College Volleyball Recruiting - NCAA D2

Hi Coach!

I am a high school junior (2014) and a solid 6'1 middle hitter.  I have been recruited by a D2 school since my sophomore club season and have made an unofficial visit to their campus at the end of March this year.  Their coaches have also been to a couple of my club tournaments this year.  This is the college that I really have my hopes on going to and need some advice on seeing where I stand on their recruiting lists and what it will take to get an offer from them.  I have only sent them a few emails since my visit because I never know what to say to them, but still want to keep in touch.  I am also attending one of their advanced camps in July, hoping they will make their decisions then about whether they want me on their team or not, as well as wanting to get a feel for their coaching.  I could really use advice on what I can do!

Thanks so much!

~A Passionate Middle

It sounds like you are doing everything you need with your #1 college/program of choice.  

A few things to keep in mind - 

1. Many NCAA D2 programs wait to secure their recruiting class when the PSA (you) is in the senior year of high school.  This is because D2 programs use partial athletic scholarships and package them with academic, merit and need based scholarships. This scholarship protocol can result in a coach not knowing exactly what they have to offer a recruit until the PSA presents a senior year gpa and ACT/SAT scores.  

2.  My impression/experience is that D2 rosters can change often, from semester to semester because the players don't have the financial incentive to stay in a situation which they don't like (maybe the school is not a good as they thought, maybe the coach is nuts, maybe they are not playing, maybe they have a boyfriend back home).  If a player is only walking away from a $2,000 scholarship, that is not too painful, but if she is walking away from a Full Scholarship (like D1) she may stay with the team.  This situation results in coaches wanting to wait as long as possible to secure their recruits, because their recruiting needs are in flux.

3.  Even though this program is your #1 choice, you have to be constantly reaching out to other potential programs.  This will provide you a back up incase something does not happen with your #1, and it allows you the opportunity to leverage or use a back up school to generate a larger scholarship offer from your #1.

4.  You can not 'force' the recruiting process with your #1 school.  All you can do is this - keep working on your volleyball ability, keep your grades and test scores as high as possible, keep up the communication with your #1, and keep reaching  out to new schools to put yourself into the best possible position.

Patiently manage the recruiting process.

Good luck!