College Volleyball Recruiting without Club Volleyball

Hello,

Please help me as we are not very knowledgeable in the world of college volleyball! 

My daughter will be a junior in H.S., plays on the school team. Club volleyball is WAY to expensive and therefore she has never had this experience. From what I hear club volleyball is a must for college ball. We need a way around this. 

My son plays D1 football. Never played on a travel team. Attended some great camps and got his scholarship! I realize to compare the sports may be useless...none the less it is the only college sports experience we have. 

Are there scholarships at the D2 & D3 levels? We are looking to stay in state and I have very, very little knowledge about all this. She also does well on her track & field team. Her brother is 6'4" which helped him achieve D1 status, however, my daughter may only reach 5'8". She is very athletic and extremely coachable. 

Any advice you would give would be greatly appreciated! 

                                                                                                                        Thank you, 

B.L.

                                                                                                                                                                             

Club Volleyball is a monster, but it is also reflective of the direction youth sports has progressed.  Even football has club opportunities within the growing 7 on 7 leagues.  You most definitely cannot use football as a reference for your current volleyball recruiting challenges.

As great as club volleyball can be for skill development, recruiting exposure, friendships and life experiences, it can be expensive.  Club volleyball is the main vehicle for college volleyball recruiting but there are still ways to garner scholarship and roster opportunities without playing club volleyball.

First of all, I suggest you follow my Recruiting Plan in Inside College Volleyball, along with collegevolleyballcoach.com.  The Junior Year is important in your daughter's process, and the Junior Plan will help you get moving in the right recruiting direction.

The bottom line is that talent creates opportunity.  Your daughter's opportunity will be reflective of her talent level, along with your outreach efforts.  Because of today's technology, it is simple for families to email college coaches and link a video!

As for Scholarships, please see below:

NCAA Division I - Full Athletic Scholarships are awarded.  An athlete is either on a Full or a Walk on.  It is acceptable for athletes who are not on an Athletic Scholarship to receive non-athletics aid.

NCAA Division II - Partial to Full Athletic Scholarships are awarded.  The majority of athletes are on scholarship packages, comprised of Athletic, Academic, Merit and Need based funding.

NCAA Division III - No Athletic Scholarships are allowed to be awarded.  The athletes are allowed to receive all non-athletic aid awards.

NAIA - Similar to Division II; Athletic and non-athletic aid is packaged together.

Junior College - A wide range of scholarship opportunities depending upon the state you live in, including a large number of full scholarships.

With the parameters you illustrated, you will still be a solid recruiting position if you are focused in your outreach - There are any number of DII/NAIA/JC schools which would be a great opportunity, but they need to become aware of your daughter by you folks emailing them with a player bio and video!

Good luck!

Coach