As a former player and coach, Sean Carney has seen both sides of the recruiting landscape. Check out his webinar on attracting the attention of college coaches.

Thousands of players across the country enter each tournament or qualifier with the same goal–get noticed by recruiters. It’s a crowded field, and college coaches have packed schedules and simply cannot watch every player at a tournament. If an athlete hopes to get on the radar, they must immediately grab the coach’s attention and entice them to see more.

It can be difficult to stand out from the crowd, so we enlisted the help of Sean Carney, a former volleyball player and coach at the University of Hawaii who’s seen first hand both sides of the recruiting coin, to explain the keys of getting recruited.

“A common misconception is that spending all this money and playing in club tournaments is the first step to getting recruited,” Carney said. “Tournaments are definitely important to go to, but there is a lot you need to do before if you want a coach to stop by your court and watch you play.”

Carney said coaches have two lists of players they watch at tournaments. The first is filled with players already committed to the program or those the school is already recruiting. The second list is comprised of athletes the coach has caught glimpses of and wants to see more.

In this free webinar, Carney digs into the details on creating the most effective highlights to draw recruiters’ interest. He discusses how long a video should be, what each position should include in a highlight, how to construct a title card and much, much more.

Once your highlight is created, begin contacting college coaches. Send an email with an introduction to yourself, your highlight video and some reasons you believe you’re a fit for the program. Nebraska volleyball coach coach John Cook recommends following up with a call as well.  

“Remember these coaches are getting lots of videos, so follow it up with a call,” he said. “Whether it is from the coach or a player and just say, ‘Hey I’m really interested, here’s my profile, I’d like to visit.”

 Check out Sean’s webinar and help your athletes break through the noise.

Ready to learn the ins and outs of the recruiting process?

Check out our College Recruiting Guide for Athletes.