Episode #125: Sophie Scott on Recruiting

🏐 Sophie Scott | From Cal-Berkeley to What’s Next: A Two-Chapter Recruiting Journey

On this episode of the Significant Recruiting Podcast, Matt Rogers sits down with Sophie Scott, Senior Middle Hitter at Cal-Berkeley Volleyball, to talk about her recruiting journey from high school… and now again as a 5th-year senior preparing for her final season at a new program.

Sophie discusses early communication, decision-making, injury setbacks, and what she’s learned along the way. Recently honored with the Cal HOPE Courage Award, she shares powerful insights for athletes and parents navigating the constantly changing world of college recruiting.

Listen now and find more resources — including the Volleyball Recruit’s Journal — at CoachMattRogers.com.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Significant Coaching Podcast, recruiting edition. I'm your host, Matt Rogers. Today on the show, we get to hear a recruiting story that comes full circle in part two of our conversation with Sophie Scott. Sophie, a senior middle hitter at Cal Berkeley Volleyball takes us inside her journey. First is a high school recruit navigating the pressures and decisions and unknowns of choosing a Division one home. Now, years later, navigating a brand new recruiting world as a graduate senior looking for the right program to finish her college career. Sophie is an unbelievable young lady. She's confident, resilient, and she was just honored with the Cal Hope Courage Award, recognizing California high school and college student athletes who have overcome the stress, anxiety, and mental trauma of injury, hardship, or life circumstances. She is so deserving of this honor and I'm so happy for her courage and that she gets to keep playing next year. If you're a recruit, a parent or a coach, trying to understand how recruiting really works and how it will affect your teenager, not just for the first time, but for the second time around. Sophie brings clarity, honesty, and a perspective that every family needs to hear. And while you're at coach matt rogers.com, make sure to check out my new book, significant Recruiting and the Volleyball Recruits Journal. It's built to help volleyball athletes take control of their recruiting path with structure, with intention and confidence. Alright, let's jump into it. Here's part two of my conversation with Sophie Scott. Sophie, I told you this already, but I'm a girl Dad. I was a a volleyball dad for a long time. Let's talk a little bit about that recruiting experience you went through, because at six four it's pretty unique, I would imagine,'cause you had coaches coming to you at 14 wanting to talk to you and get into your head a little bit. What was your experience like from 14 to 18 on the recruiting trail? So I was in a funny spot'cause obviously there's specific rules now with the NCAA and recruiting, but when I was 14 there weren't those rules. So I did get emails and calls from coaches at that time where I had no idea what I wanted at all. But I did get attention from coaches at that time, and that came from club tournaments at the time when I was 14 years old. I wasn't necessarily reaching out to a bunch of coaches yet. But then when I started getting interest in calls and emails, I was like, oh, wow, this is really happening. Then the rules changed. So I had to cut all those conversations at the time. And then my experience from that point on when they have all these rules is, and what it kinda looks like today for if you're getting recruited is you can get invited to camps, you can email coaches, what courts you'll be on, at club tournaments, stuff like that. You create a lot of films, so make sure you're filming things at tournaments and stuff. And then you send those and it's a one way communication for the time being. You won't hear back from coaches, but. The way that you can know if you're getting interest is oh, we'd love for you to come to this camp, or we'll be at this tournament at this time. And it's nothing too crazy.'cause they can't but that doesn't mean they're not looking and that doesn't mean that they're, you're, they're not watching. You have to do a lot of that, like one-way communication and being proactive in that aspect. And that's what I did. And then June 15th of my sophomore year. That is when the floodgates open and you can start getting a lot of calls and texts and actually having real conversations with people. And so that's when it all happens and you'll get texts and everything You'll get set up. Zoom calls. I was an interesting recruit because I was being recruited during the COVID year I couldn't do a lot of official visits. We did online official visits and online campus tours through FaceTime and Zoom and. PowerPoint presentations, which ended up being pretty good. They worked out, me and my family did our own kind of visits. We would go on travel trips. To different schools and hit a bunch if we could and walk around campus ourselves. And obviously I couldn't meet with the coaches technically, but I met with some of the players on these like unofficial officials. So that was how that went. And then I narrowed it down. So that was June. I talked to coaches for a few months and then I committed to Cal in December. So of you started your junior year? Yes. Of my junior year. Yeah. Let's try and make recruiting easier today. Me and you. Let's,'cause it sounds like you and your parents did a lot. Obviously when you're six four, coaches are gonna come to you because everybody thinks they can make you stronger and faster and bigger and stronger and all those things. They can't. They can't teach five, a five, seven, girl how to be six four. So you're gonna be a very popular girl by being six four. But even through that experience, especially being a COVID kid, being recruited through the COVID years, it's a big change. It's a big difference in how coaches knew how to recruit. What are some things that, let's say you have a daughter in 20 years. What are some things that. You think you'll do differently for her or advice to a 16, 17-year-old now about that process? Do you need to throw everything against the wall or is, or can you simplify it into five to 10 minutes a week? Honestly, I do think recruiting is a lot more than people think, and I do think there's ways to simplify it. But to get the best results, you do have to do a lot of work on your own and you can simplify it to a few minutes a week. But I think starting that process early and really knowing what you want in a school and a program is at least the bare minimum that you need to know before getting on the phone with schools. If I were to simplify it into a few things to do, I would say make a list of things that you want in a school and a program. Start filming everything whether that's tournaments or you do individual sessions or practices or whatever it is. And then just playing your heart out and having fun and getting better. And I think those three things are the main things to everything. And obviously there's a lot of details that go into those, but if I were to simplify, it'd be those three things.'cause you can't go into recruiting if you have no idea what you want. And I think that's part of the reason when I first started thinking about planning college, I did make a exact list of what I want in school. So academics, location, things like, even do I want there to be four seasons? Do I want good weather? Do I want to stay on the West Coast? Do I wanna travel? Do I want to, have a top 10 program? Do I want to have higher academics? Like all of those things. Having that baseline list and seeing where these schools fit into what you want is really important. And then, yeah, just sending video out I think is what you gotta do. But it's hard to. The recruiting processes can be a lot, and I think going through it almost does prepare you for some of the stuff you deal with in college. And it's honestly a good start to start getting some hard things and hard conversations and new things through the door. Yeah, I would just be diligent in all aspects of it. It's great advice. It's really the right approach because you have to do a little bit every week. You just have to put the time into it, and it doesn't have to overtake your life, but you have to put a little time into it. Yeah. And it sounds like you were really great at the invitation to coaches saying, Hey, I'm here. I'm interested in you. I'd like to see if you're interested in me. And that's the right way to do this. Let's, there's so much. Negativity that I hear when I'm speaking somewhere with parents about online recruiting services and all those things that are out there. Was there, and we don't have to get into the specifics I know you had a great relationship with Sue and Sue. Sue Weber did a great job of guiding you and mentoring you, but what was the value for you, for having your information online, having your film, having your grades, having a central location where coaches could find you, but you could also. Market yourself? What was the value of that for you? I think it's almost like now that I'm older, I think of it almost like a LinkedIn, like it's like the same vibe where you yes. Everything that you have for your volleyball career and what you've done is in one central place. And it's really easy for college coaches or whoever to go look at that. And I think as much as the I do hear a lot of recruiting services aren't that great. Whatever. It's, I truly do think they are because it's like you got a whole profile with everything that you've ever done, including your film your awards, your everything is in one place. And that's really convenient for college coaches'cause. If you have everything everywhere and you have oh, this is my bio, but then you have to go to YouTube to find this, and then you have to go this place to find this, it can get a little scrambled. There's ways to make it easier, of course, but I do really like what I did with NCSA and then the other benefit of having. Recruiting service is the people that you work with. And that's so much of what Sue did and she was so incredibly helpful for me. And having a recruiting coach like that is just, it's really rewarding. And I don't know if I would be in the place that I am without her. And so I, I am really appreciative of her'cause she did help us so much and she answered so many questions that. I would not know where to go if I didn't have someone to ask those to. And same with my parents. Like she, she helped my parents so much with what role they can play in my recruiting process and stuff like that. It was really awesome to have that and I was lucky to have that. SU's a superstar. I'm so glad you have her in your life and if you don't know it, you'll always have her in her life. She'll al that's she's, when she loves you and she's working with you, your family, and so I'm so glad you have her. All right. Let's move ahead here. You're doing this again. We're going through this recruiting process again. Break down the three things that I think scare and excite high school parents and kids the most. These days it's equal, we're excited about it, but we're scared of it. We don't know what it means. NIL, sports Agents portal. What are, where are those things at in your life right now, and what are you doing with them? Yeah. I'll start with NIL. For Cal specifically, we don't have a collective necessarily, so the whole aspect of NIL right now and what you see these headlines about, and I've done some deep diving into it. There is collectives at schools that will pay certain. Teams and then certain people from those teams get paid through those collectives. It's almost like a bank account for that team. And that comes from, and that comes from other things. Our basketball team has that, our women's basketball team has that, and our football team has that here. Volleyball doesn't necessarily have that specifically. There are a lot of resources at Cal for different NIL opportunities, which a lot of my teammates and I as well have taken. And so that kinda looks a little bit different. That goes with brand deals and postings on socials of different things and you get products and you get paid a certain amount of money for this post or whatever it may be. And that's the traditional aspect of NIL and it's. Grown into this other thing with the collective. So for volleyball, it's less common unless you're a top, crazy, top 25 program and you have a lot of money into your program that you have that kind of collective style stuff. Nebraska, yeah. Nebraska for example, would be a great, I'm sure those girls are getting paid a lot of money. And that's and. Great. I'm happy for them, but it's a little bit different when, you do your own little stuff and I know those girls do the same thing with they'll do brand deals and posts and everything like that. You do get a little bit of both. That's what it looks like for me personally. I've just done some brand deals stuff. I haven't been super involved in NAL like crazy. But I have done certain things and I have liked what I've done I will get more into that probably out, out outside of season. It's hard to do a lot of brand deals and take pictures and do all this extra stuff when you're in season, but I've done a few really fun things and I've really enjoyed that. So yeah, that's been cool on the NIL aspect. What was the other thing? We had portal stuff and we had, yeah. Let's talk about agents, and I don't know if you have an agent, but I'm sure you're dealing with teammates that do tell me where that's changed because this, you're talking to an old dog. I've been a head college coach since 2001, and for many years I never had to worry about agents because they weren't allowed. Now they're allowed. Is there a role for agents and how important is it for you and athletes like you that are making that transition from one school to another because you have a year of eligibility and you get to use it. So how important are these agents to you? Me personally, I don't necessarily have a specific sports agent. Obviously I work with Sue still. And then I also have an NIL agent kind of vibe, but I don't necessarily have a specific sports agent that's going to. Follow my career and kind of pull strings and stuff like that. For me there. I know that's also very common in kind of the bigger sports, like I said, football, basketball, women's basketball. That is very common. I'm sure it is again, it's very similar in the NIL aspect is the bigger teams will have these sports agents and the bigger NIL, me personally, I know a lot of international people might have some sports agents'cause they do wanna play for their national teams when they get back to their countries. I know that's pretty common. But there, there isn't a huge role, at least in my personal experience, but I know it does play a role in other sports and other people as well. So I don't know too much about it. I can't speak on it too much personally, but I do know that there is an aspect of it in certain sports more than there is others. Fantastic. I'd rather you didn't know anything about it. So that makes me happy. Exactly. I just think this is your life. This is your future. And you should be able to call a coach and say, coach, I'm interested in you and I'd like to know if you're interested in me. And that's where the relationship should be. And I think we've lost a lot of great coaches because they're not able to build relationships anymore with the people they're interested in. And, so no worries on that. But let's talk about the portal. Because that's, that is a very present day thing that, that all kids have to be concerned with. What has the portal meant to you?'Cause can you officially go on the portal this week? Or do you have to wait to see? I'm in the portal. I'm already in the portal actually. Okay. You're in the portal. Okay. Yeah. Grad transfer portal is a bit different. That portal opened October 1st. I entered the second week of October, and I've been in it so far. It's been pretty interesting so far. Like it's, it just feels like another recruiting process. It honestly, it gives me reminders of when I was going through high school a little bit, but. This time I just have a lot more experience in talking to people and also my volleyball career. So there's aspects that are similar and there's aspects that are different. Grad transfer is very different'cause, there's like grad programs that you have to enter into and obviously the portal is open for a longer period of time. So that aspect is different, but I know people that have entered the portal in their undergrad and it's. It's a bit different'cause there is specific timelines that you have to enter in and then there is like more rules within that. I know there's more dead periods and stuff like that that you can't talk to coaches in as well as coaches if you do enter the portal, can take away certain things from you if you're still at that school. You can't, you might not be able to practice, you might not be able to use the facilities. You might lose your scholarship for the time being. That's completely up to the coaches and your relationship with them. That can also happen for grad transfers, but it's less common I think. Like for me, I had two teammates last year that did grad transfers. One of'em transferred to Villanova and one of'em transferred to Creighton. They're both playing there now. They're doing great. Ava and Anna. They're probably both gonna make the tournaments, so good luck to them. But yeah, so that's kinda the same with me here. Like grad transfers are very different and my coaches are incredibly supportive of where I'm gonna go with that, and I'm very fortunate to have that. They like, oh yeah, you should enter the portal and if you need us to call anyone or anyone wants to call us please let us know. I'm very fortunate to have that relationship with my coaches and I'm really glad that they're so willing and able to help me with that. S very different when you're older versus younger and switching schools and checking new things out. But my experience as a grad transfer so far has been pretty good. What's so great about your story, Sophie, is you could have transferred a long time ago. You could have left, you could have seen if the grass is greener on the other side, like a lot of kids try and do, and they don't fight through those relationships to make them better and fight through, to earn their opportunity that they crave. And it says, again, it says a lot about your character and how you were raised to that. You stuck it out at Cal and now. There's that little gift at the end to say, now you can go somewhere else and get a master's degree if you'd like to, and have another year and play somewhere else. What's the conversation been like once you got in the portal in terms of how have you been contacted? What's that conversation look like? And again, you don't have to give us specifics, but walk us through how that feels and how that, the specifics of that's been. Yeah, I've gotten a lot of texts and I've gotten a lot of emails and that's the major form of communication. And then from there, I kind of hop on the phone with different schools. I just have normal conversations and right now, because it's so early in the process still, I'm just having get to know you conversations and, they'll watch my games, I send them film, that kind of stuff. And then from there it's been honestly a really good experience and I've had a lot of good conversations so far and I'm happy to continue that process. And then sometime during the end of the season, hopefully going on visits and stuff like that. I know some schools are waiting till the end of season all as well to start recruiting. Personally in no rush right now, but it's been pretty good so far. And yeah I'm excited to keep going with that. And the conversations have been, productive and, I feel good balancing that with season as well. So that's been one of my major worries was like, oh, how much can I balance with this? And it gets busy sometimes with the calls. Oh, I'll have practice in the morning, then classes, and then it's four 30 and I gotta hop on a call till five. And then I'm like, oh, now I can eat. So now I gotta balance. You gotta remember you're a human being sometimes, right? Schedule's pretty packed, but you gotta remember to eat and sleep. But yeah, everything's been really great so far with that process. I would've been one of those coaches.'cause the a CC is huge now. And you also played in the PAC 12, so there's a lot of coaches that know of you and probably recruited you outta high school and have been keeping an eye on you. I would've been one of those coaches. If I didn't get you, or I've been watching you play these last four years and I knew you're gonna be available, I might pick up the phone and just say, Sophie, we want you Offer us on the table. Let me know when you wanna talk. Have you gotten some of those? Yeah. I've had conversations with coaches. I did have outta high school. I haven't had a Here's your offer right now. Yeah. I think that is less common than people think, but I do, I have had really great conversations with coaches I've had in the past, and I've even reached out to coaches I've called before and been like, Hey it's been a minute. Yeah. Good for you. I'm in the portal. And as much as it is coaches calling me, it is also me reaching out to people just like I did outta high school. It is very different. And I think what you asked earlier about I could have left, I could have tried other things, and I think there was such an appeal to stay at Cal because of how great the academics is and. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, obviously, like we talked about. So I did stick it out and we've had up and down seasons, but. I've been really grateful for my experiences here and I am excited to, explore other things. Like I've had a very highly academic school and obviously I wanna keep academics, but I'm also open to schools that are really big into their sports. Not that Cal isn't super big into their sports, but there are programs that invest a lot and I'm excited to explore those options as well. So I'm interested'cause you did a great job of explaining recruiting earlier about, figure out who you are first. Figure out who you want. You're a completely different person four years later, have those priorities and values changed from when you were seven to 16, 17 and what you're looking for next? Yeah. I think they have, there are similar aspects like I do want a big school, I want big sports. I want to stay in a competitive program. I wanna stay in the Power four conferences. So there is that aspect of it that's been pretty similar since my high school experience. But I think what I want. A academic grad program is very different. I think outta high school I was wanting to do psychology. So now I'm in a completely different realm. And I think that's very interesting. And also just the role that I would play on a team is very different.'cause I will be the oldest out of the group, I'll be a grandma. And playing that role versus coming in as a freshman is very different. And I, that's been a question I've asked to coaches, what do you see my role as a more experienced player? It's interesting to do that aspect as well. Are you getting good answers to those questions. I, I like the answers, just when people are looking for grad transfers, it's normally to be a leader that can make a difference even for a short period of time. And I do feel like I can play that role on a lot of different teams wherever I end up. So I'm excited to see that process as well. Are you finding some coaches that say, we need that from you. We need you to come in and be Auntie Sophie. Grandma Sophie, we need you to come in. We need your leadership, we need your toughness. Are you hearing some of that? There's been a few schools that are really looking for someone to come in'cause they have a younger team and so they do want to see someone give as much as they can to a program when they're an older player. Yeah. Is that scary for you or a red flag for you that they're younger and they need leadership or is that exciting for you to have that opportunity to go in and be that leader? I think it's exciting. I think it is like a unique experience.'cause I am a senior on this team and I have my like senior leadership kind of stuff. But hopping into a whole new team where they might have a team dynamic. And I'm coming in and they want me to be a leader, I think. It is going to be something that'll be a new experience to navigate, but it's a challenge and an experience that I'm excited to potentially do. I don't shy away from that. I'm excited about it. Even if I go onto a team that has older people as well, I think I can fit right in. So wherever I end up, I'm just gonna be myself and give as much as I can to that program. I love it. I so much appreciate your time today and I wanna respect your time. I know you got big prep for SMU later this week, and you get them at home, which is exciting. I want to dive in just a little bit about the mental side of the game, especially being a female athlete, being tall, being six four tall. Social media wasn't a part of my world when I was your age. I didn't have to worry about somebody filming me. I didn't have to worry about somebody posting something on me. I didn't want no one could scream at me from 3000 miles away and hurt my feelings. What has that been like for you and who have you become through all that? Has it changed who you are? Has it changed? Is it, have you learned. What you really are and who you really wanna be through some of that. Yeah. Being in the public eye as an athlete, there's a lot that comes with that. And you always are being watched, and I've always been pretty mindful of what I put on the internet. I wouldn't put anything that I wouldn't want the world to see. A lot of my content is volleyball related, but I also post my life. And so obviously there's things that. It can be like, oh, it could be a concern that someone could do something weird with this information or, comment some something rude. And I've had that experience, there's been people that, comment on, my height, my appearance, whatever it may be. And at the end of the day, those are people hiding behind a screen. And I've always known that and it is what it is. And I hit delete and I keep going with my life. And I know that's hard for a lot of people to do but you have to remember that. You are so much more than what is just on the internet and people don't know who you are face to face and whatever comments or whatever that may be, that has no value to your life because. Your soul and who you are and who you surround yourself with is what is important. And nothing on the internet is that deep. And you just gotta keep your head up. And I think obviously over time I've developed that confidence and it's easier said than done, but you do really focus in more on what's in your real life than what's online. And I think that is the biggest thing that you can do for yourself, because whatever's online. Nothing's real on the internet for real. Just focus on the people right in front of you and the things that are right in front of you versus what's on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it may be. And then just be confident in who you are as yourself and what you do. And. You're, you get one body, you get one, life and you gotta live it to your fullest. And just value the things that are right in front of you. I think in staying present and don't get lost in these loopholes online and. Whatever.'cause most of socials, almost all of social media is not real. So I don't know if I could have handled it. I'm such an empathetic person. So I feel everything, I, yeah. Something bad happens in the world, I feel it. It, sure. We're, I can tell that's a big part of you and some of your answers today. How much everything is a collective for you and you care about your team and how you go about your business and you share everything. I had a rough week. I got a lot going on in my family and I work with a lot of teenagers and college kids and I had a day the other day where it seemed like I had five phone calls and it was emotionally just knocked me out. And at the end of the day, I'm just, I got tears in my eyes and I'm trying to help all these kids and trying to be strong for them and strong for parents that are going through something. And and I called my brother and I just said, I just need to vent a little bit. I need to share with you what's going on in my heart. You don't have to do anything with it. I just need to, I just need to share it with somebody. No. Have you learned that about this game that you're playing? Yeah. The struggle that you, in that you gotta go to those people, whether it's mom and dad, or a good friend or a teacher, a coach. Have you learned to share and get that stuff off your chest and make sure people know you're going through it? Absolutely. And I think that was something that was really hard for me.'cause I'm not, I'm an emotional person, but in my own space I don't really like to put that onto other people. And that's just how I've always been. Yeah, me too. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah. It's hard. I just, I've never been like, like I always tell my teammates if you see me crying, it's probably because of volleyball and I'm frustrated with probably my injury more than I am frustrated with actually something else.'Cause I don't know if my teammates have ever seen me like for real cry unless it's been about like my injury. So I do think I have teammates though, like people, I'm very close with. My class, specifically, my senior class I'm very close with and they've seen me go through. Everything in all four years. And those are the people I really do lean on. And I've had amazing, like mental performance coaches that have helped me through a lot as well. And I, that was hard for me to get into at first, but when I found the people that really mesh well with me. It was really helpful. And like I said, my parents have been my rock, so just finding your people is what's important. And like you said, like as much as I am a tough cookie, I do need my own space sometimes. So yeah. Just finding that is, is really important as well. Let's close, give a piece of advice to those young ladies coming up and wanna play college volleyball. Give'em some advice. I would just say keep working. Like everything that you go through and all the time and effort that you put in will pay off and there are good things always coming your way. And just enjoy it like. You have such a unique opportunity and play such a unique sport that is ever growing. And there's so much more coming with volleyball. And just be grateful for the opportunities that you're in. And again, like I said, without my injuries, be grateful every single day that you have the opportunity to step on a court and touch a ball.'cause a lot of people don't have that. And there is such a genuine, unique, special thing about volleyball and the relationships that you build. So just be grateful for it and. Stay in the present. Great advice. You're wonderful, Sophie. You're gonna be a rock star in your life. If you're not, you're already there. But I'm so excited you get to keep playing and I'm praying and wishing that you get the next 15, 18 months of health to figure out how good you can really be and show the world your potential. Thank you. I really appreciate that. That means a lot. This is awesome. I. What an incredible conversation with Sophie Scott. She's such an inspiration. I only wish I would've had some of her courage as I battled injuries during my college career. She has never lost that love of the game or the pursuit of the significance of the game. If you're a parent of a teenage girl, this would be a great listen for them and a great role model for their future. Sophie's courage, her gratitude and the way she honors the people who've lifted her up along the way is something every athlete can learn from. If today's episode inspired you, head over to coach matt rogers.com and check out the volleyball recruits journal and all of our coaching and recruiting resources available to you every day. Until next time, stay focused on what you can control. Stay humble and keep chasing significance.