Wed Webinar and College Volleyball Recruiting Advice for Late Developing Player

Tonight's Wednesday Webinar is on Recruiting During the NCAA Division I Quiet Period and May.  The Webinar begins at 9 p.m. Central time, and if the internet connection is fast, I won't look like Max Headroom over the camera!


To join in, simply cut and paste the below link into your browser:


 http://connectpro96398706.adobeconnect.com/msonnichsen/


On the next page, click Guest - Type your name (or the name of the 15th President of the United States) and enter.


Please note, that tonight's webinar is the last one of the of the spring club volleyball season.  Starting in May, we will commence on a once a month webinar schedule, with the dates promoted on collegevolleyballcoach.com and via the NCSA Athletic Recruiting network.


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I'm a volleyball player who currently plays Club in Michigan. I am 6'2" with my court shoes on, I play MB, I've only been playing for a year, and I'm a sophomore. My school doesn't have a volleyball team, but right now I am trying to get onto the intramural volleyball team at the local community college. 

My goal is to play college volleyball, but the schools that I am looking at are mainly on the Pacific Coast. Since I live in Michigan and am not on a National team (though I'm going to try out for one this coming fall), do you have any suggestions for improving my chances of getting recognized by those coaches? Also, do you have any overall tips for improving as a newbie? 

I feel like I improve and learn something new every practice, but the other girls on my team have all been playing for 3-7 years. Do you have any advice for how specifically I can improve in a short amount of time (no matter how hard or how much I have to work for it, I'm willing to go for it)? 

Thanks so much for your time (I know you must get tons of emails), A.B.

Thank you for your email and I am happy to assist you!

A few things:

1.  Take a read through older posts within collegevolleyballcoach.com, which will provide some good recruiting and training advice, along with my book, Inside College Volleyball.

2.  I would not pursue the intra mural team at the community college; the NCAA may have issues with you competing on an organized college team, even if it is just intra mural  teams; better to be on the safe side with the NCAA and just do club volleyball (don't worry that your current school does not have a team; more and more players are skipping high school volleyball to concentrate on club).

3.  If you are not a client of NCSA Athletic Recruiting, then I would strongly suggest you consider joining because NCSA will have all the west coast school's contacts and program/academic information.  As you are in Michigan, you are probably not going to be on the radar of the all the west coast programs because your state may not be a high priority in their recruiting travel.

4.  Making a national team, which will attend the larger events and National Qualifiers, will provide valuable exposure, along with exposing you to a higher level of competition thus elevating your playing level.

5.  As you have only been playing for a year, you have a big upside in your training, and being a sophomore, you have time to achieve that upside.  In addition to trying to get on a National club team, I would concentrate on attending a specific MB camp(s) to focus your training.  As you have this big potential, you need to get into the gym to get the repetitions you need to improve during the summer.

6.  Be patient in your recruiting efforts, especially the west coast; a number of west coast programs will recruit a bit later than most people think.  You have good height, and a big upside, so the more you reach out and the more patience you have, the more time you will have to improve and thus become more attractive to college programs!

Again, take a look at my collegevolleyballcoach.com site, take another hard look at joining NCSA's service, and keep working hard to improve; you can attain your goal but it takes hard work, focus and patience.

Coach Matt Sonnichsen