College Volleyball Recruiting Communication Question

Hi,

First, I want to thank you for all the wonderful information you provide on your site.  It has helped us tremendously.  However, I still have some questions.  If you have already answered this question, I apologize for repeating it and would appreciate a link to where I can see the answer.

Here is the scenario.........

My daughter will be a senior this upcoming year (graduates 2012).  She is very specific about the school she would like to go to.  In fact, we took a visit on our own of the school (D2) and was able to visit with the coach.  At that visit, we told him that we would like to know sooner, rather than later if my daughter would even have a chance to play for him.  At that point, he said that he would be interested and to keep him posted.  Since that visit, my daughter has emailed the coach twice with no response.  

 

Does this mean he is now not interested?  If he isn't interested, why wouldn't he just let us know?  It would be one thing if he had said he wasn't interested but he didn't.  I don't think we are too far off base as far as our daughter's abilities considering another coach told us that she could play OH at the D3 level.  Can you provide any insight on what the expectation should be regarding the communication with the coach?  I feel as though we are getting mixed signals.

On another note, do you encourage players to market themselves as utility players?  My daughter plays OH for her high school team and middle, as well as all around, for her club team.  She is 5'6" with a 31" vertical.

Thanks so much for your time, HB

Sorry for the late response....got too busy with my day job.

Since your original email, I would think that the communication with the school/coach your PSA took an unofficial visit with has moved forward?  If it has, then you your questions have been answered.  If it has not, then they have also been answered.

College coaches can get lost in the haystack of what we have going on, no matter what division we coach in.  There is always something to do, and many times the 'to-do' we push to the back of the line is emails because it is easy to just say "I'll do that later or I'll reply to my emails tonight....".

To answer your questions, since the coach has not responded to the two emails your daughter sent, then I would guess that your PSA is not among his top group of recruits.  Again, I could easily be wrong because you just don't know what each coach has going on each week. 

Of course you would hope the coach would say "not interested, thank you", but he may well have your daughter as a back up to his #1 recruit and if he says "no thanks" then your VolleyPSA is no longer a viable option. 

My suggestion is to keep that school on your potential list and keep sending out an occasional email, but to consider and garner other options for college.  Don't cut that school, because there was something attractive to begin with, but start reviewing your list of other schools and possibly send out contact information to completely new programs.

Utility player is not definitive enough for College Volleyball recruiting.  With your daughter's height, but great vertical jump, I would focus your efforts for her as an OH.  That is wonderful she can play middle, but her impact opportunity will be as a passing OH at the college level.  It is better to focus upon the strength of a player, than the all around capabilities.  College Volleyball has become very specialized and not general, so players need to push what they are great at because college coaches now put their teams together in very specific parts of the puzzle.

Again, sorry for the delay and I hope things are moving forward positively for your VolleyFamily!

 

 

Thank you so much for your response.  It is very informative and helpful, especially regarding her position.

Just an update, the coach who said he was interested finally responded to her email and said to keep him posted.  Still not the kind of response we want but at least it is a response.

Thanks again, H.B.

Back-burner that coach and program, and move on to contacting other potential programs.  My instinct is this coach/program is stalling your PSA because she is a back up to his top group of players.  It is easier to say "no" than it is to say "yes", so give your VolleyFamily that opportunity by contacting many, many other schools.