Are You Willing?

I am going to hit on one specific topic here, but I do think that it applies to PLENTY of other recruiting factors.

Everyone is willing to sit the bench, learn and wait their turn...until they have to sit the bench, learn and wait their turn.

Is this you?

Be honest. If it's not, that's totally fine. Plenty of athletes are happy to sit and wait their turn, play behind another athlete and mostly focus on just being a great teammate. That role isn't for everyone though; that's okay too. Knowing this about yourself, one way or the other, could have a HUGE impact on your recruiting process and your experience once you get to college.

I think the biggest reason athletes transfer is playing time. I don't have any stats to back that up, but I think that is a huge part of the reason most athletes want to transfer. Not that they "can't" play at that level, just that they are not currently playing.

Here are some numbers I can throw out there though:

3.9% of high school volleyball athletes are playing at the D1, D2 and D3 level (keep in mind that this does NOT equal the amount of athletes that are actually on scholarship - that number is significantly smaller).

We have essentially separated out 95% of your competition when you get to college. So, regardless of what division you're playing in, you're part of the top 1% basically. Any given roster has 15-17 athletes on it. How many of those athletes are getting consistent playing time? Roughly 8...Eight!...that's half. One-half of every roster at the college level is getting significant playing time. That's it.

So, yes, it's hard. Yes, it's challenging. Yes, you're going to have to work hard to get on the court. It should be that way. Do you really want it to be easy? I told my college team many times that the expectation for each set we played would be for it to be highly competitive. We should expect the score to be 25-23 every time; regardless of whether or not we win that set. We will compete for every point. We will ALL work hard and become better and stronger together. Sure, it is sometimes fun to be able to beat a team 25-5...but not really often, not if you're competitive. In reality, at the college level, that shouldn't happen too often, because we have already cut out 95% of the competition around us.

So think about this:

Are you willing to sit the bench for a year? Are you willing to learn and grow? Are you willing to be ready to play each and ever night, even though that opportunity might not happen all season?

I loved and hated the 5th set of a match. With my college team as a head coach, I always felt like we had the advantage because I knew how hard each of them had worked that week and how hard those athletes that wouldn't be on the court worked that week. It's why you work so hard throughout the week, for that moment, for those 15 points.

Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's challenging. Shouldn't we want it that way?

If you need help with your recruiting journey, click HERE and I will get back in touch with you soon.

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