How to Get on a College Coach’s Radar
Recruiting. It’s on every collegiate volleyball prospects’ mind and can be an extremely stressful process. But where to even begin? Here are three simple steps to improve your recruiting success.
Be proactive
One of the most common misconceptions athletes face in the world of recruiting is the idea that college coaches will come to them. Today’s recruiting is cutthroat since the recruiting and commitment age continues to decline, so it is important for athletes to separate themselves from other recruits early on. This is done by being proactive in the recruiting process and reaching out to college coaches yourself.
Email serves as a great tool for introducing yourself and sharing film of you playing. Maintaining timely communication with coaches is vital in the recruiting process as it gives a good impression by showing you are an interested and dedicated individual. Contact as many schools as you can when starting the recruiting process and keep an open mind. Don’t worry if you are being annoying, emailing can never hurt and coaches like when you contact them personally. Depending on the division you are reaching out to, there are rules that prohibit coaches’ contacting you prior to your junior year of high school so do not be discouraged if college coaches are not emailing you back. Because of NCAA restrictions, it is vital for you to include your club and/or high school coaches’ contact information so they have a way of getting additional information and to show interest in you. Basically, in recruiting, communication is key.
Make yourself available
In order to be noticed by college coaches, you have to make yourself available to play as much as possible. College coaches want to see you play: they don’t just want to watch your highlights, they want to see real-time action where they can evaluate your decision-making skills and how you handle mistakes. Competing in club volleyball is a great way to get on coaches’ radars as this is prime time for recruiting for many collegiate programs. High school seasons overlap with their busy college seasons, so club is becoming more of the main source of recruiting. Club volleyball serves as a great opportunity for college coaches to see multiple players at one venue, often entering tournaments with lists as long as fifty athletes to watch.
Another great way to sell yourself to college coaches is by attending college camps during the summer. Attending a college volleyball camp is a great way to be seen in action by college volleyball coaches. While developing your skills at camp, you may also earn garner interest from the coaching staff! If you have a specific school in mind, but are not entirely sure you could play there, it is still a good idea to attend the camp. By showcasing your talents you may, at the very least, spark enough interest to be offered a walk-on opportunity. With that being said, attendance of college camps is certainly not 100% necessary to find the right college for you but it does give you more insight to coaching styles and levels of competition. Even if you don’t land the interest of the coaching staff, you gain valuable insight as to what it takes to get to that level.
Get more help
Recruiting is much like job hunting; you network yourself to coaches and weigh your options to find the best fit. Having connections and resources in the recruiting process can serve as a great tool to networking yourself because, sometimes, emailing college coaches just isn’t enough to spark an interest. Resources do not always have to cost money. If you have a connection to a collegiate program you are trying to pursue, whether it be a former coach, teammate, or referee, ask them to serve as a reference for you and put in a good word to the college coach about how you could fit into their program.
Other useful ways to network yourself are to sign up for a recruiting profile. Although these can be a little costly, they serve as a great way to network yourself to programs around the nation and in addition, they provide recruiting information and tips. Having a recruiting platform can help to connect to hundreds of colleges. Additional information about recruiting companies (NCSA, Hudl, Scoutforce, etc), can be accessed with a simple search on the internet.
In closing, treat the recruiting process like you would applying for a job. Your resume is your skill, attitude, and athletic accolades. Your cover letter is your email and outreach to coaches. And finally, your letter of recommendation depends on how well you use resources to your advantage.
The recruiting process is a great journey where you will learn more about yourself as a person and a player as you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Be sure to make yourself stand-out above other recruits by: 1) being proactive in recruiting, 2) be respectful to others on and off the court, and 3) have fun playing volleyball!