If you’re incredibly athletic, you may be surprised in your middle school years to begin getting some interest from coaches. Usually, coaches like to choose the hitters that are very tall and athletic early and begin forming a relationship with them.
Most volleyball players will begin their recruiting process during their Sophomore or Junior year of high school. Beginning early is always good, so begin to gather video, build your online profiles and understand the process.
If you’re too late for that, don’t despair, there’s still quite a bit of opportunity for Seniors to earn a scholarship. My daughter Heidie didn’t really make up her mind until the beginning of her senior year and by the beginning of the club season in January, she had accepted an offer.
There are many rules governing what college coaches can and cannot do and when they can do it. You, as a player, can feel free to initiate contact with coaches and they will let you know if there are any rules you need to be aware of. Student-athletes can begin making visits to college campuses at the beginning of their Junior year of high school.
How Does The Recruiting Process Start?
Unless a college approaches you, it will begin when you start by creating a recruiting video. You will reach out to coaches through email or recruiting platforms and share the video to try to gain their interest.
You should begin to capture all the video footage you can of your play so that you have as much footage as possible to be able to pick out your best plays and highlights. Once you’ve begun, keep creating videos throughout your season and use that as a reason to keep reaching out to coaches. It’s perfectly normal to share a short video after every few games or each tournament.
Soon after you’ve sent your initial recruiting video to a coach (like with 2 weeks), you should try to give them a call. You can ask if they’ve had a chance to watch it and if they haven’t, your question may be the prompt they need to go find the link in your email. If they don’t answer their phone, don’t hesitate, leave them a message.
Coaches are sometimes overwhelmed and you want to be getting their attention over and over until they give you some feedback. You want them to see your progression as a player over the time that you’re trying to be recruited.
When Should I Start Recruiting?
If you really want to play for a Division 1 school, you need to start in the early high school years. If you have the athletic ability, you want to get your name out there so coaches take notice.
Many D1 programs have most of the positions on their roster planned out much earlier than the D2, D3, or NAIA schools. For the majority of athletes, beginning in your sophomore or junior years will be fine.
Another factor is which position you play. Typically the hitters and blockers get recruited earlier. If you’re a setter, a libero, or a defensive specialist, you may still be recruited at the end of your senior season!
If you’re not sure where you stand athletically, ask your coaches. It’s important that you ask to have a private meeting with them and tell them that you would like to play at the next level and you really need an honest idea of what is realistic.
When Will College Recruiters Talk To Me?
It’s very likely that if you wait for college coaches and recruiters to come and find you, they never will. Unless you’re the very top tier of talent, college coaches and recruiters do not come looking in today’s volleyball world.
This happens because they have so many athletes sending them videos, calling them, and emailing them. Coaches often have more players bombarding them than they really need.
So be proactive! If you know what you want, you’ve got to decide to get out there and take it.
Do You Want To Get a Jump Start on Recruiting?
If you already know that you want to work with the best recruiting platform and service, we HIGHLY recommend Next College Student Athlete…
How Much Time Does The Recruiting Process Take?
It’s shocking when you realize just how much time it will take for you to do all of the different parts of the recruiting process. If you are trying to do it all by yourself, you will easily spend 100’s of hours per season, until you secure an offer and make a commitment.
If you would like help in this process, it can be a very wise investment to join a recruiting platform. Using a proven system, with templates and a list of items you need to work on can really help you focus and move through the process.
If you haven’t already seen it, make sure to check out our Complete Volleyball Recruiting Guide.
Photo Credits
Feature image by K.M. Klemencic on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
Pancake image by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels
Sideline image by K.M. Klemencic on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
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