Why You Should Start With A List

I've been talking the last several nights with athletes that haven't really started their recruiting process yet. This is totally fine. Not everyone starts sending emails when they are a freshman in high school. There are always places to play volleyball. Several schools have reached out to me in the last week alone that need a setter for the next season. Regardless of WHEN you start, in my opinion it is important to make sure that you start.

I have been talking to them about creating their list of schools to reach out to. We have been going through some of the steps and I've been communicating some resources they can find that will help with that process. A lot of that you can find HERE.

What I often don't spend a TON of time on is the WHY it's important to start with a list of schools.

1 - Because the opposite is not helpful at all.

NOT starting with a list is the least proactive method. Either you are randomly sending off emails with little to no thought, or you aren't reaching out to anyone and you're waiting for college coaches to reach out to you. Reactive recruiting is not your best bet when it comes to finding a volleyball home.

2 - Goal Setting

It's always good when you're setting goals to have a starting point (creating a list) so that you know what your goals actually are. Without a list of schools you are interested in reaching out to, you aren't doing your due diligence towards the goal you want to accomplish. With your list as a starting point toward your goal you are giving credence to the fact that you actually want to accomplish the task.

3 - Organization

One of the biggest reasons I use Productive Recruit with all of my athletes is that it helps us stay organized with our list of schools. It also puts all of the information in the same place that they and I can see at any given time. It's a reference point as well when things get crazy busy; which they often do. You don't need to ask yourself, "Who am I supposed to reach out to again?" You can just reference your list.

4 - Perspective

Creating a list helps create the perspective of what we are trying to accomplish and whether or not that is realistic. Why am I choosing these schools? Why am I not choosing other schools? For someone like me I can look at a list and go, "This makes sense" or "This is honestly unrealistic." It helps us catch outliers on the list and figure out the "why" to those specifically. It might help us add MORE schools to the list. It is very difficult to create this kind of perspective WITHOUT a starting point and a list of schools you want to reach out to.

Here are some CAUTIONS when it comes to creating your list that I think are important.

1 - It's not written in stone

Your list is going to change. It can also get flipped completely upside down during the process. That's okay. It's not a binding document, it's a starting point.

2 - It doesn't have to be perfect

I talked about this before HERE but I see families take the school list to an extreme. They want the list to be PERFECT before they fire off an email. While this might seem to make sense, I think realistically you are just limiting your options in negative ways.

3 - Ranking your list

Until you get to the point that you are making visits to schools or at least setting up visits, you're usually not in a position to say no to schools. You will be taking schools off your list and adding others as you go through this process. That's totally fine. But, be careful about ranking your "Top Choices" too early in the process because you might find yourself disiappointed in how that goes. Until you get to certain stages in the process, I'm not a huge fan of ranking schools. There are just too many variables in the process and things can change too quickly for you to put all or most of your eggs in one basket. I talk about this more HERE.

Start with a list of schools. Give yourself a good foundation to reach your college volleyball playing goals.

For more on this topic, take a look at this blog post as well! Creating Your List