COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL RECRUITING
VOLLEYBALL SCHOLARSHIPS
How to get recruited and play college volleyball.
College Volleyball is fast and competitive. With the right exposure you can increase your recruiting opportunities and be able to compete at the college level. College Volleyball is predominately a sport played by women. There are only 119 NCAA men’s volleyball programs. Of the 450,000 women playing volleyball at high school level, only 6.5% will play competitive volleyball at university.
NCAA
There are 1060 NCAA schools affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association that have competitive college volleyball programs. 391 institutions competing are at the D1 level. Volleyball coaches at the Division One level can allocate 12 scholarships for women and 4.5 for men. For women, volleyball is a head count sport which means that all the volleyball scholarships are FULL scholarships. At the men’s level it is classed as an equivalency sport so scholarships can be broken up into partial scholarships if the coach chooses too.
There are 294 NCAA Division two colleges that play intercollegiate volleyball. D2 volleyball coaches can allocate 8 scholarships for women and 4.5 for men. All scholarships are equivalency based at this level. 394 schools in Division three actively compete against other colleges but no athletic scholarships are offered at the D3 level.
NAIA
At the NAIA level only 22 colleges offer volleyball for men and 223 do for women. The NAIA has classified volleyball an emerging sport for men which should go a long way to increasing the participation of men in the sport. Eight scholarships are on offer for both men and women. These are classed as equivalency sports.
NJCAA
308 JUCO colleges offer volleyball as an intercollegiate sport. While the NCAA and NAIA allow the participation of men, junior colleges class Volleyball as women only. Junior college Volleyball is not a scholarship sport.
VOLLEYBALL RECRUITING TIPS
- Get Good Grades. One of the most important things you can do to improve your chances of being recruited and playing volleyball at college level is to maintain a high academic standard. Volleyball coaches like to recruit hard working intelligent athletes. Keep your GPA up as high as possible. Strong academics is the first thing college coaches look for when recruiting.
- Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. You must do this to compete at the NCAA level and once you start communicating with coaches they will ask if you have been cleared.
- Create an Online Recruiting Profile. In order to maximize your recruiting exposure it’s important to create an online profile so coaches and scouts can learn more about you and recruit you. Get your name out there!
