College Volleyball
Recruiting
A Parent’s Point of View
Bill Babilon
wjbabilon@gmail.com
Agenda
• RCHS’s Past Players
• Hard Facts Regarding College Volleyball
• NCAA Rules
• It’s a Job
• Erin’s Timeline
• How to get started What I learned
RCHS Alumni who played in college
• 08 – Kia K.
• 09 – Nicole R.
• 10 – Ashley N., Meredith R., Kenzi M.
• 11 – Allison K., Megan T.
• 12 – Lauren H.
• 13 – Aima E.
• 14 – Erin B.
Hard Facts Regarding College Volleyball
• 15-18 - The average roster size
• 12/8/0 – number of full athletic vball scholarships available at Div 1/2/3
• Not all schools can or are allowed to fully fund all the scholarships
• Most top Div 1 teams and big state schools do the following:
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Full scholarships for their starters (7-8 players)
Many do NOT offer much athletic aid to freshman
You can be replaced by a ‘better’ player (5’9” outside just became a DS)
Nothing is guaranteed - 4 year, full ride is mostly a myth
The NLI (National Letter of Intent) is the ‘contract’ between the player and the school
• Verbals are un-enforceable
• Many Div 2 schools offer combined packages of athletic and academic aid
(especially private schools)
• They really like athletes with high GPA’s and/or ACT/SAT scores
• Div 3 schools can NOT offer athletic aid
It is a ‘job’
• 20 hrs/week of ‘contact time’ in season (fall)
• 8 hrs/week of ‘contact time’ out of season (spring/summer)
• Contact time:
• Practice with coaches
• Meeting with coaches to review your individual skills/improvement areas/academic performance
• Basically, anything run by the coach
• Does Not include
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5:00 am weight training/conditioning
Playing time or time spent traveling to competitions
Time spent reviewing tape or scouting reports (independent study)
Team meals
Supporting other teams/programs at the school (mostly out of season)
• Really, in the fall, you will be spending 30-40 hours/wk. doing something related to
volleyball
NCAA Rules
• IMPORTANT WEB SITES
• www.ncaa.org
• Eligibility center : www.eligibilitycenter.org
• NAIA: http://www.naia.org
• Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete (on the NCAA website)
(http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA.pdf)
• Academic eligibility rules (required courses and min GPA)
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• Combination of GPA and SAT/ACT score
• Changes on Aug 1, 2016 for Div 1 (impacts Soph class and later)
Key terms – evaluation and ‘contact’ (initiation and frequency varies by year)
Note: Contact rules for college coaches change in your Jr year
Fresh/Soph – coaches can talk with just about anyone but the player and/or parents
HS coaches/Club coaches/’others’ are all okay
Getting Started
• Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center
• Research some of the schools you are interested in
• Recent record, length on tenure of coaching staff (new coach can imply scholarships/offers are cancelled)
• Look at their current roster (size of players, number of upper classman in your position, When do these players graduate? Where are
the players from)
• Look at past rosters (How many ‘one and done’ players in the past?)
• Look at statisctcs (Who played? Which class? When did they start playing?
• Does the school offer your 1st, 2nd,3rd choices in degrees?
• Would you go to this school if the did NOT offer you a scholarship?
• Do they offer a camp you can attend?
• Post videos
• Highlight reel (Think about what is important for your position)
• One unedited game
• Google ‘Erin Babilon volleyball’ for examples
• Yes, editing videos is WAY easier on a Mac
• Send a simple, introductory e-mail to the schools you are interested
• Register with the school to received camp/program information (prospective athletes link off of their volleyball page)
• Answer this question: Would you go to this school if the did NOT offer you a volleyball scholarship?
• Be able to hold a 30 minute phone conversation with the assistant coach. (Think of this as an interview)
• Why are you interested in XX university?
• Why do you like playing volleyball?
• What do you add to you team?
• What are your strengths/weaknesses?
• What are you looing to study?
• What do you see yourself doing after volleyball?
Timeline For Erin
• Junior year
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Sept/Oct – researched schools, collected game tape, created videos (Do this sooner!!!)
Nov/Dec – Sent e-mails to schools, tracked which schools where looking for liberos, toured schools (unofficial visits)
Dec/Jan/Feb - was contacted by interested schools, passed along qualifier schedule, talked with assistant coaches
Early March - sent reminder e-mail to schools with Cross Roads schedule
March – met with interested schools at Cross Roads (this is where I learned that most ‘top’ schools had already filled their
spots)
Late March - invited by Queens to view a practice, meet team/coaches (unofficial visit)
Late March – sent reminder e-mail to schools with Big South schedule
Late March - talked with interested schools at Big South Qualifier
Early-April, received verbal offer from Queens (just after Big South)
July met with Queens coaching staff, received updated offer (verbal)
• Senior year
• Sept - Updated NCAA Eligibility center on academics, submitted application to Queens
• Nov – received written offer, signed NLI
• Dec-now – began weekly correspondence with Queens (uniform/show size, roommate./dorm selection, weekly conditioning
schedule)
• June - send final HS transcripts to NCAA
What I learned
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Start sooner – get something out there during your Soph year
The whole ‘pick a college’ process is accelerated by 6-12 months
Don’t just depend on clubs directors/recruiting coordinators
Consider a ‘recruiting coach’ for guidance
Being a college athlete is like having a ‘job’ – 30+ hours a week in addition
to course work. Treat your recruiting process like a job search.
• The athlete needs to be able to deal with all the other ‘stuff’ related to
college athletics
• 5 am weight training, Sat morning breakfast
• Set curfew, team rules, coach is a serious authority figure
• Every other weekend travel for playing (it is like 3 months of qualifiers)