New 2029 Rankings List Released Today: What To Expect This Week

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Follow @KypPDIN on X for all of your Indiana high school and club volleyball news! Use code Kyp30 for 30% off of your annual subscription to PrepDig!</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The list of 2029 athletes is no longer a “watch list”, as of today. Today, we start the rankings process, which is a little wonky at the start. Here are a few things to know as this week progresses into the new year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">This is a “futures” list, making it predictive and subjective.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are not trying to say who's great RIGHT NOW, because too many lists out there do exactly that. What we're trying to do is to predict an athlete's future. Is this athlete “college-ready”? This is also an opinion piece, meaning there are multiple interpretations for how this list should look. In short, this list is subject to change. As a matter of fact, it will change again——about every three months.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The first rankings list is always a little wonky. Be patient.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I try to put together, as best as possible, where I think these athletes belong in relation to their future aspirations. Sometimes, those rankings are a little off for a number of reasons—-if I haven't seen the player play, if the information is inaccurate/incomplete—-and there's only one of me and close to 1000 athletes in the four rankings classes I created. As we get into your child's career, things get a little more realistic and accurate. The next update is during March, somewhere around the middle of club season for the great majority of us.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success in high school does not translate to success at the club or collegiate level.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On more than one occasion, I've received nasty emails from folks at small high schools that talk about a 5'4” setter dominating the stat sheet or a 5'7” middle that I should have ranked higher because they got all-conference for their rural area. Those sizes and stats are NOT indicative of what their collegiate possibilities are. 5'7” middles don't exist in college. 5'4” setters don't run a 5-1 in college. There are other factors at hand here, and a lot of them have nothing to do with high school successes. On the flip side, there are a TON of athletes that never sniff All-State accolades in any class of school that have huge collegiate careers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">This list does NOT guarantee collegiate scholarships. No one can.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Too many times, I've run into folks that think that the first rankings list (yes, this one, during their freshman year) is what kept their daughter from earning a scholarship to any school. Heck, I can't even guarantee college PLACEMENT during the fall of a kid's graduation year. What I can provide, however, is eyeballs on your athlete. The very MENTION of your child on these lists ups their stock in the recruiting area, and that's more than most that play club on the outer courts of a random convention center tournament. If YOU (yes, you) put in the work, and continue to work throughout your high school and club seasons, and show me examples of it (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='575394' first='Amaya' last='Joie Zander']</strong> is a great example of this), that raises your stock. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Which brings me to another fact: there are collegiate programs who read this.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I have subscriptions from small colleges around the country who don't have the recruiting budget to come to our tournaments here in Indiana, but know that we produce some of the best volleyball in the Midwest. They trust me to get the right information to them at a fraction of the cost of a hotel, gas and meals to drive to a tournament and wander around. The same is true for negative folks—-colleges want to know whom to stay away from, whether it's a kid's attitude or an overbearing parent. College coaches do not have time to deal with personal issues prior to their arrival to campus—-they're too busy taking care of the program. Understand this fact, and you'll see that the “ranking” takes on a whole new meaning.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Finally, be nice.</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If you choose to send emails that are informative, nice and helpful, I will most likely thank you and make my adjustments. As I said earlier, I can't do this alone, but I have to, and I appreciate any and all help from informed observers. For those that choose to be insulting, nasty, inappropriate or otherwise unreasonable, you will be ignored, most likely blocked and deleted from my email inbox. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->