Just 10 years ago, many of the top recruits in the country were being spotted late in their sophomore years, and the junior year club season of an aspiring student-athlete was when kids started to really think about college. That calendar, at least for the top kids, has all but disappeared.

As the collegiate game has continued to get more competitive, and more money is poured into the sport at many of the top universities in the country, the recruiting timeline has sped up. College coaches evaluating 8th graders has become a regularity on the top courts at AAU and USAV Nationals. Freshman are now being evaluated the way juniors used to be. And, many, if not most, Power Five and mid-major programs have already completed their 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes.

The shift in the recruiting timeline has had some unfavorable effects on the junior volleyball club directors and coaches. Below are some of the main concerns:

A lack of proper focus for the athletes.
Kids who need to concentrate on improving their game and their deficiencies are more concerned with “putting a good skills video together”, or going to tournaments where they will be “seen.” Eighth and ninth grade parents are talking about “recruiting opportunities” instead of skill training and classroom management. Players who have just started high school are being asked to think about what they want to study in college.

Increased cost of participation.
Club volleyball is getting more expensive, because parents are clamoring to fly to the best tournaments in the country in 8th grade. Never mind that their team isn’t even a top 150 team in the country, they want to be “seen.” This crowds out young multi-sport athletes who maybe haven’t developed enough or are still figuring things out, but who have reasonable parents who want their kids to, you know, be kids!

More weight is placed on playing time than development and hard work to earn a spot on the court.
Parents of eighth, ninth, and tenth graders are getting easily frustrated if their daughters aren’t in the match when a college coach wanders by their court (never mind that she was taken off after three consecutive errors and then yelling at her teammates, her dream school was watching). Everyone, no matter what they say, that plays or pays for their child to compete on a national level team EXPECTS a scholarship; so, every situation is scrutinized and the “process” of becoming great is thrown out the window. ,

The players are losing their love for the game.
the joy for the sport because they don’t get to do what kids used to do, play because they love the game! How many club and college coaches could tell the story of players who flame out as freshman and sophomores in college, or as seniors in high school. A big part of this, we believe, is a result of the push for “what’s next.” Players are being told by parents and friends to be thinking about what they want to do and where they want to go to college, and they forget about enjoying today for the sake of today.

Our goal in all of this is not to turn back the clock to 1995 as if the “old days” were when it was great. Rather, we want to have a discussion about what is best for the kids (so they can be KIDS) and what will help college coaches (so they can actually have some family time instead of sitting on a 13-year-old’s court in the middle of June).

The great news is that club coaches aren’t the only ones talking about this. It is a regular topic in hallways and meeting rooms at the AVCA convention, and many college coaches are as interested in finding a fix as club coaches are. With the partnership of the AVCA and JVA, people are having real conversations about real solutions.

General Suggestions for a Solution:

1. Remove all methods of contact until sophomore year.
Can we all just say it: Contacting 8th graders is ridiculous. I had a coach ask me last summer what an 8th grader was thinking about studying, to which I responded, “9th grade English”. Do we really expect 8th or even 9th graders to have a clue what they want out of a college? While we would love the timeline to be pushed back to junior year, we know that ship has sailed. But what about sophomore year? Could we cut off ALL communication with players before January 1 of a player’s sophomore year? We would love to see a ban on contact pre-sophomore year completely. No going through the club. And we would favor enforcement in a two-way manner: NCAA legislation on coaches, JVA/AAU/USAV legislation on clubs. No matter how “mature” an 8th grader looks or acts, he/she is a child.

2. Remove restrictions on contact; let the coaches speak to the kids.
If the contact timeline is pushed to January 1 of the sophomore year, can we then stop with the nonsense of coaches sending fake emails to coaches, directors, and recruiting coordinators that are written to the player in question? All the current NCAA legislation does is make it more of a pain to get in touch with the kid, but it doesn’t stop any of it. Let colleges text, call, and email directly. With the speed of emails now, we get an email for a kid and just hit “forward” and send it off. It’s a charade and everyone knows it, so let’s stop pretending that the current rules are somehow protecting the PSA’s.

3. Ban any scholarship offer from being made to a PSA before the contact period begins; penalize breaking of this rule.
This means direct or implied to the player or that player’s club/high school coach. College coaches who break this rule should be penalized with loss of scholarships for the year in which they offered that player (i.e., if you can’t offer a 2021 athlete and you do, then you lose a scholarship in 2021).

4. Shorten the recruiting window by starting the calendar on February 1st. This would give the kids and coaches a chance to chill out in November/December, then train in January unencumbered by early tournaments. We aren’t going to change our current June/July schedule because there is no other time to hold large tournaments like that when kids are in school. The May quiet period is awesome for coaches so that would definitely be a keeper. And, colleges need July as an option for camps. That makes the recruiting window six months long (Feb. – July), with a month break during that six months. Most college coaches (and even more so spouses and kids of college coaches) would probably agree that is long enough. This would also shorten the club season for National teams, which would be a welcomed change for most clubs. As it stands now teams compete for six or seven months…that’s longer than an NFL season, longer than the NBA regular season, longer than the NHL regular season, and three months longer than college volleyball seasons. NBA players can’t stay focused for six months; how on earth do we expect high school kids to stay invested for six months of competing and another two of training? Moreover, how many college coaches are starting to leave the sport because of burnout. They don’t get to spend time with their 12-year-old, because they have to get a jump on the 13-year-old or risk getting fired.

As with all rule changes, there would be some that would try to break them, or find a way around them. That’s the common response when we discuss these changes. But so what? There are coaches that try to get around the current rules, that will never change. That shouldn’t stop the NCAA, USAV, JVA, AAU or any other governing body from doing what is best for the kids and families involved.

About the Author

John Brannon is the Club Director and 18U Premier Head Coach at Carolina Union Volleyball Club.