18:52 here. DD also played softball in 8th grade for her middle school but didn’t like it all that much.

Anonymous wrote:They probably played rec volleyball first - that’s what my daughter did.

This. DD played rec for a year, then JV in 9th grade, club clinics after JV season was over and then club this year in U16. We feel like we came into volleyball late, but DD wasn’t interested until 8th grade.

Anonymous wrote:The girls we know who play volleyball did other sports in elementary and early middle school. They played basketball and soccer at the rec level, but weren't skilled enough to play at the travel level. I assume they did camps and clinics to learn volleyball.

The best volleyball players are not leftover basketball players. They chose volleyball over basketball or soccer or softball. Sure there are great volleyball players that couldn't cut it at basketball (mostly endurance and physicality) but they mostly picked volleyball over other sports.

Anonymous wrote:The girls we know who play volleyball did other sports in elementary and early middle school. They played basketball and soccer at the rec level, but weren't skilled enough to play at the travel level. I assume they did camps and clinics to learn volleyball.

My DD came out of nowhere - she didn't like any team sport where someone could get into her personal space. We were lucky to discover volleyball - this is the only team sport that she really enjoys playing.

They probably played rec volleyball first - that’s what my daughter did.

The girls we know who play volleyball did other sports in elementary and early middle school. They played basketball and soccer at the rec level, but weren't skilled enough to play at the travel level. I assume they did camps and clinics to learn volleyball.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.

With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly

However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.

(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)

Geno Auriemma: "The big difference between a really good player and a great player is: great players don't get tired. They just don't. And what makes them great is when the good players get tired the great players kick their ass. That's the difference. So everyday we're working on that. Everyday we're working on that. We can coach ball screens, passing into the post, cutting, and play defense, but we're just not here to coach your energy level or your effort. That's a given. You wouldn't be here if I had to coach that. That's what other coaches have to do, they have to coach energy. I don't. Ya'll know that, ya'll know that."

Funny how bad a coach he is when he doesn't get the best three recruits every year

Funny how anonymous forum users are judging coaches - because they always know better.
https://www.kcra.com/article/uconns-geno-auriemma-sets-all-time-college-basketball-wins-record/62977293

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.

With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly

However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.

(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)

Geno Auriemma: "The big difference between a really good player and a great player is: great players don't get tired. They just don't. And what makes them great is when the good players get tired the great players kick their ass. That's the difference. So everyday we're working on that. Everyday we're working on that. We can coach ball screens, passing into the post, cutting, and play defense, but we're just not here to coach your energy level or your effort. That's a given. You wouldn't be here if I had to coach that. That's what other coaches have to do, they have to coach energy. I don't. Ya'll know that, ya'll know that."

Funny how bad a coach he is when he doesn't get the best three recruits every year

Funny how you completely missed the point. What is the relevance of getting / not getting the best three recruits?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my point is being proven. VB is for girls who are "lazier" than girls who do other higher cardio sports.
My DD included. No shame!

DD's basketball team lost one of their best bigs to volleyball. Another local team she considers a rival a lot lost two of their bigs. These are EYBL teams where girls usually get scholarships. From what we've heard, volleyball is the easier admissions bump to better academic programs for tall very athletic girls

When you say better academic programs, do you mean like Harvard or Florida?

Dream on

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my point is being proven. VB is for girls who are "lazier" than girls who do other higher cardio sports.
My DD included. No shame!

DD's basketball team lost one of their best bigs to volleyball. Another local team she considers a rival a lot lost two of their bigs. These are EYBL teams where girls usually get scholarships. From what we've heard, volleyball is the easier admissions bump to better academic programs for tall very athletic girls

My DD volleyball player has many tall teammates on her club team and I've heard lots of stories about basketball coaches being upset that tall players are choosing volleyball over basketball.

In terms of collegiate recruiting, the odds of high school players making it to D1 are pretty similar between basketball and volleyball (81:1 vs 83:1 https://scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds). In terms of scholarships, D1 women's basketball programs are allowed to give up to 15 scholarships with a roster limit of 15 players. Women's volleyball has a scholarship limit of 12, with no limit on roster size meaning on many teams there were quite a few non-scholarship athletes on almost every D1 college volleyball team. Under the antitrust settlement the NCAA reached earlier this year, starting in the 2025 season the rules for women's basketball will remain the same while for women's volleyball, schools will now be able to give 18 scholarships and have a roster limit of 18. How this plays out for non-power 4 conferences will be interesting. Offering 6 additional scholarships would be great for athletes, but it's not clear every conference/school will be able to go that high.

I'm not sure if there is a way to measure the admissions bump that either might give in one sport over another. Anecdotally, I think the stories of obviously unqualified students getting admitted to high academic schools as recruited athletes are exaggerated. Not saying that it never happens, but I don't think it's the norm. Maybe it's more common for revenue generating sports with top-25 teams, but I'd guess it's less frequent for women's volleyball or basketball.

Anonymous wrote:So my point is being proven. VB is for girls who are "lazier" than girls who do other higher cardio sports.
My DD included. No shame!

DD's basketball team lost one of their best bigs to volleyball. Another local team she considers a rival a lot lost two of their bigs. These are EYBL teams where girls usually get scholarships. From what we've heard, volleyball is the easier admissions bump to better academic programs for tall very athletic girls