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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Another U14 parent here new to club volleyball, and my kid tried out for 5 teams and was shut out entirely even from a couple of the lower tier teams. What a discouraging situation for an enthusiastic teen who tried really hard and committed to 12+ hours of volleyball tryouts over past weekend. What options do these kids have? How do kids develop and improve if the coaches expect them to show up fully packaged? She is a strong player but does need to work on certain skills. But how do they get better without the coaching? She is not happy about playing Rec again bc she isn’t learning much and is already a top player there. She was really hoping to step up to the next level where the leagues play regulation rules and actually serve etc. and they can play tournaments. [/quote]

This is the hardest part of club volleyball -- everyone loves to talk about the top tier teams, college scholarships, compare club strength, etc. but for every player that is trying to go that route, there are dozens that just want to play volleyball at a level above a rec league. Trying out for 5 different teams and not making one is really hard, but kudos to your kid for putting themselves out there and trying so hard.

First, I would suggest finding a club in your area that runs clinic sessions over an extended period of time during the club season. Make sure the number of players in the clinics is low, so that they spend their time playing volleyball not just watching it.  Make sure the coaches are the same for each week -- you want a coaching staff that can progress your player, and that means repeated exposure to them.  Avoid single skill clinics until you have good all around skills.  A good clinic program will combine a lot of fundamentals work with enough gameplay to keep the clinic interesting to the players.  To help in getting on a team next year, before selecting the club for your clinics, ask the club how many players on their top teams started in their skills program and/or the youngest club team.  If they have a development team, check to see how many of the clinic players make it on to to the development team.

Second, think about avoiding fall rec leagues and instead focus on fall training programs/academy.  While the players in those leagues often love them (and the clubs love to post on social media with the winners and their medals), the reality is that most clubs take just a few rec league players on to their club teams.  Also, most rec league coaching is not good. When looking for a good fall program, ask how many of the teams/groups are coached by a club coach and how many club players came out of their fall program and/or went on to play in other clubs that year.

Finally, realize that the tiers talked about here are heavily biased towards the how the top teams perform.  Many parents get hooked on the though that the best clubs must also have the best training/clinic programs.  That's not true -- the Tier 1 and most of the tier 2 clubs use other clubs for their training. They have little interest in developing a good player from the very first time they touch a ball -- its hard work and ties up their good coaches (of which there are few).  
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