I have enjoyed reading and learning from your insight over the years as we navigated my daughter thru the volleyball maze of club, HS and recruiting. But now our son is going thru the process and I am curious if we should approach the mens volleyball process differently then we do the girl’s process.
Obviously the opportunities are fewer, scholarships less and coaches budgets to travel to tournaments lacking - so should we approach camps differently, are playing in nationals required, do college coaches rely more on HS coaches?
As background - we live in the midwest, our son is 6’6”, plays for an strong HS program (a few current D1 players), his coach expects him to play 6 rotations this year as a junior and for fun he plays beach (playing at nationals next week).
I know your forte is the women’s environment, but any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks,
T.S.
T.S.
Thanks for the compliments and happy that I was able to assist in your daughter's recruiting process.
The process for the men is similar to the women, but the challenge is the limited number of playing opportunities. Women's college volleyball has approximately 1,500 programs, while the men's program number under 200 - That is tough math for men's players.
I suggest maximizing technology to promote/market your son's ability. With men's volleyball being smaller, you can really achieve 'leaving no stone unturned'. And, when a school does shoe interest, I suggest arranging a visit ASAP so you can evaluate them and they can evaluate you.
I am not familiar enough with Boy's Nationals to know the recruiting impact - I was actually at Boy's Nationals in Houston this year watching a friend of mine's son, but he was in the younger age group so I cannot provide you feedback on possible men's college coaches evaluating the older players.
As for camps, I am still not sold on them for recruiting but because of how coveted men's roster spots are, if a school expresses recruiting interest and you have a comfortable dialog with them, then it may be worth the cost - Again, you would want to be very aware of that school's recruiting needs before committing to a camp.
In closing, the average men's volleyball recruit has to work harder on managing the recruiting process than the average women's volleyball recruit because of the limited collegiate opportunities - Use technology and video to provide maximum exposure!
Coach
Mind if I chime in?
ReplyDeleteI am a D3 Men's coach and was also at Nationals in Houston. All the big boys were there, so if your son is at that level, those coaches will have found you and reached out already. If they haven't, I would pursue Academic avenues of scholarships. Private schools will offer you MORE academic money. I know my school offers up to $23,000 in academic $, so some of my guys who have good grades, who have need and can qualify for Federal Aid, end up paying just for room and board ~ $11,000 for the year. I think that's a pretty good deal myself. So don't overlook the private schools. They are more expensive initially or in theory, but you may be pleasantly surprised.
Having just gone through this process playing club is the key and getting as much video out there as possible. Most mens programs are at Nationals looking at Juniors and Sophomores. Recruiting begins latter with real recruiting beginning the Junior Year and DIII programs still recruiting through nationals. Found some High performance exposure also helpful only by making contacts with college coaches. Because high school coaches experience varies the coaches really talk to the club coaches.
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