Rally the Volleyball Recruiting Effort

Hi Coach,

I had the opportunity to see you at the parent program at the Phenom event in Nebraska. I love that you are able to advise from so many perspectives - coach, recruiter & player.

Our situation - 

I have a 6' daughter who can play every position.  She played MB during her sophomore year winning a state championship at a 6A school, she has been libero & setter for club & now plays as an outside hitter.  She has a profile up on multiple sites (BeRecruited, NCSA, SinjinVB etc) with videos.

She isn't getting may responses when she sends letters to coaches and she is starting to worry.  

I have 2 questions:

1. Is she just too late into the recruiting game to be seriously considered?

2. We now are getting calls daily from recruiters who want to help...(loaded question knowing you work with NCSA) - who do we pick or do we have many working to get her noticed this club season?  And yes, I am going broke fast!

Thanks for your advice!

Volleyball Mama

Thank you for attending the Recruiting Session at the Phenom Program in Omaha and glad that you enjoyed the information.

As you noted, I work for NCSA Athletic Recruiting.  But, I work for them because I used them for many years as a DI/DII coach and I trust that they provide a great service for volleyball families.  If you are considering moving into paid/premium support with a service, be clear about what your membership is purchasing.  

As I have written about in previous posts, recruiting services can really be divided into 2 categories; a took kit or personal support.  Each has their own strengths, but make sure you understand exactly what any paid service is going to provide to you.  If you are going to spend money and you want personal support, then NCSA should be your choice.

Your daughter is definitely not too late.

These are crazy times in college volleyball recruiting; a program scholarships an 8th grader and this same program will need a senior in March.  Recruiting starts very early and continues very late.  

But, there are still some constants - The majority of volleyball players will find their collegiate home in their Junior year or Senior year of club volleyball.  And, the fall into December of each recruiting season is always slow; college coaches are in their collegiate season, and they are immediate upcoming roster/scholarship changes that they will need to manage in the New Year.

Back to your daughter, I would suggest that her all around ability may have hindered her recruiting process a bit, but, but, but, this is not a bad thing at this point. Not bad because she has experienced a variety of positions and improved those positional skill sets. And, most important, she has matured and garnered more time in the recruiting process.

The downside of early commitments, is that many non-desirible things can occur in the 3 to 4 years before a recruit actually shows up on campus.  The obvious is going through a head coaching change, and the new coach does not want the player.  Because your daughter is still recruiting, her window for bad occurrences is much less.

Moving forward, your daughter needs to figure out what position she wants to play in college, not what position she thinks will get her a scholarship/roster spot in college.  Then, move forward with the collegiate outreach process in her desired position, supported with current video.  Remember that her outreach process needs to be focused on schools where she would have the ability to play; if she it not a Pac 12 athlete, then she should not be writing Pac 12 schools.

The slow time of the collegiate recruiting period is coming to an end; the MLK weekend starts active recruiting time.  As a Junior, your daughter is entering the prime recruiting segment, and it is important that your outreach set the table for college coaches to evaluate her.

Good luck and now go send a bunch of emails with video to college coaches.

Coach Sonnichsen