Wisconsin Juniors Recruiting Seminar

1. Wisconsin Juniors Recruiting Seminar

2. Important Questions • Can I play in college • What are my options • What am I allowed to do/what are coaches allowed to do • When do Colleges start recruiting in each Division (1, 2, 3, NAIA) • What does the term Red Shirt and Walk on mean • When and How should I Make College Visits • What does my timeline look like and when should I be making a decision. • What should I be doing now • Unsigned Seniors and the next Step? • How does WI Jrs. Do to Help • JRS and it’s options

3. Can I play in College • Yes, you can play in college • Determine your commitment level and priorities • Personal preferences in a college. • Level of play, location, school size, academic interest, religious affiliation, ect. • Be realistic about your goals, keep all options available! • Don’t play for the scholarship!!!!

4. What are my options • NCAA D1 • 330 schools- 12 full scholarships, not able to be divided. • NCAA DII • Around 270- 8 Full Scholarships per program/able to be divided. • NCAA DIII • Around 450 Schools- No athletic aid available, academic based institutions. Scholarships offered for academics or merit based. (Merit based on achievements, tests scores, GPA, scholastic performance.) • NAIA • Around 240 Schools- Athletic scholarships available. Most have 8 full scholarships to divide • NJCAA • Over 525 member schools in NJCAA • D1- Able to offer full funding • D2- Offer funding for tuition and fees • D3- No athletic funding

5. General Recruiting Rules • Division 1 • Coaches may email any PSA (prospective student athlete) starting Sept 1st entering their junior year of high school. • Coaches may place phone calls to a PSA on July 1st entering their Senior year • Coaches are not allowed to communicate with parents or PSA’s during any competition. • Exception- PSA is a senior and has signed an NLI; coaches may talk to the parents of the PSA during the competition but must wait until the completion of the event before talking with the PSA. • PSA’s and parents may call, text or email coaches at any point during their High School Career, however coaches are limited to their responses to conditions previously listed. • PSA’s may make as many unofficial visits as desired at any point, except during a dead period. • Example of D1 Recruiting Calendar • Division 2 • Coaches may email, call or text any PSA starting June 15th after their Soph year of High School. • PSA’s may make as many unofficial visits as desired at any point during the year. • Coaches are not allowed to communicate with parents or PSA’s during any competition. • Exception-PSA is Junior or Senior and has completed play and been released from the last day of competition. • PSA’s and parents may call, text or email coaches at any point during their High School Career; coaches are limited to their responses to conditions previously listed.

6. Continued.. • Division 3 • Coaches may email, call or text any PSA at any point during their High school Career • PSA’s may visit any school at any point throughout the year. • Coaches are not allowed to communicate with parents or PSA’s during any competition. • Exception- PSA is a Senior and has been released from the last day of competition. • PSA’s and parents may call, text or email coaches at any point during their High School Career; Coaches may return all calls, texts and emails at any point. • NAIA • Coaches may contact any PSA at any time throughout their high school career. • There is no recruiting calendar and no restrictions on the number of times a contact can be made by either a PSA or coach. • Coaches may contact any player at any time throughout the year, as many times as they feel they need to. • Any form of electronic media is permissible including, texting, phone calls and emails. • Coaches are able to talk openly to players and parents at any tournament or competition. • NAIA School Location

7. When Do Colleges Start Recruiting • Division 1 • Top players in the country recruited as early as Freshman year. • Most programs start accumulating lists two years ahead (ex. lists made of the 2015s to email once Sept 1st comes) • Most offers made to tops choices Soph year for top schools. Most other 1st choice offers will be end of Soph year beginning of Junior year. • Division 2 • Top D2 programs offering fall/winter of Junior year, hoping to finish by spring of Junior year. Most schools will offer winter/spring of Junior year finishing up Fall/Winter of Senior year.

8. Continued… • Division 3 • Have to wait for trickle down. Most schools get commitments for the same year. (ex. Players commit in March 2014 for the 2014 Fall college season) • Top D3 programs will get some commitments during Junior year. • Most will commit Senior year • NAIA • Try to compete for players similar to D2 as they can offer comparable experiences and packages. • Commitments will generally be a bit later than D2 mostly because people are not as educated about NAIA opportunities.

9. Redshirt and Walk OnWhat do they mean? • Redshirt • Definition: student athlete who does not participate in competition for an entire academic year • Practice activities are allowed on a normal everyday basis • Traveling with the team on road trips is at the discretion of the coach • Four years of athletic eligibility • Medical redshirt due to an injury • Walk-On • You pay for all tuition, books, room and board. You are allowed to receive academic scholarships as a walk on. • You will perform, receive, and be treated the same as a scholarship athlete does. • You are recruited the same way, and occupy a roster spot on the team • Ask about walk on opportunities. • Ask if there will be future opportunities for scholarships • RED-SHIRT/ WALK-ON COMBINATION OPPORTUNITY • Enter as a walk on your freshman year and also red shirt your freshman year. Allows you time to adjust to the collegiate level of play - and still gives you four years of eligibility

10. When and How Should I Make College Visits • Unofficial College Visit-What is it? • This is a visit that is not funded by the University and is done on the PSA’s own time and finances. • There is no limit to the number of Unofficial Visits that can be made. • How to make one-Where to visit • Your recruiting director (Evan) or any club director, club/high school coach may help pass on communication. • Email or call the coach directly to set up a visit. • College coaches use a third party (recruiting directors, club coach ect) to pass on information. • Make as many visits as you can as early as you can so you have enough information to compare to when it comes time to making that decision • The schools you visit should be schools you have a potential interest in and have interest in you as a future prospect. • No Time? • A lot of visits are done during the club year, many of them while on the road for a travel tournament. • Look at your club schedule, see which schools are on the way.

11. Official Visits • You can make up to five Official – expense paid visits to college campuses. • You are not allowed to have an official visit until after your first day of classes of your senior year. • Colleges need to have your high school transcripts, ACT or SAT scores, and confirmation of your registration with the NCAA clearing house before you can make a visit. • An official visit means the school will pay for the visit by providing or reimbursing you for transportation, meals, lodging and entertainment up to a certain dollar amount. • The visits can only be 48 hours so it can be a very jammed-packed trip. Official visits can only be offered by NCAA Division I & II programs • Most of these visits are done after the PSA has already committed to the University.

12. Timeline and Making a Decision • Biggest indicator of how soon your timeline will start will be YOUR talent level, NOT your team. • (Coaches recruit good players, not good teams) • Freshman and Soph- Start the work now, make some unofficial visits, be informed early. • Jrs.and Seniors- Don’t panic, still many options even into Senior year. • Visit schools more than once, weigh all options with things most important to you. • Schools have their timeline just like you have one. Has to be a good fit for both.

13. What Should I be Doing Now • Start to be able to answer some questions like • Do I want to stay close to home or go far away? • What do you want to study in school? • Does school size matter? • What level of play do you evaluate yourself playing at? • Do you want to play immediately? • Start to create and put together a personal bio page. Example click HERE • Send out emails to coaches with playing schedule and bio page. • Think about creating a skills video and start filming match video. • This will be something coaches like to see if they can’t make it to a tournament • Start to create some relationships with coaches and make some unofficial visits. • Browse some college resource websites • Get an idea of what certain Universities offer • Think about some camps you may want to attend in the Summer/Fall • Coaches use camps as great recruiting opportunities

14. Unsigned Seniors- Is it too late? • NO, its not too late. • There are still many options available • Many Universities do not have large recruiting budgets, so they don’t have the resources to attend many tournaments, so their strategy is to see which recruits may be unsigned. • Determine your commitment level and priorities. • Be realistic about your goals, keep all options available! • Don’t play for the scholarship!!!! • We get contacted a lot mid year about all of our seniors who are unsigned. • Our website helps very much

15. NJCAA and its Options • National Junior College Athletic Association • Over 525 member schools in NJCAA • D1- Able to offer full funding • D2- Offer funding for tuition and fees • D3- No athletic funding • Junior College is a good option for those who may not be ready to attend a 4 year college immediately but still and a competitive volleyball option with financial help. • This is usually a good transition option from a 2 year program into a 4 year program. • NJCAA College Search Page

16. What WI Jrs. Does for all it’s Families • Create and provide team bio sheets for coaches on request. Team Bio Example • Active tournament recruiting assistance court to court • Constant college coach communication and email forwarding/liaison for all players • General Recruiting Questionnaire to reference when speaking to college coaches. Click HERE • Extensive Parent information page on the Wisconsin Jrs. “For the Parents” Recruiting tab.

17. Helpful links • www.ncaa.org NCAA guide to college athletics • www.naia.org National Athletic Intercollegiate Association • www.finaid.com gives information on scholarship opportunities and different types of loans. • www.volleycentral.com website with links to all NCAA D1, D2 and D3 volleyball athletics websites along with rankings for all divisions both women and men. • http://about.collegeboard.org/ Provide resources, tools and services to students, parents, colleges and universities in the areas of college planning, recruitment and admissions, financial aid, and retention. • http://web1.ncaa.org/memberLinks/links.jsp?div=1 website that lets you search any school in any division by alphabetical order. Also has a conference search by alphabetical order. Takes you directly to school or conference website.

18. JRS • Investment options with more in depth personal assistance with the recruiting process. • Help with recruiting skills videos and online bio sheets, personal phone call assistance, free access to schedule counseling sessions. • Website exposure Example • Players are highlighted on the recruiting page • Choose between two pricing options, Gold and Silver package. Click HERE for package details. • Extra Recruiting Services available per hour. Details HERE

19. Q and A?