By Andrea Emmons
As many Chicagoans know, in late June the city is taken over by thousands of volleyball players and fans for the ASICS Junior Nationals Volleyball Championships. Chicago's McCormick Place, located on Navy Pier, will be hosting more than 660 athletes and coaches on 55 courts of volleyball June 15-17th, 2007. NCSA will be attending and have a booth at the tournament.
Large tournaments are a great way for student-athletes to get exposed to college coaches. While the most important recruiting tournaments are USAV events, there are several tournaments each year that attract college coaches doing some late recruiting such as:
- Reno, NV hosts the Volleyball Festival;
- Chicago, IL hosts ASICS Jr Nationals;
- Penn State hosts the East Coast Championships
- Orlando, FL hosts the AAU National Championships.
These late tournaments are a great opportunity for club teams to show their progress throughout the season. This is when the teams and athletes are at their peak. In the recruiting world, many coaches come out to these tournaments to get one last look at the upcoming recruiting class.
As a student-athlete, you should do a few things to prepare and take advantage of this opportunity to be evaluated by a college coach. First, be sure that any coaches recruiting you know that you will be attending the tournament. A coach isn't going to scout a player they don't know about. Be sure to let coaches know that you are interested and encourage them to see you play in person. Second, bring a handout for the coaches if they ask for it. It really helps to have all of your recruiting information on one page. While I do not encourage soliciting coaches with your handout, you should have one readily available is someone asks for it. Third, be sure to follow-up with coaches after the tournament. Find out what they thought of you and get some feedback.
We encourage coaches, student-athletes, and parents attending the tournament to stop by the NCSA booth.
