How to Play Volleyball in College

Many young people like the idea of playing a sport in college, but the question is: How realistic is that? Depending on your expectations, playing a sport at the collegiate level may be more realistic than you think.

Playing a sport at the collegiate level can happen in a few different ways: you can get recruited and play for an athletic scholarship, you can get recruited and play without an athletic scholarship, or you can try out as a walk-on.

If you truly dream of being to play for a college team, you may be able to play at some of the lower-tier schools without being the most talented player. If you’re willing to compromise and play without an athletic scholarship, you may be able to work hard, grow and improve, and be able to either earn a scholarship or be recruited to transfer to another school that offers you one.

Can I start playing volleyball in college (without getting recruited)?

Volleyball is a widespread and competitive sport, so in most places, it’s very difficult to make the team, especially without getting recruited. If you would like to make the college volleyball team, there are a few things you can do to try to increase your chances.

Attend Volleyball Camps or Clinics

If you would like to get exposure to college volleyball coaches and recruiters, you can try to identify some volleyball camps or volleyball clinics in the local area. Many college programs host their own camp or clinic every year to help them identify local talent and they will invite prospects to come to attend. If the particular college you’d like to target isn’t hosting any, contact the volleyball coach and ask if they participate in any, because you’d like to meet them.

Train to Increase Your Overall Condition

This may seem obvious, but consider just how hard you’re willing to work to earn a spot on the volleyball team and are you fit enough to deserve it. A great way to really kick your training up a notch is to hire a personal volleyball trainer. These are former volleyball athletes and coaches who can work with you one-on-one and focus on helping you develop specific skills that will set you up to succeed.

Ask to Try Out As a Walk-On

All different kinds of athletic programs at all different kinds of schools will host open tryouts for walk-ons from time to time. Even some Division 1 schools will host an annual open tryout for anyone who is currently a student or who has been accepted as a future student for their school. Although you may not get an athletic scholarship, sometimes earning that spot on the team can open that up for the future.

How hard is it to get recruited for college volleyball?

Volleyball is a very competitive sport to get recruited for the college level. It’s estimated that about 1% of the players at the high school level go on to play for an athletic scholarship at the collegiate level.

A major part of the challenge to “getting recruited” is understanding that recruiting isn’t always the way it looks in the movies. People usually have this idea of a random recruiter just walking up to the athlete after a good game and asking them to come and play for their college program.

The way it works in today’s world is usually far from that. For the vast majority of volleyball players, you will have to take the initiative and begin the recruiting process and put yourself out there, it won’t happen by accident.

If you have more questions, you should really read through our Complete Volleyball Recruiting Guide.

Is It Possible to Play College Volleyball With No High School Experience?

Although it’s possible, it’s very unlikely for you to play for a college volleyball team without any high school experience. If you’re going to try to do this, you’re probably going to have to be very flexible about which college you’re going to attend, because it’s unlikely the one you just happen to choose will have an opening on the roster, a need for someone of your ability level, and the willingness to give you a chance.

If you are in this situation, there are a few factors that could come into play to help you listed below.

Factors That Could Help You Play Without Experience:

You Are Naturally Gifted

There have been cases where players who are very tall and have a natural athletic condition, have come to the sport later than most and achieved high levels of success. If you are very flexible, quick, and have good coordination, you may be able to do well enough to make a team.

You Played Other Sports in High School

In most of the “late bloomer” stories you read about athletes that didn’t play their sport until their senior year of high school or even the beginning of college, the unspoken part is that they were playing other sports. If you are a gifted athlete who has played other sports and suddenly switch to volleyball, it is possible to make that transition happen.

In some cases, volleyball may not be available to play in your high school and you may have played other sports. If you are used to competing at a high level and you’re very coachable, you may be able to make a team roster.

You Played Club Volleyball

In some cases, I’ve heard of players playing Club Volleyball and never actually playing for their high school team. I would ALWAYS recommend that if you’re trying to play at the next level, to play both for your high school and a club team if at all possible.

There are definitely some positives, but also some negatives about choosing to go this route:

Postives to Playing Only Club Volleyball

1. You limit how much wear and tear you place on your body. In some school programs, you practice so much of the year, that the main part of your off-season is the club season. Some players will also have other sports they are trying to play. In this case, they may choose to only play club to limit injuries and over-training.
2. You may have better coaching from coaches that are more professional. Your options are completely limited when you’re playing for your school team, you have no choice of coach. So it’s understandable that players may rather pick one of the best clubs in their area and want to play for those coaches with a great record of success.
3. You may play on more successful team. Club volleyball teams can be great because clubs are able to select the best players across a wide area instead of being limited by their school enrollment. Your club may also compete in tournaments that are a much higher level than your school play, so you improve as a player by playing with and against higher level athletes.

Negatives to Skipping the High School Team

1. You’re not going to have as much experience as players who play both. It’s just a simple fact that if you give up the school season, you’re not getting as many touches, not as much conditioning and not as much court time, as if you did both. Some clubs will try to compensate for that by offering a much longer club season and more tournaments, but it’s pretty rare to find a situation where you would get more volleyball out of just the 1 season.
2. College coaches may notice and may be turned off that you didn’t play for your school team. Although you may have good reason (your school team is terrible, you hate the coach, you have conflicting extra-curriculars), college coaches may not like to see that you didn’t play for your high school team. Some coaches are fine with it, but you probably won’t know until it’s too late. So just consider if it’s worth the risk.
3. You may limit yourself to connections that would be made through your high school coach or high school program. Although volleyball clubs are usually more focused on college recruiting connections, you never know how things will work out. Your high school experience may be what opens the door for you to get a college volleyball offer.

Would you like to learn how early you should get started in the recruiting process? Check out this post.

Walking On – Playing For Your School Without a Scholarship

Although it’s rare in high-level programs, you can choose to play for a team without going through the typical recruiting process and this may mean that you don’t receive an athletic scholarship. If your true goal and dream are to play at the next level, that may be fine with you. In some cases, players are able to qualify for scholarships through academics or other qualifications, so an athletic scholarship may not really help them.

If you would like to learn more about athletic scholarships, this post will give you a more in-depth look.

How Long Can You Play College Volleyball?

Student-athletes are allowed to complete for 4 seasons in their sport. There are very detailed rules that govern all kinds of different scenarios:

• how many classes you have to take to be considered qualified as a student
• how it works if you transfer between schools
• if you have injuries during the season
• Redshirts
• Walk-ons

If you would like to learn about these different situations in the NCAA, you can find them here:

https://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/current/transfer-terms

Photo Credits

Feature image by Andrew Turner on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

Purple team image by K.M. Klemencic on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/