Volleyball Recruiting Qualifier Madness!

Dear coach,

With qualifier season happening fast and furious, my question has to do with positive or negative feedback from coaches. My daughter 2012 was expecting about 3-4 coaches to see her at a recent qualifier, but she has not heard any feedback from the schools. For that matter, I am not even so sure they saw her play. I realize that it is now a dead period, but I am not sure if that affects the evaluation process. 

We are not sure if we need to solicit response just yet, or wait until most of the qualifiers have completed.  We had plan to set up un-official visits at the end of April, if possible but some of the distances we would have to travel, we really need to know if there is still interest.

What do you suggest?

Thanks!

RLH

Right now is the CRAZIEST of the CRAZY recruiting season and your Question/Answer will be moved to the front of the line for publication in the world wide phenomenon known as the collegevolleyballcoach.com, as it probably affects any number of PSA's.

Right now, there are more Qualifiers than donuts at Dunkin and coaches are everywhere. And we are still trying to turn in receipts from the last Qualifier we were at 4 days ago.  And we are getting ready to hit the next one.  And our team is in full spring season mode with 20 hours per week of training and Saturday competitions.  And not all of us have 3 coaches on staff and a secretary.  And it is the Spring Signing Period and to get the scholarships and National Letter of Intents sent out is a paperwork nightmare.  And the NCAA adjusted how they handle some protocols of the Eligibility Center and Amateurism which affects being able to even send out the NLI.  And we may have had a recruit come in right before the Dead Period and have another coming in the nano-second the Dead Period ends.  And April 15th is coming up which means I should have really done my Taxes by now.  And we have been told to put together our budget requests for next fiscal year. And.......well, that just about covers it.

What this all adds up to for me, is that I am not surprised if a college coach has not followed up with your daughter.  If your daughter has had constant interaction with a program, and a coach indicated they would watch her play, they probably did see her play at a Qualifier.  The challenge is all the courts and all the athletes which make up the 'must see' list for coaches.  A coach may have only been able to see warm-ups or 10 points, before having to chase down the next player halfway to the state line on court #186.

My suggestion is to focus on what you can control, which is finishing the the remaining Club Volleyball season strong, and keep updating potential schools with information.  Send out the schedule for the next tournament you will be attending.  Send out a recap of how the last tournament went.  But, don't get overly concerned if replies are lacking just because of the craziness for college programs at this time juncture.  As April winds down, our amount of sanity increases and college coaches will have time to start following up on emails and to interact with regards to campus visits.

As for Unofficial Visits, I would look to take these in May as opposed to late April.  College programs will be going full tilt with recruiting and team training until late April and recruiting will continue right up to the start of the May quiet period.  The NCAA Division I Quiet Period allows for Unofficial Visits and we are on campus anyways waiting for the Spring Semester to end before getting away on vacations.  Also, the May time frame is after the Qualifiers and Regional Championships are finished, so you should have more flexibility to arrange your visit schedule.

1.  Play Volleyball.

2.  Work the emails.

3.  May visits.

My last nugget of advice is to try and enjoy these last couple of tournaments.  Blink of the eye, the apple of your eye will be in college and you will give anything in your possession to have these days back.