As the club season is upon us, here are some do’s and don’ts that college coaches look for when they get a chance to evaluate and communicate with student athletes and parents during the club season.

If you can check off all of the items on the list below, you’re most certainly going to catch a college coach’s eye.

Do’s
  • Keep your emails positive, fun and friendly. Coaches appreciate the creativity. Here’s a sample email template.
  • Be a vocal leader on your team.
  • Be confident. Coaches can spot it.
  • Give your teammates high fives and make good eye contact
  • Show you’re having fun when you play. It’s okay to smile and show that you’re enjoying competition.
  • Compete hard. Coaches know when max effort is being put out there. Show it!
  • If you’re on the bench, be engaged with your teammates. Be the leader of the cheers. Coaches notice players who are having fun.
  • Be a parent on the sideline who is fun and supportive. If college coaches see that from a parent, it could go a long way.
  • Be a parent who lets their daughter speak/advocate for herself in conversations with coaches. It’s okay to listen in to help understand what’s going on, but let the student athlete who’s going to college be in charge of this process for themselves

If the student athlete or parent are displaying one or more of the items on the list below, you could immediately lose the interest of a college coach.

Don’ts
  • Roll your eyes or show signs of negative body language (while on and off the court).
  • Hang out with your parents or seclude yourself from your teammates while your team is between matches. Coaches may be watching to see how you interact with your peers off the court
  • Have your parents write your emails/do your recruiting for you. If you want to play in college, you need to set some time aside and make this a priority*. *If you’re answering emails at 9 am on a school day, a coach is going to questions where the email is coming from.
  • Let your parent approach your club coaches during a tournament or appear over involved/over dramatic on the sidelines.

I’ll leave you with one last big DO in the recruiting process. Most of you will be 15-18 years old when you’re going through your college search process. DO: try to think about where you’re 21-year-old self is going to be most happy at. I know it’s a really hard thing to try and foreshadow/forecast, but I think most 21-year-olds would give the advice to take into account things like the people, the level of competition and the culture of the program over things like the Name on the Jersey, dorms/housing, weather, etc.

Best of luck to everyone with the start of the club season! Wishing everyone a successful and FUN season!

More recruiting resources are available here.

About the Author

Meghan Keck is the 18s Lead, Recruiting Director, and Setting Director at 1st Alliance Volleyball, a JVA member club in LaGrange, Illinois. She has 17 years of experience coaching at the Division I level with 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and six conference championships. She coached several NCAA Top 25 ranked teams. Meghan was a four year starting setter at Auburn University and UIC, where she holds the school record for hitting percentage in a match.