#2 Team and College Volleyball Recruiting

After 5 years of club and school volleyball, including teams that finished in the top third at JO's, my HS junior is getting offers to play from only the "2" teams from local clubs. She is inclined to give up volleyball saying that college play is impossible unless you are on a "1" team in your junior year. True? For all positions? Suggestions? E.B


Not correct - there are so many '2' team players that receive DI scholarships that it is hard to count. Right now, I have a number of 2 team players on my team. There is just so much politics, coaches bias, big name university pressure, etc. with club volleyball that you really can't put too much into the 1 or 2 designate of club volleyball. I understand the '1' team may be seeded higher, or be on the center court, or gets a bit more attention - But having '1' team membership does not guarantee individual talent.

Talent is what matters and college coaches will find talent no matter what level, name, region you may be playing club. We constantly circle the gym/convention center looking for talent, evaluating players, making notes, watching,.....We do this because we understand not every NCAA athlete plays for Super Duper Club 1 Team; we know that many, many talented players are not on the 1st team or play with a small club or are with a start up club or are from a small town or may only play in one big tourney a year. We understand all of this, and this is why you will see college volleyball coaches at tournaments from set-up to take down looking at PSA's on every court and corner of the facility.

The VolleyFamily may need to do a bit more marketing, to inform college coaches where they can find the PSA, but that is it. All we do (college coaches) is hunt for players at tournaments - Sure you see all the big name coaches surrounding the big name club team, but that is just a handful of the total number of college coaches walking through the facility. Everyone knows that Big Time Coaches and Big Time Program are surrounding the court with sure fire future 1st Team All Americans and Gold Medalists (please sense my exaggeration!), but this is just a small visual - the big picture is the rest of the tournament.

Tell your daughter that college volleyball will happen because of her talent, her attitude and her effort - it will NOT happen because of the name on the jersey or the team # on the tournament list. Tell her to keep working on her skill sets, to stay fit, to make sure to reach out and market herself to colleges/universities she is interested in. This statement is true for all positions.

Tell her NOT to pay attention or compare to those rare instances when the elite player is getting their door pounded down by the top 10 college programs without lifting a finger - That is the exception.