If you’ve ever been in a college volleyball coach’s office you will see a whiteboard on the wall, just like in a classroom. On that whiteboard are volleyball recruit’s names grouped by high school graduation class and volleyball position. Each grad class year is underlined, and at the top, there are four columns for freshman thru senior classes. Under those columns are positions the volleyball program is recruiting and a list of players names under each position by current ranking, in the eyes of the coaching staff.
Many parents and volleyball players may not know about this whiteboard. A big question is how do you make it onto the whiteboard in as many college volleyball offices as possible?
Let’s go backwards and reverse engineer how a player’s name gets on the whiteboard.
- If your name is on the whiteboard the volleyball program is recruiting you. You are on the coach’s radar and you are among the top 10 players they are recruiting for that position in that class. You are getting to know the coaches and team and they are getting to know you. NOTE: I’m using 10 players as a round number, but there could be more. The number of players listed gets smaller for older classes. For 9th and 10th graders, coaches cast a wide net, just as 9th and 10th grade players should for THEIR target list!
- Before making it to the whiteboard, college coaches have seen you play and think you could potentially help them win AND fill a need or weakness they have on their team. They saw you play live at a tournament or saw your highlight video you sent them in an email.
- Before making it to the whiteboard the college coach knows you have interest in their program. This is where I’m making the assumption that college coaches ARE NOT putting athletes on their whiteboard unless they know the athlete is interested in being on their team. In most cases, to make it to the whiteboard there is back and forth communication and interest from both the player and the volleyball program. NOTE: College volleyball coaches may see a player’s video on University Athlete or Instagram or be informed by another coach that a player is worth taking a look. In this case, when coaches don’t know if the player is interested in their program, I don’t know if they will add the player’s name to the whiteboard or wait until they contact him or her first. I think this is a case by case situation, depending on the coaching staff and how they utilize their whiteboard.
- For the college coaches to know you are interested in their program, they have talked to you on the phone (if a D1 or D2 coach, only after June 15th of your sophomore year).
- In order to set up a phone call, college coaches have received communication from you via email that you are interested in their school and volleyball program or they have reached out to you via email or text.
- For you to send an email to the college coaching staff, you had to research the school by studying their volleyball website, school website, and looking up their emails.
- For you to decide which schools to email, you figure out more about YOUR level of play, the volleyball conferences you could reach out to (by asking questions to your current coaches), looking at NCAA rankings, and including schools with your major and academic preferences.
- You make highlight video from your recent volleyball matches showing your best skills and include your video in your emails to college volleyball coaches.
- As a freshman or sophomore in highschool, you start to think about playing volleyball in college. You have interest in playing and ask your parents about it. Your club teammates may be talking about it. Your club or high school volleyball coaches may mention it to you. You think about the idea of being a collegiate student-athlete and it excites you!
- And…how your recruiting journey starts…You know you love playing volleyball and you’re good at it!!
Making it onto a college coaching staff’s whiteboard is something that happens before a verbal commitment offer. It takes being proactive to get there and it takes patience, determination, and perseverance while hearing a few “No’s” before you are the first name listed under your grad class and your position on the whiteboard.
The earlier you start the recruiting process (by sending your first email as a freshman or sophomore summer/fall) the less stressed and overwhelmed you will be throughout. Making it to the whiteboard is a match of the player’s level of play, the school itself being a match academically, and the needs of the volleyball program. Players move on and off of college coaches’ whiteboards as they move through the process. As I always say, keep emailing, keep going, and keep working throughout this process. You got this!