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Post by reader on Jan 16, 2023 14:03:31 GMT -5
That's a solid thread, nothing to challenge there.
I think there's a lot to consider in his level and depth chart points inasmuch as many players who can consider D1 have not sat on the bench much in their careers. Before taking on a bench role or joining a team where starting is not going to be a given you need to have a hard talk with yourself and admit if you'd still love the game if you only practiced and got the tshirt. The answer is going to vary from person to person, but honestly planning to not be a starter is an important exercise to go through as part of picking a program. I was never going to go D1, but the idea that I'd join a sport with no hope of playing would aggravate me every day. I'd much rather have been a starter on a .500 team than clapping and cheering on a champion, but that's me. Others love the idea of building something massive and timeless. Know yourself, horses for courses, etc.
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Post by oldman on Jan 16, 2023 14:18:53 GMT -5
Depends on the athlete is very true however DI bias is real. I know many club directors that will only allow their top athletes to look at DI schools even if the DII school is better for $$$ and major. There are many threads about how top DII teams could compete with mid to low level DI teams but great volleyball is played by teams at many levels.
Also, many DII athletes have opportunities to play overseas.
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Post by kingofcrank on Jan 16, 2023 14:38:55 GMT -5
There is no correct answer to this question. You could even have the same argument within the respective divisions. (i.e. Bench in P5 school or Playing Time at mid-major). The best thing for the SA is to choose a place where they can see themselves be whatever they want to be.
In terms of D1 bias from the club volleyball level, I 100% agree, but not because the club doesn't like a certain division over another, but because clubs that send kids to D1 bring in more athletes. More athletes brings in more money.
The last thing I will add here is that we are talking about a bunch of people (volleyball community as a whole) that are mostly competitive people. They want to be the very best and always want to win. It's pretty tough not to set your sights at the highest level and be competitive at the same time.
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Post by hornshouse23 on Jan 16, 2023 14:52:10 GMT -5
What confuses me about this question is: the athlete making this decision knows they’ll be a bench warmer in D1 and a starter at the D2 level? Anyone who is telling themselves that during the recruiting process is setting themselves up for a rough ride in D1….
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Post by jayj79 on Jan 16, 2023 15:09:23 GMT -5
sidenote: occasionally, I'll see a player on the bench who rarely (if ever) gets into the rotation during matches, but always seems to be enthusiastically participating in (or leading) the cheering, celebrations, and other bench antics.
I always admire those players, and hope they get playing opportunities.
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Post by vbnerd on Jan 16, 2023 15:51:46 GMT -5
OK, he's not a VB coach. He's the men's basketball coach at Emporia State University (Yeah, I had to look it up). But would you tell a budding VB recruit to seriously look at D2 if she was going to ride the bench at a top D1 school? Is his assessment correct? D1, D2, and D3 are shorthand for how good a team is and how committed a school expects you to be, but even at that they are sloppy an imprecise. It's like asking "Do you want to marry a blond or are you willing to settle for a brunette if it was a more meaningful opportunity?" By stereotype blonds are supposed to be fun and dumb, and brunettes are supposed to be more serious and pensive but those are stereotypes and using D1, D2 and D3 to distinguish the quality of an opportunity isn't much more useful of a question. When a player says they want to play D1 or power 5, it's more about recognition and making certain people (parents, coaches, etc) proud of them than it is about what that opportunity will be for them when they get there or graduate from there. Some D2 schools have a full 8 scholarships and plenty of D1 schools do not. There are D1 schools with part-time or GA assistants and there are D2 and D3s that have multiple FT coaches. There are D1 athletes who transfer to some D3 schools and find that the players work much, much harder, either because it's a high academic and the players are overall perfectionists or because players see it as the last wrung of the ladder and they need to hang on. Not every D1 to D3 transfer made an impact last year - a couple didn't make it to the regular season. The important questions are what does the athlete want? Is important to them to be able to watch the final four and the Olympics and say "yeah, I played with/against her?" Do they want time to study abroad or take a meaningful internship? How does the financial commitment compare? Will the D1 coach support their academic goals or are they going to tell them that class/major is too hard and we can't have you tired from studying? Choose a school, choose a coach, choose a team, but don't pick a level. |
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Post by msrsv on Jan 16, 2023 18:10:34 GMT -5
Choose a school, choose a coach, choose a team, but don't pick a level. I like this... Come up with a set of "wants," both negotiable and non-negotiable. 1. I do/do not want to live in a big city / small town / far from my home. 2. I want to be near a beach / my family / the mountains / a diverse population / great shopping. 3. I must be able to ________ (ski, do study abroad, participate in track, have a major with a ton of labs, express my identity). 4. I don't care about anything but playing P5 and will go wherever that takes me. 5. No matter what, I don't want to transfer. I will quit VB before I will leave Perfect Fit University. 6. And so on and so forth... I remember doing this with my own SA and thought we would NEVER find a spot. She did and will graduate in May, still doing her 2nd sport (but not VB). She's had a ski pass every year, fit in a short study abroad, works a couple of days a week, doesn't miss Target or Lululemon, surprised herself by fallling in love with a rural mountain town, and might never leave for the rest of her life. LOL, she knew what she wanted, even when tempted by a bigger, more academically prestigous, higher division program. Make a map, a quadrant, a story. There's a lot out there beyond the known. |
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Post by tomclen on Jan 16, 2023 19:53:04 GMT -5
Choose a school, choose a coach, choose a team, but don't pick a level. I like this... Come up with a set of "wants," both negotiable and non-negotiable. 1. I do/do not want to live in a big city / small town / far from my home. 2. I want to be near a beach / my family / the mountains / a diverse population / great shopping. 3. I must be able to ________ (ski, do study abroad, participate in track, have a major with a ton of labs, express my identity). 4. I don't care about anything but playing P5 and will go wherever that takes me. 5. No matter what, I don't want to transfer. I will quit VB before I will leave Perfect Fit University. 6. And so on and so forth... I remember doing this with my own SA and thought we would NEVER find a spot. She did and will graduate in May, still doing her 2nd sport (but not VB). She's had a ski pass every year, fit in a short study abroad, works a couple of days a week, doesn't miss Target or Lululemon, surprised herself by fallling in love with a rural mountain town, and might never leave for the rest of her life. LOL, she knew what she wanted, even when tempted by a bigger, more academically prestigous, higher division program. Make a map, a quadrant, a story. There's a lot out there beyond the known. This may be the smartest thing I've read on VT in a bit. Then again, that may be the herb speaking. |
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Post by msrsv on Jan 17, 2023 14:40:54 GMT -5
This may be the smartest thing I've read on VT in a bit. Then again, that may be the herb speaking. This may be the nicest thing I've read about myself on VT in a bit. Or ever. (I don't think it was the herb on either side, ha!) |
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Post by hammer on Jan 17, 2023 15:52:47 GMT -5
I like this... Come up with a set of "wants," both negotiable and non-negotiable. 1. I do/do not want to live in a big city / small town / far from my home. 2. I want to be near a beach / my family / the mountains / a diverse population / great shopping. 3. I must be able to ________ (ski, do study abroad, participate in track, have a major with a ton of labs, express my identity). 4. I don't care about anything but playing P5 and will go wherever that takes me. 5. No matter what, I don't want to transfer. I will quit VB before I will leave Perfect Fit University. 6. And so on and so forth... I remember doing this with my own SA and thought we would NEVER find a spot. She did and will graduate in May, still doing her 2nd sport (but not VB). She's had a ski pass every year, fit in a short study abroad, works a couple of days a week, doesn't miss Target or Lululemon, surprised herself by fallling in love with a rural mountain town, and might never leave for the rest of her life. LOL, she knew what she wanted, even when tempted by a bigger, more academically prestigous, higher division program. Make a map, a quadrant, a story. There's a lot out there beyond the known. This may be the smartest thing I've read on VT in a bit. Then again, that may be the herb speaking. Are you toking again? Please lay off that stuff, it's bad for your lungs. |
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Post by professorchaos on Jan 17, 2023 19:24:43 GMT -5
I made this very decision. I had full ride offers to D1 schools but they were far away from my home state and had pretty poor records. I wasn't certain I wanted to go somewhere even if it was D1 just to lose (no offense to those teams) nor be that far away from home. Also had an offer to walk-on to a PAC 12 school in my state but was most certainly going to be a bench rider (despite them saying maybe I could work my way....lol) and would have to give up my days of being an OH for sure with my height in that conference. I got a full ride offer to a D2 school that had an awesome volleyball program, very close to home and it was great! I started as a true freshman all the way through to my senior year and made lifelong friends, got a great education to set me up for my career and was extremely successful at the sport I loved!
I had so many club/high school teammates that were D1 or go home mentality and they all ended up at various ones for the most part. I can't speak for all of their experiences, some did play quite bit, some did not and ended up transferring or just dropping the sport completely.
At the end of the day, it's an athlete's choice on priorities and what they want to get out of it! I had no intentions on continuing on my career post college and Olympics, ya right! But I still love the sport to this day and even got my husband and my small boys and we are avid watchers during the fall!
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Post by msrsv on Jan 17, 2023 23:56:46 GMT -5
This has me thinking about working on a way for SAs, their families, and coaches to consider these questions/values/wants before they are in the recruitment process. Like a worksheet... hmmmmmmmm.
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Post by jcvball22 on Jan 18, 2023 1:12:47 GMT -5
This has me thinking about working on a way for SAs, their families, and coaches to consider these questions/values/wants before they are in the recruitment process. Like a worksheet... hmmmmmmmm. Theoretically, this should be the job of the Recruiting Coordinator at their club. It's not just selling kids off to college coaches. It should be helping to educate the athletes and their families on what to expect, helping them ask these questions, and consider options that make the most sense for the athlete's future. |
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Post by mikegarrison on Jan 18, 2023 1:21:38 GMT -5
Choose a school, choose a coach, choose a team, but don't pick a level. I like this... Come up with a set of "wants," both negotiable and non-negotiable. 1. I do/do not want to live in a big city / small town / far from my home. 2. I want to be near a beach / my family / the mountains / a diverse population / great shopping. 3. I must be able to ________ (ski, do study abroad, participate in track, have a major with a ton of labs, express my identity). 4. I don't care about anything but playing P5 and will go wherever that takes me. 5. No matter what, I don't want to transfer. I will quit VB before I will leave Perfect Fit University. 6. And so on and so forth... I remember doing this with my own SA and thought we would NEVER find a spot. She did and will graduate in May, still doing her 2nd sport (but not VB). She's had a ski pass every year, fit in a short study abroad, works a couple of days a week, doesn't miss Target or Lululemon, surprised herself by fallling in love with a rural mountain town, and might never leave for the rest of her life. LOL, she knew what she wanted, even when tempted by a bigger, more academically prestigous, higher division program. Make a map, a quadrant, a story. There's a lot out there beyond the known. I guess what confuses me is that I chose to go to the best academic school that fit my interests and skill set that I could get into, and it didn't matter where it was or whether I could go skiing or if it was near a beach or whatever. A person has their whole life to decide to live by a beach, but most people can only afford one shot at a college education. I know not everybody shares my opinions about things, but I just can't understand people choosing which college to go to without actually listing the academic fit between them and the school as the primary criterion. |
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Jan 18, 2023 7:05:37 GMT -5
OK, he's not a VB coach. He's the men's basketball coach at Emporia State University (Yeah, I had to look it up). But would you tell a budding VB recruit to seriously look at D2 if she was going to ride the bench at a top D1 school? Is his assessment correct? D1, D2, and D3 are shorthand for how good a team is and how committed a school expects you to be, but even at that they are sloppy an imprecise. It's like asking "Do you want to marry a blond or are you willing to settle for a brunette if it was a more meaningful opportunity?" By stereotype blonds are supposed to be fun and dumb, and brunettes are supposed to be more serious and pensive but those are stereotypes and using D1, D2 and D3 to distinguish the quality of an opportunity isn't much more useful of a question. When a player says they want to play D1 or power 5, it's more about recognition and making certain people (parents, coaches, etc) proud of them than it is about what that opportunity will be for them when they get there or graduate from there. Some D2 schools have a full 8 scholarships and plenty of D1 schools do not. There are D1 schools with part-time or GA assistants and there are D2 and D3s that have multiple FT coaches. There are D1 athletes who transfer to some D3 schools and find that the players work much, much harder, either because it's a high academic and the players are overall perfectionists or because players see it as the last wrung of the ladder and they need to hang on. Not every D1 to D3 transfer made an impact last year - a couple didn't make it to the regular season. The important questions are what does the athlete want? Is important to them to be able to watch the final four and the Olympics and say "yeah, I played with/against her?" Do they want time to study abroad or take a meaningful internship? How does the financial commitment compare? Will the D1 coach support their academic goals or are they going to tell them that class/major is too hard and we can't have you tired from studying? Choose a school, choose a coach, choose a team, but don't pick a level. Pro Tip: men are blonds and brunets, women are blondes and brunettes. So your hypothetical compares marrying a guy with blond hair vs a woman with brown hair.  |
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