The recruiting process can be tedious and daunting. Many families have no idea where to begin. There are thousands of colleges in the U.S., so before you begin the recruiting process in earnest, you'll need to narrow down the field and make a manageable list of colleges you're interested in.

College Board is a great place to start. They offer a search engine that allows you narrow by selectivity, type of school, location, major, campus and housing and sports offered. Although this will not help you determine whether the schools are an athletic fit, it will help you come up with a list of schools that meet your non-volleyball criteria.

Talk to your club coach, director or recruiting coordinator and ask them where they see you fitting in from an athletic standpoint. If this is unavailable to you, cast a wide net and add a selection of Division I, II, III and NAIA schools to your list. As coaches respond, you will begin to see where you are making headway. Get on YouTube and search for video footage of your prospective teams. You will need to ask yourself some tough questions, such as, "Am I capable of hanging with the athletes on the court?"

Organization is also crucial to staying on top of the recruiting process. Use Excel to create a list of schools, and include the coaches' names and email addresses. Make a note in the spreadsheet each time you reach out to a coach and each time they respond. Evernote is another tool to help you stay organized. It's a note-taking app that syncs your notes between devices so you can jot things down on your phone when you're on the go and check your notes from a laptop or desktop later.

Have a question for Kara? Send it to us via Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #AskKaraHill.

Kara Hill is a noted recruiting consultant and the founder of My Recruiting Solutions.