Anonymous wrote:A necessity for some VAE teams…..if you want to play.

Anonymous wrote:Every club offers clinics and private lessons. Based on your thinking, every club in USAV operates with a conflict of interest. In that case, the approach is, by definition, normal.

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Anonymous wrote:Yes. It’s is normal particularly at high level clubs. Wait til you start paying for personal training sessions to amp up their strength, speed and agility on top of club and privates. Most coaches get paid a pittance. Clubs OTOH don’t.

Another one who pays so that the coach "sees" that the player works hard through a green lens. Perfectly normal, what can I say?

You sound sad and jaded. My player is a starter and doesn’t do 1:1 with a coach or coaches in her club. But does 1:1 regularly and in summer time. But thanks for trying. Club coaches coach teams.

Unless you practice 4 days a week, which very few clubs do, any player is hard pressed to make significant gains without pointed technical correction and enough reps to drill the new skill.

Besides that, if a parent is suddenly realizing that the club they picked does clinics and 1:1s after they opted in, they definitely didn’t do their homework.

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Anonymous wrote:Some clubs test how much money you are willing to throw at them. The tryout outcome may depend on how much you spend. Perfectly normal, depending on your definition of normal.

No club is measuring how much money you spend. Are they paying attention to which kids are in the gym and focused on improving? Yes.
Would you tip the scale at tryouts in favor of someone you know who is putting in extra effort to improve? Also yes.

Is there a cost (clinics, privates) to improve? Yes.
But the "test" is about improving performance, not about how much you spend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It’s is normal particularly at high level clubs. Wait til you start paying for personal training sessions to amp up their strength, speed and agility on top of club and privates. Most coaches get paid a pittance. Clubs OTOH don’t.

Another one who pays so that the coach "sees" that the player works hard through a green lens. Perfectly normal, what can I say?

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It’s is normal particularly at high level clubs. Wait til you start paying for personal training sessions to amp up their strength, speed and agility on top of club and privates. Most coaches get paid a pittance. Clubs OTOH don’t.

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Anonymous wrote:Sorry, my math was wrong but my point was the same. U10 is still way too young to start this. That’s why you think this is normal and see so many paying $$$$. The club sees you as gullible. We can all figure out where you are since not many have teams that young.

I didn't say DD has been at the same club for 3 years, but OK.

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Anonymous wrote:As someone with a son in competitive travel hockey and a DD in 12s volleyball, this “ethics” debate feels wildly misplaced. In hockey I’m easily around $20k a year once you factor in team fees, travel, plus skating clinics and privates, and no one pretends that’s unethical. Team practices are about building the team as a unit; clinics and privates are about developing the individual athlete.

Volleyball is no different. Competitive sports require investment in time and effort, and modern youth sports are also a business that requires financial investment. You can dislike the cost or opt out of the extras, but framing standard development opportunities as a moral failing just misunderstands how competitive sports actually work.

Nobody tells you not to spend the money if you want to. There are no ethical concerns as long as you are using a private coach that is not affiliated with the club. But you may have noticed that we are discussing a coach setting up additional practice sessions with their own players. This is where the pressure to participate (and pay extra) could cross ethical boundaries.

Every hockey player I know does private training with coaches affiliated with our club. Every volleyball player I know does private training with coaches affiliated with our club.

How many hockey players do you know? How many volleyball players do you know? You must be in a select group because the players we know don't do it. Unless they do it and don't say anything about it.

A ton. DS is a 15yo hockey player on a competitive team and has played since he could skate, so we've been in this world for a long while. "Extras" are a non-negotiable, broadly understood and accepted practice in hockey. My overall point is you would never see this thread in a forum for many other sports. It's just part of the expectation for players, and parents don't scream about ethics. DD plays 12U volleyball and is in her 3rd year of club volleyball. Spouse corrected me on volleyball - on our team of 10, 7 of 10 are actively doing privates that we know about.

Competitive sports are flat-out expensive. I'm not complaining about that, because it is what it is, and it brings my kids a lot.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, my math was wrong but my point was the same. U10 is still way too young to start this. That’s why you think this is normal and see so many paying $$$$. The club sees you as gullible. We can all figure out where you are since not many have teams that young.