Recruiting Reality in Numbers
October 9th, 2008 - byI recently attended a local high school volleyball game and it was quite obvious that one player was the standout. The crowd certainly knew her and the parents around me did as well. When she put the ball down, you would hear a thundering “BOOM” from the teenage boys in the crowd. It was quite impressive and entertaining.
While I sat there watching this game, I began to think about all of the student-athletes I 
work with on a daily basis as a Recruiting Coach with NCSA. I wondered which ones were that standout girl on their high school team. I felt really excited for them and their collegiate athletic dreams. I cheered in my head for them, “Yeah!” My heart raced and I felt like I was back on the high school volleyball court again. I remember all of the collegiate dreams I had as a high school player.
Then reality hit and I thought about all of the numbers at my desk; percentages that are collected, compiled, computed and posted. These are numbers that I am well aware of as a Recruiting Coach.
There are 390,034 high school volleyball players nationwide. Out of those girls 14,253 go on to play in college at all levels combined. That alone is only 3.7% of players nationwide who continue on to compete as a collegiate athlete. Out of those that play, only 1% are on a Division I roster. Out of that 1% of high school girls, only .8% of them end up with full-ride scholarships.
Now I look back at the standout player, who is just dominating at this point. I have to consider whether she is one of the elite .8%. After some thought on the matter, I decided she was not. It will take much more than a group of teenage boys calling her name to convince me or a college coach that she deserves a spot on their team.
The moral of this story is that local fame does not equal high level recruiting. There are an endless amount of players vying for a spot on each coach’s team. I know from experience that any coach at the Top 25 level is inundated with letters, emails, and videos everyday. Your local high school celebrity is something to be relished and reminisced upon, but do not feel a sense of entitlement because of it. Be sure to take into consideration that in recruiting you are now competing against the entire nation of high school volleyball players. Go for the gold, but be realistic about where your ability will truly take you.