College Volleyball Recruiting and the 'young' PSA

My daughter is currently a freshman in high school, but is a year younger than all the other freshman.  She just turned 14 in September and will play in the 14U Division this upcoming club season because she is a year ahead academically.  According to her age she should only be in 8th grade.
 
She played on a fantastic 13U team last year which qualified for Nationals, so I'm hesitant to play her up a division in club.  Her team has been playing together for three years now, have great chemistry and a much higher skill level than most 13s teams (they finished even higher than our club's 14's National team).
 
So how does the fact that she is younger than most high school players affect her ability to be scouted/recruited?  Judging from a lot of your posts and answers to questions most of the recruiting occurs when they are sophomores and competing at national tournaments in 16U division, however she will only be participating in 15U Division as a sophomore and I'm afraid she may get overlooked because of that age difference.
 
Do you have any advice/suggestions?
 
Sincerely, P. B. (and jelly) (that was a Coach addition; could not resist!)

I have had a few questions in the past about PSA's who are one year younger than their graduation year.  

College coaches are going to evaluate your daughter with her class, not her age because she will graduate with her class (not her age).  She is at a disadvantage because she is one year younger, and will be compared to others in her graduation year (not her birth year).  I once had a very young freshman (full year behind other freshman) and it took her a couple of years to 'catch' up to her college class physically.

Unless you plan on holding your daughter back one year in high school, or having her delay one year before attending college, I suggest you have her play her graduation year.  I say this because if she plays her birth year (down one year versus her graduation year) when she finishes Club Volleyball competition and transitions to college, she will be making the jump from 17's to college freshman. This is too big of a jump to make, unless she is going into a pre-determined redshirt year.  

If you want to get an indication of the physical difference that she would be faced with, at the next National Qualifier, spend some time watching 16's Club volleyball (not Open, but Club), then wander over and watch the 18 Open level teams.  This is close to what your PSA would be trying to bridge after she graduates - It is a huge gap.

It is better for her to play at her graduation age group now, as a freshman, so she can use these next few years to physically and mentally assimilate to this specific playing age group.  Better to use the next four years and break this 'catch up' into four small segments (each year she closes the gap between her birth age and graduation year), rather than stay with the birth age group then try to bridge this gap in college.  

Should the family be set in keeping your PSA with her age year, not graduation year, then you must REALLY work hard to communicate this age fact to the collegiate coaches.  This is a matter of reaching out to them to inform them your PSA is playing her age, not graduation year. This is a bit of challenge, because coaches usually don't look down, they look up in ages when they are recruiting at events - College coaches are used to seeing players play up in age, not down in age.

Also, I would suggest you keep in your mind the real possibility that she would need to redshirt her first year in college, to give her the time to close the physical and speed of the game gap which she will faced with her freshman year.  I have just seen too often when young freshman get overwhelmed and frustrated because they can't keep up.

Good luck!

Coach Matt Sonnichsen

ps - my favorite jelly is seedless blackberry....so good on toast!!!

College Volleyball Redshirt

Is there a drop dead point during a season where a coach must declare a SA a "redshirt"?  If the SA plays one point in a match is the "redshirt" option off the table? POTUS



Yes but Redshirt'ing is viewed in two ways:

1)  Pre-determined redshirt means that the coach/player go into the season with the thought or plan that the SA will redshirt.  This means that if the player plays one point in a match, at anytime during the traditional season, then they have used one year of eligibility.  A traditional redshirt tends to occur when a freshman or sophomore has a senior or two in their playing position, and the coach does not want to 'waste' a year of eligibility just for some random playing time.  These situations are talked about either before the fall practice starts, or at the very latest, during the pre-season training.

2)  Medical or Injury redshirt - This is where a player suffers a season ending injury. The injury must occur before the halfway point of the season, and before the player has played in approximately 30% of the matches.  This usually equates out to about 6 -7 matches of play.  The tough situation is when the player is a starter, plays in 10 or so matches before the halfway point, then has an injury and can't play the remainder of the season, they still can't redshirt.

The redshirt rules do allow for competitive participation in the non-traditional or spring season.

I will say that the 5th year senior is Golden (like in Antonia Greenwood) - These players will have a physical and mental maturity level which is noticeable.  Teams with a couple of 5th year seniors, if they have not burnt out, can be very good because of all the leadership and mentoring they bring to the squad.

Questions on Camp, Redshirting and High School Volleyball

Coach

You've talked a lot about College camps, but you've never mentioned anything about Club sponsored College coaches camps.  This is a big thing in Texas and Florida where clubs bring 3 to 12 College coaches into their facilities and let them run the club's primary summer camp.

The coaches are assistants and Head coaches, and the schools are mostly DI.  Including some top ten schools

One club touts a College coach on every court.

As most serious volleyball players go to at least one summer camp, these camps combine extra volleyball touches with a taste of College volleyball drills.  They are pretty cool.

Don't really have a question, but you've never mentioned these type of camps.

Take care - S.E.

Good question and I have seen that a number of the larger clubs are offering collegiate coached summer camps.  In my book, Inside College Volleyball, I wrote extensively about volleyball camps, and these pseudo 'collegiate' camps are a newer trend.

I like the philosophy of such a camp, just because it is in a facility the players are used to and they are exposed to a wider range of training ideas than just the club team's.  

My only concern would be the cost of such a camp, because camps don't seem cheap these days and they are 'hiring' collegiate level coaches.

From a recruiting perspective, maybe it does create an opportunity for a late blooming or injury returning PSA to get seen by a college program.

Coach Matt Sonnichsen

Hello again Coach Sonnichsen,

Recently, my 2012 grad(DS/Libero) committed to a small D2 university that offered a fantastic academic scholarship. She has been invited by the coach to walk on (enthusiastically invited). There are two DS/Liberos ahead of her (soph and a junior this coming year). He has advised us that she might red shirt her first year. 

This disappointed her as I don't think she understood the good that can come from red shirting as opposed to not playing. I researched your site and found one letter so I wonder if you can perhaps shed a bit more light on the subject and hopefully help her to understand that there is "good" in this news. Also, would this be a typical case of red shirting? She is about to begin (now that club is over) her summer workouts in earnest (she has a volunteer private coach) so she will be ready.

I very much appreciate you and your work - as well as your quick response to my last question! I have forwarded your website to our club and encourage all the younger girls folks to visit.

Thanks Again, Dad

Glad to help.

It can be very disappointing for a player to be informed that they will redshirt - I have had scholarship players who had a starting senior in their position and they were not going to get any court time break out in tears when I told them they were redshirting.  I believe the emotional response from players is they feel they are being told that they are not good enough to play this year.

For college coaches, 5th year seniors (seniors that had redshirted at some point in the career) are like gold; they have so much more experience, and touches, and maturity and hopefully motivation than any other players.  

I would have been disappointed in your daughter's future coach, had he not put forward the possibility of redshirting. Rarely will a program use more than 2 back row specialists, and since both of the other players in her positions are returners, they will have much more experience than your daughter.  The honest truth is, that all things being equal, they should be better because they have been playing at a much higher level than your PSA.

But, that being said, college coaches are going to play the best players.  Your daughter is in a win-win situation.  If she arrives to camp and is better than one of the other Liberos, then she will play but she is not expected to be better (less pressure).  Should the other two Liberos have a higher skill sets, then she can redshirt, use this entire season to get her abilities up and past theirs without using one year of eligibility, and she gets to play in the spring season.  So in actuality, it is just a 3 month redshirt, not a full year.

Again, I am not surprised about this response from the coach and would have been disappointed if he had not put this forward.

Coach Matt Sonnichsen

Hi Coach!

I am an incoming freshman (Class of 2016) this year. I was a practice player for my school squad, and played club at a regional level, as that was my first year playing. I am heading into my second year, and am basically using the entire summer to prep for tryouts in August. 

The high school takes 24 girls freshman year, and competition is unbelievably intense sometimes(I hail from the Midwest!). I would say I improved a lot during club, but I'm not up to par with other girls. I was told I was a libero (I'm 5'4) in the school season, but when club came, I was an outside/right side. I saw a lot of bench time, but I worked harder (extra practices x1 or x2 a week), improved a lot (my coach said that was why I didn't play. She said "You have to improve" and simply walked away) and was a terrific positive teammate, even taking over the team when my coaches showed up late to a tournament. I have a huge love and passion for volleyball. It's something I "need". 

So my question is, what do I do to prepare for tryouts? Passes are slight overpasses, hands are okay, my hitting is average, and I have an inconsistent serve. What do coaches look for and how do I stand out?

Also, regarding playing in college (which I shouldn't worry about)...I dream about playing at an academically prominent D3. Of course, education comes first, then volleyball, but I know I could get the best of both worlds there. I'm a really strong student, 4.0, 4 honors classes and sophomore math my first year of HS. My parents aren't as keen on it, and they don't understand. (My dad yelled at me when I told him). 

What are steps I have to take, like with core classes, etc.? It's something I would love to do. Given if I never make the HS team (God Forbid!) would it really matter if I played club all 4 years?

Thanks for your help! I am a big fan of your blog!

-A VolleyGirl

Let me answer your questions as I see them below:

1.  First year of Volleyball as an 8th grader, it is understandable that you did not see a bunch of court time.  You are just beginning the upswing of your skills learning curve; don't read too much into the fact you did not play - I know it stinks, but right now training is better for you than playing.

2.  It is actually good you played all around in Club Volleyball because a weakness of the USA training mentality is that players get slotted into specific positions way too early, especially liberos.  

3.  I encourage you to take that all around ability to the high school tryout - You want to be skilled and comfortable in all the aspects of the game.  Over the summer better your passing, better your hitting, better your blocking, better your defense.  You want to make sure that whatever tryout skills the school puts you through, you are comfortable with them.  As a shorter player, you will not be playing MB in high school, but all other positions could be valid.

4.  I cannot speak for what skill sets your future high school coach may have a tendency to favor, but if you can minimize your weak areas, and accent your strengths, then that will help.  The other basic, basic thing I can emphasize in any tryout situation is work hard and demonstrate positivity at all times.  If you work hard on every single play and are positive, then this will make a big impression upon the coach.

5.  Even though you are going into your freshman year, it is good to have the goal of playing collegiate athletics; I knew I wanted to play in college when I was in 5th grade!  How you prepare yourself is to get better on the court, and keep educating yourself off the court about all the various levels of competition, the types of schools (DIII in your initial attraction), where they are located, their academic strengths, etc.

6.  You can find out more on the core classes by signing up with NCSA , and start with the free site because there is so much NCAA eligibility information on the NCSA site which is complementary for families.  You can also search the NCAA site and the NCAA Eligibility Center site, as they will also post information but it can be a bit of a process to glean it out.

7. Club Volleyball is the dominant vehicle in the collegiate recruiting process - Club is also the best avenue towards improving your skill sets because of their training and competition set up.  If you never made high school volleyball but put together a solid 4 years of club, then you would still be in a position to achieve your collegiate goals.

Last bit of advice - Concentrate on just becoming a better volleyball player right now and enjoy the process of getting better!

Coach Matt Sonnichsen

College Volleyball Red Shirt Question

Coach:

When is it too late to declare a scholarship player to red shirt?

Thanks, Craig



Scholarship or walk on, does not impact red shirting.

Per NCAA rules, there are two types of red shirt situations - 1) Traditional, 2) Medical.

1) Traditional Red Shirt (my term - the NCAA must have a better sounding term than mine) means that the player was perfectly healthy but did not compete in ANY matches, not even one point. In football this type of red shirt is quite common and allows incoming freshman the time to learn a certain offensive/defensive system while getting physically stronger. For Volleyball, this tends to happen for freshman who have seniors entrenched in their positions (most often Setters/Liberos) or if a very athletic player does not have club level experience and needs time to catch up with their skill development.

2) Medical Red Shirt - This is the result of an injury. The NCAA uses a formula to determine a SA's eligibility to obtain a red shirt if they sustain a season ending injury (I believe the school's training staff have to also fill out paperwork supporting the validity of the season ending injury). It is my understanding that the formula says a SA can only participate in a maximum of 30% of the team's dates and no competition after the halfway point of the season. This generally works out to around 6 to 8 dates and none can be after the midway point of the season. All of these nitty gritty details can be searched at the ncaa.org website under Legislation/Rules.

The tough thing is when a player gets seriously hurt in the first half of the season, but has played above the maximum allowed per the formula.

The NCAA does also allow for the awarding of a 6th year, in those unfortunate circumstances where an athlete suffers two separate serious injuries and has already used their red shirt year on the first injury.

Hope the answer helps and I encourage you to search through the ncaa.org website to confirm the exact formula for determining red shirt eligibility with an injury.