Service!

Volleyball's kind of like dodgeball for grownups. Sure, we never mean to plant the ball in the middle of our opponents' faces…it just always ends up happening.

When you think about it, it's really their fault for standing out of bounds holding a soda. Come on, get in the game.

You've surely played volleyball at some point in your life. Maybe you used to play beach volleyball. Maybe you can vaguely remember playing it once in P.E. Or maybe you're one of those special few who fell in love with this underrated sport as soon as you stepped foot on a court.

The few. The proud. The volleyballers.

If you want to have a chance at playing NCAA volleyball, then you can count yourself amongst that last group. Hopefully, you're already a standout player on your high school varsity team and have been playing club ball for at least three years. Coaches are looking for players with competitive experience outside just their school teams—playing club, attending summer camps, and showcases are just a couple ways you can show recruiters that you mean business (source).

It certainly wouldn't hurt if you've won some awards or participated in a national tournament, too.

Plus, this will help you get a chance at some sweet scholarship money. Since volleyball is relatively small, it relies more on personal connections and long-term scouting than other sports. That's why getting into national tournaments and club volleyball is such a big deal—it gets you on the radar of the NCAA's top volleyball recruiters.

That's not to say there's a mountain of scholarship dough to go around. Women playing Division I definitely have it best since volleyball's considered a head count sport. This means that each student-athlete on the team, twelve in total, is awarded a full scholarship. Unfortunately, it gets a little trickier for everyone else (source).

For anyone ballin' at the D-II, NAIA, and junior college levels, volleyball is an equivalency sport. These programs have a set amount of scholarship money they can distribute amongst their players. Men playing D-I are in the same boat. D-III programs do not offer scholarships to anyone, but often provide other forms of financial aid (source).

There's still some hope if you don't meet these requirements, though. With hard work, a lot of training, and repeated viewing of Rudy, you might have a chance of walking on. We're going to warn you, though: those odds are not good. Really, really not good. But if you have a ridiculous, undying, borderline psychotic passion for the game, you have a better shot than most.

For that matter, there's nothing wrong with simply playing in your college's rec league. Why bother stressing yourself out trying to get onto a team when you can just play some fun-hearted games with your friends? NCAA sports are not for the faint of heart. If you don't think you're up to the challenge, then this probably isn't the best route for you.

To be honest, you shouldn't even consider playing NCAA volleyball unless you really care about the sport. This isn't college football—you're not going to achieve massive fame through your collegiate career. If you can succeed professionally, you might be able achieve some long-overdue respect. Just don't expect to be worshipped by your fellow students.

Now throw your hands in the air / and wave 'em like you just don't care…

This makes it even more important to focus on the "student" part of being a student-athlete. NCAA volleyball players are held to the same academic standards as other college athletes, so don't think you'll be able to skate by without getting yourself educated.

In fact, we'd recommend that you focus hard on your schooling because it's tough to make it as a professional volleyball player. Sure, you have a chance to get into the USA Premier Volleyball League or the AVP Beach Volleyball Tour, but you won't be earning Lebron-sized paychecks. And if it's glory that you're after, plan on leading your team to victory at the Summer Olympics. That's about as good as it gets.

We're not trying to scare you away from playing NCAA volleyball—on the contrary, we'd love nothing more than if every Shmooper all over the world was spiking volleyballs to their hearts' content. We just want you to know what you're getting yourself into. And as it happens, you're getting yourself into quite a lot.

So, in lieu of making volleyball ownership mandatory for our nation's youth (we'll be posting a petition to that effect sometime in the near future), we just want to tell you to follow your dreams.

Unless that dream involves a giant squirrel and a pool full of red jello. We've been having that one for weeks now and still can't figure it out.