January 1, 2021
A view of college volleyball recruiting, playing, demands and expectations
by Jeff Smith
Since we created our new college volleyball recruiting page earlier this month, we’ve received a lot of inquiries and questions from families and athletes ranging from 17U to 13U, which is awesome! I love college volleyball. I assistant coached for a year at Wheaton College, have two daughters who play collegiately and have seen about 35 of my former club and school players go on to college volleyball programs. From Division I to junior college, college volleyball is an incredible experience in many ways for student-athletes.
To help out families and athletes who would like more information about the college volleyball world, I’m going to touch on a few popular questions that people have asked me. This will be at a high-level, 30,000-foot view. For more in-depth perspectives, feel free to fill out our online inquiry form on our college recruiting page.
How do I get recruited?
For most athletes, it’s really about the athletes recruiting the colleges they’re interested in playing for. The only athletes who get pursued by colleges without doing anything on their end are the very top players at the high school and club levels, what I’d refer to as the top 3-4 percent of volleyball players in the country from ninth to 12th grade.
To get started on the recruiting front, athletes need to create an online recruiting profile with a college recruiting organization such as the NCSA. This profile enables you to send a link to your profile to coaches of college programs you’re interested in as well as serve as a holding place for details about you as a volleyball student-athlete: your biographical volleyball information, your college interests (Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, junior college), your contact information and links to YouTube videos of you playing in matches. (Having your mom or dad video some of your matches and posting these videos on a YouTube channel for you is vital to generating college recruiting interest.)
Your recruiting online profile is also helpful in that college coaches who visit the NCSA or another recruiting website looking for a specific type of player can find you there if you fit their needs. These profiles should be created if you or your daughter are in ninth to 12th grade, preferably ninth or 10th grade at the outset.
The next step is creating an introductory email template, gathering the email addresses of college coaches you’d like to contact and sending out emails to college coaches introducing yourself and expressing your interest in playing for their program. This initial email should be short (two to three paragraphs) and should include links to your recruiting profile and to your YouTube volleyball channel that features videos of you playing for Serve City and your school. This email should also ask a couple of questions of the coach to demonstrably show your interest in their program.
Your introductory email should just be a starting point. College coaches receive a glut of emails from prospective athletes interested in their program. Send email updates to these coaches every 4-8 weeks that include any new information about you as a player, including upcoming tournaments where you’ll be playing, as well as links to new videos of you playing. When you’re a junior or senior, the NCAA allows you to begin text messaging college coaches as well, which is a great way to get their attention.
I can’t stress highly enough the importance of sending college coaches video footage of you playing. Most college coaches have limited recruiting budgets. They won’t start recruiting you until they’ve seen you play on video. And these videos should not be edited highlights of you making great plays. Coaches want to see long-form videos of entire sets that show your full game, warts and all. If all they see are edited short videos of you playing error free, they’re more likely to ignore you. They want to see your full game and how you react to making passing, setting, hitting and blocking errors.
Coach Jessica of 13 Blue caught the interest of Judson University’s head coach when I sent Judson’s coach video footage of Jessica playing for her high school, for Serve City and for Harper College, where she played junior college ball as a freshman. Without this footage, Judson’s coach would not have recruited Jessica to her program.
You can also create skill videos of yourself. For instance, if you’re a DS or libero you can make videos of you digging attacks and passing serves in a gym if you have a coach or family member who can hit attacks over a net at you off a box and serve tough serves at you over a net.
And make sure your emails (and later, texts) are a two-way street. Ask the coaches questions about their needs for their program and the quality of their college, especially when you enter phase 2 of your recruiting, when coaches express interest in you with follow-up emails, texts or phone calls. And if you’re a strong academic student, be sure to stress this in your emails and phone calls. Most coaches want to recruit athletes that they know will not ever be in danger of getting academically suspended from their team due to poor grades.
What is it like to play in college?
Division I is the most demanding level of college volleyball. One of my former players was a three-year starting outside hitter at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I saw her play at UIC in five or six games. As her father told me while we watched one of her matches, playing Division I volleyball is like having a job.
The typical DI program’s season will begin with six-days-a-week on-campus training in early to mid-July, with the team practicing, weight-lifting and conditioning 6-8 hours a day. Once the season begins in early August, you’ll be practicing twice a day until mid-August, then once matches begin your schedule will consist of 2-3 matches a week and 2-3 hour practices and workouts on days you don’t have matches, taking Sundays off. The DI season runs until mid-November to mid-December depending on how far your team advances in the postseason. Then the DI off-season program begins with weight training, conditioning and eventually skill development from January to April. The DI athlete’s involvement in volleyball is a 9-month to 10-month season.
Division II, DIII and NAIA are less intensive than Division I, but still are demanding. Coaches give their athletes a summer training schedule to complete at home comprised of weight training, conditioning and skill practice from May to July. The season then begins with two-a-day practices from early August to mid-August and then the DII, DIII and NAIA teams’ schedules look very similar to Division I from mid-August till season’s end in November or early December.
DII, DIII and NAIA programs’ off-season training isn’t quite as demanding as DI. For instance, at Wheaton and at Judson University, where 13 Blue coach Jessica Smith plays, the off-season training runs from late January to April. It consists of weight training and conditioning for 2-3 days a week in January and February and then adds in skill development training in March and a couple of spring team tournaments in April. DI programs’ off-season training is more demanding time-wise, with athletes training five days a week.
Community college programs are the least demanding programs at the college level. Some have off-season training, such as College of DuPage, where Coach Nicki of 12 Red played for two years. COD trained twice a week for 3 hours a week from January to April and from June to July, then practiced and played from mid-August till the end of October. Another advantage of junior colleges is that you can live at home and save money this way, and you can develop your skills and athleticism to prepare you to be recruited by four-year colleges for your junior and senior years.
Playing time is earned at the college level. The typical DI to DIII and NAIA programs have rosters of 15-20 athletes, and playing time is limited. A typical team will play 9-10 players in each match, so competition for playing time is intense. Some freshmen and sophomores get little playing time, while other freshmen and sophomores crack the team’s rotation quickly, and playing time is based on who are the best fits for each position regardless of class level, and playing time doesn’t carry over from year to year. A starter as a freshman could find herself mired to the bench as a sophomore if someone else beats her out for a spot in the lineup the next season.
The one comment I’ve heard most often from former players of mine and their families about college volleyball is that playing college volleyball helped them build relationships immediately when they got to college as new students, and what a privilege and honor it was to play volleyball at the highest level in our country. As a former DIII assistant coach, I’d also remark that DI isn’t the only strong volleyball level in college. DII, DIII and NAIA all feature excellent volleyball; the explosion of volleyball participation at the club level has permeated every level of college volleyball.
I was extremely impressed with the quality of play and the amount of commitment shown at the DIII level as a college coach in 2018. Some of our players at Wheaton were all-conference, all-area and all-state players as high school seniors and were very talented and dedicated players. All of them were the top players on their high school and club teams as well. And the NAIA level is outstanding, too. The junior college level has also grown better and better in recent years and now features tons of strong volleyball players who simply chose to live at home and commute to college.
When do college coaches begin recruiting?
DI coaches begin recruiting athletes in eighth and ninth grade. DII and DIII coaches start recruiting athletes in ninth, 10th and sometimes 11th grade. NAIA coaches tend to begin recruiting in 11th grade, and junior college coaches tend to start the process in 11th grade and even wait till 12th grade. Many junior college coaches wait till the summer and fall of your senior year to begin recruiting you for obvious reasons, such as to find out which athletes want to play at a community college instead of a four-year school.
More information to come
This is high-level information in this blog post. I’ll touch on more topics and go deeper in these topics in the coming weeks.
Jeff Smith is Serve City’s club director.
Today is one of the toughest days of the COVID-19 pandemic
by Jeff Smith
I’m sure you just heard the announcement by Gov. Pritzker today (April 17) that in-class instruction has been suspended for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Most of us expected this to happen, but that doesn’t make it easier for students, teachers and families to accept. My heart goes out to everybody.
This is another sad day in a series of sad days during the coronavirus crisis. No one can or should sugarcoat the stinging disappointment that this announcement brings to all our families and communities.
The latest setback is another proverbial punch to the gut during a challenging, frustrating and at times maddening and exhausting last six weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home and social distancing orders.
Speaking as both a club director and as a father of two college students who graduated from high school a couple of years ago, I feel worst for the high school seniors in Serve City. The last year of their K-12 education officially ends on such a crushing, hollow, bittersweet note.
No graduation ceremony unless it can be rescheduled in July or August
No senior field trip
No prom
No spring school sports
No spring musical
No end-of-year school concerts or awards programs (I still remember beaming with pride watching one of my daughters being feted at her special honors graduation program a few days before the school-wide graduation ceremony)
And possibly no spring portion of the club volleyball season, including the Asics Jr. National Championships in Chicago (this is still to be determined by the governor and USA Volleyball in the coming days)
No positive last memories with their classmates
An awkward and unsatisfying close to their pre-college school years
I know our eighth-grade athletes are experiencing a similar wave of emotions as they miss out on wonderful end-of-year school memories, including their graduation week. And, really, the governor’s decision negatively impacts every student at every grade level. No more connecting with friends at recess, in class, at lunch hour and before and after school until the 2020-21 school year arrives, not to mention being unable to learn in the classroom from your teachers. And some of you won’t get to play soccer, run track or compete in another spring school sport that you couldn’t wait to dive into.
There’s no tip-toeing around it. Today is one of the toughest days of this pandemic. And that’s without even addressing the sadness and emptiness of not being able to practice, play, compete and connect together in the sport we love as Serve City volleyball teams right now.
I don’t have any magical words of wisdom in response to today’s announcement. Some people will try to put a positive spin on things and simply look at the bright side. That’s fine to do and is normally my first instinct, but sometimes the best reaction is to first be real, honest and up-front.
The fact is, this news hurts. It stings. It’s disappointing and confusing. It frankly stinks. And if you’re angry or despondent or hurting over it, that’s perfectly OK and normal to feel that way.
The one lesson I would point all of us to during this unprecedented period in our country’s history, as we navigate through uncharted waters and unpredictable events, is this: Find something or someone trustworthy to rely on and cling to for hope, encouragement, strength, love, wisdom and peace. Don’t try self-reliance. Just as volleyball is a team sport, life is a group activity. Don’t live as a lone wolf.
For me, that starts with God. My relationship with Him is vitally important to me, especially in trying times like the pandemic. I’m leaning heavily on His promises to love, care and provide for my family and me, and He’s doing just that day by day.
Today the Bible verse that is encouraging me is Psalm 46:1 — God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. It comforts and strengthens me knowing that, while the government has placed most of our country into quarantine or lockdown and our families are like individual islands struggling along on our own in our homes, God is my supernatural friend and leader, constantly and actively by my side directing, counseling, equipping and helping me 24-7.
Truth be told, there are days when I wake up in the morning and frankly don’t want to do anything out of a sense of dread and dismay. But talking to Him and remembering His promises gets me out of bed and fills me with a deep peace and unspeakable joy that I know only comes from Him. It’s certainly not a poise and calm that I can muster out of my own strength.
And hopefully you can lean strongly into your family for comfort, encouragement, love and support. Without my family to walk this journey with, I’d get lost in my worries and fears about the future. Lean on Mom, Dad or whichever family members you’re with during the pandemic. Spend time with them. Talk to them. Be real with them. Intentionally create positive memories with them. Laugh with them. Venture out and explore new interests and hobbies with them. Support them while they support you.
And remember that parents are real people with real emotions, too. We aren’t immune to being struck by fears, concerns, frustrations and worries. Your mom or dad need encouragement and patience just as you do. Don’t expect them to always be strong, steady and ever-reliable. Give them grace, too.
Lean heavily on your friends at school, at church and on your volleyball team as well. I’ve been asking our coaches to make their teams a virtual place where teammates can connect, support one another and stay together while feeling supported, not to mention encouraging each other as teammates and coaches to continue using volleyball workouts at home to keep our spirits high and our bodies and skills in sharp condition should the season resume soon and to help us stay in touch with the sport we enjoy so much.
Know that I’m praying for everyone in Serve City each day of this crisis, and we as a staff are fighters who look, learn and study every day for opportunities and answers. Let’s keep pressing forward as families, teams, athletes, coaches and as a club director and remember that we’re all better together.
Jeff Smith is Serve City’s club director.
A view of college volleyball recruiting, playing, demands and expectations
by Jeff Smith
Since we created our new college volleyball recruiting page earlier this month, we’ve received a lot of inquiries and questions from families and athletes ranging from 17U to 13U, which is awesome! I love college volleyball. I assistant coached for a year at Wheaton College, have two daughters who play collegiately and have seen about 35 of my former club and school players go on to college volleyball programs. From Division I to junior college, college volleyball is an incredible experience in many ways for student-athletes.
To help out families and athletes who would like more information about the college volleyball world, I’m going to touch on a few popular questions that people have asked me. This will be at a high-level, 30,000-foot view. For more in-depth perspectives, feel free to fill out our online inquiry form on our college recruiting page.
How do I get recruited?
For most athletes, it’s really about the athletes recruiting the colleges they’re interested in playing for. The only athletes who get pursued by colleges without doing anything on their end are the very top players at the high school and club levels, what I’d refer to as the top 3-4 percent of volleyball players in the country from ninth to 12th grade.
To get started on the recruiting front, athletes need to create an online recruiting profile with a college recruiting organization such as the NCSA. This profile enables you to send a link to your profile to coaches of college programs you’re interested in as well as serve as a holding place for details about you as a volleyball student-athlete: your biographical volleyball information, your college interests (Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, junior college), your contact information and links to YouTube videos of you playing in matches. (Having your mom or dad video some of your matches and posting these videos on a YouTube channel for you is vital to generating college recruiting interest.)
Your recruiting online profile is also helpful in that college coaches who visit the NCSA or another recruiting website looking for a specific type of player can find you there if you fit their needs. These profiles should be created if you or your daughter are in ninth to 12th grade, preferably ninth or 10th grade at the outset.
The next step is creating an introductory email template, gathering the email addresses of college coaches you’d like to contact and sending out emails to college coaches introducing yourself and expressing your interest in playing for their program. This initial email should be short (two to three paragraphs) and should include links to your recruiting profile and to your YouTube volleyball channel that features videos of you playing for Serve City and your school. This email should also ask a couple of questions of the coach to demonstrably show your interest in their program.
Your introductory email should just be a starting point. College coaches receive a glut of emails from prospective athletes interested in their program. Send email updates to these coaches every 4-8 weeks that include any new information about you as a player, including upcoming tournaments where you’ll be playing, as well as links to new videos of you playing. When you’re a junior or senior, the NCAA allows you to begin text messaging college coaches as well, which is a great way to get their attention.
I can’t stress highly enough the importance of sending college coaches video footage of you playing. Most college coaches have limited recruiting budgets. They won’t start recruiting you until they’ve seen you play on video. And these videos should not be edited highlights of you making great plays. Coaches want to see long-form videos of entire sets that show your full game, warts and all. If all they see are edited short videos of you playing error free, they’re more likely to ignore you. They want to see your full game and how you react to making passing, setting, hitting and blocking errors.
Coach Jessica of 13 Blue caught the interest of Judson University’s head coach when I sent Judson’s coach video footage of Jessica playing for her high school, for Serve City and for Harper College, where she played junior college ball as a freshman. Without this footage, Judson’s coach would not have recruited Jessica to her program.
You can also create skill videos of yourself. For instance, if you’re a DS or libero you can make videos of you digging attacks and passing serves in a gym if you have a coach or family member who can hit attacks over a net at you off a box and serve tough serves at you over a net.
And make sure your emails (and later, texts) are a two-way street. Ask the coaches questions about their needs for their program and the quality of their college, especially when you enter phase 2 of your recruiting, when coaches express interest in you with follow-up emails, texts or phone calls. And if you’re a strong academic student, be sure to stress this in your emails and phone calls. Most coaches want to recruit athletes that they know will not ever be in danger of getting academically suspended from their team due to poor grades.
What is it like to play in college?
Division I is the most demanding level of college volleyball. One of my former players was a three-year starting outside hitter at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I saw her play at UIC in five or six games. As her father told me while we watched one of her matches, playing Division I volleyball is like having a job.
The typical DI program’s season will begin with six-days-a-week on-campus training in early to mid-July, with the team practicing, weight-lifting and conditioning 6-8 hours a day. Once the season begins in early August, you’ll be practicing twice a day until mid-August, then once matches begin your schedule will consist of 2-3 matches a week and 2-3 hour practices and workouts on days you don’t have matches, taking Sundays off. The DI season runs until mid-November to mid-December depending on how far your team advances in the postseason. Then the DI off-season program begins with weight training, conditioning and eventually skill development from January to April. The DI athlete’s involvement in volleyball is a 9-month to 10-month season.
Division II, DIII and NAIA are less intensive than Division I, but still are demanding. Coaches give their athletes a summer training schedule to complete at home comprised of weight training, conditioning and skill practice from May to July. The season then begins with two-a-day practices from early August to mid-August and then the DII, DIII and NAIA teams’ schedules look very similar to Division I from mid-August till season’s end in November or early December.
DII, DIII and NAIA programs’ off-season training isn’t quite as demanding as DI. For instance, at Wheaton and at Judson University, where 13 Blue coach Jessica Smith plays, the off-season training runs from late January to April. It consists of weight training and conditioning for 2-3 days a week in January and February and then adds in skill development training in March and a couple of spring team tournaments in April. DI programs’ off-season training is more demanding time-wise, with athletes training five days a week.
Community college programs are the least demanding programs at the college level. Some have off-season training, such as College of DuPage, where Coach Nicki of 12 Red played for two years. COD trained twice a week for 3 hours a week from January to April and from June to July, then practiced and played from mid-August till the end of October. Another advantage of junior colleges is that you can live at home and save money this way, and you can develop your skills and athleticism to prepare you to be recruited by four-year colleges for your junior and senior years.
Playing time is earned at the college level. The typical DI to DIII and NAIA programs have rosters of 15-20 athletes, and playing time is limited. A typical team will play 9-10 players in each match, so competition for playing time is intense. Some freshmen and sophomores get little playing time, while other freshmen and sophomores crack the team’s rotation quickly, and playing time is based on who are the best fits for each position regardless of class level, and playing time doesn’t carry over from year to year. A starter as a freshman could find herself mired to the bench as a sophomore if someone else beats her out for a spot in the lineup the next season.
The one comment I’ve heard most often from former players of mine and their families about college volleyball is that playing college volleyball helped them build relationships immediately when they got to college as new students, and what a privilege and honor it was to play volleyball at the highest level in our country. As a former DIII assistant coach, I’d also remark that DI isn’t the only strong volleyball level in college. DII, DIII and NAIA all feature excellent volleyball; the explosion of volleyball participation at the club level has permeated every level of college volleyball.
I was extremely impressed with the quality of play and the amount of commitment shown at the DIII level as a college coach in 2018. Some of our players at Wheaton were all-conference, all-area and all-state players as high school seniors and were very talented and dedicated players. All of them were the top players on their high school and club teams as well. And the NAIA level is outstanding, too. The junior college level has also grown better and better in recent years and now features tons of strong volleyball players who simply chose to live at home and commute to college.
When do college coaches begin recruiting?
DI coaches begin recruiting athletes in eighth and ninth grade. DII and DIII coaches start recruiting athletes in ninth, 10th and sometimes 11th grade. NAIA coaches tend to begin recruiting in 11th grade, and junior college coaches tend to start the process in 11th grade and even wait till 12th grade. Many junior college coaches wait till the summer and fall of your senior year to begin recruiting you for obvious reasons, such as to find out which athletes want to play at a community college instead of a four-year school.
More information to come
This is high-level information in this blog post. I’ll touch on more topics and go deeper in these topics in the coming weeks.
Jeff Smith is Serve City’s club director.
Today is one of the toughest days of the COVID-19 pandemic
by Jeff Smith
I’m sure you just heard the announcement by Gov. Pritzker today (April 17) that in-class instruction has been suspended for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Most of us expected this to happen, but that doesn’t make it easier for students, teachers and families to accept. My heart goes out to everybody.
This is another sad day in a series of sad days during the coronavirus crisis. No one can or should sugarcoat the stinging disappointment that this announcement brings to all our families and communities.
The latest setback is another proverbial punch to the gut during a challenging, frustrating and at times maddening and exhausting last six weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home and social distancing orders.
Speaking as both a club director and as a father of two college students who graduated from high school a couple of years ago, I feel worst for the high school seniors in Serve City. The last year of their K-12 education officially ends on such a crushing, hollow, bittersweet note.
No graduation ceremony unless it can be rescheduled in July or August
No senior field trip
No prom
No spring school sports
No spring musical
No end-of-year school concerts or awards programs (I still remember beaming with pride watching one of my daughters being feted at her special honors graduation program a few days before the school-wide graduation ceremony)
And possibly no spring portion of the club volleyball season, including the Asics Jr. National Championships in Chicago (this is still to be determined by the governor and USA Volleyball in the coming days)
No positive last memories with their classmates
An awkward and unsatisfying close to their pre-college school years
I know our eighth-grade athletes are experiencing a similar wave of emotions as they miss out on wonderful end-of-year school memories, including their graduation week. And, really, the governor’s decision negatively impacts every student at every grade level. No more connecting with friends at recess, in class, at lunch hour and before and after school until the 2020-21 school year arrives, not to mention being unable to learn in the classroom from your teachers. And some of you won’t get to play soccer, run track or compete in another spring school sport that you couldn’t wait to dive into.
There’s no tip-toeing around it. Today is one of the toughest days of this pandemic. And that’s without even addressing the sadness and emptiness of not being able to practice, play, compete and connect together in the sport we love as Serve City volleyball teams right now.
I don’t have any magical words of wisdom in response to today’s announcement. Some people will try to put a positive spin on things and simply look at the bright side. That’s fine to do and is normally my first instinct, but sometimes the best reaction is to first be real, honest and up-front.
The fact is, this news hurts. It stings. It’s disappointing and confusing. It frankly stinks. And if you’re angry or despondent or hurting over it, that’s perfectly OK and normal to feel that way.
The one lesson I would point all of us to during this unprecedented period in our country’s history, as we navigate through uncharted waters and unpredictable events, is this: Find something or someone trustworthy to rely on and cling to for hope, encouragement, strength, love, wisdom and peace. Don’t try self-reliance. Just as volleyball is a team sport, life is a group activity. Don’t live as a lone wolf.
For me, that starts with God. My relationship with Him is vitally important to me, especially in trying times like the pandemic. I’m leaning heavily on His promises to love, care and provide for my family and me, and He’s doing just that day by day.
Today the Bible verse that is encouraging me is Psalm 46:1 — God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. It comforts and strengthens me knowing that, while the government has placed most of our country into quarantine or lockdown and our families are like individual islands struggling along on our own in our homes, God is my supernatural friend and leader, constantly and actively by my side directing, counseling, equipping and helping me 24-7.
Truth be told, there are days when I wake up in the morning and frankly don’t want to do anything out of a sense of dread and dismay. But talking to Him and remembering His promises gets me out of bed and fills me with a deep peace and unspeakable joy that I know only comes from Him. It’s certainly not a poise and calm that I can muster out of my own strength.
And hopefully you can lean strongly into your family for comfort, encouragement, love and support. Without my family to walk this journey with, I’d get lost in my worries and fears about the future. Lean on Mom, Dad or whichever family members you’re with during the pandemic. Spend time with them. Talk to them. Be real with them. Intentionally create positive memories with them. Laugh with them. Venture out and explore new interests and hobbies with them. Support them while they support you.
And remember that parents are real people with real emotions, too. We aren’t immune to being struck by fears, concerns, frustrations and worries. Your mom or dad need encouragement and patience just as you do. Don’t expect them to always be strong, steady and ever-reliable. Give them grace, too.
Lean heavily on your friends at school, at church and on your volleyball team as well. I’ve been asking our coaches to make their teams a virtual place where teammates can connect, support one another and stay together while feeling supported, not to mention encouraging each other as teammates and coaches to continue using volleyball workouts at home to keep our spirits high and our bodies and skills in sharp condition should the season resume soon and to help us stay in touch with the sport we enjoy so much.
Know that I’m praying for everyone in Serve City each day of this crisis, and we as a staff are fighters who look, learn and study every day for opportunities and answers. Let’s keep pressing forward as families, teams, athletes, coaches and as a club director and remember that we’re all better together.
Jeff Smith is Serve City’s club director.