Sid Feldman is the former Head Volleyball Coach at the University of Georgia (2X SEC Coach of the Year) and is one of the godfathers of helping develop the sport, High School and Juniors, in the deep south. He publishes articles from time to time on volleyball. Sid lives in Georgia so they have a Georgia slant but the information holds true for Arkansas also. I've asked Sid if we could post his words of wisdom on our site.
This is my take on trying to earn a college scholarship.
Have your athletes see a guidance counselor immediately and determine a good academic match for the player. Write to the coach and the admissions office and include: height, position you play, high school and club team the athlete plays for, academic information including major, GPA, SAT scores, their return address, phone number, and e-mail address. You might also include vertical jump when spiking and vertical jump when block. (This includes total reach) This letter is the responsibility of the athlete but you should proof read it.
Make a tape: Total length 8-10 minutes, 3-4 minutes of individual skills (passing, spiking, setting ,serving, defense including run throughs and going to the floor). Then add about 4 minutes of game films having shot the action from behind your team and being sure to identify the player by number and starting rotation. It might not be worth going out of state if your player can get a HOPE scholarship. Therefore, check out Georgia Southwestern, Valdosta, Georgia Southern, West Georgia, Georgia State, Augusta, Savannah Arts, Armstrong as well as UGA and Tech. Of course there are great Division III programs such as Piedmont, Oglethorpe and LaGrange. Brenau is a unique school and offers a unique situation. It might be right for one of your players. Finally, stop looking at the Top Twenty teams. Look at Furman, Western Carolina, Jacksonville, Montevallo, Chattanooga, Davidson, Tennessee Tech, East Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky, Aiken and a host of others. ((NOTE: This from a Georgia prospective, replace some of these schools with more Mid South programs and it's the same thing. We have a list of Mid South in this recruiting section of the website)).
Finally, remember, your athlete is applying for a job that pays $80,000, so she needs to get to work. No one is going to be knocking on her door. She must sell herself. But ultimately, no matter what state you live in, you must play club ball if you want to join a quality collegiate program. That is the reality at this point in time. Playing at the Peachtree Classic in February will give your athlete a chance to showcase her talents to about 100 college coaches in just one day.
A good idea is to have your athlete put a map on the wall of her bedroom. It should be a road map of the southeastern United States. She puts a pin and an index card at the spot where a college is located. Then she writes a little note to herself about each contact she had with that school. In a few months she will have this visual image of where she wants to go to school.
I hope this advice clears things up for those wondering how to start the process. It is never too late to start this process but Division I coaches make commitments as early as June of the player's junior year in high school. If you want to make the decision about where you are going it is best to have narrowed your choices by October of your senior year. However, many college coaches will lose their first choice come the first signing date. They will often not go to their second choice but rather start the process over again. If your athlete's letter is sitting on her/his desk at that point in time it maybe a marriage.
