Volleyball Recruiting Time Line: Freshmen Year

The Plan:

Have Fun!  -  The number one thing you should be doing as a freshmen is having fun playing the sport you love.

Focus on Academics

Start off your freshmen year on the right foot academically by developing good study habits and time management skills.  In order to play volleyball in college you have to be able to perform in the classroom as well as on the court. Simply put, the better your grades are, the more opportunities you will have.

Play Club Volleyball

During your freshmen high school season, you should start researching club programs in your area and play on the best club team you can afford.  Coaches very rarely recruit players this far in advance, but by playing volleyball all year around at a young age, players tend to develop stronger fundamental skills.  

Good Training

Good coaching is also very important at this age because bad habits are really hard to break, so do your homework when determining which club program (and coach) is right for you.  When making your decision, keep in mind there are some big differences in club programs both financially and competitively that you need to be aware of.  Usually a club program is broken down into three levels: Local, Regional, and National, which range from least competitive to most competitive:

• Local Teams – a local team will likely be the least expensive option because teams travel to tournaments that are close to home and practice only one or two times per week.  An emphasis is put on equal playing time, and social interaction. 

• Regional Teams – Regional teams will be slightly more expensive than local teams, and will travel to the local tournaments plus one maybe two large tournaments, where they will likely compete in the Club division (which is less competitive than the Open division).  Practices will be two to three times per week, and more emphasis will be placed on the development of skills.   Playing time will be shared, but not necessarily equal. 

• National Teams – National teams will be the most expensive club option as players travel to numerous large national qualifying tournaments all over the country where they likely will compete in the Open division (the most competitive division).  Practices will be two to five times per week, and tend to be very structured and intense.  The focus is learning to compete at the next level with the goal of pursuing a college scholarship.

If you are interested in playing volleyball in college, playing on a National team will be your best option because you will be playing with, and competing against, other strong volleyball players.  Plus as you get older, you will have the opportunity to be seen in person by college coaches much more often.  However, the financial constraints that come with club volleyball at this level are significant, so again just play on the best club team you can afford. 

General Information Letter / Packet

You may start receiving introduction letters in your Freshmen year but please do not put too much stock in these.  Receiving letters can be very exciting, but understand this is the very first step in the recruiting process and it’s a way for college programs to begin building their database of prospective student athletes (PSAs).  You should celebrate receiving an informational letter, but do not confuse this letter as a program that is actively recruiting you, because they are not.  You likely received this letter because 1) you have a promising quality i.e. tall, good hands, solid passing platform, 2) you play on a strong club program or region of the country that typically trains great volleyball players, or 3) your team performed well at a major tournament.  Programs are not even sure what types of players they are going to need to recruit this far in advance because there are a lot of variables to consider including red-shirted players, transfer students, academic troubles, injuries, coaching changes etc., which will effect each recruiting class.

In Summary

The Freshmen year should be about having fun, getting on a good track academically and locking in solid fundamental volleyball skills.

Have questions? Please contact Amanda Millard at 303-929-8587 or by email at Amanda@VolleyballRecruits.net to discuss how to we can help your son or daughter throughout the recruiting process.