Kiddo #3 is a sophomore. She was a starter on the school’s varsity volleyball team, but I don’t think she’s that good.
Today she received a letter from a D1 volleyball coach that was addressed to her via the school’s guidance office. She is the only one on the high school team to receive the letter. It was telling her that the college team’s coaches would be going to a showcase in the relative vicinity in February and encouraged her to register. (The showcase costs about $175 and is open to anyone; not an invite only event.) It also included information about the school and ended with “If you have any questions about the [city] event, or [University], feel free to reach out.” No real signature, but had coach’s name and email as the signature and was on University letterhead.
We don’t know what to make of it. We’re guessing she ended up on a mailing list, but cannot for the life of us figure out why it would be sent to her c/o high school guidance office. Anyone think I shouldn’t just toss it in the recycle bin?
Some sports do not allow contact directly to the athlete or family, but do allow contact through a coach or high school, so that may be why the letter went to the guidance counselor. The university coaches can pick up a phone call from you/your daughter but can’t return a call or text before recruiting ‘opens’ for that sport.
Reasons why she may be receiving the letter and no one else? Is she the only sophomore on varsity? Is the showcase only for sophomores? Are her grades in a different range than the other sophomores?
I add one more question. Is she tall?
It is common that pre-junior year athletic recruiting letters and such go through the high school, whether it’s the guidance office or home room, as NCAA rules don’t allow college volleyball coaches to directly contact a student until June 15 after sophomore year (note that NCAA dates and rules change frequently!).
Somehow she is on this coach’s radar…did she fill out the school’s online recruiting questionnaire? Or play in a tourney where one of those college coaches attended?
If she is interested in this school/program and potentially attending the showcase, she should have a chat with her HS and/or club coach. She can call the coach who sent the letter but they have to pick up the phone (they can’t return a call, again, until june 15 after soph year)…can her HS/club coach arrange a day/time for the call with the college coach?
FYI, this page has the link to the NCAA volleyball recruiting calendar http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/resources/recruiting-calendars/division-i-and-ii-recruiting-calendars
@Mwfan1921 - Thank you for that information. We haven’t really been thinking about volleyball for her in college. She loves the sport, but qualified for the state track meet as a freshman, so figured that was probably what sport (if any) she’d do in college.
I guess there’s a possibility she was seen by a coach/recruiter. Our school is in a league with a couple of the top teams in the country and she had a really good game against one of them in the end-of-season tournament. It’s a stretch, but I guess she could have caught the eye of someone watching to scout the other team.
@sushiritto - She is not tall. She can, however, out jump most girls who are in the 6’-6’1" range and at one point led her team in blocks.
@twoinanddone - There were two other sophomores on varsity who did not receive letters and the showcase is open to any noncommitted player AFAIK. Her team received an academic award for the league for their average GPA, so I’m going to assume that all players have pretty good grades.
Will talk to Kiddo about it and see if she wants to follow up on it at all. I’m not sure she sees herself playing college volleyball, so the letter just might end up in the recycling bin anyways.
@My3Kiddos We used to say, still do actually, that there are three things you can’t teach. Speed (quickness to the hit ball in this case), height and “hops.” 
If you ever watched the NFL combine for college football athletes entering the NFL, the biggest crowds are for the 40 yard dash and the vertical reach/jump test. Maybe your D’s “hops” are what coaches are attracted to.
Big difference in track scholarships and D1 volleyball. The D1 volleyball is full COA!
It may be a random letter and they thought your daughter would pay the $175 for the showcase. It may be that the coach from that school gets paid by the showcase.
My daughter was recruited by a coach at a small D1 school. There had been 1-2 older kids from our region who had gone to that school, but how the coach noticed my daughter was that the coach was a ref at a showcase. My daughter was a tiny player, not a particularly high scorer, but had pretty good stats across the board. You had to really see her play to see that she was controlling the midfield of a game, that she was giving good assists on non scoring plays. The coaches at the showcases also get a profile so can see the grades and test scores. My daughter checked all those boxes (except she was really small and not many D1 schools were interested).
Daughter didn’t go to that school but it was an interesting recruiting process as my first reaction was “where is this school and how did the coach even know of my D?”
S19 got a few letters like that at school (he ended up wrestling at the D1 level). I felt like they were kind of fishing expeditions by the coaches for interest. They probably are interested in her to a certain extent, but not interested enough to call her coach and ask about her. Which makes sense, I don’t know volleyball timing but in most sports the coaches start casting a wide net and narrow it down as the kids get older. No reason to call 20 (or 1,000, who knows) HS coaches, see which girls reciprocate the interest first.
I’m guessing S19’s letters he got at school were from getting noticed at various national events, he traveled plenty and lots of the higher end HS wrestling events are video archived. Some coach probably stumbled across him at a tournament or reviewing video of one of his opponents.
One of the coaches from a random letter to the school ended up flying out to watch S (and probably others) at a small All Star type event a year later. Another eventually told S he was one of their top priority recruits, and was a finalist in his decision. So the letters aren’t necessarily just random things blanketed out to hundreds or thousands of girls they aren’t really interested in.
Agree btw that if D is equally happy with both sports (which she may not be) volleyball may be the better route. My experience was football vs. wrestling. You see lots of kids who could compete in either one. The difference was that the middle of the road football players, even who don’t get headcount scholarships at FBS schools, generally get scholarships far better than wrestlers who can compete at a much higher level. S has a friend who liked both sports equally, but as a kid who will probably be a starter in either sport as a junior/senior but not earlier, he was comparing near full scholarship offers for football to 30% offers for wrestling. I suspect track is similar to wrestling and volleyball similar to football. Just far too many track athletes on a team chasing far too few chopped up scholarships, while most volleyball even at D2 level will be close to full scholarship offers.
It doesn’t hurt to have her call the coach. If nothing else, I saw my son grow tremendously though that process. He went from panicing when his phone would ring to casually talking to coaches he idolizes by the end of the process.
Since athletic recruiting is a serendippity thing, I would have her give the coach a call. It could be she was on a mailing list or maybe she caught someone’s eye. You’ll never know until she asks.
You also never know where these things lead. A complimentary call with a coach could spark something in her to explore college athletics. It’s worth the few minutes for a call…
If her current coach is experienced I think I’d shoot him or her a brief email. The coach should know if your daughter is a potential recruit, at what level, and if this particular showcase is the best option. I agree with those saying exploring these types of leads can be a good experience as long as they don’t interfere too much.
As far as Track, folks are right to point out the difference in scholarship impact there. D1 programs are allowed 18 scholarships for women (12.6 for men), for the Coach to distribute to the entire team. And not all programs are fully funded. So they can be thinly sliced in some cases. But you really don’t have to worry too much about that until late in her junior year. Fortunately, Track is still a late recruiting sport.
@sushiritto - We’ve always heard “you can’t coach tall” but never heard the other two (which fit Kiddo well. She’s playing up for club this year and when we met the other parents for the first time, one of them said, “Ah, I’ve heard she’s got mad hops.”)
You’ve all given me a lot to think about, especially with regards to just having her get used to talking to a coach. I did look up the profile of the school, and would consider it a match based on her GPA and PSAT score. So just learning more about the school could be beneficial.
She prefers volleyball to track, irregardless of any thoughts about scholarships. (Never figured she’d get one in either sport.) Just always figured she’d be more likely to run track in college than play volleyball.
I talked to her more about it and she said she would like to follow up. So I guess the next step is to have her talk to her coach and see if she can get a call set up and we’ll see what happens from there.
I suggest calling the coach and getting the low down. My daughter gets many of these letters and emails. Started her Freshman year (now a Sophomore). It is strange that no other team mates received them though. BTW, my daughter is not D1 material, she’s a hitter but only 5’9" and it is very very rare to be under 6’ and be on a D1, even low end D1s. The few girls who do have an approach of a minimum of 9’6" to over 10’. Do you know her approach and block? BIock is usually a minimum of 9’5" as well for a D1 player. Does she play club? If so, she should speak or email with the coach from the letter and inform them of her tournament schedule. My daughter has started communicating with D3 coaches and they are responding with which tournaments they are attending and where they will try to watch her play. NCAA rules prohibit the D1 and D2 coaches from contacting her until June 1 of sophomore year but she can contact them. Just about all volleyball recruiting happens through club volleyball and national tournaments and not as much through camps and very very rarely through high school teams only. Some top VB players who don’t have competitive HS volleyball teams or have terrible HS coaches do not even play in high school. They just train outside privately . Also, almost all college players have played club volleyball so if she’s not currently and interested in pursuing college VB, definitely check out clubs in your area. Tryouts have already happened for this 2019-2020 season and the teams are formed (tournaments just began this past weekend) so she would need to try out next year. Club volleyball runs from November until early July but contact your local clubs and see what they say if she’s interested, they might be able to take her as a practice player or maybe even a regular player. Depends on the region rules and individual club rules . Also, FYI - camps are much more beneficial to attend during Jr year and the summer before Sr year if she wants to go that route for exposure, save your money for now. Usually, if a school is very interested in recruiting her, they offer those camps for free. Good luck!! Volleyball is great sport and D1 scholarships are full ride!
@Trishaluna - Thanks for your response. Kiddo does play club volleyball. She switched clubs this year and is playing up. Because her teammates are juniors, and several of them are hoping to play in college, we’re learning more about the recruiting process. Her coach has them doing two really big tournaments which are expected to have a lot of college coaches in attendance. Maybe we’ll get our act together in time to start making some contacts before the second one.
And while I said she’s short, there are players shorter than her on the team where the letter came from. So while she’s not what I typically think of for college players, I guess it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.