Teams that are diversity friendly

[Anonymous]

As soon as you start talking about focusing on "developing the players" I know you are a newbie to all this. Club sports (every last one of them) do not exist to develop all players. Club sports are developing the best players (the top few players on each team) and then extracting fees from everyone else. If your kid isn't getting playing time just move them to a lower level team. Moving with 5 other players is not going to work. Just look for the best situation for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Is this a troll post? The OP said they are looking at 15U and older teams, which is high school age. At that point, you would think they would already have some idea of the clubs in the region. Is the daughter even playing high school volleyball, or are they completely new to club volleyball?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience this year has been terrible. The team treats all the Asian and Black kids badly, and none plan on returning.

We would appreciate some suggestions for DMV clubs that might be better suited, especially for 15U and older teams. There are five kids total, most of whom live in Northern Virginia. Their skill levels range from average to advanced.

Where does the current team rank roughly? Top 10, 25th percentile, 50th percentile? That makes a big difference in club opportunities.

No way possible you will keep 5 players together that range from average to advance, and who would want that unless you’re playing for fun and just want to keep a group together.

As said x 2 so much diversity in this area the better question is the reverse - who to avoid for that reason (poor treatment of minorities). Takes a really honest person to share that publicly tho even if anonymous.

Start with rough estimate of ranking. Look at a few age groups to confirm that holds true then ask for feedback on the short list, look at social media for team pics, etc. Go to clinics and watch. Talk with coaches.

Still doesn’t mean you won’t get a bad apple coach or as some have implied you think you get a bad apple and it’s not really the issue.

[Anonymous]

I’m a POC and my daughter has friends that are black, white, Asian and many other races. They will be trying out for U16 next year. My only advice is to go to clinics and try to get to know individual coaches. I’m sorry you experienced this what you did. We have not encountered this in volleyball BUT we have had more than one season with a terrible coach for different reasons.

It’s hard to get a spot on any team when they get older. It’s even harder to get a spot that’s a great fit, where your kid will get playing time, where they all get along and where your DD will be happy with good coaching. That’s what we all want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you confident that playing time was driven by racism? There are parents and kids of all races who would tell you they believe this is also happening on their team: “some of our best players are on the bench, while others are exhausted from playing too much”.
But, not agreeing with the coaches decision, or believing everyone should have more playing time, that’s not the same thing, and it’s also pretty common depending on which club you are at.

I asked for recommendations and you are giving me a lecture about why it's probably not racism. Why?

NP. Ima guess it's because some white people are tired of all this race talk already.

This!

Plus no one else has experienced any racism on any volleyball team so we can't help you. VB is by far one of the most diverse sports out there besides mens basketball.

[Anonymous]

I got it y'all.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

This is for the OP- our family has experienced racism this year. It’s really easy for people who don’t have things happen to them / impact them say “no one experiences this ” “it never happens ” “we are tired of race”. Especially in these anonymous forums.

So are we. The difference is that you don’t have to deal with any of the blatant or structural issues of race daily. And we do, everyday.

I say this coming from my family’s experience with a kid who is on the “starting six” on a 1s / national team.

- Just because you have a mix of races on the team doesn’t mean it is inclusive / inclusive welcoming
- Just because you have coaches who are non-white doesn’t mean that your kid will not be singled out
- Just because you have families of color on the team does not mean they will acknowledge the racism - all skin folk ain’t kin folk.

With the rarified air of $10K plus volleyball seasons (fee + all the travel crap) raciam is kind of expected because it is also a class issue (unfortunately) but that does not mean that you can’t look for something that is a better fit for the players.

Here are my recs for teams to consider (culture wise) since they are either led by people of color, have lots of diverse players and/ or have a commitment to diversity. None of these clubs take ranking, coaching or player development into account (so do your due diligence). They are also in the smaller side.

I’ve found that you’ll have really good coaches on poorly ranked teams - and highly ranked teams with pretty crappy coaching. It’s kind of like buying a house - you have to compromise on something….what that something(s) look like will shape how you go into next season.

MD:
All City Volleyball
American Volleyball Club North
Rockville Volleyball Association
MVSA (it’s not a small club by any means but super diverse players)

VA:
Look at your Metro regional teams, PW and FX
Libero
No Panic
X Factor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you confident that playing time was driven by racism? There are parents and kids of all races who would tell you they believe this is also happening on their team: “some of our best players are on the bench, while others are exhausted from playing too much”.
But, not agreeing with the coaches decision, or believing everyone should have more playing time, that’s not the same thing, and it’s also pretty common depending on which club you are at.

I asked for recommendations and you are giving me a lecture about why it's probably not racism. Why?

NP. Ima guess it's because some white people are tired of all this race talk already.

This!

Plus no one else has experienced any racism on any volleyball team so we can't help you. VB is by far one of the most diverse sports out there besides mens basketball.

[Anonymous]

VA:
Volley Viet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you confident that playing time was driven by racism? There are parents and kids of all races who would tell you they believe this is also happening on their team: “some of our best players are on the bench, while others are exhausted from playing too much”.
But, not agreeing with the coaches decision, or believing everyone should have more playing time, that’s not the same thing, and it’s also pretty common depending on which club you are at.

I asked for recommendations and you are giving me a lecture about why it's probably not racism. Why?

NP. Ima guess it's because some white people are tired of all this race talk already.

This is very white of you to say that. Of course white folks are tired of hearing this "race talk" because they don't experience racism. For them, everything is fine because it doesn't happen to them. Unless they feel like "reverse racism" is coming after them as soon as their privilege is threatened. By the way: that's why white folks want to learn the history that makes them feel good inside - learning how others were mistreated is more of that "race talk" that they don't want to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is for the OP- our family has experienced racism this year. It’s really easy for people who don’t have things happen to them / impact them say “no one experiences this ” “it never happens ” “we are tired of race”. Especially in these anonymous forums.

So are we. The difference is that you don’t have to deal with any of the blatant or structural issues of race daily. And we do, everyday.

I say this coming from my family’s experience with a kid who is on the “starting six” on a 1s / national team.

- Just because you have a mix of races on the team doesn’t mean it is inclusive / inclusive welcoming
- Just because you have coaches who are non-white doesn’t mean that your kid will not be singled out
- Just because you have families of color on the team does not mean they will acknowledge the racism - all skin folk ain’t kin folk.

With the rarified air of $10K plus volleyball seasons (fee + all the travel crap) raciam is kind of expected because it is also a class issue (unfortunately) but that does not mean that you can’t look for something that is a better fit for the players.

Here are my recs for teams to consider (culture wise) since they are either led by people of color, have lots of diverse players and/ or have a commitment to diversity. None of these clubs take ranking, coaching or player development into account (so do your due diligence). They are also in the smaller side.

I’ve found that you’ll have really good coaches on poorly ranked teams - and highly ranked teams with pretty crappy coaching. It’s kind of like buying a house - you have to compromise on something….what that something(s) look like will shape how you go into next season.

MD:
All City Volleyball
American Volleyball Club North
Rockville Volleyball Association
MVSA (it’s not a small club by any means but super diverse players)

VA:
Look at your Metro regional teams, PW and FX
Libero
No Panic
X Factor
[/

This is OP

Thank you!!! We have a lot of girls who will need new teams. They have all agreed to train together over the summer so hopefully they will be in a good position for club and high school tryouts

I have to disagree with the idea that clinics give kids insight into the culture. We have been to a lot, and the hosts are always at their best behavior. Then, after a few tournaments, the masks came off.

But again, thank you for your help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP. I would add that most of us probably have such diverse teams that OP's premise doesn't make sense. If the Black/Asian/Indian girls were benched on my DDs team, they wouldn't have enough white girls to field a team.

That sounds like what I am looking for. Can you recommend your team?

Nobody wants your kid top try out for their team. I can smell the drama from here.

[Anonymous]

Hi, can you be more specific about your experiences? I don’t need club info but I want to be aware of what might be going on so that asa a parent I don’t find myself in a position to give a silent nod to any type of discriminatory behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, can you be more specific about your experiences? I don’t need club info but I want to be aware of what might be going on so that asa a parent I don’t find myself in a position to give a silent nod to any type of discriminatory behavior.

Sure,

It's pretty obvious on out team. We have four kids that never leave the court that just aren't good enough to earn that type of privilege. One has only sat out four rotations in five tournaments.

The first red flag is that the team had only three travel players return from 13u. Only one returned because of location. They brought in four additional kids of color and the rest was filled mostly with players from the 13u lower regional team.

We carry 13 players. Eight white and five of color. The statistics show that six of those players play the majority of the minutes. Also two will consistently have more errors than points. One of those has only left the floor four times in five entire tournaments.

Given it's almost impossible to play a volleyball tournament with only eight players, they will sometimes rotate in a kid of color. Although four of the five kids of color have better stats than the white kids, the kids of color hardly see playing time.

The few times we have won we had four kids of color in the rotation. Although they didn't have the same opportunity to make mistakes as the white kids, we played much better. It should be noted that we had a different coach in all those instances.

As I said, it should be pretty obvious about what's going on. Everyone on the team sees it.

The best advice I can give is to any parent is to watch the old games on Hudl, YouTube, and other platforms. You can see the level of play and progress of the players. The body language of the coaches and players is also a great indicator of potential dysfunction. See if they are coaching the kids up on the sidelines.

[Anonymous]

Sorry got the typos. I submitted too early.

[Anonymous]

This is super helpful. Thank you!