16 Considerations for Club

The interests of an athlete (and the athlete’s parents) are not the same as those of a club director. It’s great to say ‘we care about the kids’ and all that, but parents are paying money for a service–what you have is a contract…and if the money doesn’t flow, the ‘care for the kids’ suddenly disappears. The club’s duty is to make the individual better at volleyball and help with the college recruiting process (for appropriate athletes…for 10u or 12u, this isn’t important).

We’re at the point in most places where club tryouts are going to begin…not all though, I know Texas clubs are already into their 2029 tryouts and taking payments…but I think these are some things to think about regarding club.

Points of Note in No Particular Order: 1. Being on a ‘1s’ team doesn’t guarantee you a scholarship–and not necessarily as good of one (if you get one) as someone else on a lower team. Long ago, there was a kid at a big club who wound up on the club’s second or third team behind kids who already had D-1 scholarships. I suspect she was disappointed in the moment by that placement, but being on the ‘lower’ team gave her more playing time and meant she got seen by a great school for developing setters and gave her a ‘chip on her shoulder’ that drove her towards relentless improvement. She wound up Big 10 Freshman of the Year and National POTY as a senior in 1994.

1a. Not being on the ‘top’ team isn’t a failure. Sometimes, teams (especially younger ages) get put together based on things like carpools and availability for certain weekends (trying to account for multi-sport athlete schedules). It can also depend if coaches also do high school ball–and the club is trying to avoid potential HS rule violations for off-season contact.

2. Clubs will try and sell you on the prestige of their name. Many will stretch claims about their success at tournaments, proffer win-loss records. The prestige of that club means NOTHING to a college coach (same for the win-loss record). What the college coach will be looking at is your skill, athleticism, and attitude (and grades…always grades!) They’ll do that whether you are playing for Prestigious Big City Club Elite or Little Town VBC.

3. When making a decision, research the background of the person who will be your coach. Do they have a track record of player development? What do you know of their coaching style?

4. How many kids who play your position are going to be on the team? If you’re a setter and there are going to be four on the roster–will you be happy with how playing time gets split? Are you better off on a team where there are fewer who play your position OR–what about a team where you’ll have the chance to play multiple positions?

5. Big Fish/Small Pond…becomes a tiny fish in an ocean. Make sure to focus on development. If you’re with a small club, you may be great as that huge 5’10 middle–but you’re going to get smeared if you go to a national sort of tournament where teams have 5’10 liberos and 6’4 hitters. (Don’t use winning or the scoreboard as a tool for evaluating clubs)

6. It’s easy to be a star in school ball (or club)–and then have to adjust to a different role in club (or school). Are you willing to accept that? What if you have to play different positions in each?

6a. Playing different positions isn’t a bad thing–but you have to decide for yourself if you are comfortable with that. I suspect that multiple positions is GREAT for ages up through 15, but after that, players/parents get antsy for specialization. The thing is–the college coach has their own ideas no matter what. For me, the first all-American I had was a MH in high school–in college, she was AA as a *setter*. The next was an all-Area hitter. She made the NJCAA HOF as the greatest juco libero ever. The key here–be true to yourself.

7. Pay attention to the cost. Some clubs charge enough that if you took that money and put it towards college–you’d have a free college education rather than paying to chase a scholarship. Club shouldn’t be exploitive financially.

8. Don’t believe you have to play at big qualifiers to be seen. If you are interested in a school and they are interested in you–they’ll find you in other tournaments or they’ll come to one of your club practices.

9. It’s okay to switch clubs. Sometimes you make a choice and it isn’t a great fit. That happens. But–you do want to avoid playing for new clubs every year…switching that regularly will raise yellow flags for college coaches. If you do switch more than once–be ready to explain why the changes were made (because there can be good reasons!!)

9a. It’s okay, too, to not play club. If you’ve got the grades and skill, there are places you can play. The line “You have to play club to play in college is 100% bullshit”–and only said by club coaches/directors. (I say that having recruited kids who I then developed into D1 players…they didn’t play club)

10. Be a multi-sport athlete. It’s better for your body; it’s better for your mental development, too. You play different roles in multiple sports, get coached in different ways–and kids get to be kids exactly once. Let them do what they love. If they love multiple sports, that’s freakin’ awesome and it only makes them better competitors.

11. How many kids are going to be on a team? The more kids, the less playing time there is. And worse, club directors will tell you “That’s ok because you learn a lot watching high-level volleyball”…and while that’s true, you actually learn more if you are PLAYING volleyball at a reasonably high level (but if you’re okay paying thousands to watch other people play while you hold a clipboard–that’s fine, too).

12. What’s your goal with club? Are you simply wanting to play–or do you have a specific skill-set you are seeking to improve? This relates to who the coach is, the roster size, etc. You should go into club with a goal in mind–know what you want so you can make a better decision.

13. What’s the club schedule? Do you want to practice daily? Are you good with 1-2 times/week? DO you want a tournament every weekend–or is one per month good enough? You need to consider what else you have going on in life. With some clubs, you’re going to have to sacrifice Winter Formal or Prom to go to tournaments. Are you good with that? HUGELY MORE IMPORTANT–are you left with enough time to maintain your grades?

14. Some regions have teams that select players a year in advance–tryouts are thus a revenue generator, nothing else (softball’s even worse for this than VB). Are you looking at a club like that? Are there 100 people trying out for just 5 spots? As a red flag for you to watch for–did the club mention any of that before the tryout or do you think you’re being led on?

15. “I didn’t play club and now I’m a junior, so it is too late.” It’s never too late! There will be clubs happy to have you and train you. This is important for recruiting, too–it’s never too late (schools will still have scholarships for August 2024 in…August 2024!!) If they are a good club, they’ll be happy to have you–because they’ll understand you’re ready to commit to VB/getting better when you weren’t before. And if they aren’t okay–then you know they were not a club you would’ve wanted to be part of anyways.

16. Does the club publicize where its athletes go to play college? Do they publicize ALL of them–or just the D1 signees? (You may raise an eyebrow at that, but as a juco coach, I signed a player, the club ignored it, but two years later when she committed to play D-1 ball, she was suddenly on the club’s alumni list AND front page…)

There you go–sixteen things to think about when considering club…whether to play and where to play. There are others, I’m sure!! Please don’t hesitate to put them in the comments here so other people can read them as well!