The job of trying to arrange additional tournaments among a group of parents who all have different goals for their DD's has beaten me down. I developed a great schedule with the coach's help, queried all the parents to see if their daughters have any date conflicts and submitted it to the group. But then some grumbling to the coach about how they thought this team was less demanding, no overnight (I was pushing hard for Spokane), etc. etc. Now we are going to have another parent meeting to discuss. I removed myself from the process because I am likely to push too hard. Just kind of sick about leading passive folks so I will just go with the flow. Hopefully there will be next year to join a national team.
On a more positive note, the club held a 'defense' clinic and even though Kate is 5'7"+, she enjoyed it. She was also able to have about a half hour of pure one on one time with her coach to work on setting...which is where I think they are leaning with her in addition to OH.
More volleyball and less parents, I say! :)
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Many parents choose a regional team over a national team for a good reason. Some just can't afford to pay for a travel team. It is a lot more expensive to be on a travel team once you take into account the hotel fees and paying for the coaches' travel expenses also. Some parents have obligations preventing them from taking overnight trips (elderly parents, other kids, pets). There are also girls that won't be able to keep up with their academic obligations if they are on a travel team.
ReplyDeleteDon't get discouraged if you don't end up with an aggressive schedule for Kate's team. The first year of club can be hard, and having a more relaxed schedule can be a good thing. Being on a national team for your first year is not something I would recommend. Just observe the other teams at tournaments, and see which ones you like for next year.
The parents forget this is to be fun. To many times they are
ReplyDeletetrying to hard for little reward. I suggest you just watch and keep an eye on why your daughter started this quest.
Wait for the clicks to form. You will see a whole different side on how the girls can hurt one another.
Great comments and advice. Thanks. I have taken a deep breath and will just remember that this is for Kate. We DO have a good group and I think it will be a fun season. CVD
ReplyDeleteCVD-remember cliques are, unfortunately, a normal part of girl-teenhood. All girls need to go thru it & learn from it. As long as Kate's self-esteem & ego are in check, she will learn a lot about herself and other people. Hopefully, she is doing this for herself & not to please someone else. If she is, there is not too much to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThe clicks can form...in volleyball and in life. Once they learn the value of a “team” it will quickly dissipate, provided they have good coaching.
ReplyDeleteYes--completely agree with the above poster in terms of going into this sport slowly. Our first year in club vb was on a regional team. We did have the same amount of practices, local tournaments and one or two out of town events-a regional team nonetheless.
I remember being at an away tournament in Spokane (PNQ) the parents/players were wandering around aimlessly in utter awe. As we got our bearings and found our court (#67) I watched this team walk by..."who is THAT?" I ask the veterans. "Oh, that is Washington Volleyball Academy" they have their players live on campus like a boarding school with volleyball---one parent calmly replies. I'm puzzled, appalled and a bit intrigued. Of course our team was in the Purple division and the 'other team' with their perfect uniforms was in the GOLD division, so we never saw them again. Once we returned home with 47th place (there were 48 teams in our age division) I googled this volleyball boarding school. Nope---they don't live on site. They do eat/breathe and LOVE volleyball at least 8 hours a week and happen to be pretty darn good, a local national vb club. I searched this years rosters wondering where those 9 girls ended up---three are with Sudden Impact, one High Velocity, one WVBA and one loyal girl is still a ‘Purple division’ club player. Everyone finds their volleyball home…it takes some a couple seasons and others may even find it in a different sport.
Whether national or regional---sports are about keeping our kids healthy, happy and giving them constructive avenues other than the computer, mall and texting. We are now on one of the national teams and recently wrote the check for $3650-which includes EVERYTHING except one airline tickets, our travel and a tournament souvenir sweatshirt (which I’ve banned this year) I did the math including practice/local power league…it ends up being about $10/hour (not including the five 2-3 day tournaments over the next 6 months) Money very well spent in our opinion….
I am so very grateful for volleyball! Our 16 year old daughter stays out of a lot of trouble b/c of her dedication to the sport. The level Kate will want to play year after year will be driven by HER. Count yourself blessed that you did not start on a national team. It can be quite a shock for many a parent and kid. THERE IS A HUGE difference between the levels.. We did 12 and 14's on regional and then made the jump at 15's. volleyball is a great team sport and really does seem to attract great kids!!! As we head into our third season working towards to the goal of a bid to JO's oh wait i mean Junior nationals, i sometimes long for the time when we had no idea what our DD's team was ranked in power league! That said i wouldn't trade our last two visits to JO's for anything a truly awe inspiring experience to be able to watch your daughter play on a national level.
ReplyDeleteso my message to you...enjoy!!