Recruiting Out Of Region

If you've been following along with the PRI Blog Pass the last couple of months I've been collecting data on where athletes in Texas are playing. I'm planning on doing a few more of those posts, because I think the information is interesting and worth pondering when you're thinking about WHERE you want to play or in WHAT conference. You can take a look at those posts HERE and HERE.

This isn't one of those posts, but I do want to talk a little bit about some things that you should think of and consider if you're looking for a school outside of your "region".

First, the term "region" is sort of relative. Obviously there is some overlapping state to state, but I think in general if you're looking at a school that is not connected to your state you might want to consider them out of region. Travel distance is something to consider also.

Look At The Roster

Are there states or areas of the country where the majority of their athletes come from? Are any of those states close to yours? Obviously, many school's recruit nationally, but not all do. It's not a hard "no" if they don't already have an athlete from your state. It's just something to consider.

Their Travel Budget

How much are these coaches out recruiting? What tournaments and qualifiers would they typically attend? Are you gaining anything in recruiting by attending the Spokane and Northeast Qualifiers? Sometimes the only way to get in front of a college coach is with film. They might get you watch you once live. What kind of impression are you making from just 1 email? What kind of impression are you making when they watch you play live? How else can you impress the coaches.

Their Conference

Do they have schools in their conference that are in your state? Or at least near your state? If I'm recruiting out of my own state as a college coach, I would probably have more luck with athletes from states that are included in my conference.

Your Email

What specifically stands out in your email to that coach? Do you mention anything specific about that school? Are you giving them any reason to watch you vs someone closer to their campus?

Their Needs

My HC asked me, "Jason, can't you find a kid like that from Texas?" Are you unique enough or needed enough to where you really stand out compared to what they have locally? Is it a NEED position, like a 5-1 setter, 6 rotation OH or a MB that's great off of 1 foot? Most coaches aren't limited in their options. Even with Top 50 programs, those recruiting coordinators/coaches are good at their jobs.

...

It isn't a bad thing at all to branch out to school's in other parts of the country. I really encourage it! Remember that there are a lot of other volleyball players across the country and lots of them are as good as you. If you're looking at a bunch of schools far away, it would be a great thing to communicate what is important about that school and why you want to go to that school when you're contacting them. It's more important to do that with coaches that are going to be limited in their visibility of you.

Just some things to think about.

Ask Better Recruiting Questions

Buy Now