To be a starter on a high school team, a volleyball player needs skills and experience on the court. To be recruited at the college level takes more than just high school experience. Most of the best players in college were recruited after playing in a club team tournament.
Age to Begin Playing
Girls can begin playing club volleyball when they are as young as eight. Clubs usually have a team that is for girls twelve and under, although a ten and under team is not unusual. At that age the nets are lower and the court lines are used according to different rules. A full size court is more than most eight year olds can handle.
Where to Look for Clubs
There are a few volleyball organizations that offer clubs. USA Volleyball Association’s Junior Olympic Program and the Junior Volleyball Association are the best known. The organizations govern the rules of play for their members, vet the clubs and club administrators, train coaches and officials and host tournaments.
On the website for the junior organizations, the regional governing bodies can be found. Clubs, tryouts and open gym times are on the regional website. Most clubs host an open gym before tryout day. This is the best time to see the coaches in action, talk to other parents about the club and meet the club administrators.
Questions can be asked at any time, but open gym is a good time to ask about practice times, cost, number of tournaments that the club is planning to attend at the girl’s age level and other questions. Girls can “play up” with teams of older girls, but not with younger girls.
Most clubs have at least one regional team and a national team at each level; some have more than one. Regional teams play near home. National teams will travel out of state to large regional tournaments called qualifiers with the goal of winning their way to a national tournament at the end of the season.
Tryouts and Practices
To make a team each girl has to attend a tryout, and some girls will be asked to join the club. Since a lot of other girls will go away empty handed, it is a good idea to tryout with more than one club. Older girls can tryout with as many as three clubs in one day. Since they tire at each tryout, more than three is counter-productive.
Tryouts consist of serving, passing, setting and hitting drills. Some clubs like to scrimmage with different girls in different positions. Some clubs measure height and jumping ability. Many clubs exclude parents from the gym, but many don’t.
Once on the team, practices will be held two to three times per week. The club coaches focus on skills with all levels, but the older levels will also learn tactics and reading offenses. Plays and defensive moves are more complex at older ages.
Older Girls and Recruiting
Teams at age 15 until age 18 are competitive. These are the ages when college recruiters are looking at the skills of individual girls. Being scouted at 16 is possible, and parents of girls this age can be seen on the sidelines with video equipment eager to catch good shots of their daughter in action for a recruiting video to send on to the college of their choice.
Club volleyball season starts in November with tryouts. Tournaments are usually taking place in January through May with the national tournament in the summer.
Club volleyball is a huge commitment in time, money and effort. It is also a huge help to the player who has the size and ability to make it onto a college team. The downside is that it’s hard to tell with a ten or twelve year old if this girl is one of the few with talent and size or not. Size can be fairly well predicted by looking at parental height. Talent is another matter.
As a parent, consider carefully the child’s commitment and their desire to play. A love of the game is the best reason to play club volleyball.
Eilene Toppin Ording - Eilene Toppin Ording comes from a wide industrial and educational background. A farmer's daughter from Minnesota, Eilene is an active ...
