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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don't fool people, [b]coaches come to watch the candidates playing[/b], not just to the top division. There is another post on the gjnc 2024 results, no chrva team really in so called top division. If a player not in p5 level, playing in the travel teams that also qualify to gjnc nationals would get you enough attention given you have your recruitment profiles updated and contacted your target  college coaches. [/quote]
This is true. College coaches aren’t just wandering around big tournaments waiting for players to catch their attention. They have a plan for which players they want to watch and it doesn’t matter if their team is winning or losing. This is why the best recruiting advice is for players to be proactive and be reaching out to college coaches to get on their radar. It is somewhat true that college coaches have a preference for players on teams playing in the open division, especially for liberos/defensive specialists. While a college coach might take a chance on a hitter that’s tall or touches over 10’ that plays for a team in a lower division, it’s less risky for them to take players that have already demonstrated they can play at a very high level.[/quote]

College coaches have limited time and resources for recruiting. College coaches almost always have a list, usually coming from a combination of players reaching out to them via their college recruiting forms.  They'll watch highlights and film along with review player physical stats (height, touch, etc.) and position and then decide if the player may meet their needs/standards. If a coach is interested in you, they'll find a way to watch you at whatever level you compete at. If they are really interested and you are U16/U17 they'll invite you to their prospect camp so they can watch you closely. Coaches aren't just showing up to tournaments and they aren't randomly sitting down on courts to watch players unless one of the players they are watching is warming up on the next court over and they have a few minutes to rest. This is especially true of programs that are in high demand, including P5 and high academic D1 and D3 schools.

Remember, not every great player lives near a club where they can play on a team that can compete in open at a qualifier or AAU nationals. And just because you play on an open-level competitive team does mean you can compete at a high level in college. If coaches limit themselves to just open-level recruiting they'll end up competing for all the same players--which means many of the programs will lose out to the big schools.  So they all cast wide nets and look not just for great players, but for great players that are [b]interested in playing for their school[/b]. Don't underestimate how important that last part is. Even powerhouses like Nebraska, Stanford, Wisconsin, etc. have recruits turn them down every year -- and not just to go to one of those other schools.

There are even many P5 players that are recruited every year that don't compete at the open level. For proof look at [url]https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/99241/2026-ncaa-d1-indoor-commits[/url], where there are dozens of D1 commits that weren't on open level teams at GJNC or AAU. In fact, there are more than a dozen D1 recruits for the Big 10, Big 12 and SEC that didn't compete in open at USAV nationals on that list. And these are the early commits for the Class of 2026, if you check the 2025 list you'll see even more that didn't compete at the open level.

And if you have the physical stats to stand out, they may contact you regardless of if you are interested in them or even if they haven't seen you.  6'3" MH? You'll get interest no matter where you play. 6'1" OH that touches 9'10", same thing.

Beyond high D1, the mid/low D1, D2 and D3 schools also all recruit at all levels of club volleyball.  There are even D1 schools and lots of D2 schools that recruit at club levels well below that of the top D3 schools.

Also, college coaches know their competitive recruiting hierarchy.  As much as a Patriot League coach would love to have a P5 prospect join them, they know the odds are very low unless the player is actively showing interest in their school.

Bottom line: if you want to play in college, if you put in the effort to contact coaches and have the ability to play at their programs level, you will get interest. Playing in open may help the edge cases some, but its by no means required. And for a lot of schools its a detractor because they may have had poor success recruiting national level open players in the past, so they don't spend time on them.

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