San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Pursuing full ride full-time pursuit
Clemens junior Shelby O’Neal walked into the Gervin High School gym and headed toward one of the facility’s foyers. She stopped to chat with a few teammates on her indoor club volleyball team, then made her way to a table.
O’Neal, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, took a seat, her backpack and cell phone nearby, and the wear of a long, arduous journey washed over her face. It was 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday in mid-June and already O’Neal had flown into San Antonio from California, where she attended a week-long sand volleyball camp at Pepperdine University, then headed to her high school for summer league competition. She was now bracing for a workout in preparation for the junior national championships in Detroit that would end at 10 p.m.
O’Neal never envisioned the never-ending journey. She had committed to Texas A&M in fall 2017, but a coaching change meant her non-binding pledge likely would not be honored by the new staff.
“I felt like everything was really good,” O’Neal said. “I thought I was all set to go. I didn’t look at the big picture. I
knew it had politics, and that’s how it works in the NCAA, but as a 16-yearold, it really hurt me. I was really worried, ‘Can I do this again? Can I go through the recruiting process again because of how rigorous it was?”
O’Neal’s ordeal is a cautionary tale of how cutthroat volleyball recruiting has become. A 2016-17 study showed there were 444,779 high school volleyball players in the U.S. Only 5.9 percent earn a scholarship, and only 1.2 percent play Division I. An NCAA rule passed in April, allowing prospects to begin making official college visits on Sept. 1 of their junior year, will likely make the process even more intense. Volleyball players previously could not make an official visit until the first day of their senior year, but some are committing while in middle school.
“One of our main questions to ask was ‘What are your long-term plans at this school? Do you think you’ll be there in 2020?’ said Nancy Moon, whose daughters Courtney and Caitlin attend Boerne Champion and are both Division I sand volleyball commits. Caitlin, a junior, pledged to national power Florida State and Courtney, a senior, is headed to Florida Atlantic. “It’s a legitimate concern, because when these kids are so young, you really don’t know who’s going to be around (as coach when they head to college).”
LEE junior Sophie Bengoechea had the same apprehension. But ultimately, the good outweighed the bad. She committed in January to play beach volleyball at South Carolina.
“For me, it was a really hard decision,” Bengoechea said. “I just loved everything about South Carolina. I looked at it as, ‘If I wasn’t playing volleyball, would I go here?’ It’s very stressful, knowing that on and off the court you have to be calm. It’s also cool having all the coaches watching me.”
O’Neal, a 2017 ExpressNews Super Team pick and the 2016 newcomer of the year, is rediscovering that aspect. It hasn’t been easy, though, especially after having to deal with her commitment being rescinded.
“It was heartbreaking at first trying to get her to work through it,” said Amber O’Neal. Shelby’s mother. “She felt like, ‘No one going to want me. I’m not good enough.’ That wasn’t the case. She’s definitely more determined now and she’s just trying to find the right spot for herself.”
The younger O’Neal spent the past seven months alternating between playing indoor and beach volleyball, crisscrossing the country in hopes of getting more visibility. In a 24-hour span in July, she played at the indoors national tournament in Detroit, then flew to California to play in a national beach tournament. She spent three weeks in California.
“A lot of it’s changed since when I first made my original decision,” O’Neal said. “I play a lot of volleyball right now, so I’m trying to get a lot of reps and find out what I really want to do when I get older.
“It’s really difficult because information can’t just be immediately put out there and everyone gets it,” she said. “It has to kind of go through the grapevine and stuff.”