We have probably all seen the t-shirt slogan "Volleyball IS Life".
Let's start by saying that people with some passion are generally more driven people than people who just go through life like life is a buffet.
So, if your passion is volleyball I am there with you.
Passion for an activity is something that makes you forget about the ups and downs of that activity, the lack of fairness, the heartbreak, the individuals you have to deal with on your way through that passion. To coin an expression, you can change your job but you can't change your expression.
So, how do we balance our passion for volleyball with the reality of the world?
First, understand that your passion or vision of what that passion should be is not the same as that of everyone else who claims to have a passion for that activity. I cannot tell you how many people over the years whose 'passion' for volleyball died out soon after their kids stopped playing it. I also don't have enough fingers and toes to count the individuals I have met over the years whose passion for volleyball died away when they found they couldn't make a living at volleyball and, instead (gasp!) had to get a real job.
Second, understand IF your passion is just because your kids love the game. Yes, that is enough and it can be pure and not just self-serving. A lot of great coaches got into the game because they were coaching their own kids. The ones with passion, however, continued to learn, take clinics, become nationally certified, etc. They were TRULY passionate about volleyball.
Third, to build on #2, surround yourself by people who share your passion. If the coach who coaches your child can't prove to you that they are constantly improving themselves as a coach then they don't have passion. I don't know what the number actually is but my guess is that 80% of coaches or more in this region do absolutely nothing but coach and maybe work at camps. When I was young I had a real passion for coaching. I became a CAP Level II coach and attended three NCAA D-I final four tournaments and the associated coaching clinics. I paid for that all myself because I wanted to learn. There are coaches in this region who still do that. Unfortunately for the average family in our region, those coaches usually coach for upper level age groups in upper level clubs. Saying, as a coach, that you love the game and want to share that game with kids is a prerequisite for coaching. However, it is not the only thing a coach needs. They need to constantly get better. Most coaches are getting paid for coaching now. In any business you expect your employees to have continual self-improvement.
Fourth, and final, if this is truly your passion, give it more time and effort than any other activity in your life. In my almost 30 years of coaching I have seen parents who started CYC coaching their own kids and then just stayed around, even after their kids were grown, and coached other CYC teams and trained new coaches.
Passion is important in volleyball. We all need to have balance in life between our passions and the rest of our lives. However, the really passionate people about volleyball or anything, blur that line because their passion gives them fulfillment. Surround yourself and kids by people passionate in the sport and you will be creating young people with the passion for the sport.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Saturday, August 6, 2016
High School Volleyball: What should your child have gained from club volleyball
It is high school tryout time. Missouri tryouts were completed yesterday. Illinois high school tryouts are next week. As kids from my club were trying out this past week I thought to myself: what should kids have gotten out of their club team that will help them in high school volleyball? In my opinion the player should expect to get trained to be effective in her high school environment with training in skills and positions that should maximize where and how she plays on her HS team. A freshman should make her JV team or, in some cases, even her varsity team. A sophomore should be on the varsity full-time and, in some cases, be all-conference, a junior should be an all-conference level player and a team leader and a senior should be a go-to player and a team leader and, in some cases, conference MVP, an all-area and maybe all-state player.
So how should club teams do that?
1. You should expect to be trained in the fundamentals of volleyball
While this is a given for what parents pay for club volleyball, what should happen is that EVERY player should be trained at all skills. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen an 8th grade girl who is subbed out in the back row and never got to serve, play defense or pass serve. When I have asked the parents of that kid, in many cases they say that their daughter really didn't get to do those skills much in practice, either.
When that girl gets to high school she is most likely to be considered a one-dimensional player. Unless her team has an extreme need for height, she is likely to be on the JV or freshman team.
One of the girls who played for me ended up as state player of the year, played on the junior national team and played D-I volleyball. She came to play for me because I promised (and followed through on that promise) to train her in the back row IN PRACTICE and to give her at least a few back row chances in games. Doing this helped make her a more well-rounded player in high school, where she was given the chance to play all the way around as a freshman. It also helped get her to the junior national team.
2. You should be trained at the best position for you, not the position to help make your club team win more.
Look, sometimes in high school a player is forced to play a position they are not the best at. If you are the only tall kid in your high school you will likely find yourself playing middle blocker. If you have only ever played OH or libero you may be asked to set if your team doesn't have a setter. That is because the emphasis is to put the best team on the floor you possibly can.
Club volleyball should be different. For what parents are paying their children should be trained at positions that are the best for their development as a player, NOT because playing a particular position will help the club team win more. That is really the difference between club and high school. Club should be 90% training and 10% winning and high school should be more like 70% winning and 30% training.
Here are a couple of anecdotes to show what I mean:
a. A number of years ago I coached a 14s team that had two 5'8" kids and three 5'5" kids. Most coaches would have just played the taller kids in the middle and the shorter kids on the outside as that is where they played on their previous club and grade school teams. However, I played the 5'8" kids on the outside because that was better for their development and played the 5'5" kids in the middle. We qualified for nationals that year and even went in as the #1 overall seed based on our wins that year against open-division teams. The following fall in tryouts the 5'8" girls made their varsities as freshman and the 5'5" kids made their JV and ended up having good high school careers.
b. More recently, I coached a year in a big club at the 14s level. We had a 5'7" girl with an incredible vertical leap. We had the luxury of three 5'10" or taller girls to hit middle so we could play the 5'7" girl on the outside. She was dominant. I saw a recruiting video of her on the internet with her hitting middle while playing for a different club. As an outside hitter (she is now 5'9" I believe) with her vertical and power she could have been an attractive player to colleges. As a 5'9" middle, probably not so much. How she ended up as a middle for the other club is a mystery to me. My guess is that with her height and vertical leap they felt it was best for that team if she hit middle.
b. This summer, while scouting HS summer league games, I saw a 5'8" girl who had played for two years for a big club in the area as a middle blocker. In addition to being 5'8" she had a good vertical leap, making her the 2nd best middle blocker on her club team. In this summer league game, however, the girl played outside hitter. Once she got into the flow she was just crushing the ball and appeared to me to be the best outside hitter in the gym that day. My question was how could this club team put that girl at middle blocker? My guess is because they looked at her and looked at the rest of the team and saw that their best chance to win was to have her hit middle and let a shorter girl hit outside. To me, that wasted the years that girl had with that club. As a big club I am sure they trained her in all the skills but they played her a position that was clearly not the best for her long term projection as a volleyball player. In my opinion, this was to help the team be successful.
In summary, playing players at positions that are best for them while, in the process, maybe sacrificing team success, is not new. Sports Performance in Chicago has been doing that for over 30 years as they would routinely pick a tall, thin, athletic girl and turn her into a setter in 6th grade when most people would have made her a middle blocker and even the most inventive team would have had her play outside. They developed some great setters for years doing this as when those girls got to high school they were competing with much shorter setters in both club and for college scholarships. For those of you familiar with high level volleyball, would you rather have a great 6'2" setter or a great 5'9" setter? I think the choice is obvious but, for these girls, that choice was made for them at a young age by a club coach who had to either choose to make the PLAYER the best they could be or the TEAM more successful. For the money parents are paying for club volleyball, I think we, as coaches, should always choose to make the player better and even sacrifice team success to do that. You never know. As I found out, you might even be able to have extreme team success and still think about the development of the players, as well.
So, when you look at how your daughter did in her high school tryouts this year, reflect back and think it any of that had anything to do with how she was trained in club and the position she played on her club team. As an FYI, we had 9 girls on the 14s team in our club last year. Seven of them made their high school varsities as freshmen, one will play both varsity and JV and one will play JV with a chance to play on varsity if the need arises. So, playing kids at appropriate positions and giving them rounded training can make a difference.
I urge all of you, when you go to club tryouts this year, make sure, if you are invited to play on a team, to ask the coach/coaches what position they expect your child to play. If they tell you they are going to take your tall, athletic child and play her at middle blocker or they are going to take your ultra-quick 5'1" daughter and play her at setter because she has great hands or are gong to take your 5'8" daughter with great hands and play her at OH or MB, you might want to think about looking for a different club that will play her at a more appropriate position for her skill set. Probably at the most 10-20% of club volleyball players end up playing volleyball in college. My guess is that a good number of other players are on teams just to fill out the rosters for the good players. For what you are paying, your child shouldn't be just a roster filler, at least in my opinion.
So how should club teams do that?
1. You should expect to be trained in the fundamentals of volleyball
While this is a given for what parents pay for club volleyball, what should happen is that EVERY player should be trained at all skills. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen an 8th grade girl who is subbed out in the back row and never got to serve, play defense or pass serve. When I have asked the parents of that kid, in many cases they say that their daughter really didn't get to do those skills much in practice, either.
When that girl gets to high school she is most likely to be considered a one-dimensional player. Unless her team has an extreme need for height, she is likely to be on the JV or freshman team.
One of the girls who played for me ended up as state player of the year, played on the junior national team and played D-I volleyball. She came to play for me because I promised (and followed through on that promise) to train her in the back row IN PRACTICE and to give her at least a few back row chances in games. Doing this helped make her a more well-rounded player in high school, where she was given the chance to play all the way around as a freshman. It also helped get her to the junior national team.
2. You should be trained at the best position for you, not the position to help make your club team win more.
Look, sometimes in high school a player is forced to play a position they are not the best at. If you are the only tall kid in your high school you will likely find yourself playing middle blocker. If you have only ever played OH or libero you may be asked to set if your team doesn't have a setter. That is because the emphasis is to put the best team on the floor you possibly can.
Club volleyball should be different. For what parents are paying their children should be trained at positions that are the best for their development as a player, NOT because playing a particular position will help the club team win more. That is really the difference between club and high school. Club should be 90% training and 10% winning and high school should be more like 70% winning and 30% training.
Here are a couple of anecdotes to show what I mean:
a. A number of years ago I coached a 14s team that had two 5'8" kids and three 5'5" kids. Most coaches would have just played the taller kids in the middle and the shorter kids on the outside as that is where they played on their previous club and grade school teams. However, I played the 5'8" kids on the outside because that was better for their development and played the 5'5" kids in the middle. We qualified for nationals that year and even went in as the #1 overall seed based on our wins that year against open-division teams. The following fall in tryouts the 5'8" girls made their varsities as freshman and the 5'5" kids made their JV and ended up having good high school careers.
b. More recently, I coached a year in a big club at the 14s level. We had a 5'7" girl with an incredible vertical leap. We had the luxury of three 5'10" or taller girls to hit middle so we could play the 5'7" girl on the outside. She was dominant. I saw a recruiting video of her on the internet with her hitting middle while playing for a different club. As an outside hitter (she is now 5'9" I believe) with her vertical and power she could have been an attractive player to colleges. As a 5'9" middle, probably not so much. How she ended up as a middle for the other club is a mystery to me. My guess is that with her height and vertical leap they felt it was best for that team if she hit middle.
b. This summer, while scouting HS summer league games, I saw a 5'8" girl who had played for two years for a big club in the area as a middle blocker. In addition to being 5'8" she had a good vertical leap, making her the 2nd best middle blocker on her club team. In this summer league game, however, the girl played outside hitter. Once she got into the flow she was just crushing the ball and appeared to me to be the best outside hitter in the gym that day. My question was how could this club team put that girl at middle blocker? My guess is because they looked at her and looked at the rest of the team and saw that their best chance to win was to have her hit middle and let a shorter girl hit outside. To me, that wasted the years that girl had with that club. As a big club I am sure they trained her in all the skills but they played her a position that was clearly not the best for her long term projection as a volleyball player. In my opinion, this was to help the team be successful.
In summary, playing players at positions that are best for them while, in the process, maybe sacrificing team success, is not new. Sports Performance in Chicago has been doing that for over 30 years as they would routinely pick a tall, thin, athletic girl and turn her into a setter in 6th grade when most people would have made her a middle blocker and even the most inventive team would have had her play outside. They developed some great setters for years doing this as when those girls got to high school they were competing with much shorter setters in both club and for college scholarships. For those of you familiar with high level volleyball, would you rather have a great 6'2" setter or a great 5'9" setter? I think the choice is obvious but, for these girls, that choice was made for them at a young age by a club coach who had to either choose to make the PLAYER the best they could be or the TEAM more successful. For the money parents are paying for club volleyball, I think we, as coaches, should always choose to make the player better and even sacrifice team success to do that. You never know. As I found out, you might even be able to have extreme team success and still think about the development of the players, as well.
So, when you look at how your daughter did in her high school tryouts this year, reflect back and think it any of that had anything to do with how she was trained in club and the position she played on her club team. As an FYI, we had 9 girls on the 14s team in our club last year. Seven of them made their high school varsities as freshmen, one will play both varsity and JV and one will play JV with a chance to play on varsity if the need arises. So, playing kids at appropriate positions and giving them rounded training can make a difference.
I urge all of you, when you go to club tryouts this year, make sure, if you are invited to play on a team, to ask the coach/coaches what position they expect your child to play. If they tell you they are going to take your tall, athletic child and play her at middle blocker or they are going to take your ultra-quick 5'1" daughter and play her at setter because she has great hands or are gong to take your 5'8" daughter with great hands and play her at OH or MB, you might want to think about looking for a different club that will play her at a more appropriate position for her skill set. Probably at the most 10-20% of club volleyball players end up playing volleyball in college. My guess is that a good number of other players are on teams just to fill out the rosters for the good players. For what you are paying, your child shouldn't be just a roster filler, at least in my opinion.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Why is your son or daughter playing club volleyball?
What do parents and players expect to get out of club volleyball? Let's examine some of the answers and look at the truths and the myths:
1. Playing to get a college scholarship:
Scholarshipstats.com (http://www.scholarshipstats.com/volleyball.htm) estimates that 4% of US high school girl volleyball players get college volleyball scholarships. Obviously not all high school players play club volleyball. While I can't find stats on it, let's estimate that 25% of all high school players play club volleyball, probably more in suburban and urban areas and less in rural areas. That means that roughly 1 out of 6 high school girls who play club ball actually get a college volleyball scholarship with the vast majority of those coming from the traveling clubs who tend to accumulate the players most desirable to college coaches. So, not a lot of club volleyball players get college scholarships. What club volleyball likely DOES do is give its best players more opportunities to get college scholarships. That is, the best players are seen by more schools than they would be if they just played high school ball, giving them more schools to choose from. Also, some of the kids who play with those kids are seen by those same colleges, meaning that those kids are more likely to get at least 1-2 scholarship offers that they might not have gotten if they played just in high school.
2. Improving your ability to make your HS team:
It is a given that the more you touch the ball the better you get. It is also a given that the more quality the touches you get the faster you improve. In grade school touching the ball is probably nearly as important as playing at a high level, especially for inexperienced players. However, once you get to a certain level, say varsity in high school, it becomes more about the quality of the touches and the level of play in club rather than just playing on a club team. Quality, high level select volleyball does help improve players for their high school varsity season as it replicates and, in some cases, exceeds the speed of the game in high school. It is not clear, however, how much just touching the ball in a low level club benefits players trying to make their varsity. It would only benefit the players if the speed of the club ball was greater than the speed of the high school game. If the speed of the club ball was similar or slower than the speed of the high school varsity play, then the utility of low level club ball compared to just going to summer camps is questionable. This is probably really true for kids with very competitive high school programs who have little or no club volleyball experience coming into high school. Those kids need to get better right away and just playing low level club ball might not benefit them as their rate of advancement might not be fast enough due to the level of coaching they will get and the level of play their teammates are capable of. So, once again, getting with a good coach and good teammates is probably the key if you want to advance fast in high school volleyball. If the goal is to just keep your skills up to the level they were the previous year or maybe incrementally improve those skills, or for weaker players who really want to advance their skill level quickly, then getting touches are important and getting those touches closer to the next high school season (say at summer camps) is probably more important than getting those same touches during the winter and early spring on weak club teams that can't compete at a high level.
3. Just love playing the game and hanging out with friends
This sounds bad but it isn't that bad. Kids who don't even play in high school play club ball, probably for some of these reasons. There are so many levels of club ball that there is plenty of room for kids like this if they can find a team with the same goals for the season as they have. Heck, when kids start playing in adult leagues many of them are playing JUST for these reasons so it is not unexpected that even back at the high school level you will find kids playing with the same goals.
Just some things to think about as your son or daughter gets into high school, makes their high school team and then is looking for what to do this winter.
1. Playing to get a college scholarship:
Scholarshipstats.com (http://www.scholarshipstats.com/volleyball.htm) estimates that 4% of US high school girl volleyball players get college volleyball scholarships. Obviously not all high school players play club volleyball. While I can't find stats on it, let's estimate that 25% of all high school players play club volleyball, probably more in suburban and urban areas and less in rural areas. That means that roughly 1 out of 6 high school girls who play club ball actually get a college volleyball scholarship with the vast majority of those coming from the traveling clubs who tend to accumulate the players most desirable to college coaches. So, not a lot of club volleyball players get college scholarships. What club volleyball likely DOES do is give its best players more opportunities to get college scholarships. That is, the best players are seen by more schools than they would be if they just played high school ball, giving them more schools to choose from. Also, some of the kids who play with those kids are seen by those same colleges, meaning that those kids are more likely to get at least 1-2 scholarship offers that they might not have gotten if they played just in high school.
2. Improving your ability to make your HS team:
It is a given that the more you touch the ball the better you get. It is also a given that the more quality the touches you get the faster you improve. In grade school touching the ball is probably nearly as important as playing at a high level, especially for inexperienced players. However, once you get to a certain level, say varsity in high school, it becomes more about the quality of the touches and the level of play in club rather than just playing on a club team. Quality, high level select volleyball does help improve players for their high school varsity season as it replicates and, in some cases, exceeds the speed of the game in high school. It is not clear, however, how much just touching the ball in a low level club benefits players trying to make their varsity. It would only benefit the players if the speed of the club ball was greater than the speed of the high school game. If the speed of the club ball was similar or slower than the speed of the high school varsity play, then the utility of low level club ball compared to just going to summer camps is questionable. This is probably really true for kids with very competitive high school programs who have little or no club volleyball experience coming into high school. Those kids need to get better right away and just playing low level club ball might not benefit them as their rate of advancement might not be fast enough due to the level of coaching they will get and the level of play their teammates are capable of. So, once again, getting with a good coach and good teammates is probably the key if you want to advance fast in high school volleyball. If the goal is to just keep your skills up to the level they were the previous year or maybe incrementally improve those skills, or for weaker players who really want to advance their skill level quickly, then getting touches are important and getting those touches closer to the next high school season (say at summer camps) is probably more important than getting those same touches during the winter and early spring on weak club teams that can't compete at a high level.
3. Just love playing the game and hanging out with friends
This sounds bad but it isn't that bad. Kids who don't even play in high school play club ball, probably for some of these reasons. There are so many levels of club ball that there is plenty of room for kids like this if they can find a team with the same goals for the season as they have. Heck, when kids start playing in adult leagues many of them are playing JUST for these reasons so it is not unexpected that even back at the high school level you will find kids playing with the same goals.
Just some things to think about as your son or daughter gets into high school, makes their high school team and then is looking for what to do this winter.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Summer camps - what to expect
Using my standard that only 5% of kids play select volleyball to get a college scholarship or, said another way, only 5% are LIKELY to get a college scholarship in volleyball, what should the other 95% look for in a summer camp? The same thing most kids/parents look for in their club team: a place to get some good instruction but, above all, a place to get lots of touches. The higher the coach-to-player ratio the more the value will be on instruction. The lower the coach-to-player ratio, the more the emphasis will be on touches.
I have heard about one local college camp that the instructors sure worked the kids hard during the weeklong camp. That is the ideal for me because it means the kids got lots of repetitions with limited, well-spaced break periods.
Let's look at some things parents should look for in their summer camp:
1. Is there an evaluation on the first morning of the camp to place kids with their peers? Many camps have this so that they can tailor the pace of the drills to the experience and ability of the kids. Although this may only represent 10% of the time your child is at the camp it may be the most important part of the camp. If your child is rated to high they will likely be over their head, competing against players too good for their current abilities. More likely, however, kids are placed too low which means their group will not be at the pace that they will need to improve. Still, for 95% of the kids, it shouldn't matter as much if you are one group too high or one group too low for where you truly belong. If you are placed way too low or way too high, however, I might ask the coaches about it right away. Don't worry if there is no evaluation process, however. To me it just means that the emphasis is a little more on touches and a little less on advanced play. As I said, for most of the 95% of kids who play club ball, this is probably fine.
2. Are the coaches giving more individual instruction to the better players in each group? I know this sounds wrong as the general thought is that all players should get the same instruction, consider that by giving more individual instruction to the better players in a group and more touches to the weaker players in a group is probably appropriate.
3. Are the coaches having fun with the kids and are the kids having fun with the coaches? Here is a general although not absolute rule: for girls the age of the coach is inversely proportional to how the kids react to the coach. That is, a young female coach who is easygoing and talented will get better results for girls than some old crusty guy will.
4. If I was you I would stay away from camps run by select volleyball clubs. I think there is just too much schmoozing going on between parents and players who want to kiss up to the club running the camp. Camps should NOT be about recruiting for select clubs, not even 1%. And by that I mean showing kids how good the coaches are in a club, how efficiently a camp is run, how fun the coaches are, etc. Leave camps to professional coaches, like college coaches. If you are thinking you will invest your camp dollars this summer to try to get your kid on a better club team next year, I think you are missing the point of what summer camps are about. This includes grade school camps run by high schools. At one high school I know of they have the varsity and JV coach running the camp and the varsity players running the groups at the camp. I just think that the quality of the instruction is not even worth the time. Ditto for people trying to run camps as a way to make a living. While your child may have a good experience at one of these camps, more likely they (and you) will be disappointed, especially if you are in one of the lower groups.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your summer and work to spend your volleyball dollars wisely!
I have heard about one local college camp that the instructors sure worked the kids hard during the weeklong camp. That is the ideal for me because it means the kids got lots of repetitions with limited, well-spaced break periods.
Let's look at some things parents should look for in their summer camp:
1. Is there an evaluation on the first morning of the camp to place kids with their peers? Many camps have this so that they can tailor the pace of the drills to the experience and ability of the kids. Although this may only represent 10% of the time your child is at the camp it may be the most important part of the camp. If your child is rated to high they will likely be over their head, competing against players too good for their current abilities. More likely, however, kids are placed too low which means their group will not be at the pace that they will need to improve. Still, for 95% of the kids, it shouldn't matter as much if you are one group too high or one group too low for where you truly belong. If you are placed way too low or way too high, however, I might ask the coaches about it right away. Don't worry if there is no evaluation process, however. To me it just means that the emphasis is a little more on touches and a little less on advanced play. As I said, for most of the 95% of kids who play club ball, this is probably fine.
2. Are the coaches giving more individual instruction to the better players in each group? I know this sounds wrong as the general thought is that all players should get the same instruction, consider that by giving more individual instruction to the better players in a group and more touches to the weaker players in a group is probably appropriate.
3. Are the coaches having fun with the kids and are the kids having fun with the coaches? Here is a general although not absolute rule: for girls the age of the coach is inversely proportional to how the kids react to the coach. That is, a young female coach who is easygoing and talented will get better results for girls than some old crusty guy will.
4. If I was you I would stay away from camps run by select volleyball clubs. I think there is just too much schmoozing going on between parents and players who want to kiss up to the club running the camp. Camps should NOT be about recruiting for select clubs, not even 1%. And by that I mean showing kids how good the coaches are in a club, how efficiently a camp is run, how fun the coaches are, etc. Leave camps to professional coaches, like college coaches. If you are thinking you will invest your camp dollars this summer to try to get your kid on a better club team next year, I think you are missing the point of what summer camps are about. This includes grade school camps run by high schools. At one high school I know of they have the varsity and JV coach running the camp and the varsity players running the groups at the camp. I just think that the quality of the instruction is not even worth the time. Ditto for people trying to run camps as a way to make a living. While your child may have a good experience at one of these camps, more likely they (and you) will be disappointed, especially if you are in one of the lower groups.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your summer and work to spend your volleyball dollars wisely!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Grade School Ball vs Club Ball - Should the same players be doing both?
While this is a blog about keeping volleyball affordable, I wanted to divert for a second to talk about grade school volleyball and how better to integrate it with select volleyball.
The reality is that most grade school teams, public or private, don't allow their kids to play both club ball and school ball in the same sport at the same time.
In Missouri, tryouts and the start of club practice overlap with Catholic school-based grade school leagues. There are many fewer public schools who have middle school teams but there is some overlap with club season with some of those teams, as well. In Illinois, the public and religious school grade school leagues don't even start until December (with games starting in January) and end in the beginning of April meaning kids, if they play for the grade school team, don't even get to start club until April. .
Here are some realities from my experience with grade school ball:
All this so that they can play for their school or play with their friends.
My solution is to start club tryouts earlier for grade school kids. Make those tryouts in August. I think by doing that kids in Missouri would choose club ball over their grade school team and that would help both the kids who made a club team and those who didn't as the latter would get more playing time for their grade school team and the former would get more accelerated training. For the Illinois kids, this would allow you to play a split season. Going from August to December and then picking back up in time for regionals and late season play. For the Illinois kids more of them might play club if they didn't have the conflict with school ball and, eventually, might see the futility of school ball compared to club ball and just focus on club ball.
These are radical ideas but I have always been an out-of-the-box kind of guy. But it is not like I don't have experience. In some of the larger parishes they simply shuttle the less talented players to "B", "C" and "D" teams. But many schools don't do that. Either they don't have enough kids sign up to do multiple teams in an age group or their school doesn't allow they to do the "A" team, "B" team thing. In either case the better players are not getting their money's worth from grade school ball. So, in a sense, this is about saving money. But it is more about putting the better players or better athletes in a situation when they can advance faster.
The reality is that most grade school teams, public or private, don't allow their kids to play both club ball and school ball in the same sport at the same time.
In Missouri, tryouts and the start of club practice overlap with Catholic school-based grade school leagues. There are many fewer public schools who have middle school teams but there is some overlap with club season with some of those teams, as well. In Illinois, the public and religious school grade school leagues don't even start until December (with games starting in January) and end in the beginning of April meaning kids, if they play for the grade school team, don't even get to start club until April. .
Here are some realities from my experience with grade school ball:
- Grade school ball is bottom heavy, talent-wise at least in the St. Louis area. That is anyone who signs up can play and gets to play a fair amount.
- Grade school coaching is generally not as good as club coaching
All this so that they can play for their school or play with their friends.
My solution is to start club tryouts earlier for grade school kids. Make those tryouts in August. I think by doing that kids in Missouri would choose club ball over their grade school team and that would help both the kids who made a club team and those who didn't as the latter would get more playing time for their grade school team and the former would get more accelerated training. For the Illinois kids, this would allow you to play a split season. Going from August to December and then picking back up in time for regionals and late season play. For the Illinois kids more of them might play club if they didn't have the conflict with school ball and, eventually, might see the futility of school ball compared to club ball and just focus on club ball.
These are radical ideas but I have always been an out-of-the-box kind of guy. But it is not like I don't have experience. In some of the larger parishes they simply shuttle the less talented players to "B", "C" and "D" teams. But many schools don't do that. Either they don't have enough kids sign up to do multiple teams in an age group or their school doesn't allow they to do the "A" team, "B" team thing. In either case the better players are not getting their money's worth from grade school ball. So, in a sense, this is about saving money. But it is more about putting the better players or better athletes in a situation when they can advance faster.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Fundraising - Is it needed and, if so, how should it be handled?
Fundraising is a part of most amateur sports, especially when travel is involved. The question is, is it worth it for the parents and kids doing the fundraising?
Philosophically, I think fundraising by kids is good. It helps teach the kids responsibility and makes them take ownership of defraying some of the costs their parents are paying.
Practically, finding a way to defray costs is really important for resource-challenged families who don't have the disposable income to pay for youth sports.
Still, is it worth the time? There is a TON on the internet about fundraising ideas but not much, if anything, about whether it is time effective.
Without talking about the legalities of fundraising where kids or parents are making money at an activity yet not having it count as income that the IRS knows about, let's talk about the profit in fundraising. Here are some questions to ask:
1. What is the TRUE profit? Here are some things to think about:
a. Time spent - Assuming a minimum wage of $10 an hour, in the end did your profit equal 14 times the hours you spent (assuming you have to work 4 hours to pay the income tax on every 10 hours of work if someone worked a minimum wage job instead of doing the fundraising)?
b. Hidden costs - People contribute a roll of tape, posterboard for signs, a bottle of ketchup and, in some cases, everyone is asked to bring a dessert or a 12 pack of water or soda. Make sure you include these costs when considering your true profit and, in fact, the time it took you to do these tasks.
c. Fundraiser chairperson - Assuming a parent is doing this, that person (or people) should include the cost of their time. When they do that, was it still worth their time?
If you really look critically, is it worth your time to do fundraising? Some clubs make it easy for you and only make you sell tickets to an event. Still, there is a cost associated with that in terms of the kids' and parents' time. Is it really worth it?
For big fundraising events (trivia nights, night at the races, etc.) you have to ask yourself where the bottom line profit is going. Does it go to help the club? Does it go to defray your specific costs for playing on that team? My favorite answer is 'It helps defray the overhead for running the club and, in that way, makes it so we don't have to charge you as much money'. Given what you have read below, isn't it the club administration's job to defray overhead and aren't there plenty of ways they should be thinking about doing that? Look, there is a lot of money to be made off events like this. Besides the cost of admission you have concessions, (e.g., beer, food) 50/50 raffles, etc. If all that profit is not going directly to the people who set up and worked that event, you have to ask yourself why not.
Two of the themes of the posts on this blog are transparency and accountability. I am not saying this happens in any club in this region but it is so easy to hide where profits from fundraising that I think clubs need to be extra transparent on the balance sheet for fundraising. And parents need to ask for that transparency.
I will leave you with this example. My club used to run tournaments at local gyms. I did all the work to get those tournaments sanctioned, recruit the teams, did all the scheduling myself, fill out all the paperwork necessary to get the facilities, came in and set up everything the day before. All this was done for free by me to help defray costs and I got no money for that. Parents were assigned jobs as far as concessions and set up and tear down/cleanup and had to participate by bringing food items.
Everything considered we made roughly $1500 in net profit for two tournaments with ZERO money going to the club and all of it going to the players/families who worked the event. That's about $150 a family for two tournaments. Using the math above, that is equivalent to working about 21 hours at minimum wage over those two events. The question that parents need to ask themselves is whether the time they spent was worth the money they made. After dong this for two years the parents of my teams all voted not to do it again as they said that it was not worth their time, based on the money they made. And that was with me spending probably 30 hours myself to make those tournaments happen and the coaches of the teams also pitching in for free for maybe 15 hours total to help out.
So, I am not telling you to NOT fundraise with your club. I am asking you to consider TRUE profit and to ask your club for an accounting of where the money is going and, if it is going to the nebulous 'overhead', ask them what, in detail, overhead means and if there aren't other ways to defray overhead. If some or most of the fundraiser profit is going to pay salaries of club administrators, I think parents show know that. In my opinion, fundraising profits should go 100% to defray the costs of individual families and should not be going to the club or its administrators or coaches.
Philosophically, I think fundraising by kids is good. It helps teach the kids responsibility and makes them take ownership of defraying some of the costs their parents are paying.
Practically, finding a way to defray costs is really important for resource-challenged families who don't have the disposable income to pay for youth sports.
Still, is it worth the time? There is a TON on the internet about fundraising ideas but not much, if anything, about whether it is time effective.
Without talking about the legalities of fundraising where kids or parents are making money at an activity yet not having it count as income that the IRS knows about, let's talk about the profit in fundraising. Here are some questions to ask:
1. What is the TRUE profit? Here are some things to think about:
a. Time spent - Assuming a minimum wage of $10 an hour, in the end did your profit equal 14 times the hours you spent (assuming you have to work 4 hours to pay the income tax on every 10 hours of work if someone worked a minimum wage job instead of doing the fundraising)?
b. Hidden costs - People contribute a roll of tape, posterboard for signs, a bottle of ketchup and, in some cases, everyone is asked to bring a dessert or a 12 pack of water or soda. Make sure you include these costs when considering your true profit and, in fact, the time it took you to do these tasks.
c. Fundraiser chairperson - Assuming a parent is doing this, that person (or people) should include the cost of their time. When they do that, was it still worth their time?
If you really look critically, is it worth your time to do fundraising? Some clubs make it easy for you and only make you sell tickets to an event. Still, there is a cost associated with that in terms of the kids' and parents' time. Is it really worth it?
For big fundraising events (trivia nights, night at the races, etc.) you have to ask yourself where the bottom line profit is going. Does it go to help the club? Does it go to defray your specific costs for playing on that team? My favorite answer is 'It helps defray the overhead for running the club and, in that way, makes it so we don't have to charge you as much money'. Given what you have read below, isn't it the club administration's job to defray overhead and aren't there plenty of ways they should be thinking about doing that? Look, there is a lot of money to be made off events like this. Besides the cost of admission you have concessions, (e.g., beer, food) 50/50 raffles, etc. If all that profit is not going directly to the people who set up and worked that event, you have to ask yourself why not.
Two of the themes of the posts on this blog are transparency and accountability. I am not saying this happens in any club in this region but it is so easy to hide where profits from fundraising that I think clubs need to be extra transparent on the balance sheet for fundraising. And parents need to ask for that transparency.
I will leave you with this example. My club used to run tournaments at local gyms. I did all the work to get those tournaments sanctioned, recruit the teams, did all the scheduling myself, fill out all the paperwork necessary to get the facilities, came in and set up everything the day before. All this was done for free by me to help defray costs and I got no money for that. Parents were assigned jobs as far as concessions and set up and tear down/cleanup and had to participate by bringing food items.
Everything considered we made roughly $1500 in net profit for two tournaments with ZERO money going to the club and all of it going to the players/families who worked the event. That's about $150 a family for two tournaments. Using the math above, that is equivalent to working about 21 hours at minimum wage over those two events. The question that parents need to ask themselves is whether the time they spent was worth the money they made. After dong this for two years the parents of my teams all voted not to do it again as they said that it was not worth their time, based on the money they made. And that was with me spending probably 30 hours myself to make those tournaments happen and the coaches of the teams also pitching in for free for maybe 15 hours total to help out.
So, I am not telling you to NOT fundraise with your club. I am asking you to consider TRUE profit and to ask your club for an accounting of where the money is going and, if it is going to the nebulous 'overhead', ask them what, in detail, overhead means and if there aren't other ways to defray overhead. If some or most of the fundraiser profit is going to pay salaries of club administrators, I think parents show know that. In my opinion, fundraising profits should go 100% to defray the costs of individual families and should not be going to the club or its administrators or coaches.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Other areas thinking about keeping volleyball cheap
Here is a link to an article you might want to read:
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/volleyball/area-club-finds-ways-to-reduce-costs-to-make-volleyball/article_6a9dc9a7-6c26-5e0b-b4b0-b7be56acc084.html
I am glad other clubs are trying to do the same things I am proposing.
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/volleyball/area-club-finds-ways-to-reduce-costs-to-make-volleyball/article_6a9dc9a7-6c26-5e0b-b4b0-b7be56acc084.html
I am glad other clubs are trying to do the same things I am proposing.
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