Club volleyball is not the holy grail

To begin I did not play club volleyball. I was in high school from 1998-2001 so it has been awhile and club volleyball was not the machine that it is today. Many parents are under the belief that if their child plays club volleyball they have an automatic ticket to play college volleyball. Just to give myself some credibility I did play college volleyball on scholarship without EVER playing club. I know that may seem hard, and my path was a little harder because I did not have the fundamentals but it is possible. Club is a money earning machine like any other business, and it has great coaches, ok coaches, and bad coaches. Think about it, how many clubs can you name in your area...where do the volleyball coaches come from to keep the club running? Having your child on a club team where they have a terrible coach teaching bad technique gives them no better chance of playing after high school. Another scenario, say you have a great coach and a good club, but your daughter just isn't built for volleyball. Paying out of the nose for years even a decade if she doesn't like it, isn't athletic, or doesn't care about it will not make her a collegiate prospect. Club does have it's benefits, if everything is good: the coach, and the athlete enjoys it, then practicing does enhance muscle memory and keeps athletes on refreshed on technique throughout the year. If it is done right club does indeed give girls an edge over girls that do not play club, because being more practiced and experienced creates an athlete with a better understanding of the game and grasp of skills.

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