How Can a Top 250 Benefit an Athlete at the 15s/16s Level?
What value does a Prep Dig Top 250 Showcase bring to the athletes who are just starting “The Next” step in their club volleyball careers? I’m talking about the 15 and 16s age groups where athletes can be coming off a variety of club and high school experiences. Here is a bit of a guide for those athletes (and their parents) and how attending one of the Prep Dig Top 250s can kickstart your club season, your recruiting, and some exposure gained through this experience.
What are the benefits of attending a Top 250 at the 15/16s level?
Playing With Other Top Players Around The State
This is a unique experience where athletes can just go out and play. They will get a chance to play with and against other athletes they are always accustomed to seeing across the net. There is something of great value being able to play with and against players who are as good as you or better. The pace of play at one of these events is quick. Athletes will get a chance to showcase their all around ability, positional strengths, and how they perform in a six on six type setting with players they may have just met at this event.
The Exposure to the Prep Dig Scouts
I can speak from experience. When I cover the 15s level, I am learning names, I’m learning where they play club – safe to say there is a lot of learning going on. Depending on the high school program, some might have been varsity players, others on their JV teams. Some athletes may have come from a smaller school where they are playing varsity by default and others are coming from mega high school programs where they are loaded with Juniors and Seniors and the best spot for them is playing JV. During the high school season, Prep Dig Scouts don’t always get a chance to see a lot of the freshmen and sophomores play.
At a Prep Dig Top 250, we get a chance to see the 15s and 16s close up. We get to see how they will succeed with athletes in their same age group. This is most likely the best way for us to see the 15s and 16s early before they get started in their club seasons and are now playing in massive events under a convention center roof.
Using Our Content As Evidence When Reaching Out To College Coaches
I think what is the most valuable experience in the recruiting experience is having the athletes be advocates for themselves. They have to be the ones who drive the process. We want to help athletes in that process by having the athletes provide evidence of their play to potential college coaches. We encourage athletes to use our articles and social media when it comes to reaching out to college coaches. Use our video, take a screenshot of what someone wrote about you at an event, use all the resources we provide.
Above all, we want the athletes to have a positive experience which looks different for everybody. Is this a make or break event in your recruiting process? No. Can it help and be an important piece of your recruiting process? Yes. Recruiting is a process where the athlete should be in the driver’s seat and this is one of the pit stops on their way to finding the right school.
From a Prep Dig Scout perspective, we get excited for these events because it’s a chance for us to see athletes we are covering for the first time or we are getting to interact with athletes we’ve covered for a couple of years. There are plenty of positives that come from this event in multiple forms and as scouts, we are proud to be a part of this for the athletes.