To be recruited is to be considered as a potential player for a university with a beach volleyball program. Sometimes, a coach or assistant coach will contact you or your parents directly if they are actively interested in recruiting you. Oftentimes, you as the player will have to reach out to a coach you are interested in playing for in order to be recruited. Whichever situation you might find yourself in, p1440 has the tools and resources you may need to help you get recruited.

The NCAA has strict rules regarding college recruitment. The responsibility to uphold these rules falls under the coaches themselves. Here is a timeline for the recruitment stages.

• June 15 after sophomore year: Coaches can send athletes all forms of private electronic correspondence, including text messages, instant messages, direct messages and emails, as well as all recruiting materials. Coaches can also call athletes at this point.

• August 1 before junior year: Athletes can begin taking unofficial visits.

• August 1 before junior year: Coaches can conduct off-campus, in-person contact with athletes at their residence or school.

• August 1 before junior year: Athletes may begin taking official visits.

• General materials: Athletes can receive brochures for camps, questionnaires, NCAA materials and non-athletic recruiting publications at any time.

• Printed recruiting materials: Starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year, coaches can begin sending recruits printed recruiting materials.

• Telephone calls: Starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year, coaches can start calling athletes.

• Off-campus contact: Coaches can conduct off-campus communications with athletes and/or their parents starting June 15 after the athlete’s sophomore year.

• Official visits: Athletes may start taking official visits starting June 15 after sophomore year.

• Recruiting materials: Athletes can receive recruiting materials at any time.

• Telephone calls: There is no limit on when college coaches can call athletes.

• Off-campus contact: After the athlete’s sophomore year, college coaches may begin to conduct off-campus communications.

• Official visits: Athletes can begin taking official visits after January 1 of their junior year.

Dead period: Coaches may not have any in-person contact with recruits and/or their parents. In other words, coaches are not allowed to talk to recruits at their college campus, the athlete’s school, an athletic camp or even the grocery store. Athletes and coaches are still allowed to communicate via phone, email, social media and other digital communication channels.

• November 7–10, 2022

• December 14–31, 2022

• Except for: Coaches attending the AVCA annual awards banquet can have incidental contact with two-year college recruits being honored at the event. However, no recruiting conversations can happen at this event.

• May 3–7, 2023

• Except for: Coaches may evaluate on only one day and attend one event on that day during this period. The event has to be within 30 miles of the site of the championship. Coaching staffs from the same college need to attend the same event on the same day.

Evaluation periods: College coaches are allowed to watch an athlete compete in person or visit their school. However, coaches are not allowed to communicate with that athlete (or parents) off the college campus.

• December 5–13, 2022

• January 1–13, 2023

• May 1–26, 2023

• Except during the May 3-7, 2023 dead period

Contact periods: All communication between athletes and coaches is fair game! Coaches can email, text, call, direct message and generally contact athletes and their parents through any NCAA-approved method. In-person contact can occur on the college campus, as well as at tournaments, at the recruit’s school and home.

• August 1 – November 6, 2022

• November 11 – December 4, 2022

• January 14 – April 30, 2023

• May 27 – July 31, 2023

For D2 schools, the recruiting calendar is less scripted. Except for the dates listed below, treat everything else like a contact period.

Dead period: Coaches may not have any in-person contact with recruits and/or their parents. In other words, coaches are not allowed to talk to recruits at their college campus, the athlete’s school, an athletic camp or even the grocery store. Athletes and coaches are still allowed to communicate via phone, email, social media and other digital communication channels.

Until you can actively partake in the recruitment process, train hard, reach out to coaches to let them know you are interested, go to camps and showcases, send in video, play in tournaments, and do well in school.

If you are interested in playing for a college beach volleyball program, there are a few things you should do in order to be recruited.

1. Play in lots of tournaments. Try to play in big tournaments such as National Championships and Club Championships. A lot of college coaches will be at these events so it’s good to play in front of them as often as you can.

2.Go to college camps. If you have a few colleges in mind you would love to play at, sign up for their beach volleyball camps. It’s recommended that you try as many camps as you can because it gives you the opportunity to be seen and coached by your potential future coach. It also gives them an idea of what kind of player you are.

3.Go to showcases. Some clubs will host college showcases where there will be a handful of college coaches in attendance. At these showcases, the college coaches will teach you certain skills and interact with you on a more personal level. Once the showcase is over, there is usually a tournament in which the college coaches can watch you play in a real life setting. Showcases are a great recruiting opportunity.

4.Send in videos of you playing. Don’t create a huge highlight reel with loud music in the background, special effects and just clips of you hitting the ball straight down everytime. Film yourself playing in tournaments, go through the video and pick out some great plays you want to showcase, and send that in. It’s that simple. Coaches don’t want to see you hit the 10 ft. line on repeat. They want to see how you handle adversity, how you hustle to the ball, that you never let a ball touch the ground without effort and what kind of teammate you are. Good coaches don’t need to watch 20 minutes of your game either. Make it short and to the point and if they see something there, you’ll be put on their radar.

5.Reach out to coaches. It can be scary to pick up the phone and initiate conversations with people who have the power to make or break your college career. Just do it! Coaches know how difficult it can be to push your fears aside and have those uncomfortable yet necessary conversations. They respect it though, and believe it or not, they’ve done it hundreds if not thousands of times. 99% of the time they will lead the conversation and make you feel at ease. To take some of the pressure off, come prepared with questions you are genuinely interested in finding answers to. Ask about the culture of the team, what kind of resources the school offers for student-athletes, what kind of player and teammate are they looking for or even a fun ice breaker such as where is the coolest place they’ve ever traveled to before. Most importantly, just be yourself.

6.Do good in school! This is probably one of the most important factors in getting recruited. College coaches are not just recruiting you for their team, but they are also putting their faith in you as a student. Your GPA directly affects the team’s GPA. If you don’t get good grades in high school, how will they expect that you’ll get good grades in college? If they can’t rely on you to be academically eligible, then it’s not only a bad reflection of the team, but also the school. Grades are oftentimes linked to work ethic. If you slack off in school, coaches may take that as a sign that you will slack off in sports too. Another huge factor grades play in recruiting has to do with academic scholarships. Let’s say the college of your dreams wants to offer you a position on their team but they only have a limited amount of athletic scholarship money to give. They may offer you a 10% athletic scholarship for each year, but if you are eligible for academic scholarships, you could potentially work your way up to being a full-ride scholarship athlete! As you can see, academics play a huge role in recruitment so it’s important to work hard on and off the court as well as in the classroom.