Hi Coach,
Congrats on the new career path! I have asked you questions before and you have been a great help! Here's another one for you...
My daughter, who is a junior PSA (DS/L), will be playing "up" this club season on an 18's team. It is a regional level team, meaning no travel further than 1.5 hours away. We thought the team would be going to at least one USAV qualifier and maybe a larger venue at the end of the year, but after a team meeting, we were outvoted and the team as a whole does not want to travel to these types of tournaments.
Question: Will this hurt her chances of being recruited? We selected this club because of the travel opportunities. Now we feel mislead and let down.
Interestingly, her best friend is a freshman starter for a reputable Big Ten university and is homesick and unhappy. After visiting her this weekend, my daughter has decided she would like to stay within a 3 hour drive from home and play at a DII/DIII or lower level DI school that is close to home anyway.
What do you think...will coaches be turned off by only a regional/local schedule at age 17?
Anxiously awaiting your opinion, D.B.
When I was reading your fist section of the email, I would have answered that only playing a regional schedule would hurt your daughter's chances of gaining in person evaluations and recruiting notice.
But, after finishing your email, I think you should be ok (if she truly does just want to stay local and play at an attainable NCAA Division). As she is club'ing local and wants to NCAA local, then the local college coaches will be in a position to come see her play/practice, provide you reach out to them for contact and communication.
My only concern would be that the ideas and comfort level of high school and college kids change. Her best friend may not like her current situation but who is to say after the season is over, and she can have a somewhat traditional collegiate experience in the spring season. Maybe she will just love it and this could impact your daughter's thinking? Lots of water still needs to get under the bridge and luckily with your VolleyPSA's position, you have time.
Just use this Junior year of club to really focus on skill development and reaching out to ALL potential collegiate options; remember that L/DS usually get their looks in the Senior year. Because of this, make sure that you/PSA/Club are ALL on the same page when she is looking at her Senior year club options.
Coach
DB,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like my daughter was in a similar situation last year, as her team played in regional tournaments only, and turned down the opportunities to play in the qualifier. That was a bit disappointing for my daughter, since part of the draw of the power teams is the chance to play against clubs from other areas. It was still interesting to play clubs from three or four regions at the smaller regional tournaments, but that wasn't quite the same as a qualifier.
My daughter was an unsigned senior, but knew that her talent would best fit at the D2/D3 level. She did get seen by a variety of the local schools during her big tournaments. She drew interest from quite a few, and would have had a spot on a D3 team. However, she fell in love with a D1 school, and decided to go there rather than playing at the D3 school she just really liked.