Curse of the Wahine

I'm not sure what a Wahine is, but they cleaned our clock at the Sports for Youth tournament at Highline today. Actually, it was a great day. We lost our first match to one Wahine club, but won the next two to finish 2-1 and move into the Gold pool. Sadly, we lost to the second Wahine club but the girls really made some great strides as a team. I didn't really know what to expect; we've only been practicing in earnest since the beginning of the year and we were short a couple of starters. I think it was great that we got some tourney experience before Power League #1 in a couple of weeks. Our issues today seemed to revolve around communication and passing. Kate did really well; all the girls did. It's pretty brutal waiting 2 hours between games, but it was a nice day outside and I discovered that one of the parents is an avid sports fan so I was happy spending some of that down time talking about the Mariners. All in all, a fun day!

Club Volleyball: Tourney Time

Well, some last minute good news tonight as a team has dropped out of the Sunday event at Highline CC and Kate's team was next in line. The bad news is that we will only have 6-8 girls and they are still learning rotations, so it should be an interesting day. I think we have all the positions covered. Kate was named a starter and co-team captain, so I'm really proud of the hard work she's put in. I knew she was getting serious when she began eating a banana on the way to school instead of a doughnut! Today she walked to school at 7, went to school all day, practiced for the play until 6 and then went to VB practice from 7:30-9:30. Now it's 10:30 and she's doing geometry. I went to work from 7-4, watched football from 5-7 and went to VB practice too where I read a Caribbean Magazine. I am going to have to give her the nod for toughest day! More after the tourney on Sunday!

Club Volleyball: First 2010 Practice

Finally! We're moving to 3 a weeks and I finally feel like things are kicking into gear. Looks like we'll be running a 6-2 which should work well in terms of Kate getting lots of playing time as a setter. Now I have to bone up on rotations, etc. I know next to nothing about the guts of volleyball. I can talk your ear off about a 4-3 vs. a 3-4 in football or the benefits of a hit and run vs. a straight steal, but all this talk about the libero or being the center back setter are all new. I seem to be the only parent who sticks around all practice; maybe that comes from coaching soccer. It's at practice where you get to know a team. I guess I'd rather watch Kate play sports than sit around and watch a sitcom. On the other hand, I don't go to her school practices Maybe I just feel entitled since I'm paying so much for her to be on a club! PLUS, I'm getting to practice using my new camera and lens! Here are a few shots from tonight's practice:

Have a great week, everyone!

Club Volleyball Dead Time

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend; I think work will almost be a relief after all of the parties. Club volleyball seems to have come to a bit of a standstill, but will crank up again with 3 weekly practices starting in the new year. And then before we know it, Power League #1 weekend! We're taking this slow time to get ready: Kate got a new volleyball and is practicing her setting drills and I have been playing with my new DSLR camera and doing research on lenses for indoor action. I've always loved photography but haven't done too many sports events other than some of Kate's soccer games. But now the costs have come down enough and the technology had advanced to the point where I think I'll be able to get some good shots for the blog.

I heard from the ex that the parent meeting was just what I feared it would be: the pushing back of the 'fewer tournament' folks and the abandonment of the tourney schedule I spent days putting together. Apparently we waited too long to get into the first Highline event on 1/10 so that is out. Then we had to cancel the 2/5 Northshore because THAT was full. Switched to a 2/6 event and Kate has the school play. So where my plan called for 3 tournaments by 2/5, we will now have one. They are undecided on the Northwest Jr's March weekend and voted NO on Spokane, so I am done being involved as anything but Kate's biggest fan. I tried to elevate this team with a 'beginner' reputation and was soundly shut down by club and parents. So we'll have a good time this year and hopefully Kate will be in a position to join a more driven club next year. I am pretty sad about how this part of things has turned out. Maybe things will improve....

OK, with that off my chest, let's get practicing!

Setter

This just in: coach says Kate should "definitely concentrate on setting." So there you go. Now it is up to Kate to be the best setter she can be. Go for it, Katie.

Club Volleyball: Setters Clinic

At what point do coaches take the girls aside and say "we want you to be a setter" or "you are going to play middle blocker."? Kate is in this kind of limbo because the coaches have not TOLD her she's going to set, even though she plays that position in practice. I went to a group job interview once with 20 other people and they were asking everyone :"are you here for the support position or the manager position?" Everyone else was saying SUPPORT, so I said MANAGER. Within a week those people reported to me. My point it that you have to go after what you want. I would like to see Kate grab the setter role without being told to. At the clinic tonight the guest coach stressed that the setter is the leader on the floor. Loud, dominant, commanding. I would like to see Kate grab that and run. SHOW your coaches and your teammates that you will lead them, even if you are still learning yourself. But that's a tricky conversation. I think the position is open for the taking and it will go to the girl who wants it the most. Team sleepover and parent wine mixer tonight. Dad is staying far far away.

Club Volleyball: Practice Notes

Great practice tonight! I'm really pleased with how Coach is managing practices. Of course, since I've been to 50 soccer practices and 3 volleyball practices, she could be a complete impostor for all I know. I think Kate is being positioned by her to be a setter. We went through a "I want to be an outside hitter" phase during tryouts, but I think her strength is in setting and that seems to be where she is heading. I like the fact that she is excited about everything right now.

I've let go of my angst over the tournament schedule. There's a parent meeting on Monday to discuss it, but I can't make it and that's OK. I have wrapped my head around just going with the flow and being a team player. With Junior High season starting up in January AND club I think Kate will get her fill of volleyball. She's even going to miss a Highline CC tourney in February because of her commitment to the school play. I love the fact that she has multiple interests; she's been in the school play since the 5th grade and this will be it. Seeing her belt out a solo in 'Zombie Prom' will be really cool too. I'm feeling good about things. Setting Clinic on Sunday!

Club Volleyball: Beaten Down but Not Dead

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! :)

Club Volleyball: Second Practice in the Books!

Met early with coach to finalize the enhanced schedule. Spokane is a little dicey as 3 girls are opting out. I think we can do it with 9 but that leaves little margin for last minute cancellations, etc. With the exception of Spokane, the families have all been great about jumping from five to ten tournaments and only a few girls will miss events here and there.

I love what coach is doing so far. Second straight practice without even scrimmaging. It was conditioning and drills. Love that. I saw the girls doing the 'plank' and realized that I would have collapsed quivering to the floor if that was ME trying to imitate a piece of wood that you cook salmon on. And what a meal dad got into Kate last night: Baked Steelhead, Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Olive Oil and Salt, and Parmesan & Garlic Pasta. Protein and carbs! She is paying more attention to what she eats; we used to get 2 doughnuts on the way to school on Friday morning. Double Doughnut Friday! Since VB started she only gets one doughnut and today she added a banana. Good job, Kate. Sunday is our 'Defense' clinic. Good weekend to you all.

Club Volleyball: Tournament Schedule

Looks like our club is stepping it up a notch. The Animals have not been traditionally known as team with a heavy schedule. Indeed, several girls joined because there were only 5 tournaments scheduled and nothing outside of the region. But we have a coach that wants to win, and a group of parents who seem willing to push the envelope. I think we have a mix of wants and expectations. Kate is in the group that tried out for teams like SI and KJ, but didn't make it this year so is excited to be on a team that aspires to play at that level. Another group joined this club because there are only a few local tournaments. I think we've achieved a good compromise, although I pushed for more events. The first step was joining Power League. I then took up the job of adding more tournaments to the schedule. After discussing with our coach, I sent out a proposed schedule and asked parents to let me know if there were any conflicts. Obviously, you can't have 5 girls who can't make an event. That knocked out MLK. Finals are the following week. A very studious group, I guess! Then we added an event in Bremerton but decided that makes for too long a day. We want to get in an event before PL#1 so we added Highline CC on 1/10. Signed up for regionals. Want to do NW Jr's Spring Classic but parents seem to hate 2 day events. Anyway, you get the picture. Dozens and dozens of emails, but when its all said and done, I think we have a good schedule. And I think we will be able to do Spokane! We have a couple of no's because it requires a day of missed school. (Really, they can't miss a day of school to be with their team?) If things work out, we have 10 tournaments scheduled. Now we just need to see how the coaches and girls perform! I feel like we're treading water with just one practice a week, but it triples to 3X in January. Looking forward to practice tomorrow!

Club Volleyball: Parent Dinner and Tournaments

The club held a 90 minute clinic for hitters yesterday which seemed helpful; Kate enjoyed it and I used it as a forum to drill into her that it's all about technique and repetition. Practice Practice Practice! The coach had the girls submit goals and position preferences. Kate said she wanted to be a hitter but had mostly been a setter in the past year and that she was willing to work at whatever the coach wanted her to do.

We all got to Red Robin about 7:45. Girls at one table and parents at at another. (I will say right here that RR did a very nice job all around). I think 9 of 12 girls were there. While the girls got to know each other, the parents were talking and assigning duties. We seem to have a very capable 'team mom' who takes lots of notes, etc. Well done. I kind of tuned out during the team spirit and slumber party discussions, but jumped at the chance to suggest other tournaments to join in addition to Power League. My immediate thought is to schedule us at a Sports for Youth U15 event on 1/17 so we have a little experience going into the Power League #1 weekend. Also, the Spokane Qualifier so they can do an overnight, then the Tulip Fest in April followed up by the ECC in May. That would be 8 tournaments (4 Power and 4 additional). I think we will look as a club in March or so about whether we want to travel to Phoenix. I don't really have a take on whether this group is using this club to just have a good time, or to use it as a springboard for their girls to try out for a National team next year. I know that's what we're doing unless they form a U16 travelling team next year.

Anyone have thoughts on tournaments?

I like the fact that we are moving our practice scheduled for 12/24 to 12/23 and that we are going to hold our normal practice on 12/31. Shows me that it's important for the coaches to practice and have a winning team.

No Club Volleyball at All

As I began updating my 2010 calendar (Tropical Islands 2010) I started to realize that the volleyball days were beginning to take over the non volleyball days...and I haven't even received the school schedule of practices and games yet. With that in mind, I wanted to make sure that other things, non volleyball things, get documented here as well. Yesterday was a perfect example.

I was off to Kent to pick up a new washer/dryer and I picked up Kate at mom's house on the way back. After the installation I was all ready for a nice day of college football...but there was Kate "Dad, we need to go shopping for Xmas presents." Me: "No way in hell am I going to any kind of mall today. It's a zoo out there." 15 minutes later we were on the way to Target. I dropped her off and parked at Barnes & Noble and actually enjoyed a nice mocha and a magazine called Travel Africa. She walked back over to the book store and by the time I was done reading about Namibia, we were ready to go.

At home she began working on a gift that required scissors and glue and pictures, etc. I put on some Los Van Van (Cuban music) and caught up on a blogging book. That lead to the first Cars CD and then to Pearl Jam's latest, Backspacer with the Husky game on mute. When Kate's project was done it was down the hill to pick up some terriyaki to feed us while we settled in to catch up on some shows. Popcorn halfway through the movie and when we were shuffling off to bed I realized what a near perfect day it had been.

We're going to love club volleyball, but I don't know that it will ever be better than sitting on the couch with Pearl Jam blaring and looking over at the table and just watching Kate concentrating, then looking up suddenly and smiling at her dad. Now THAT rocks.

Power League

Kate's team is a part of Power League! The U15's are the only team this year to join. Based on everything I've heard from you readers, this is a good move. I'm pretty happy. It means better competition and a chance for Kate to see the best teams in the region at least 4 times. Excellent news!

Club Volleyball: First Practice in the Books!

Finally! And with the icy cold weather I am once again thrilled that this is not the clubsoccerdad blog. No standing in a pelting rain, no parka's, just a nice warm gym with a little beer garden they set up for the parents. OK, I lied about the beer garden, but if I was the director....

I liked the practice. The girls never scrimmaged; it was learning drills and positioning and all the stuff a team needs to have down pat. Fundamentals. I am a big proponent of fundamentals.

The 15's team that Kate is on applied to be in Power League, but the director said they are waiting to hear back...is it a lottery or something? Wish I knew how these things worked. One practice a week until January when it jumps to 3X. Hitters clinic on Sunday followed by a team dinner. They want to go to Red Robin...now I'm not at all sure how we're going to get 25 people into Red Robin at 7 pm on a Sunday and mentioned that to Kate and she told me to just "try to not do everything and let someone else make the plans." Ummm....OK. Not my nature! I had to remind myself that this is the new, calm, sports dad. Speaking of which...did not see many dads at practice. C'mon guys!

All in all, it was a fun first practice. I really hope we do Power League, but it is what it is. Have a nice weekend, all!

Club Volleyball: Will Thursday Never Arrive?

We have a serious case of stir crazy going on in the house. It seems like it's taking forever for our first practice to get here, but I imagine in 3 months I'll remember this break fondly. They will practice Monday and Thursday from 7:45-9:30 and on Sunday's at a time TBD. Late practices are fine by me; no traffic to Bellevue. And even though there has been some concern from DD about missing FlashForward, Community, and The Office, we will survive thanks to TiVo. Coach said parents hanging out at practice was fine, so I'm happy about that. Do all clubs let parents hang at practice? I've never been one to idly sit by without giving 'advice' to Kate, but I'm really going to temper it now. I was the assistant coach in soccer so I had a fair amount of latitude when it came to suggesting how Kate did her job, but I won't have that latitude here. I think this is probably an important time in the father-daughter relationship. Criticizing and berating will do much harm. Being 100% supportive, listening, and letting her know that I am here if she wants to discuss her play will do much good. It's kind of up to her now. If she stays hungry and strives to work harder than anyone on the team, she will succeed. I want her to be extremely successful. I think she can be a really good player. But her success or lack thereof will never temper who she is to me. I do see great things in her, and I hope she goes for it.

One of the parents took the time to send out a roster already and has recruited some others to help with team stuff. A good omen; the parents on the soccer team were great. They worked behind the scenes on snacks and transportation and let the coaches coach. Sounds like we may have good parents on this team too. The roster listed one of the girls with a birth year of 1998 who went to Bellevue HS. I thought maybe we had an 11 year old club volleyball prodigy on board, but alas, it was a typo. The next big step is to come up with a team name. Has to be an animal and has to start with 'M'. My suggestion to Kate was the Maggots. I think it sounds scary. How would you like it if you had to face the Maggots in a tourney? Intimidation, right? Sadly, I think Kate will not bring my suggestion to the group. Look for Meerkats, Monarchs or Mermaids. Here are a few of my other suggestions: Millipedes, Mackerels, Midges, or Mastadons. Anyone can be a Meerkat. I will keep you posted!

Club Volleyball: Let's Go!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Kate sandwiched the day by attending both Husky games on Wed and Fri. Disappointing loss yesterday but now it's time for the NCAA Tourney. Good luck, ladies! We are kind of in that dead zone between tryouts and first practice. We begin on Thursday and Kate is very excited to get things going. I am just kind of feeling a sense of relief that Kate made a team this first year, regrets that we didn't start this process 2 years ago, and pride that she is going into this an open book with a desire to be the best volleyball player she can be.

Club Volleyball: First Team Meeting

Got a chance to meet Coach F last night and Kate and I liked her. She played at DII and has coached for 5 years now. She said practices will be tough and she will not hesitate to ride someone to make them better. She thinks the girls will come to understand that they are better than they even thought they could be. This will all be a giant splash of cold water in the face for Kate. In the 7 years of recreational soccer she played, no one ever yelled at her or pulled her aside for a bit off ass kicking. Same in her year of 8th grade volleyball. So I think this will be the season she starts getting some serious coaching that has consequences. It will be fascinating to see her do it in tandem with Jr High Varsity.

I really think The Animals are going to be a good fit for us this year at the U15 level. By this time next year one of 3 things will happen with her: she will decide volleyball is not something she wants to continue, it is something she enjoys and wants to continue recreationally on this level of team, or her skills have gelled and she is committed to being the best and playing in college thus resulting in trying to get on an elite travelling club. A poster on prepvolleyball (pirateVBfan) has given me permission to copy his excellent post here on his take on 'elite' teams. Great stuff.

I think the most important things in a club are the quality of the coaching, the quality of the teammates and the club reputation. The reputation is built over years and is based on the broad range of results of a number of teams over the years. I think that encompasses your "win/loss" and "multiple team" comments. But it also is built on having players recruited by and playing in major universities. In 2006 UW could put five KJ players on the court and three were starters (a fourth, Jill Colleymore, is now a starter). 

Why is reputation important? Well for many reasons. Number one it helps attract the top coaches and players. Number two it opens doors. When our older daughter was being recruited we had a number of college coaches tell us "She played for KJ, of course we want her". Everyone on her KJ 18 team is playing volleyball in college, most on D-I scholarships.While the top players will get seen regardless of the club (assuming a fairly top club that travels) the club reputation (and those top players) can pull in coaches to look at the other players. Having coaches and a club director with connections to a wide range of colleges can really enhance the recruiting of the non-star players. If that is important to you, then club reputation and connections are very important. 

As to club volleyball rankings, I think KJ, WVBA and (at least in the past) Puget Sound have consistently been the top clubs around here with Sudden Impact a small step below. It will be interesting to see how the transition at PS goes. It is a big step they are taking building a new facility and changing ownership at the same time.I think UPVBC has been rising and is about at the same level as Sudden Impact now. They have had the results over several years from several teams (although not as much as the top tier teams yet) but the question will be how well they make the transition into college recruiting. 


The question was "What are the best clubs" but I realize that the criteria for "Best" very much depends on your goals. If you want to be an elite athlete, lead your HS team, get a scholarship to college, etc, then clubs like KJ and WVBA are the best and the best fit. If you want to have fun, make HS varsity and have no plans on playing in college, then WVBA, KJ, PS, etc are a waste of money and you would be miserable there. 

The "elite clubs" (I know I am going to get in trouble for that term, but you know what I mean) have a totally different set of expectations than the more "normal" clubs do. You will be competing against the best players in a large geographical area for playing time (it is not uncommon for players to drive 50 miles for practice - heck, one player used to fly from Idaho to play for KJ). You will travel to three or four (or more) out of state tournaments and try like mad to make Nationals. You will practice about three times a week and the practices will be very intense, often harder than the games. You will start club basically as soon as HS season is over, then overlap club and HS in the summer, have the mandatory three weeks off in August, and then start right back with HS. You will have college coaches around your court pretty much any time you play out of state, sometimes two or three deep around the court. Assuming you are a top player on the team you will have multiple offers to play D-I volleyball and the absolute best players will get multiple PAC-10 offers - the "holy grail" of college recruiting. 

But that is definitely not for everyone. Even on elite teams (or should that be "especially on elite teams") playing time is earned and a third of the team may never see the court in a tournament. You may not understand the coaches decisions on playing time but you have to grin and cheer. 

So, the best fit for many players is not the KJs and WVBAs of the world, but rather the Above the Net, NW Juniors and Cascades of the world - good programs that play good, fun volleyball and turn out good HS varsity volleyball players, but will have limited potential/desire for a college scholarship. 


Again, great stuff. Any time any of you have advice or stories or experiences or news of other clubs to share, please email me and I will build it into the blog.

Club Volleyball: Makeups

Kate's club (I will call them 'The Animals') had a makeup tryout last night so Kate, her mom, and I went. I wanted Kate to see a tryout without the pressure of being in one. There were 20-25 girls there last night and as I watched these 14 year olds go through their drills, I felt kind of bad knowing that there are a ton of volleyball loving girls out there who won't even get a chance to play on a team. One girls stood out. Not real tall, but she did a great job passing, had a nice vertical as a hitter, stood out in her Nevillisms shirt and just generally looked like she would be a great addition on any team. She had heart. I think that's one of the shortcomings of club volleyball tryout weekend. Many girls will make teams based on their height or the skills they showed, but you cannot judge heart in a tryout with 50 girls. I saw it in #82 because I watched her closely...but I don't even know if she made the team as we left before they started talking to girls. I hope she did, and if she didn't, I hope she doesn't give up on her dream because I'd take a team of girls like her (and Kate) any day of the week. Tonight we meet the team.

Club Volleyball: Tryouts Aftermath

What an exhausting weekend. And we only went to 3 tryouts! Club D was well run and there were only about 40 girls (which still seems like an awful lot) but the coaching staff seems great. The downside? $4200. I was stunned. 4 years of D and I could pay for a year of college. I kind of question the need for that much travel, especially at the U15 level, but I'm sure we will be looking at them again next year. This was a good experience for Kate. She's only played one year of junior high volleyball and it was clear that another year of playing and coaching is needed. We made Club A and are happy to be with them. No travel and not so many tournaments, but Kate will also be playing 9th grade varsity concurrently so this will probably be a good fit. By the time tryouts roll around next year, she will have played a full 9th grade season, a full 10th grade season, and a full season of club. She'll have a full year of hitting behind her, as opposed to NO hitting behind her. What she does have is plenty of raw talent and enthusiasm. And probably a growth spurt. Her father is very proud.

As far as tryouts...there HAS to be a better way. I would love to hear everyone's feedback on their tryout experience. I hope all of your DD's found what they were looking for! More after the team meeting tomorrow.

A Long Long Day

The mood after tryouts today is a little more subdued than it was on Thursday night. Just got home from  Club C tryouts: 70 girls for 12 spots which includes the girls who played on their U14 club. I think Kate is a solid, hard working barely 14 year old with one season of Jr. High Volleyball under her belt and plain and simple, she did not stand out among 70 other girls, many who have played club ball before based on their logo t-shirts. The folks at B were very nice, but they ran through drills on 2 courts for about 75 minutes and then the coaches went away and spent a half hour picking their names. Compare that with Club B: 24 girls today and 24 girls tomorrow. They had a separate sheet for each person and called them by name to do drills where they actually watched and evaluated. The facility was great and we would be thrilled if they offered Kate a spot. No word on that; they will start calling people tomorrow. But even if we don't make B, I feel like she got a fair shot. Not so on C and I'm pretty worried that D will be the same. I'm not sure how you break into the 'travel' teams as a newcomer. I guess you work your butt off on the school team, do a camp during summer and try again next year. There's supposed to be a level playing field, but I didn't really get the feeling that that was the case at C. OK. It's been a long day. Tomorrow we give it a shot at Club D but I hope its more like B and less like a cattle call. Good job today, Kate!