Recruiting basics- (getting started)

0 Kudo

Author	Comment
N2TRUX	Recruiting basics- (getting started)	Lead	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 1079 (06/15/08 2:36 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None Like most parents on here we all have hopes that some day our player will continue her volleyball career in college. Of course we would all love to have that 6'4" player that has swarms of D1 recruiters lined up along the court watching her every move. The reality is a very large percentage of our players don't fit that category. For those of us that don't have that next D1 superstar residing under our roof, where do we get started? What "free" sites should we register with, and which "paid" sites are worth the money? For those that have received letters of interest, how should you respond if your player doesn't know where she wants to go to school or have a clue to what she might major in? I know there are many more questions that need to be asked for those of us researching our options. Please feel free to offer any advice that you have learned along the way. Here is a recap of this thread for those of you that are just tuning in. Important websites- beRecruited.com College Bound Athletes NCAA Rich Kern- Free Page Rich Kern's recruiting registry. Sign up to Play University Athlete Preperation- Skills Video Last Edited By: N2TRUX 06/21/08 7:13 AM. Edited 7 times.
DirectionallyChallenged	my few cents worth	#1	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 260 (06/15/08 3:00 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	No paid sites necessary: register with Rich Kern's recruiting registry. Make sure your information on University Athlete and Sign up to Play is accurate. (those are both free as well) Have your daughter set up an email account specifically for volleyball (update with new email on above registries). Using letters of interest along with colleges she is interested set up a contact list of colleges. Send group email to your entire list updating with club season notes and forthcoming events (JO's or JVDA). Then send another one as school season approaches. During school season--if your child receives mention in the local newspaper---screenshot or send a link to your group email. (Make sure she adds new coaches emails head, assistants, etc. as she gets letters of interest). This keeps her visible to them. Keep in mind they cannot respond until after September 1 of her junior year. My child chose to keep her letters of interest in a 3" binder. She put them in order received and each one in a sheet protector. As additional information from the schools came in she would file in the sheet protector. That quickly gave way to a milk crates after Sept. 1 of the junior year---we had to go to milk crates with file folders to file the media guides and admission information. We chose to do this alphabetically and by NCAA Divisions. It was good to have it all grouped together--especially during the roller coaster ride----when they are sick of the process--then stuff it all in the closet--and when they hit the summit--then pull it out again. Just a few thoughts to get you rolling---but each family will find the system that works for them. Good luck and enjoy the ride.
CBound	CBound	#2	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 7 (06/15/08 5:08 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	On this web site you will find a section under 'Articles' from www.cbound.com. The articles have some information for you and the site has a lot of information on the process and serves as a guide for parents and athletes on how-to.
sonnysetter	Im no expert but...	#3	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 23 (06/15/08 8:00 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I was recently at a camp, when we started talking about collage recruiting for volleyball, (note the coach was an assistant coach at a D1 collage) I too asked if paid sites were worth it the coach responded, "If you do get a full ride scholarship it makes every penny worth it, because you made that money back; if not well you lost how much money you spent on that paid site" I too am debating the paid site and non-paid sites thanks for the help. Sonny
D3Coach		#4	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 88 (06/15/08 9:22 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I would strongly recommend not using paid sites, unless you try building interest on your own, and have no success. Here are my tips for getting "found". #1 Go online and fill out the online questionnaires that can be found on the vast majority of college volleyball websites (usually under "recruiting", "prospect questionnaire" etc...). Identify a wide array of schools that meet your academic, geographic, and size needs. The more you fill out the better. #2 Follow up with an e-mail to these schools, letting them know you are interested, and would like to learn more about their school/program. #3 Get your DVD or VHS tape together to send to these schools (this is likely going to be one of the first things they ask for, so be ready). A simple tape of your daughter competing against strong competition is perfect for most coaches. If you have the ability to make a 10 minute skills session showcasing the basic skills in a controlled setting, and add that to the game tape, you are going to make just about every coach happy. #4 Identify local colleges that meet a wide array of characteristics (big and small, urban and rural, etc...) and visit them. Begin getting an idea as to what type of school best fits you. #5 Try and set up college visits with the schools that are showing interest, or that you have a strong interest in. #6 Make sure that you keep in contact with ANY school that has initiated contact with you. #7 Rich Kern is free, and most college coaches are familiar with the website. #8 UNIVERSITY ATHLETE many many many coaches use it, so make sure your contact info is correct Things that college coaches will want: - DVD of a game, and/or skills session - Club schedule - HS schedule - Each school's individual questionnaire (don't take the lazy way out and send back your own questionnaire that omits half of their questions) - A campus visit - Personal communication. Personal e-mails and letters, phone calls, etc... show college coaches that you're serious about their program. That makes us take you more seriously. - Begin contact with DI schools during your sophomore year (in time to get them your full club schedule) - Begin contact with DII/DIII schools during your junior year (in time to get them your full club schedule) If you are late to start making contacts, don't fear. Most DII/DIII schools use your junior year to evaluate, and get a jump on things. Early in your senior year is when the process will start heating up. With DI's it's really important to make sure that they are on your radar no later than your junior year club season. If you are going into your senior year, and haven't had contact with DI's don't give up (still make contacts) but realize that you are behind the 8 ball so to speak.
flyonthewall	great post	#5	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 376 (06/15/08 9:51 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Pay attention to D3Coach's post....it really is all spelled out there. I agree that you and your child should start visiting close by colleges --- wish we had done it earlier. It did help for our daughter to see for herself all different types of campuses and which she felt more comfortable with. It was because we waited a summer too long to start that we ended up cramming in alot of day trips (often times with younger siblings in tow). I would suggest NOT paying for the recruiting service. We didn't use it...our daughter did the footwork herself. The hardest part for my daughter was making the first few phone calls. But she made it thru them and became more comfortable talking with coaches.....it allowed her to focus on what she was looking for in a school. Also, by having our daughter in charge of the recruiting footwork (with guidance from what we learned on PrepVB) she became much more invested in the process---it wasn't just something happening to her---she had control. It was up to her to get what she wanted---not to sit there and wait and hope someone else would get it for her. In addition, her high school coach and club coaches were great about talking to college coaches as well. I would check with prospective clubs on how they expect coaches to handle inquiries from college coaches. One club I know had a coach who didn't want/like to talk to any college coaches.
cr8z4vball	Paid site that is a bargain!	#6	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 127 (06/15/08 9:57 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Cbound is a great site. It has an outline of the entire recruiting process. It has sample letters and emails that my daughter found very useful. I don't know what it costs now, but you only pay once for all of high school. It has email addresses and websites for colleges (like the pay portion of university athlete). My daughter found it very helpful and reassuring during the recruiting process. It is a bargain. She also had her profile on University Athlete and Rich Kern. We used the mass email from University Athlete (pay site) very early in the recruiting process, but she ended up doing more personalized emails later in her sophmore and junior years. It can be difficult to find all the information parents and recruits need for free on the internet. I think that Cbound and University Athlete are well worth the cost.
dmm	recruiting	#7	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 12 (06/16/08 2:32 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Enjoy it: First, I want to say good luck. This is a fun and exciting time in your daughter's life. Sharing it with my daughter was a wonderful experience. If you hire someone else you would miss out on that opportunity to do it together. Find your target: I succeeded in helping my daughter find a perfect fit at a D1 in a good conference without too much effort on our part. We weren't going for a Pac 10 type D1, but one that could still be competitive and challenging for her. She is a very good player but without exceptional height and was getting lost in a sea of 6' players so I knew we had to be pro-active vs. waiting for the schools to come to her. Before you start looking speak to your coaches to get a reasonable idea of where your daughter can play, there are so many different options out there. Research, research: We sat down and put together some requirements that she had for a school such as location, fan involvement , size, team success, etc. then I added some of my own such as athletic graduation rates, acedemics, location again, etc. Most of this info can be found at collegeboard.com under school search and the rest by viewing the school sites. I researched about 30 schools within the area we chose (over a few states, DI through DIII) and picked 18 which I decreed ok for her to attend and gave them to her to look over. She weeded out a couple more. Get to work: We sat down together and wrote a very short bio that included her accomplishments in vb, her goals, etc. that she would use when she contacted head coaches via email, (usually found under staff directory on the school's athletic site or Rich Kern). She received a reply in every single case, about half of them were interested and to those we mailed more detailed info (just a homemade page of stats, awards, coaches quotes, and some personal info), and a DVD. Get to know the coaches: My daughter ended up emailing for a bit with 6 of the coaches who were still interested after receiving the info, and 5 of them came and watched her play in the beginning of her club season. After that only 4 were still very interested and after some phone calls back and forth she ended up deciding on 2 schools that she felt she had a good repore with the coaches for unofficial visits. Luckily she just "felt it was right" at one of them and commited in April 07. She still feels good about her choice and is very excited to be starting her college vb experience there in Aug. I'm not sure if coaches like this approach with the first contact through email, (you could do the same with mail first and follow up with email as mentioned but we just decided to cut out the first step to keep it simpler) if not, no one said anything about it. Also, I realize we got lucky by only having 2 unofficial visits before my daughter "found a fit", but doing our homework about the schools prior to talking to them helped.
VBBOOKWORM	Hmmm...	#8	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 114 (06/16/08 6:11 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	...read and understand the information on this link: http://www.ncaa.org/library/general/cbsa/2007-08/2007-08_cbsa.pdf I will be back with test questions later...
Noreaster	my thoughts	#9	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 269 (06/16/08 10:04 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Rather than pay for a recruiting service, you are better off spending your money on private lessons, and camps/clinics at the school that your daugher is interested in. richkern's recruiting registry is free, as is berecruited.com. If you have skills video's, put them on youtube and put the link in your e-mail to coaches. When you e-mail them, include you GPA, SAT/ACT scores if you have them, and preferably your approach touch. Also, remember, you can con a coach into getting them to see you play, but it won't do you any good if you aren't what you say you are. Do not lie about your height, jumping ability or the rest. Your goal should be to find a team that is slightly above your level, whatever that is...oh yeah, blah blah blah education too
N2TRUX		#10	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 1079 (06/22/08 8:43 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Great information so far. I have been researching the data requested on the websites that have been suggested. Even with minimal details inserted, our player is already getting attention. Any other words of wisdom? Important websites- beRecruited.com College Bound Athletes NCAA Rich Kern- Free Page Rich Kern's recruiting registry. Sign up to Play University Athlete
Ace	Recruiting Basics	#11	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 15 (06/24/08 10:58 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Enroll your daughter in an ACT Test Prep class if they are offered by your high school or a local private company such as Huntington Learning Centers. A high ACT score will open doors for her in terms of a wider range of schools from which to select. Plus, if your daughter is a good student, the coach can feel secure that he/she is not using a scholarship on an "at risk" student athlete that may not be able to handle the balance of NCAA athletics while keeping their grades at an acceptable level..