Talent and ability remain the key elements for volleyball players who want to find success at any competitive level. However, talented high school players need more than just natural ability to succeed at the college level. They need to show scouts a great all-around game and not just one area of specialization. They need to show a willingness to develop their game.
Work Ethic
It's one thing to perform as an all-star player at the high school level, but it's quite another to become a competitive player at the college level. Take a step toward showing your value as a player by going to volleyball camp in the summer. Regional camps give top high school players a chance to compete against each other and show their talents and desire. The latter remains a huge part of making an impression. Compete hard at the volleyball camp and demonstrate your talent and desire.
Talent Development
While many players who want to play at the college level have talent, the best ones show significant improvement from year to year. Assess your abilities at the start of the season. Know your strong points and your weak points. Put in the work to make your strengths stronger and your weaknesses less noticeable. If you have an ordinary serve, work with your coach on building two or three different types of serves so you get stronger. Use your creative instincts to turn your weaknesses into strengths.
Conditioning
A solid college volleyball player makes a commitment to conditioning. The game itself will help a player get in good shape but a college player must do interval sprints for endurance and speed, weight training for strength and hitting drills to become a consistent returner.
Make Yourself Known
The top volleyball stars will get discovered by scouts, whose job calls for them to find the most talented players. However, good players still have to make themselves known to coaches and scouts. Put together a highlight reel that show your best moments on the court. Collect letters of recommendation from your coaching staff as well as opposing coaches. Those letters help you stand out to coaches of winning college programs. Some 329 Division I universities offer volleyball scholarships to women at up to 12 per team, and 286 Division II members at up to eight per team, according to VolleyballRecruits.com. That same site reports 23 Division I schools offer 4.5 scholarships per team for men while 16 Division II schools offer 4.5 for men.
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