Is Club Volleyball Worth It?

Whenever a kid picks up a new sport or hobby, there is always the question mark of "How serious are they about this?". There are plenty of stories about kids picking up an instrument like guitar or the drums for a couple months, buying that fancy new Fender stratocaster, and then promptly losing interest allowing for that guitar to collect dust in the garage (yes, I am talking from personal experience - sorry Mom).

Club volleyball or sports in general are no different. Parents often ask questions like:

• "Is club volleyball worth the cost?"
• "How many weeks is volleyball season?"
• "Where are volleyball tournaments held?"

What are you looking to get out of club volleyball?

Are you just looking for recreation and a fun excuse to get out and play on the weekends? Or, are you looking for something with more structure and coaching?

In my opinion, a club volleyball coaches job is to develop quality people through the sport of volleyball. That means, teaching valuable life lessons through the X's and O's of a team sport. 

Amongst other things, being a part of a quality club volleyball team can:

• Push an athlete to the edge of their comfort zone
• Teach athletes to enjoy a challenge
• Develop a growth mindset while learning new skills
• Instill the skill of goal setting and help identify a path towards accomplishing them

What to do before committing to club volleyball

If your child is just starting out, you likely want to "make sure this isn't just a phase" before shelling out all the money for those club volleyball dues. You can do this by looking for some lower commitment level programming in your area.

The easiest place to start is usually with your school. Middle school or high school freshman/JV teams provide athletes with a shortened season (in comparison to club), the matches/tournaments are mostly local, the cost is low/none, and you likely already know your teammates since you are all at the same school.

If your school does not have a volleyball program, then you can look for some club alternatives that offer low-medium commitment levels and see how your child does with those programs. Example programs could be a clinic series that runs for 1-2 months or an area league program that provides "team-like" training and competitions. 

I would recommend checking out programming at a couple clubs in your area to get a feel for the organization and how they operate. This allows your athlete to interact with different coaches and philosophies while also giving you the parent a glimpse into what it would be like to be a part of the club on the administrative side. You can also start to get more information regarding the costs and commitment level of each club. Like all things, clubs operate on a spectrum of quality, cost, and commitment level.

Understand your goals for club sports and decide accordingly

To answer the question "is club volleyball worth it" is truly dependent on each individual family. While there are countless benefits of being a part of an extracurricular activity like club volleyball, it is only as beneficial as how invested the athlete is. 

So if your child has gotten the itch to play some volleyball, provide them the opportunities scratch that itch and see if their excitement to play continues to grow and develop or see if it fades away like my 13 year old "passion" for playing Ode to Joy on the guitar.