College Volleyball Information Overload!

Like pollen wafting through the air, College Volleyball information just for you:

*  NCAA rules do not allow coaches to send emails to PSA's until September 1st of their junior year of high school.  If you are a current sophomore and you are shooting out emails to college coaches, they should not be responding and if they are responding (with anything other than an introductory letter and questionnaire), they are breaking NCAA rules.

*  A PSA may telephone a college coach at any time and as often as they wish, with no regards to their year in high school.  College coaches can call you once a week starting July 1st of the junior to senior summer and may call you unlimited times within the 5 days of an Official Visit or day of a Home Visit (or off campus contact post 7/1).

*  Texting a PSA is not allowed at any time until the PSA has signed their National Letter of Intent or written offer of admission from a NCAA school.  If you are receiving Texts from a college coach, before your sign your PSA, they are breaking the NCAA rules.

*  If a College Volleyball coach tells a VolleyFamily that their PSA is "in their Top 5 recruits for that position", they are nicely saying that you will not be receiving a scholarship offer.  College coaches are very good about knowing who their realistic top recruits are and rarely go beyond 3 deep.  Gold Mine State U (near Billings, MT) may feel the player getting offered at Stanford is their Top 5, but that is not realistic.

*  If you are PSA of junior year status and a NCAA DI college coach tells you that you are their #1 recruit, but has not offered you a scholarship yet, then I would suggest the college coach is not being truthful.  In today's accelerated recruiting scenarios, especially for DI, coaches are not waiting until the summer to make scholarship offers after watching a PSA since January.

*  Official Visits may take place after the first day of a school during a PSA's senior year and PSA's are limited to a total of 5 Official Visits.  Unofficial Visits may be taken at any time (outside of a Dead Period) and as often as wished.

*  There is a difference between "we would love to have you come for an Unofficial Visit" and "you are always welcome to come for an Unofficial Visit".

*  The term Recruited Walk-on sounds good, but all it means is the College Volleyball coach has had more than one email/call/letter with you and has now capped your non-scholarship aid to that of a full athletic scholarship.  Recruited, Non Recruited, Induced, Ignored.....A Rose by Any Other Name.

*  As a Walk-on, any promise of a future scholarship is just words and nothing more.  It is a leap of faith to accept a Walk-on to scholarship situation.

*  If a PSA, who is of junior status, really wants to be able to instantly interact with College Volleyball coaches (at the speed of illegal Texting), then emails via smart phones are just about as fast now.  I can't understand why a PSA would want to turbo talk with me, but the world can revolve at different speeds for different folks.

*  As a VolleyFamily, make sure you are communicating clearly with your Club Director and/or Recruiting Coordinator.  If the Recruiting Coordinator does not know your preferences, then they cannot serve you the best.  Because college coaches cannot contact you as a sophomore, we will go through the club to get a feel for your recruiting likes and desires.

* The NCAA Eligibility Center has 3 parts: 1) Pay the fee, 2) Academics - Submit high school transcripts and ACT/SAT scores, 3) Amateurism - Answer a series of questions regarding your involvement with athletic teams.

*  Beware the One and Done.

*  If you have sent 3 emails to a program and they have not responded (if you sent an initial email as a sophomore, the NCAA program can send you a Introductory Letter and Questionnaire to you), then it is time to mark this school off your list of potentials.

* College Volleyball camps are not recruiting opportunities if the only interaction college coaches have with you is providing camp information.

*  Sending hard copy Media Guides is no longer allowed per NCAA rules.

*  A college coach standing at your court, but talking the whole time to other college coaches, is not at your court.  The last club tournament I was attending, I watched a certain Volleyball coach spend the entire event talking to other college coaches.  It became comical; I never saw this individual just watching the play of the PSA's.  All this college coach wanted to do was find other college coaches to talk to right next to the court.  Then again, maybe this was the plan all along...sabotage the evaluation efforts of other programs!

*  Do not fall prey to the pressure of the dangled opportunity presented by a college coach.  If a College Volleyball program can't wait a few extra weeks to allow your spring break or open travel time to make a campus visit, then this should tell you exactly where you stand with that college.  A college coach will wait for their number one, they won't wait for their number three.

*  Giant State U, of the Super Duper Para Trooper Power Ranger Conference, will almost never have more than 4 scholarships available for any one recruiting class and 3 per year is more the case.  With the Bill Gates level of resources these programs enjoy, they know exactly who they will offer very early in the process and will make that information known to those PSA's.  Those GSU's of the SDPTPRC's who keep you on the string?  Remember the old saying: Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me.  Don't be fooled into holding out slim hopes for the GSU, because it may result in other schools which present outstanding attributes for your future moving forward with another PSA.


*  An introductory email from a PSA without a video is like pizza without cheese.