Should a volleyball player play up an age group in club volleyball?

Say there is a very good high school junior who normally would be on a 17's club team, but has been asked to be on an 18's team. Should this volleyball player play up an age group for her club volleyball season?

The pro's of playing up:

• Better competition; all in all, a high school senior is better than a high school junior.
• More prestige.
  
• Possibly more expoure to college coaches. If you are playing in a 17/18's bracket, your 18's team might rank higher than most 17's teams and higher ranked teams generally have college coaches stay longer to watch.

The con's of playing up:

• If you don't play much college coaches can't see you. Even though you might start on many 17's teams, if you don't play, it is hard to get noticed.
• You miss a year of bonding with players your own age.
• If your 17's team isn't very good you might not get college coaches watching.

Ech situation is different, but in general, it is not only important to receive high quality coaching during competitive practices, it is important to be seen at tournaments if you have college aspirations.

When your son or daughter comes home saying they now hate volleyball...

It is sometimes perplexing when your son or daughter is a complete volleyball junkie - playing all the time, watching it on TV, having a wide array of t-shirts that somehow have the word "volleyball" prominently displayed - comes home saying they now hate volleyball. Sure sometimes they could be just burned out, but sometimes there are other factors (social, team, coach, playing time) that could be involved.

Recently we heard the "I hate volleyball" statement after a practice. Sometimes a coach can be demanding and I thought this was the case. I offered this example...

Assume you are holding your favorite cat, a big Tomboy bruiser, who is loving, but every once in a while is not above taking a paw swipe at you just because he feels like. And, today Tomboy is in your harms, happy, purring and content. I was using a butane lighter to ignite the BBQ grill and the metal tip was now hot, and I pressed the hot tip against the inside of the back legs of Tomboy. Tomboy immediately scratches you, bites you and runs off. I then ask you, "How mad would you be at Tomboy?" You reoly, "I am not mad at Tomboy, I am mad at you because you did that to Tomboy."

I then say, "Instead of me, Tomboy and you, imagine that it is the coach, volleyball and you. Some coaches will use volleyball to get at you, whether to motivate you, or punish you, or just because they don't know better. Don't let volleyball be a tool in this dynamic. Recognize the situation, understand it, and keep loving volleyball."

"Ahh... I get it," is the reply.

Volleyball Club Coaches are Like Portfolio Managers

A parent recently was complaining that there really was nothing she could do if she didn't like a high school volleyball coach or volleyball club coach; that she was really at the whim and favor of the coach, who just happened to not be playing her daughter too much in tournaments.

I stated that a club volleyball coach is different from a high school volleyball coach in that a club coach is more like a portfolio manager. We entrust our valuable portfolio to the manager and pay him or her a fee to manage and improve the value of our portfolio for a specific time period, generally of 6 months.

At the end of this time period our daughters are returned to us, hopefully with more value (and hopefully they had fun) and skills than when we engaged the coach at the beginning of the season.

If they are, we consider retaining the same portfolio manager for next club season, and if not, we find a new manager.