her school. She has been a Middle Blocker since 2015 when her former club coach moved her from the OH/RS positions during a tourney to cover an injured player. She did so well that she became the starting MB. 

During tryouts for school the following season (10th gr), she was picked to be the starting MB and has remained so ever since.  Our school's volleyball program typically has between 50-100 girls trying out for 14 spots, therefore; her making the team AND retaining her position is a big deal. 

Not only that, but she does so while maintaining a 3.95 GPA in all Honors and AP courses. Here is the catch: she is ONLY 5'5" with a powerful hitting/blocking hands and hops! 

She is an all-around natural athlete who is extremely humble and every coach she has ever had loves her because she is completely coachable, no chip on her shoulder and she treats the sport like a full-time job. She doesn't think that she has a chance of ever playing college volleyball because she is so short, but her grades are what is getting the NCAA coaches to look at her first. 

So far, we have been looked at by Towson, Texas Southern, Texas Women's, Texas Christian, Prairie View, UT-Dallas, UT-San Antonio, Louisburg College, West VA Wesleyan, Barry Univ., and St. Gregory's Univ. These are all decent schools, but how do we get the attention of schools like Valdosta, Mercer, Georgia Southern, etc.? 

She loves the sport and unfortunately, as a military widow, I cannot afford to pay for the high cost of club volleyball anymore. How can we get her recruited short of what we are already doing (member profiles on www.berecruited.com and www.ncsa.com).  

Is there a way to get them to see that she has the skillset, the grades, and the work ethic even though she may not have the height. Is there some secret formula? 

I know stats are a good way to do that, unfortunately, last year, even though she was named to 2nd team All conference, her coach was pregnant and didn't keep stats on ANY of the players. So we have nothing to show for last year's hard work. 

Any suggestions that you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

A.M.

With her 5'5" height, she will not play MB at the collegiate level.  But, at 5'5" she could play Libero/DS (depending upon her passing/defensive skills) and possibly OH (depending upon her passing and vertical jump) at the DIII/NAIA level.

You are correct to note that her main attribute, from a recruiting perspective, is her academic standing.  Academics should be a key component of the recruiting process for any volleyball family. Why?  Beyond the academic standing of a college/university, with any scholarship package and college volleyball team situation, as long as the Student Athlete (SA) makes grades, the academic scholarship can't be removed by athletics!

You did not list her ACT and/or SAT score, which will be the biggest component of her academic attractiveness - To this end, have her take these national tests a couple of times to ensure the highest possible score.  As I have told families during my NCSA Next College Student Athlete recruiting education talks, every point increase on an already good ACT score is $2,000 more in academic scholarship money!

While club volleyball is important to the collegiate recruiting process, because of technology, it is not mandatory.  By using current video and a consistent outreach by using the internet, your daughter can become a collegiate student athlete.

As she won't be playing club, use the last month of the high school season to put together a skills tape with her as an Outside Hitter.  Even though she is an MB now, she won't be for college, so just ask the high school coach if you can record her being an OH after practice.  Your goal is to put together a 5 to 10 minute tape of her passing, attacking, blocking and defensive skills tape.

Because video is paramount to your recruiting outreach, try to find a way to generate another skills tape in the spring.  It is important that your daughter show improvement in her abilities, so even though she won't be playing club, she should be trying to get into open gyms for pick up ball, or taking part in an occasional clinic, or by playing in a church or adult league (which are often free); basically anything to keep touching a ball outside of the high school season.

For your outreach, be sure to directly email the college head volleyball coach and include a link to the most current video you have, along with her complete and current academic standing.  This is how you attract the attention of the schools which are of interest to your daughter.

Above, I had mentioned "consistent outreach" and I will also add, patient outreach.  The shorter OH and/or the Libero position is often the last one recruited by collegiate coaches, and the majority of these small but mighty recruits don't secure their collegiate futures until the senior year!

Club volleyball or no club volleyball, the bottom line is that if your daughter can make the college volleyball team better, then the college coach will recruit her!  And, high school statistics don't matter at all to college coaches, so don't stress about them being absent...

Good luck!

Home School Volleyball Player and Club Volleyball Selection

Hi Coach,
I’m almost done reading your book and I have enjoyed learning so much from your perspective about this process and volleyball in general. Thank you for sharing your insight and for caring about the sport and our youth. It really comes through in your responses to readers.

​Thank you for the nice compliment and glad to hear that you are enjoying Inside College Volleyball.

My daughter is a younger 14 year old 9th grader, 5-9.5” (this week), MB/MH with hopes of playing in college. Her dad is 6-6”, so she hopes to get some additional inches in the next couple of years- growing like a weed right now. She picked up a ball for the first time 2 years ago. She’s a former competitive gymnast and very athletic. Her approach touch is 9-8.5” as of last week. I think with the right training and her positive & coachable personality she could reach her goals of playing while she earns a college degree. She’s about to try out for her second club season.

​Congratulations on her genetics; that is a great vertical jump for a 14 year old, 5'9.5" athlete!  If she sneaks in a few inches of Dad's ​height, she physically will be on par with Division I Volleyball players.  Genes aside, you may have inspired families to invest in gymnastics as the preparatory sport for volleyball!

My questions for you are:

1.  We homeschool her because of the public school situation in our county. We decided once she went to the public middle school that we wanted something different for her education and life. It is truly a blessing for us to be able to do this for both of our girls. We play in a state wide homeschool league during the fall school season. It isn’t super competitive, but there are many Club players  mixed in with non club players on the teams we play against and our team is almost all club players. So there are some really competitive games.

​That is a nice playing luxury, as some home school leagues can be competitively low....​

 

When we made our local club team last year and she realized her true love of this sport we went to the director and talked about how to get her on the track to play at the next level. His first question was “Is she going to continue to play homeschool ball? Or are you going to put her back in school?”  This was confusing to me. I thought that school ball had little to do with recruiting these days. Club training is the highest level for juniors it seems. So how is that a relevant question?

​It isn't a relevant question - As long as she is getting touches in the fall, that is what matters.  For collegiate recruiting, HS has little to no impact upon the college volleyball recruiting process.  ​

 

​I would venture that the club director is still operating old school (no pun intended).​

My thought since he asked this was that maybe college coaches overlook the homeschooled student for easier recruiting since the NCAA eligibility is more complex for homeschoolers. How do you think coaches think/feel about a SA that is homeschooled?

​Does not matter to the college coach; we look at talent.  If the Prospective Student Athlete (PSA) has the talent​

 

​to make my team better, then I will recruit her/him.  Volleyball coaches know that our recruits have an extremely high certification rate with the NCAA Clearinghouse, and while it may take a bit more time, Homeschool athletes rarely present an issue.​

2. Since we are homeschoolers with maybe less access to great coaching and team play during our “school” season, I was thinking that it would be important to choose a strong club that can really help elevate her level of play.

​No more than for any other school; public or private.  There are some public and private schools with great coaches, while others have not so great coaches.  Putting this gently, you are putting too much stress on yourself with the Homeschool status....​

 

I was contacted last week by a club director with 20 years of experience for a well known club in our area. He saw her at a clinic and he expressed how much potential he thinks she could have and wanted to invite her to tryout with them this season.

​Club volleyball programs these days, are recruiting as much as college volleyball programs.​

 

We are considering trying out for 2 National teams at great clubs that are not in our town and our local club from last year. Do you think it is important for her to play at the highest level she can as a 15U?  Or would our local smaller club that has a good reputation for the quality of training, but competes in less tournaments and maybe only hits one National Qualifier/showcase in a season, be ok?  How important are the connections/networking aspects of the club director/coach for recruitment? I don’t want to bounce around or throw money away.

​With 15 year's old corresponding to Freshman in high school, the focus when selecting a club team should be practice training.  Unfortunately, that is hard to qualify while club team reputation and schedule is easier.  Select the best club you can based upon their training.  You should try to research this by speaking with other club parents, attending a pre-club season clinic, etc.  

As I have reference many times before, the Freshman is the Free year, where recruiting is not part of the view.  The club travel schedule, in terms of attended National Qualifiers and holiday 3 day tournaments, becomes more important as athletes move into their upperclassmen years; this is due simply to the college coaches attending the larger events for ease of recruiting.

Again, just focus on club practices and training for this next year.​

 

Thank you from a slightly overwhelmed mom!
J.D.

Ps- Do you only post answers on the site, or will you respond directly when you post so I will know?  There is only 2 weeks until tryouts and I’d be SO grateful if I got to hear your perspective before we have to make a club choice. Thank you!!!!!

​I will edit your question, to pull out your name and any identifying details of your daughter before posting on collegevolleyballcoach.com!​

 

Sent from my iPhone

​Sent from my MacBook Air.​

Club playing position and future height?

Hello,

I was so glad to I found your site and look forward to picking your book.

My daughter is 13, so will be playing in the 14's in what will be her 5th season in club this fall.

She is 5"8 and because she can jump and/or is one of the tallest players on her team, the coaches continue to put her as a middle. She and I have some concern over this as we don't anticipate her to reach over 5'10 in height.  I am 5'8 and my husband is 6'2. We of course want to position her for recruiting success and fear her height in this position will be a disadvantage when competing with taller girls for D1 and even D2 colleges.  

What are your thoughts on this and how do we navigate in the world of club in ensuring she is positioned well for recruitment opportunities in play time vs. position?  She is always selected as the starting in her middle position. She spent her summer practicing in the outside hitter position to get stronger.  

However, her coach keeps the same girls together as they move up in age and has made it clear by how she plays the girls, who are the favored OH's.  Besides, there are so many players vying for the outside position.  

Are we worrying too much unnecessarily at this point in her play? 

What do you suggest?

Thank you!

J.P.

One of the weaknesses of the USA style of play/training, both in club and school, is that players get slotted into defined positions very early.  Some players shoot up early in height, while others are late bloomers.

With school ball, players are responsible to honor the needs of the school - If the coach wants to play a 6'3" player at libero, then that is what you do.

With club, because the family is paying for the opportunity, the family must communicate and be clear when it comes to desired position.  If a player wants to play a specific position, this must be communicated during the tryout process.  The mistake families make is not being direct and clear, and then getting upset during the season when the coach is making the best decisions for that specific moment in time.

How you navigate the club world, is to be very specific and direct in your communication with clubs.  If your daughter wants to play a certain position or if you want her being trained in all positions, this absolutely must be said to the club director.   Of course, there are certain instances where a club needs a player to compete out of position, due to injuries or sicknesses.

If you are the situation where there is only one club program in your area, then you are really stuck playing the position they need.  As you mentioned, you should be using summer camps, private training and clinics to enhance her all around abilities.

At your daughter's age, developing all around skill ability is key - Maybe she shoots up to 6'3"?  Maybe she does not grow another inch?  As we don't know exactly where she will end up height wise, you should develop her complete volleyball abilities so she can excel whatever height your family gene pool determines.

Also at this age, you absolutely positively should not be worrying about college recruiting; just keep the goal on skill development and enjoying the process.  The beast of recruiting will start the dance come her sophomore year, so enjoy the stress free music now.

Coach

Late Blooming Volleyball Ability

Hi Coach,

First off I’d like to thank you for the service you provide both parents, athletes AND coaches.  I suspect the coaches benefit from parents being able to access this site by having less questions and frustrations aimed at them.  I am about 1/2 through “Inside College Volleyball” and once again I am enjoying learning about the processes involved in recruitment and the steps that lead to that point.  The book has answered all the questions I had and even ones I did not know I had.  Thank you.

My question is multi layered and I need to provide some background:

My daughter is in 10th grade.  Played club ball on the lowest level team in 9th.  Was a second string member of the freshman “B” team (a very winning team as all our hs teams are) prior to that.  Prior to that she dabbled with volleyball with half season (not really beneficial).  Rather than letting these lower team statuses as a player define her she has chosen to rise above, she took advantage of the learning experience(s) that club ball (even at the basement level) had given her as well as the MAJOR amount of play time she started receiving toward the end of club season.  She easily could’ve won the title “Most Improved Player” club wide.  She also has grown as a person to become a team player and understands the value of what being part of a team is all about.

She participated in intensive training most of summer prior to high school tryouts.  Her HS varsity team is ranked in the top 10 in various polls throughout the Nation this year (usually top 5); so to say that this is a competitive team is an understatement. The HS benefits from parents heavy involvement with their kids in a local small but competitive club.   My daughter made the JV/sophomore team, based on her efforts and combined efforts of camps, private lessons and more camps her growth as a player has been BEYOND remarkable-- this isn’t parental pride speaking, several coaches have pulled both me and her aside to specifically point this out.  I know many parents say “She’s a hard worker” and coaches roll their eyes all the way back but in this case she is beyond a hard worker.  She has also taken the ethos of “TEAM” and has adopted it as her own, which to me is beyond impressive because I wasn’t sure that this kid had that in her.  She is becoming the kind of player coaches seem to write about seeking out: enthusiastic, dedicated, determined and up for trying anything and obviously very coachable (based on her improvement just in two-three months time).  My child also has a non verbal learning disability that has, in the past, affected how she seeks information out and interprets it so to see this growth in her as a person has been a tremendous reward; even if the 'someday wishes' she has don’t come to fruition I know in my heart that volleyball has already given us more than we could possibly seek to give back to the sport.  

She tried out for one of the pins positions for JV (which is what she intensely trained for) but that was to secure her spot on the team (as one of the pins was in sore need of a player to fill the position).  Now that the season is underway it is obvious that coach is grooming her for DS/L — which actually was her long term goal for college ball which she hopes to play.

So here’s the rub and the questions:

• She is now a bench warmer for JV.  Her JV coach took the time to make sure she knew he was beyond impressed with her efforts and enthusiasm at practice & conditioning (“IMPRESSED” is a word he used about 6x during their conversation).  He assured her that her improvement was astounding.  He took the time to tell her this and also made mention she probably wouldn’t play a lot.  So to be clear: she’s been everything that is described by coaches everywhere and because the nature of this RIDICULOUSLY competitive program (meaning every player on the team is worthy of being there) she will likely not be playing.   Her privates coach side eyed that statement and said to both she & I: “How does he KNOW he’ll be not playing her?  Does he have a crystal ball??” This statement comes from a normally straight shooting individual who is not the type to invest energy in a player that isn’t warranted (per reputation).  I think her privates coach sees the determination in my child that doesn’t come around very often.  I asked her to elaborate and she said: “xxx is full of grit and determination, I can’t predict where she will go but I wouldn’t be surprised at the level she ends up."

• While my daughter has stated to me that she is “ok” with this “no playing time” situation and that her "growth will come during club season".  She says those words half heartedly and in this case I fear the fire may burn out because to be so intense and to work so intensely on improving and be outdone by players who have years and dozens upon dozens of sets of experience over her is quite the feat in of itself.  It’s hard to compete with experience sometimes and in this case these girls all play the 1’s team at the club (most of them do anyway).  Remember she came from the very very bottom to be playing close to these girls levels.

Questions:

• In your experiences with athletes (or even as a parent of an athlete, not sure if you have children): how do you keep up the morale with a child in this particular scenario?  My focus wants to be on focusing on the fun and whatever her long term goals are (and she has lofty goals).  I wonder if I am missing out on something here.

• As a coach for a fifteen year old player: do you think there is more potential to be unlocked in a player that experiences such tremendous growth in the span of months at age 15?

• My belief is that it’s possible that there is a vested interest in many of the starting players on the JV team that also translate to our club.  IN this case do you think growth can be stagnated or do you think a player in such an environment can rise above?

• For club season, do you believe that it would benefit her more being on the “2’s” team (National) and get playing time vs. the 1’s and possibly sit bench?  My belief is yes, it’s playing time that she needs most and my belief is that she should make it known to those that she comes in contact with at the club level that playing time for her trumps everything.

• Lastly the age old question.  Is it better for a determined, goal oriented player to be on a lackluster team with loads of playing time or is it better for this sort of player to be surrounded by experienced “1’s” players and have to sit the bench?  I think I know your answer on some of these but I thought I’d put this out there.

I look forward to your answer.

Volley Mom 

Let me jump right into your questions and thank you for reading Inside College Volleyball:

- Focus on the process.  Every day she has a chance to improve in practice, and by your description, her efforts in training are resulting in rapid improvement.  The goal is to keep improving, and as this is high school, with limited matches (as compared to club), the opportunity to improve is through practice.

- Potential can be a tricky thing, for any coach, at any level to determine.  The 2nd biggest recruiting mistake that college coaches make is over estimating a recruit's potential; first biggest is not paying attention to the attitude/personality of a player.  As your daughter is just 15, I would view this rapid improvement in ability as the gates being opened to her potential, rather than just a short term jump in skills.  

- Unfortunately, there are a number of high school programs which are closely tied in with a local club team; seems like a loop between high school getting players ready for club and the club getting players ready for high school, all within the same core group of families and facilities.  The focus, once again, needs to be on training - every touch will make her better, and she will get the most amount of touches upon the ball in practice.

- As her abilities are rapidly improving, having the supplement of playing time (especially if she has been focused on training time in high school) will be important in her overall growth.  With the development of her physical abilities, she needs to develop her mental abilities as a player.  The nuances of a match; situations, reactions, anticipations, seeing a play develop a split second before, etc., are all part of the playing time experience.  So, playing on a 2's team is better than sitting on a 1's team for her.

- At this moment in her development, playing time need to be the priority in club; she has to 'catch-up' in her game experience.  As her skills and game time experience develop, then in the coming years, the rationale for moving up to a 1's team and being a part time player might make sense.

The bottom line is this - She needs to keep her focus on the process of achieving her long term goals.  Every touch of the ball makes her better; often times, I see good athletes that get caught up in the playing time/club team name drama and stop improving.  

If your daughter has college volleyball goals, the college coaches focus on ability and personality. Club team designator or volume of playing time do not matter to us; your ability to execute the volleyball skill sets are what we look at....and making sure you are a positive, team oriented person!

Good luck,

Coach