Episode #38: Ashley Davis

Ashley Davis is a high school Sophomore who has committed to being the CEO of her significant recruitment journey.  At 15-years old and living in one of the hardest places in the country to get recruited out of (Hawaii), she has made a plan and has put her routines and habits in order to be well ahead of her peers in the recruitment process.  Yes, she is already having in depth recruiting conversations with college coaches all over the country at multiple division levels.  (And she's only 5'4"!)

During the conversation, Ashley shared how much more she has learned to control and own her recruitment since beginning to work with Coach Rogers just a few months ago.

She provides outstanding advice and direction for any parent or student-athlete trying to build their own game plan for the future.  Enjoy!

Transcript

1:27

Ashley Davis, I am so darn proud of you because you're doing such good work. How do you feel just about where your recruitment is today in like a sentence? Um, I would say it's moving really fast and I'm happy to see how much the work has paid off even this early. Yeah, me too. It's funny because I I'm on social media. I'm in a lot of group chats with parents and coaches. And it's funny for me, I'll how many people with confidence will put on a post. Yeah, you don't have to worry about recruiting till your junior or senior year. How would you respond to that if somebody told you that? Well, obviously I'm a sophomore and I started really looking at college as an eighth and earlier freshman year. So seeing where I am now and being confident and knowing that I can commit junior year is a lot different than if I would have started junior year. So I'd say starting early is a big advantage if you can, and you know what you want. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we're going to get into a lot of that here as we talk. Before I met you and for you and mom, you know, scheduled with me. You were just, you were really working hard. You were getting some good work done. You'd already been taught, been to some camps. You'd already have some good conversations with coaches. Where do you feel like you were at as an eighth and a ninth grader before you and I started talking with your recruitment and more so talk about where your confidence was that you were doing the right things. Okay, so before I started like eighth and ninth grade, I wasn't really sure I was doing the right things. I was just kind of sending out emails sporadically. It wasn't on a strict like schedule how it is now. So obviously that's way different. And I was going to camps and I was talking to college coaches, but the result was not nearly as as it is now. And that may be the age. But I also think it's because I've switched my emails a lot to shorter and straight to the point. rather than before I was sending emails like that were like a paragraph and like no one's going to read that. So, yeah, I definitely think the schedule is a lot different now, like emailing three to five college coaches a day and just getting to know, um, more about the recruiting process as I'm getting older. Yeah, now, you know, a lot of teenagers if we told them schedule right away, they'd be scared, right? You got to be on a schedule. What's really your my commitment to this? What am I asking you to do every week? Just like literally at least email one and call one college coach. That's it. But I'd say the more you take it into your own hands and the more you do email, the better results you'll have. That's right. Now, you know, I talked to a lot of high school kids and the idea of calling a college coach scares the dickens out of them. That just scares, scared to the point where they, they get paralyzed by the idea of having to call a college coach. Where were you at Before you started calling coaches, where, how did you feel about that idea? I was very scared too. I, before, when I was a freshman in eighth grade, I would never call college coaches. The first one I did was this past like fall. So I was really scared. And I remember going on the first phone call and I was kind of wishing they wouldn't answer so I could just leave a voicemail answer. They just, it was a voicemail, but I'd say I once one coach, Decided to pick up the phone, and after I had the conversation I was like, oh, this is a lot easier than I thought. So it's a lot fun. It's way fun now, and yeah. And you know that the coaches are on your side, you know? Yeah. They're not angry to talk to you. They're not upset that you called. Right? Mm-Hmm. S probably the opposite, isn't it? Yeah, they're like, they lead the conversation for you. You don't need to wait for them to kind of say something. It's just like questions and then you ask them yours. It's really like, it flows smoothly. What a lot of parents don't understand is that they feel like they're burdening calling college coaches. But when a student athlete calls, that student athlete just did 80 percent of the work for that coach. They don't have to find you. They don't have to convince you to look at their school. They don't have to find your information, your phone number, your film, your schedule, your transcripts. You've done all that for them. Do you get the sense that the coaches are excited that when you call and they find out that you've sent them all that information they need to recruit you? Yeah, especially being younger. I think a lot of them are happy to see that. I'm class of 2027 and they're like, Oh wow, you're really early. That's super like cool that you're doing this. And then you just build the connection. So they're all really excited to talk to you and they just want to get to know you as a person. This is something you and I've talked about, but I want to get your feel on it. How do you feel they feel the coaches about knowing who you are and that you're interested in them as a sophomore and that they have. Two plus years to get to know you and watch you, do you, how do you feel they're responding to that? So I think it's different for a lot of coaches. So it would either be they'll, some of them will just be like, oh, it's too early. I'll send her an email back and be like, Hey. Class of 2027 is far away, but others are really excited, and they just want to build their relationship with you. So then when your senior year rolls around, and let's say you committed there, you already have this two plus year relationship with them. So I think a lot of them are really excited to see that you're younger, and you want to get to know them, and they want to get to know you. So the connection is better when you get on the team if you do. Well, I do this podcast because I want families and kids your age to really hear college coaches talk about this process and talk about how they recruit and how they build programs. And what I, I love when I talk to college coaches is they're frustrated with the portal. They're frustrated with all the transferring that's going on. Oftentimes they might have a couple of days to get to know a kid before they make an offer. So a lot of them miss and still want to recruit high school kids. They love how it used to be where I could get to know you as a 15 year old and I could build conversations with you and get to know your parents and and work my schedule around the next two years where I can see you play live a lot. Yeah. So are you finding. That's how coaches are responding to you. The fact that they get to know you so early and they get that opportunity to get to know your life and your family and you. Yeah, I'd say for sure. They get super excited just to talk to you and they'll ask you a bunch of personal questions and I just like don't even revolve around volleyball. So it's obvious that they want to get to know you and have a relationship with you. A lot of kids that do this, it's really sporadic. Like you were talking about before you and I started working together, it's sporadic. They'll send an email here and there. You know, I've always wanted to go to USC. I'm going to send the coaches at USC an email. I've always wanted to go to Alabama. I'm going to call, I'm going to send an email to the coach to Alabama. What did you and I do in terms of figuring out where do we attack? Where do we, how do we create that list of schools that really fit you? We just looked and we emailed each division level, including NAIA, and then you see which coaches respond or like even for D2 or even D1, they'll send you questionnaires. You can just tell by that, um, which schools you should start leaning towards more. And so when I started getting response from certain divisions, then you go and you just keep emailing other schools like that. And of course you can still send emails to like higher level divisions, but it's really important to focus on the ones that you've seen success with. Um, and then also with the sporadic emailing, I used to do that a lot, but now it's more, I email probably three to five coaches a day. And so, Doing that it's obviously you see more results and it's more motivating to keep doing it. And also I'll just like do it whenever I'm bored. I'll have nothing to do. I'm like, oh, I'll just go send an email because it literally takes five minutes out of your day. And so it's super quick and easy. Yeah. I mean, for you, you're doing such a great job. You, you copy me on everything and I'm always excited. It's typically similar time of the day. I'm assuming it's a study hall or you just got home from school or you got done with practice, right? Are you and we've talked about executive function skills and setting that alarm on our phone to say, okay, I got to remind myself. I'm going to have 10 minutes in the first part of study hall today. I'm going to sit down. I'm going to knock out three emails. It takes me five, 10 minutes to do that. Yeah. Right. How does that, how does, how has that changed how you look at recruiting? Um, I, before I would get, I was always really excited about it, but I would be like, kind of, I don't know if it's going to work out. I don't know if colleges are really going to, like, recruit me. But now, once I've been doing it so much, and I've been sending so many emails, I've been doing a lot of phone calls, I've realized, like, Wow. This result is a lot better than I thought it would have been. And like how you were saying, whenever I finished schoolwork in class, I'll literally like just send a bunch of emails and I'll copy you on everything. And then usually in a few days I'll get a response to at least one. And yeah, you're doing a great job. Talk about the process we went to just finding out which schools really fit you. Talk about those priority lists that we created in terms of your major and how far away from home you want to go and how you want to feel on that campus. How did, how has that helped shape You finding those schools that you already feel confident that if the coach wants you, I think this might be a good fit. Has that helped? Yeah, it has a lot. Just narrowing down what you're looking for. And if volleyball isn't there while you're in college, that you'll still be happy going to that school is a big thing. And also making sure they have the major, because not every school you're going to go to, like if you go to a tech school and you want to major in, I don't know, something that's not tech, that's obviously not going to work out well for you. So you have to be really aware of the major and what the school offers academically when you're looking and emailing colleges. And also just knowing how comfortable you are going away from home and the size of the school if you want bigger or smaller, because again, you have to make sure you're going to be happy socially and academically, not just with volleyball, because that could always get taken away from you. Absolutely. And we want to, we want you happy and healthy wherever you go, right? Yeah. The idea is to get that degree and volleyball is is the kind of the glue that puts it all together. But if volleyball is not there, you're still going to get that degree. You're still at a place you love, you're still surrounded by an environment that you chose to be in. Yeah, exactly. Awesome. All right. Let's talk about the importance of practicing phone calls. We do mock phone calls and we practice just finding our voice and finding our confidence as that helped you. And what advice would you give to that mom and dad and that 15, 16 year old student athlete out there about the importance of practicing a phone call before you start making those phone calls? Yeah, when we, I remember when we first did our mock phone call for the first time, I had no clue what I was going to say. And it was kind of just, you talk really fast. You're just trying to get everything out there for the coach to hear. But once you do the phone call, it's very similar to how coaches will actually talk to you, I've realized when I've done real phone calls. And so just knowing and having the experience prior, it really helps you and sets you up. Great for the actual phone call makes you seem a lot more comfortable. And even with voicemails, it helps a lot because you're like, Oh, I've already known, I know what to say. I did this. Um, so it just comes out easier and you can just focus on what you need to work on, like talking fast, finding the voice that you want coaches to hear and just being yourself. And we started this process by kind of building some scripts. So you had something that you could practice reading. Are you still on script or you feel like I got this. I'm, I, I know, I know what I'm going to say when I hop on. The first few ones I was doing the script, especially for the voicemails, I'd say the phone call, it's a little harder to do a script for, but for the voicemails, yeah, I would do the script a lot. And then I've kind of recently started just going off and saying what I feel I want to say. Which is good because I think it's more authentic, especially if you get more comfortable. And then on the phone calls, I'd say just stop worrying about what you think they want to hear and just say what you want to say. And so in the end, I'll always leave a better result if they know what you really wanted to say, rather than what you were like trying to please to them. At the end of the day, we want coaches to appreciate you for who you are, not who you're trying to be or who you think they want you to be. So, and I, that's, that's my greatest pride in you right now is you're so authentic. So coaches are getting on the phone with you and they're kind of going, wow, right? Yeah. And I think another thing is if the coach Doesn't like the way you're talking or how you presented yourself That's just tells you that that school's not the right fit for you So it gives you more information rather than just not doing but not being true to yourself on the phone call Absolutely. Now we built a great online profile for you We spent a lot of time in the first couple of sessions building out your personal statement And we talked about this the other day When we built that personal statement, did you feel like anybody was ever going to read it? Did you feel like anybody was ever going to pay attention to it? Um, I would like think people would glance on it But no one would really ever take it into consideration because anyone can have a personal statement But when I was on a phone call recently with the college the coach actually mentioned to me like that's we love that personal statement That's the type of athlete we want to recruit That really just showed us like a little bit of who you are So that was really surprising and good to hear Yeah, and you've got such a good profile. You've got your film on it. You've got a great picture on it. You've got your game schedule and your tournament schedule. You've got your personal statement. You have all your coaches phone numbers. You have my phone number if coaches want to talk to me. So what's great about that is coaches can, you know, Find you anytime they want they can come back and re evaluate you you can update your profile with new film and new information, right? How does that starting to feel knowing that? You've made these contact with these coaches and now they have access to track you and evaluate you as you get older Is that helpful? Yeah is it just makes it a lot easier for myself too knowing oh, I don't need to go and kind of just like Send out my film. I mean you should go and update them that oh, I like redid this But like it's good knowing you don't have to go and do so much more and it's just it's all right there for them and um It makes you a lot more confident and knowing people will see because you also get the notifications that oh blah blah blah It's like, Oh, cool. I emailed them like a week ago. And so you can go follow up with them and be like, Hey, I just added a film. Can you go look at it? Cause you know, they've already seen your profile. So I think it's a great tool rather than just sending them YouTube videos. Let's, I'm going to piggyback that cause this is something you're doing really, really well. And a lot of my other student athletes I'm working with are struggling to kind of. Push the envelope with coaches. You've started really making this your own. If you've emailed the coach, you've called the coach four or five days a week later, you don't hear anything back. You're sending another email, but what are you changing in that second email? What are you saying in that subject line? So on the subject line, originally I'll have like. My name, um, 2027 recruit, all of that. And then right before it, if this is the second attempt, I'll literally write out second attempt and then I'll write the rest of my subject. And I've realized that it adds a little bit of like, Oh shoot, I need to read this to the coach since they're like trying again, they actively want to talk to you. And so you get a lot of results doing that and it works out really well. Yeah, these coaches are human beings. They, they all want to help you. A lot of them are getting a couple hundred emails a day. Some are getting, you know, 30 emails a week, but a lot of them are getting a lot of kids like you reaching out. So when you put second attempt in that subject line, it automatically makes, Oh gosh, this kid's really trying. Yeah, and they give you call back or the email you back, right? Yeah, it's like I've scheduled a phone call off of my second attempt to email. So that just goes to show how if you really like push and keep on emailing, it will work out because a lot of times your emails can just go to spam. So you never know. So yeah. Great. Let's roll into that. Cause you, you're a sophomore. So the parents listening to this, it's going to kind of blow their heads that you're a sophomore already having full on recruiting conversations with college coaches. And we're asking them to do it on Zoom so they can see you and you can see them and mom and dad can be on the call, right? So let's talk about the importance of being prepared. We're emailing coaches. We're calling them. We're asking in return that they give us feedback. We're asking them to set up a phone call. How does it feel when you get on that call? You get on that zoom and you've got a list of questions there that you're prepared to ask. How does that feel? You're getting the information you want out of those calls. Yeah, it feels really good to know. It gives you such a better idea of the college before when you were just emailing them. And it also shows to the coach that you're really interested. Rather than asking, like, simple questions about the school, you really want to take time to think about what questions you truly want to know. And that just shows how interested you are, and it makes the coach want to be more interested in you. So being prepared for the, like, Zoom call is a game changer, because if you weren't, it would just be kind of awkward, and it just shows that you're not as invested as you would be if you did have everything prepared. The investment's important, but we also don't want to waste that opportunity with that college coach, right? They've, they're taking 30, 40 minutes out of their day to meet with you. We want to make sure that we don't have to keep having the same conversation over again. We want to ask all the questions. So they might tell you that you're going to be the fourth setter on their team in three years, or they always bring in four setters. Well, that's a red flag for you because now you're like, okay, do I want to compete with that? Do I want to go to a place that's over recruiting and it allows you to really evaluate that program, right? Yeah, and I think a big thing also is making sure you're writing down like a reflection or summary of your call after and so then later you can compare like I've already been starting to compare my phone calls I've had and so you can just see what you're looking for and If stuff doesn't match exactly what you want because later when you're a junior or senior it will come lot more easily to choose if you've already been like thinking about what you want. That's right. And that's another thing that I, you know, teenagers fight me on a little bit, not, you know, fight me, fight me, but are reluctant to, to, to write in their journal, their recruiting journal that we create. And, and I think it's, Awesome that you're already starting to see how you're feeling after a phone call, and you're able to compare. How did that coach make me feel? Did they act like they really like me? Did they act like they really see me as a possible recruit? Or are they just, you know, just being kind? You know, am I just another, Another kid that they're talking to. When you get done with that call, are you starting to recognize the truths of that call and the truths of how that, how you want to feel? Yeah, and I think being really like attentive and looking at the coach's body language and just. Their tone of voice will also really help you during the Zoom call to tell what they're kind of feeling inside their head towards you. And so I think after the call, it's really important to just like sit and think about what they were saying and how it relates to what you want to, were wanting to hear. So yeah, it becomes really easy to tell if the coach is really interested in you or not, and if you want to continue talking with them. Think about just last week. Okay. The last seven to 10 days. Cause I, I, I think we're overwhelming families a little bit. And maybe a teenagers that's listening to this. It sounds like a lot. It sounds like a lot of time and a, and a huge commitment. When you add up the time you've put into the last week, just in your recruiting, what do you think it looks like? What do you think the total amount of, of time has been? Um, I would say not including the phone call because I would actually, that would obviously add an extra hour to it, but just sending emails and like leaving a quick voicemail and stuff. I would say seven to ten days, probably an hour and a half at most, not even. So it's really not That long, if you think of it in the grand scheme of things. Yeah. And it'll all pay off and you're going above and beyond. I mean, you really are enjoying doing this. And when you have free time, you know, I get on my phone and scroll through Instagram and TikTok or I can send a three minute email Yeah. And make a phone call. Right? Mm-Hmm. Exactly. And that's really smart and, and how you're attacking that. Uh, and I think it's important that kids your age understand this. there isn't a huge time c just being smart about yo smart about your routine on your phone for two o'c afternoon when you know y going, I'm already in stu an email. I'm gonna make Yeah, exactly. And I think also having fun with it too. The more you do it, the more you'll have fun and the more results you have, obviously that makes you more excited, but you can't get those, you can't get the results if you don't put in the time beforehand. One of the hardest things for me growing up was just communication with my coaches and the people that could help me. You know, I look back and I kind of regret that I didn't build stronger relationships with my teachers and my professors and my coaches that I didn't put myself out there. What has it been for you just to have somebody to talk to that you can call, you can schedule with, you can bounce ideas off? Has that been a difference maker? Has that just been, it's been nice, but you know, now that I know what I'm doing, I don't know if I need that. How's that been for you? I think even though I was sending emails and stuff before I started with you, it's a lot different because you can go and text and you'll get an answer. Like if you have a question about a school or if a coach isn't picking up the phone when they're scheduled to, you can text and be like, Hey, what do I do? And you'll get a response. And it's really good just to know that you have someone that like knows way more about recruiting than you do. So it provides a different insight and having someone that also talks to college coaches, they can tell you like. Oh, this is what they're looking for. And then you can kind of mold to that if you know what I'm saying, but yeah, it's a, it's really helpful. Yeah, it's, it's great. You know, I wish I would have had a recruiting coach, you know, 30 years ago, but more importantly, I just wish I would have had an open dialogue with my guidance counselor and my, my high school coach. And, and, and those people that I wish I would have went, Hey, I'm struggling with this. I'm having, I'm not having any confidence sending a letter today. Can you help me? Can you give me some reason to, to, you know, Reach out to this coach. So my big thing, yes, I want to help lots of kids like you. And I love that you and I have the relationship we have, but I think it's so cool for you. And what another thing I'm really proud of is you're not afraid to text me in the middle of the day. You're not afraid to schedule with me a couple times in a week or if we need it. And that's why your recruitment is so significant. And you're seeing such good results. Is you're not afraid to say, Hey, I need some help. Okay. And I think for all of us, the more we're willing to do that, the healthier we are. And the more we're like, okay, that idea that I had, it was a good idea or that idea was had, I, it wasn't quite shaped the way I needed to. So it was nice to talk it through and have somebody to collaborate with. So whether you have a recruiting coach, whether you have a great relationship with your guidance counselor, your high school coach, whether it's just doing this with mom and dad, Don't you think it's important not to try and do this by yourself? Yeah, I think you definitely need someone to help you, no matter how good you think you are at it, because you can always be better. And at the end of the day, having two people and two people thinking about what you should send, because you're going to miss and mess up on emails and stuff. I've messed up on emails. emails before big time and I wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't have someone looking at it and reading it. So I think just another person to help you and come up with ideas will really help your recruiting and you'll start to notice it. And I think it was a really good point you just made. It's okay to fail too. It's okay to make mistakes. Yeah, it's like on the volleyball court. You're gonna you're gonna throw a bad ball to your hitter every once in a while You're not gonna have that timing. You're gonna miss a serve every once in a while And just learning to be okay that i'm gonna make mistakes and it doesn't change my path. It doesn't change How great a person I am how great of a kid I am And I think for you I I don't want you to forget about that. I want you to relish in those mistakes and I want you to okay That was a mistake Bummer, but I know what I did wrong. I know how to fix it. I know that it's not the end of the world Yeah, and I think also learning from it after I made a mistake on an email that was pretty big you can kind of Know what to do next time and i've just been more like thorough and looking at what i'm sending and reading it over two or three times instead of just glancing Because it's not going to take you long. It takes you five seconds to read an email. So that's great And you also know you could send it to me before you send it to a coach and I'm going to get over for you, right? Exactly. Yeah. So good, Ashley. It's so good what you're doing. And, you know, I, I've done all this. I wrote the book and I, and I work with kids all the time, but what you're doing with it, you've made it your own, you've, you've really taken ownership over this process. And that's, what's so impressive. And, and you're not, you're not. Taking away your, your personal life. You're not taking away your athletic time. You're not taking away time for your family. You're doing this for you, and you're doing it around time when you have it. And, and that's what I'm really excited about for you. If you could give one piece of significant advice. To a student athlete out there that wants to get recruited their parents What would what advice would you give them? I would say You just need to have fun with it because the more fun you have the more you want to do it and also If you're on the fence about recruiting and if you want to go to college It's better to send the email than not because you could be in your junior year thinking man I should have been sending those emails my freshman sophomore year because now I really want to play in college So I would say even if you're thinking about it Just send them one email A week if that's all you can, and it will pay off in the long run, long run, and even if you don't wanna do it, finding the motivation's really important because again, when you get the results, it's really rewarding and it makes you feel really good seeing that a college coach is interested in you. You're a rock star, kiddo. I'm so proud of you. And that's why I wanted to have you on this podcast because you were that kid that said, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not sure how to do it. I don't know if I should have confidence in myself. And you've let yourself jump. You've jumped off that cliff and said, I'm just going to see what happens. I'm going to have a plan, but I'm going to jump. And I'm going to see what happens and your results are great. You told me from the beginning, you wanted to try and commit by the end of your junior year and we're well on our way. We're 18 months from that, you know, or we're 10 months from the start of your junior year. But realistically you can be done with your high school volleyball season, your junior year. And probably have some offers on the table that spring. And that's a huge statement to you by just saying, I decided I'm going to do this and I'm going to do it right and I'm going to stick to it. Yeah. And it's really exciting to see, like knowing that I can actually achieve that goal because of what I've put in. So. Yeah. If anybody's listening, she's an unbelievably great student too. She busts her tail in the classroom. Coaches are responding to her grades. They know they can get her into school. They know they can get her and her family good money, good scholarship, good academic money. So for those of you that are going, okay, She's got this routine, but she's working really hard. Ashley busts her tail on the volleyball court. She does workouts on her own to get stronger, to be a better jumper, to be a better passer. And she's just as consistent with her grades. And the coaches are appreciating all those things about you, aren't they? Yeah, they are. Yeah, you are. You are bringing it all to the table. So thank you for giving me time. Thank you for sharing your story and your message with all the families listening. And, and I know we're going to have a lot of fun here over the next couple of years. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.