College Volleyball Recruiting Process

Dear Coach:

We have your book and have been following your blog for a year or so.  Your information has been very helpful for us to understand the process  of  college VB recruiting and I thank you for that help.

I know that you have mentioned often that there is an overabundance of VB talent today for college coaches to choose from.  Your comments were a definite concern as my daughter started her junior year club season in November. 

Over the club season we sent out about 200 emails with youtube links to about 50-60 colleges.  My daughter is a 5’5” setter who has been shut out of playing high school VB since her sophomore year.  She never had the opportunity to play for the 1s level teams, but does play for club teams that do qualifiers and have strong strength of schedules in our region.  

She is not naturally athletic, but after 6 years of club VB and investing in camps and lessons and training she has great setting and serving skills as a back-row setter.  Over the club season, she got quite a bit of interest from about a dozen or so college coaches in response to the emails.  At least two of the coaches came to watch her at the MEQ.  

After visiting just 4 of those colleges throughout the Midwest, she received offers from all 4 of their coaches to play setter for them in 2014.  Two of the offers were given before the end of the school year in April and the other two before July.  Three were NAIA schools offering their “institutional maximum” scholarships, and one was D3 offering an academic scholarship package.  All 4 financial aid offers and tuition costs were very competitive with each other.  Three of the schools are very dominant in their conferences (consistent top 3).  Two have won their conferences 3 times in the last 5 years and have earned bids to their national tournament.   They are strong programs with full-time VB coaching staffs and great facilities.  

Overall, the process to be offered these college VB scholarships was not as hard, nor as competitive, nor as disappointing as her experiences have been in High School and Club VB.  In fact, it was an awesome and exciting process to watch as my daughter went through it.  Needless to say, she is very much looking forward to college next year.    

I believe that most dedicated VB athletes should be able to find an opportunity to play VB in college if they have that desire.

Thanks again for your service! It has been very helpful!

Mom of a Destined College VB Athlete

Congratulations on managing the recruiting process and securing a comfortable collegiate future for your VolleyPSA.  I appreciate the kind comments about Inside College Volleyball, and the assistance  collegevolleyballcoach.com provided.

I compliment you on being active with your recruiting.  Because there are so many good players, VolleyFamilies have to be pro-active and remain active as they manage college volleyball recruiting.  Reaching out to coaches with video, following up with coaches, going on unofficial visits, negotiating/reviewing the scholarship offers, considering the type of institution and athletic affiliation are key components of begin successful.

Too many VolleyFamilies are still operating under the old model of playing club volleyball, going to tournaments and hoping that their PSA will get contacted, recruited and offered.  For a number of PSA's who have been blessed with height and talent at an early age, this recruiting model still works.  But, for the 5'9" outside hitter with solid all around talent, this process may not yield her the best opportunity.