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Questions & Answers

What is Recruiting?
The traditional definition is the process by which college athletic programs enroll or seek to enroll athletes to fill open positions on their rosters. At LAVA, however, we prefer to look at recruiting as the process by which junior athletes and collegiate universities find, court, and choose one another. This is a small, but significant difference—it’s important for athletes to take ownership of the process.

How Many Colleges Have Women’s Volleyball Programs?
There are five organizations governing collegiate women’s volleyball: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), which govern 4-year institutions, and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), which govern 2-year colleges. The NCAA is the largest, with more than 1,000 schools spread across three divisions. The NAIA and NCCAA combine for roughly 350 more schools, while the NJCAA and CCCAA house some 400+ two-year colleges. All told, there are more than 1,800 collegiate women’s volleyball programs.

Which Schools Offer Athletic Scholarships?
First, it’s important to recognize that not all schools are fully funded, which means even if allowed by their organizational rules to offer athletic scholarships, not all schools can. That said, the vast majority will. NCAA Divisions I and II, the NAIA, NCCAA Division I, and NJCAA Divisions I and II are all authorized to provide athletic scholarships. NCAA Divisions III, NCCAA Division II, and NJCAA Division III are not authorized to provide athletic scholarships.

How Important Are Grades and Test Scores?
There is nothing more important than getting good grades. It’s student-athlete, not athlete. The sports landscape is littered with phenomenal volleyball talents who either (1) fizzled out of college due to poor academic performance or (2) never even got there in the first place. Academics can open doors athletics cannot; in addition, there is far more scholarship money earmarked for academics than there is for athletics. Every college has minimum admission standards, so study up.