Fun ... and not-so-fun things about HS volleyball

[Anonymous]

First year I had trouble finding the correct entrance at all the different schools in Fairfax! It would have been so nice if they had told the 8th/9th grade new parents.

[Anonymous]

New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

[Anonymous]

“Mean girls” vary across whatever sport and may not be applicable to your specific team.
I coached a volleyball team that had girls from 5 middle schools. The 2 “mean girls” were from the same school, none from the other 4.

Yes, coaches play the biggest role in team politics and while playing club is a big factor in player perception, it’s not the end all. My daughter did not make a club team after her freshman HS vb season, and made her JV team as a sophomore because she put in the work with clinics, camps, practices, including showing up at every coach-led green day. If non-club players get in front of coaches to share their story it helps quite a bit. I’ve witnessed deserving girls not make various teams but none would have been starters. I have noticed that work ethic, “coachability”, and athletic upside are some of the intangibles that may lead to one athlete being chosen over another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

Yeah, don't like the girls uniforms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

Under most rule sets (NFHS which most HS conferences use and USAV) players aren’t required to wear the short spandex shorts if they don’t want to. There are guidelines about the colors/patterns matching, but if a girl wants to wear something more like basketball shorts that’s allowed. I suppose a coach could try to enforce some kind of requirement that everyone on the team has to wear the same style, but it would be a pretty bad look if a coach forced a player to wear something they were not comfortable wearing. There has been a big trend toward wearing leggings and on many teams you’ll see a mix of leggings and spandex shorts.

Volleyball is a great spectator sport and has been exploding in recent years both on television and on various streaming options. I would also highly recommend going to see some collegiate matches in person. While the U of MD volleyball team is usually near the bottom of the Big Ten, they have been getting pretty big crowds in recent years and last year had over 13,000 people come to their match against Nebraska. Being in the Big Ten means a lot of the best college teams in the country come through college park. But don’t sleep on the other local college teams - lots of good volleyball being played across the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

Yeah, don't like the girls uniforms.

Yeah, why do the girls typically wear long sleeves and short shorts for uniforms, and the boys typically wear a sleeveless tank and long shorts for uniforms? Make it make sense!

[Anonymous]

As a male coach for girls volleyball the uniform (just made the previous post), the differences in uniforms are mostly for ease of movement vs fashion. Ever notice hoops players have to hike up their shorts to get low when on D? That wasn’t the case when they wore “Stocktons” but long shorts became the “in” thing to wear. Volleyball requires being in a constant athletic position both on offense and defense, plus tighter fit = smoother diving. There is a fashion aspect on the girls side too. The shorts could be a little lower (and there are longer short options if they want them). The dive slide is either done on knee pads, an angled roll, or like a Superman hold on the abs and top of hips.

No boy would want to play in tight spandex, but they do wear them under their loose shorts to keep things in place!

So I would argue that the girls uniforms are closer to maximizing movement and boys choose baggy over the speedo look (as would 95% of us)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what will you do when your kids are done playing volleyball?

Different poster. That's an interesting question, even though it was clearly not well-meaning. The poster who asked the question is likely a busy parent who doesn't have enough time or interest to get involved in their kids' sports. I could return the question as: "What are you doing while your kid is playing sports?" but I won't. I am trying not to judge because everyone's circumstances are different. I am one of the parents who got involved in my DD's volleyball (watching practices, going to tournaments, etc.). I used to know everything about her next tournament, the court they were going to play on and the standing of the teams she was going to play against. After the first year, I took it easier with the courts and standings, but I am staying involved. Even though I never played volleyball before my DD declared her love for volleyball, I am now practicing and I started playing along in an amateur league. I consider myself lucky that I can play the sport my DD likes and I celebrate every time I dig one of her serves. Once I become an empty nester, I will continue playing in the amateur league. I may volunteer to ref some rec leagues or even coach a beginner team.

Totally opposite, i went to all my kids games, tournaments etc. The thing is, I knew my boundaries and let them figure things out on their own.

[Anonymous]

Also the long sleeves are more for added protection when digging a ball (and maybe sliding on the floor). It takes getting used to like strings of a gutter on your fingers. Your forearms adapt to it over time but initially there is some pain and redness. Personally I have played with long sleeves and don’t feel the same control.

[FPYCparent]

One more thing specific to VHSL (at least as far as FCPS/Class 6 schools are involved) ...

Seeding for the varsity post-season seems to be based on how well teams do in the second-half of the regular season. It's not based on the team's overall district record or overall record. So, a team could absolutely stink in their first 8 to to 10 matches, but end up as a high seed for the district tournament by winning matches in October. In the Patriot district, I think the top 4 teams get a bye in the district tournament.

As far as I know, there is no post-season for JV or freshman teams here in NoVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what will you do when your kids are done playing volleyball?

Different poster. That's an interesting question, even though it was clearly not well-meaning. The poster who asked the question is likely a busy parent who doesn't have enough time or interest to get involved in their kids' sports. I could return the question as: "What are you doing while your kid is playing sports?" but I won't. I am trying not to judge because everyone's circumstances are different. I am one of the parents who got involved in my DD's volleyball (watching practices, going to tournaments, etc.). I used to know everything about her next tournament, the court they were going to play on and the standing of the teams she was going to play against. After the first year, I took it easier with the courts and standings, but I am staying involved. Even though I never played volleyball before my DD declared her love for volleyball, I am now practicing and I started playing along in an amateur league. I consider myself lucky that I can play the sport my DD likes and I celebrate every time I dig one of her serves. Once I become an empty nester, I will continue playing in the amateur league. I may volunteer to ref some rec leagues or even coach a beginner team.

Totally opposite, i went to all my kids games, tournaments etc. The thing is, I knew my boundaries and let them figure things out on their own.

I guess your question was well-meaning in this case. Or was it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

Under most rule sets (NFHS which most HS conferences use and USAV) players aren’t required to wear the short spandex shorts if they don’t want to. There are guidelines about the colors/patterns matching, but if a girl wants to wear something more like basketball shorts that’s allowed. I suppose a coach could try to enforce some kind of requirement that everyone on the team has to wear the same style, but it would be a pretty bad look if a coach forced a player to wear something they were not comfortable wearing. There has been a big trend toward wearing leggings and on many teams you’ll see a mix of leggings and spandex shorts.

Volleyball is a great spectator sport and has been exploding in recent years both on television and on various streaming options. I would also highly recommend going to see some collegiate matches in person. While the U of MD volleyball team is usually near the bottom of the Big Ten, they have been getting pretty big crowds in recent years and last year had over 13,000 people come to their match against Nebraska. Being in the Big Ten means a lot of the best college teams in the country come through college park. But don’t sleep on the other local college teams - lots of good volleyball being played across the DMV.

I was one of the 13,000 people at that game. However, most of them came to see Nebraska, not UMD. Most people were rooting for Nebraska (more than half were wearing Nebraska merch): I felt bad for UMD because it was supposed to be a home game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Volleyball dad here.

I couldn't always tell who got the point because everybody high fives each other after the ball touches the ground. It confused the fk out of me.

Boys dress like basketball players. Girls dress like swimmers with kneepads. Can't the girls dress like basketball players too? Am I the ONLY dad that feels this way?

Moms are a little bit more scary in volleyball than in other sports. I'm 200 pounds and they're pretty aggressive.

Volleyball is a lot more fun to watch than I thought. America is sleeping on volleyball as a spectator sport.

Under most rule sets (NFHS which most HS conferences use and USAV) players aren’t required to wear the short spandex shorts if they don’t want to. There are guidelines about the colors/patterns matching, but if a girl wants to wear something more like basketball shorts that’s allowed. I suppose a coach could try to enforce some kind of requirement that everyone on the team has to wear the same style, but it would be a pretty bad look if a coach forced a player to wear something they were not comfortable wearing. There has been a big trend toward wearing leggings and on many teams you’ll see a mix of leggings and spandex shorts.

Volleyball is a great spectator sport and has been exploding in recent years both on television and on various streaming options. I would also highly recommend going to see some collegiate matches in person. While the U of MD volleyball team is usually near the bottom of the Big Ten, they have been getting pretty big crowds in recent years and last year had over 13,000 people come to their match against Nebraska. Being in the Big Ten means a lot of the best college teams in the country come through college park. But don’t sleep on the other local college teams - lots of good volleyball being played across the DMV.

I was one of the 13,000 people at that game. However, most of them came to see Nebraska, not UMD. Most people were rooting for Nebraska (more than half were wearing Nebraska merch): I felt bad for UMD because it was supposed to be a home game.

Honestly, many of UMD’s home games have lots of fans for the other team. The Terps are not really that competitive in the Big Ten but a lot of their opponents have much higher profile players and big fanbases. While the crowd and overall experience in the much smaller “Pavilion” (which is where most of the Terps volleyball matches are played) is very different, it’s pretty cool to be so close to the action. The schedule currently shows all their home matches in the Pavilion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved some of the matches against big opponents (like defending National Champions, Penn State) to the bigger Xfinity Center Arena.

[Anonymous]

Our HS always brings the girls volleyball teams to a UMD game as a group activity. We parents often go. It’s awesome to watch live, especially when they play the big name schools. We went to the Nebraska game last year. We went as a family (not through school) and cheered for UMD because our older kids go to UMD and we usually go for the underdog. I can’t believe UMD won a set against Nebraska. It was amazing. We’ll definitely be back this year for more games!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HS always brings the girls volleyball teams to a UMD game as a group activity. We parents often go. It’s awesome to watch live, especially when they play the big name schools. We went to the Nebraska game last year. We went as a family (not through school) and cheered for UMD because our older kids go to UMD and we usually go for the underdog. I can’t believe UMD won a set against Nebraska. It was amazing. We’ll definitely be back this year for more games!

And the Terps are good for big upset every few years. In 2021, they beat Wisconsin (who won the National Championship that year) in a 5 set thriller at College Park.