Reply to Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

Forum Index » Volleyball

Reply to "Volleyball club- recap and thoughts"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can’t believe people are on this forum arguing about the results of tournaments with kids who are 12 and 13 years old. What has this crazy volleyball world come to where we’re bashing the play of 12 and 13 year olds…[/quote]

Agreed. I have no idea whether the MVSA 12s team is "better" than the Paramount 13-2s and it really doesn't matter. Younger teams beat older team all the time - these are kids and not robots.  Sometimes they play up to what they are capable of and sometimes they don't.

Also, I think it's pretty well established that MVSA is a solid club and a good value for the money. Their coaches are all volunteers, they utilize school gyms which are cost effective, and they don't provide as much swag as many other clubs (practice shirts, warmups, etc.). MVSA also hosts a lot of tournaments which helps to offset costs. All of these contribute to MVSA having the lowest club fees in the area. That said, [b]it doesn't mean other clubs are bad or overpriced[/b] - they are just structured differently. Choose the club that works best for you and your DD.[/quote]

No matter how much I agree with most of your message, the bolded part made me smile. There are definitely bad clubs, there are definitely overpriced clubs, and there are bad AND overpriced clubs. All of them address a "need" and help club owners make a decent profit. Or a really good profit (depending how overpriced they are). [/quote]
I wrote the quoted post and definitely understand what you’re saying and do agree there are definitely different degrees of quality, but I was thinking more if the players on a team have fun and improve at the game, regardless of how many medals they get or matches they win, then that should be enough for most players. If you’re measuring quality based on wins and losses, then you are correct that there are some bad clubs.

Club volleyball is undeniably expensive, but for the most part I don’t think club directors/club owners are getting rich from club fees. It’s my understanding that the margins for club fees are pretty low. Clubs make more money from rec leagues, clinics, and camps. They can pack a lot more players into a gym with far future coaches meaning the overhead is much lower.

MVSA (particularly at the younger age groups) is one of very few examples of clubs where the cost is low and the teams win but I think their model would be hard to replicate because finding that many volunteer coaches of a high quality would be tough. Understandably, MVSA attracts a lot of girls to their tryouts. Generally, they only take 10 players per team and making one of their teams, especially the top team in an age group, can be challenging. [/quote]

I don't think anyone measures club quality only based on wins and loses. But I would not completely discard them as irrelevant. Improving their game is certainly part of the equation, but it is hard to believe that someone attends two practices per week without getting better (the improvement rate is more important than just improvement). Players can improve more or less depending on their drive and the environment. A good coach is essential (and not many clubs can brag about having good coaches for all their teams). Players get fewer touches if the practices are overcrowded. Some clubs are completely unrealistic about the level of their players and take their "travel" teams into tournaments just to be completely wiped (this doesn't help the player morale). Fun is a combination between everything above. Some players have more fun when they are pushed hard in a competitive environment, while others just want to have fun without being pushed too hard.

There is some math on a different thread showing that clubs can make good profit, especially if they fill their rosters with plenty of bench warmers. Maryland clubs might have low profit margins, but I am not buying the same idea for the Virginia clubs. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics