The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed not only everyone’s day to day routines, but has forced institutions to make very difficult decisions regarding athletics. While there is plenty of negativity in the world to focus on, here we are going to focus on the facts and what SandRecruits athletes can do to navigate the recruiting process during this difficult time. COVID can’t stop beach volleyball commits!
Here is what we know:
The NCAA released a statement on July 9th, 2020 stating that they will side with their institutions on whatever decisions they feel necessary to make regarding returning to play during the COVID-19.
The NCAA has also extended the DI Dead Period to August 31st and the DII Quiet Period to August 31st.
DI Dead Period:
❌ in-person recruiting
✅ phone calls
✅ texts/DM’s
✅ emails
✅ zoom meetings
✅ using the SandRecruits App to share your profile directly with college coaches and send them a message about your upcoming tournaments, new highlight video and more!
DII Quiet Period:
❌ coaches watching athletes compete off campus
❌ visiting high schools
✅ face to face contact on college’s campus
✅ phone calls
✅ texts/DM’s
✅ emails
✅ zoom meetings
✅ using the SandRecruits App to share your profile directly with college coaches and send them a message about how your competitions are going, new highlight videos and more!
Many college indoor volleyball programs are limiting competition, being postponed to the spring or even canceled. Will that have an impact on collegiate beach volleyball? Probably. How? We will have to wait and see. While we wait, it is important for athletes of a recruitable age to focus on what they can control in regards to their recruiting process:
- Willingness to be aggressive about recruitment. NCAA Divisions may be in a quiet or dead period, but that doesn’t mean communication with your dream school must end. Phone calls/texts/emails/direct messaging etc. are all still allowed and encouraged! Don’t forget as a SandRecruits athlete you can quickly and easily share your profile directly with college coaches. Work the phone and be in consistent communication with schools you are interested in.
- Create high quality video content. Tournaments are happening, sand clubs are continuing to practice, get the content where you can and share! With the unknown of what lies ahead for high school seasons and whether tournaments will continue to be held, get the content now and get a lot of it. Create interesting and enticing highlight videos that show off not only your skills but your ability to be a great teammate.
- Have advocates and references in mind. If you are part of a beach club/high school beach team/indoor club, your coach is a great reference for your skill, ability to be a great teammate and person. However, with the lack of in person recruiting it may also be worth your time to talk with teachers, pastors, mentors to be a reference for your character.
- Mindfulness of social media presence. If you haven’t already, create a beach volleyball specific social media handle. There you can post about your successes at tournaments and your videos from practice/tournaments etc. Let your personality shine through, but save anything that wouldn’t enhance your recruitability to your personal account.
- Embrace the positive. Your mindset can be a powerful tool in your recruiting process. The power of positivity is immeasurable, and it can help you convert your dreams of being a collegiate beach volleyball player into reality.