College Volleyball Program's Online Recruiting Questionnaire

Hi Coach,

I'm getting a lot of info from your website but I have a question about online player profiles that I haven't seen answered.  You often say that a player may receive a questionnaire from a  school  & that it should be filled out promptly regardless of your interest in that college. 

My question is about the online questionnaires.  After I initiate contact by email to a coach and send a quick video, I always fill out the online questionnaire if they have one.  So now the coach has no need to send me a request to fill one out.  The down side I guess is that I don't have any idea if they are interested in me.  Should I hold off on filling these out till the school asks for it?  Also should you fill out another questionnaire at the start of each year? 

 I will add that I am currently a hs  sophomore & I started emailing colleges & filling out questionnaires spring of freshman year. Some coaches have asked about me, but with the majority I have no idea where I stand with them.

Thanks, M.R.

I don't recommend bothering with the online questionnaire, unless the collegiate coach sends you the link or specifically requests you complete it.  

I say this for two reasons:

1.  All too often, the college coaches are not getting this online questionnaire in a timely manner and it is being routed from a 3rd party server; many athletic department websites are managed by contracted companies (almost all DI athletic departments).

2.  There is no 'filter' for the collegiate coaches - It they want to get information from an athlete in a questionnaire format, then the coaches will contact them.  Getting a questionnaire from some random player, does not really satisfy the recruiting protocols for a coach.  

I feel it is much better to have the outreach effort towards collegiate programs be accomplished by a short intro letter/email from the PSA which includes a video link, physical stats and complete contact information.  If the college program needs a questionnaire, for a compliance or tracking issue, they will send you the one they need completed.

As a sophomore, you are just entering the evaluation segment for a majority of DI programs and for DII/NAIA, you are still a year or so away from evaluation.

Don't get too far ahead of the process; best thing to do right now is develop your playing abilities and stay steady with your outreach efforts.  Per the NCAA rules, DI coaches can only send you a Letter and Questionnaire and the DII's/NAIA/JC's won't start evaluating for awhile yet.

Sure, some DI's will contact your club coach and may ''communicate" via them, but those tend to be the elite power conference programs or the high mid majors.  Because of the craziness of today's DI college volleyball world, the 'slower' you can make the recruiting process, the better; less chance of negative change in 1 year versus 3.

Good luck!

Coach Matt