Recruiting

Email Serena Harwell at volleyrena@cox.net with any questions. She can also provide players with an email template to send to coaches. 

Roster spots on college volleyball teams are not always filled by the best player. More often than most people realize, it’s about being the right player, with the right information, in the right coach’s hands, at the right time. It’s about finding the right fit for both player and college program.

Nothing is more important for creating college volleyball opportunities than academics, academics, academics. Outside the Division I sliding scale, a 4.0 GPA is of little value if your ACT sum score is 60 or SAT is 800. However, if your ACT sum score is 80 it will over-ride a GPA of 3.0 or 2.5. The fact is, high school classrooms do not prepare students to earn high scores on college entrance exams (ACT or SAT). College-bound players should dedicate at least 2 hours per week to test prep . . . all year around, and the later you start from the first week of 10th grade the more time that should be dedicated each week to test prep.

Division I coach’s are always looking for athletic players who are high academic qualifiers to extend their rosters beyond the 12 full athletic scholarships they are allowed. Solid test scores also make it easier for Division II and NAIA schools to package athletic and academic scholarships together to offer players a full scholarship. Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships and require high test scores for acceptance into the school.

Any way you slice it, the better a player’s ACT or SAT score, the more college volleyball choices they will have.

The college recruiting process begins for many players playing on 14 year-old teams. While this may seem early to those who haven’t been in the volleyball recruiting process before, college coach’s are making offers to sophomores and juniors for verbal commitments. Coach’s almost never extend an offer to a player after seeing them play only one time. This makes it very important for a player to get on the coach’s watch-list from the schools they are interested in as early as possible.

All Club One players on 14 -18 teams should set up their free account, or update their existing account, atUniversityAthlete.com before the first tournament of the season. University Athlete is the database used by college volleyball coach’s, so there’s no need to build or pay for any other web site.

All 10th grade college-bound players should register with the NCAA Eligibility Center by the end of the school year, and confirm with their school counselor that they are on-track to meet the NCAA academic eligibility requirements.

Academic requirements change for players first entering a Division I program on August 1, 2016. New requirements include; complete 16 core courses, 10 of the 16 courses completed prior to your senior year, 7 of the 10 completed in math, science and English, minimum core course GPA of 2.3, meet ACT or SAT sliding scale minimum score.

Academic requirements change for players first entering a Division II program on August 1, 2016. Div-II has increased academic minimums from 14 core courses to 16 courses in English, math or science, minimum GPA of 2.0, and minimum SAT of 820 OR minimum ACT sum score of 68.

Sophomores should sign up and take both the ACT and SAT to determine which test format you prefer. Once you choose which test format is better for you, take a prep-class for that exam and then start testing for a high score. ACT test dates are in October, December, February, April and June (ACT test prep teachers suggest that the August exam is the hardest set of exam questions, so you probably want to skip that one). The SAT exam is only offered at the University of Tulsa and is comprised of shorter segments and a different format compared to the ACT. SAT tests are offered in November, December, January, March, May and June. Visit collegeboard.org for more information and to sign up for the SAT.

As Juniors, players should take the ACT or SAT a couple times to try and improve their score. Choose the exam with the best format for you. Universities accept either exam. Players who choose to look at NAIA programs should register with the NAIA Eligibility Center before the end of their junior year in high school.