Carlsbad Juniors Volleyball Club
The following information is presented as food for thought when considering the world of girl's club volleyball. It is geared more towards those new to this community, but it might give some insight to veterans as well. We have tried to be unbiased and we realize that no club, ours included, is right for everyone. Every club has something unique to offer, our hope is that this helps you find a good fit to meet your personal goals.
Should your daughter play club volleyball?
Why is your family supporting your daughter to play club? (we refer to the athlete as “daughter” for simplicity sake as I know that there are guardians who are reading this for the benefit of their kids.) It may be some combination of the following:
1) Your daughter loves playing volleyball or wants to learn to play.
2) She wants to experience the social aspect of being on a team.
3) She wants to make new friends.
4) She wants to make the school team.
5) Your family has hopes of her getting a scholarship.
6) Your family wants the satisfaction of your daughter being on a “club team”.
These are all great reasons for playing club. Research shows that girls involved in sports experience numerous benefits including: better academic performance, higher self esteem, lower rates of teen pregnancies and, given the explosive rates of obesity in this country, improved fitness.
All these benefits come at a price, though. I mentioned earlier that this as a family decision because it takes a varying amount of dedication of the whole family to support a club player. Having raised high performing vb players ourselves, we want to ensure that parents are made aware of some of these factors that our family has experienced first hand
1) Financial Commitment: You can easily pay $5,000-$6,000 for the 7 month season. We have not seen any club advertise opportunities to play a full season for less than $800. For younger players, also take into account that a family member may need to travel as well as the athlete when calculating a bottom line.
2) Time: Averaging from 4 to 12 hours per week depending on the program is a huge commitment. This is ‘court time' and does not take into account time involved in transportation to/from practice/competition or downtime during tournament play.
3) Pressure: The highest performing teams are very intense. Girls in tears are not an uncommon sight after/during competition. There is some inherent pressure experienced participating in even the lowest levels of competition..
Tryouts
If you decide to have your child play club, they will almost always participate in at least one tryout. In our opinion tryouts are very stressful. We are exploring ideas for improving the process but have been unsuccessful so far. The governing body, (SCVA), sets the earliest date upon which tryouts can be held, (Oct. 1 st this year for U14s), and the clubs compete to get the most desirable players to commit to their club. SCVA also sets the earliest date that a player can commit, (Oct 10), but our experience has been that the date is a formality.
“A commitment date is defined as the first date that a club can obtain a deposit as a means for accepting a spot for their club team and have the deposit be non-refundable.” SCVA
Most clubs will push for an answer the day of the tryouts. Obviously, the more desirable clubs can be more demanding, even to the point of asking for the deposit prior to you leaving the gym after the first day of tryouts. Because the clubs all jockey for the earliest time slots, kids trying out at multiple clubs will have to hustle from one gym to the next. Some will have 3 tryouts back-to-back. We believe your time is well spent doing homework on your potential picks before tryout day. A word of caution - participants in high school vb may not try out until they are done with their season (including play-offs). Therefore, you may never see the best players (your competition and possibly teammates) at the older tryouts.
Which Volleyball Club Should I Try Out For?
Having weighed the pros and cons of club ball will not only help you decide whether or not your daughter should play, but it will also help guide you in choosing which club to tryout for. Below are some factors that might help you prioritize your choices. Which of the following factors are most important to you?
Competitive Level
The decision for what competitive level you desire goes hand in hand with your club choice. There are 3 basic levels of teams (although we have carried some hybrid teams.)
“Local” teams will frequently practice once or twice per week and have 5-8 tournaments, (about one a month). The tournaments in San Diego have traditionally been in the Rancho Bernardo area. Some schedules may include tournaments in Orange County as well.
“Regional” teams will normally practice twice a week and have on average of 8 tournaments, (about two a month). They also compete in the regional tournament which is a 2 day event. These tournaments are in the greater LA/San Diego area - your venue changes for each competition date.
“National” teams normally add a Junior Olympic (JO) qualifier and a post-season tournament. The top tier teams will make every effort to qualify for J.O's which has a different location every year. Since teams have to qualify for that tournament extremely aggressive clubs will continue to compete in qualifying tournaments around the country in hopes of landing a spot. If unsuccessful, these teams will often play at the Volleyball Festival, which is a five day event held in Phoenix in late June.
To decide on which level of team you would like, you have to be clear on your reasons for playing club. I suggest that you stand firm and find a team that matches your philosophy rather than succumb to the competitive pressures to play for the “best” club. The most competitive teams play to win. Therefore the focus of the season might not be on individual development, but on team performance. We believe that focusing on team performance makes sense if your daughter is an exceptional player 15 and older. In general, a high school age athlete is expected to be on a highly ranked club team to be recruited D-1 or high D-2. While this makes some sense for the top 17's and 18's players, you might question whether your younger daughter could be better served by sticking with a coach that has the skills and spends some time developing your daughter individually, and is not quite so concerned about how the team finishes. Also, speaking from experience coaching a top 20 collegiate team, if you are playing to win getting all the girls playing time is not a factor. That means that unless the team is well ahead, often only the starters will play. If your daughter will not start, consider whether she is better served by possibly sitting the bench most of the season, or getting more playing time and confidence starting for a lower ranked team? There are benefits to both scenarios, what experience will your daughter enjoy the most?
Last year, due to outside interests (horses, lacrosse, field hockey, dance, music, drama, MUN ..), one of our 14's team did not play a full SCVA schedule, nor did they end up in the top half at the Phoenix festival. This fall, however, every freshman from that team that tried out made her high school team (6/6). Two earned starting positions on their varsity team. The results we are looking for are fostering a continuing love for the game, and personal/athletic development even at the expense of the team's standings. Make sure you are comfortable with the club/team philosophy.
Coaching
It amazes us how little consideration is given to exactly who is coaching our daughters. In deciding which school would be the best fit for our children it always comes down to “who has the best teachers”. Test scores were a smaller factor. Most clubs have excellent coaches for their top teams, but you want to find out about your coach. Many clubs ask players for commitments to teams for which they have not made a decision on who the coach will be. This decision is often based on who will commit, then the best coach is matched up with the year group with the most potential to win - resulting in better advertising for next season. Your daughter is going to spend well over a hundred hours with this person. I would be very hesitant to commit to a team without knowing who the coach is, unless I was familiar and comfortable with all the possibilities.
“Great players are great coaches.” Right?? That is not necessarily the case. Your daughter needs good training to become a good vb player. She also needs experience; the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell makes a case that proficiency in any endeavor takes 10,000 hours of practice. If players need experience to be good players, coaches need good training to become good coaches. A bubbly personality can make the season start out more enjoyably, but doesn't cut it come late May if you're serious about vb.
There is formal training for volleyball coaches. The lowest level is IMPACT training. USAV offers a more rigorous training called CAP, the highest being CAP level 3. There is also an incredible organization called the Positive Coaching Alliance. It provides training for coaches to expand their goals beyond the scoreboard to make the season more fulfilling for the athlete. If you feel any of this merits consideration, make sure you inquire as to the training/experience of your prospective coaches.
Gender is an issue. We realize that most of the coaches are male and that there are RARELY problems, but you would be naive to ignore the possible distractions of having a young male, and to a lesser extent any male, coach your teenage daughter.
$$ Money $$
In the interests of full disclosure: the sticker price for a club season is expensive. To make matters more challenging, the costs can go far beyond list price. We also feel obligated to remind parents that the reality is that your odds of getting your money back in the form of a college scholarship are not in your favor. We spent years recruiting for a successful Division 2 program and are speaking from experience. Having said that, after making the financial sacrifice for our daughters we feel that it has been well worth it, no matter what they choose to do. Local teams are the least expensive while national teams are the most pricey, especially national teams that will travel to multiple JO qualifiers. Know what is expected of you.
Jerseys are included in virtually all club programs, some include backpacks, warm-ups, etc. Some might ask/require you to purchase optional gear.
Some clubs expect participation in fund raising activities. These can be fun OR not. Make sure you know what you are expected to do.
Many clubs don't include the extra expenses related to post-season tournaments. There are tournament registration fees, travel, room and board for not only your daughter but also the coach/es and chaperone/s (and YOU)
Private coaching - The highest ranking clubs' players practice not only with their team, but also take private lessons, often from their team coach. It brings up an ethical question having the coach give private lessons to some players, for a fee, during the season. As a minimum, it can put a question as to whether a particular player is starting because she is paying the coach extra. It can put extra pressure on a family to “keep up with the Jones”. Coaches have been known to suggest their daughters schedule these private sessions. There is such a demand that the practice is probably not going to go away, so you should be aware of it and ask questions about it if it might impact your decisions. If privates are expected, then the costs should be taken into account up front.
Time commitments
When considering this factor, we urge you to not only think about the schedule, (obviously local teams have a much lighter schedule than national teams), but also the flexibility. The most competitive teams might have rules prioritizing team functions over school/family/religious activities/vacations. In the excitement of tryouts it is easy to forget the coming proms/confirmations/parties that will have to be missed.
Team Dynamics
If your daughter is looking forward to making new friends playing club, this is important. Team dynamics is probably the hardest attribute to discern as it is a chicken and the egg problem. You might not know what the team's dynamic is before you have to make up your mind. Some clubs have a tryout as a formality, or to see if there is some new star that showed up. The team is well defined. Other teams are looking for just a few players and, once again, you can get a feeling for the team. The last scenario is a wide-open tryout and it can be more difficult to get a read on the team personality. I wouldn't hesitate to try and contact the director of a club that you're interested in, find out as much as you can about your prospective team, ask to contact the coach directly. Most of them will have at least an idea of the make-up of their team. If nothing else, you can get an idea of the attitude of the coach which will go a long way towards knowing what kind of girls he/she will be looking for. Try to talk to parents of last year's team. You are not asking for gossip, you are trying to get the values and priorities of the team. If all else fails, coaches will normally say what they are looking for during the tryout, listen carefully and don't be afraid to ask questions.
Choosing a club can be a bewildering, stressful experience. The more people you talk to, the more informed and less anxious you will be. We have firsthand experience as players, coaches, AND as parents, please email us if you have any questions.
Good Luck!
Carlsbad Juniors Volleyball