*Originally posted 3/11/2024 When I talk to families or meet them for the first time about volleyball recruiting, I often find that there is a struggle on several fronts to avoid several consistent mistakes.

If you spend any time on one of the many Volleyball FB groups, it's inevitable that someone will ask about a recruiting service, NCSA, or general college volleyball recruiting advice. I'm always amazed at two things: 1) the general advice that's given that may or may not apply to that person or may or may not actually be good advice, and 2) the number of people giving the "you don't need help" advice. I don't think that the sometimes bad advice is ill-intentioned. I don't thi

It's a good thing and a bad thing all at the same time. Limiting your college options is both helpful and discouraging.

Communication is paramount throughout your recruiting process.

I forget regularly that not every club has someone like me working for them. Many clubs have "recruiting coordinators" that help with recruiting, but usually these people have full-time jobs somewhere else; they have administrative duties at the club; or they also coach 2 teams for the club. Not that any of that is wrong, but it's different when I can spend 12 hours in the gym talking to college coaches, parents and athletes vs. other recruiting coordinators that aren't tra

I talk to almost every team at every club I work with about scholarships. It's kind of a lot of information. I also spend a chunk of time talking about scholarships on my online program "So, You'd Like To Get Recruited?" Scholarships are a foundational piece of knowledge that is necessary to understand the recruiting process. I talk about this a lot because not every athlete is going to get a full-ride scholarship. Surprised by that? I hope not.

There are academic standards in place for all levels of volleyball. This usually isn't an issue for most volleyball athletes, but it does come into play sometimes. Based on your GPA and test scores you might miss the mark when it comes to your NCAA eligibility.

Not every athlete starts their recruiting process at the same time. That's completely fine. I talk to families that always feel like they are "late" to the process. In many ways that's not really true. Are there athletes that are already done by the time you start? Sure! But it doesn't mean that you are late. When it comes to "late bloomers" we are in a little bit of a different realm I think.

At the beginning of almost every journey there are foreseeable roadblocks and/or bumps in the road. This is true for every athlete...