Club Volleyball 2016 Edition

[User 11148]

Opening this to avoid crowding Starman's corners:

... the season is off to a shaky start for the Metro Starrville Spikers featuring Sis-14, who has quit all other sports to concentrate on volleyball.
First off the club has assigned 12 players per squad, so PT is already a big problem. In the first tournament last weekend, she played about one-third if the games.
Court experience aka PT is the main reason you play club ball; if the PT situation doesn't improve fast, Sis may pull the plug and Sis-14 may pull her softball glove out of mothballs.

DaughterQuant's team played pretty much to form in its first tournament. Seeded third in their pool, the girls finished third, then scrapped through and won silver in their consolation bracket to finish middle-of-the-pack in the overall tournament. The ostensibly better "Elite" team won its pool but then got stomped in the first-round of the gold-medal bracket and wound up finishing upper third in the overall tournament.

DaughterQuant, now a bit taller than 5-9, is the second-tallest girl on her team and rotates in when the slightly taller girl comes off. She was a bit off-put by that at first, conveniently ignoring the fact that the other girl gets only three rotations while DaughterQuant gets four (she gets to serve; the other girl doesn't).

The big issue we've been dealing with, so far, is keeping DaughterQuant between the ditches what with all of her other interests. She's quite musical and loves to sing/perform. She took a platform spot in her school's talent show (singing and playing the piano) and was selected to both the All-Region Orchestra (violin) and the All-Region Choir. In fact, on that Saturday of the city championship I wrote about on the other thread, we were shuttling her back and forth from the choir clinic/rehearsals to the tournament. She did the clinic/rehearsals a bit, then I hustled her across town to the tournament, where she changed into her uniform while the rest of the team was warming up. They played (and won!!!!! I'm still riding high on that!), then we hustled her back over for more rehearsals, then the show.

As she's heading into high school next year, MommaQuant and I see the day coming when something has to go. As an example, her junior high is doing a musical this year (she was devastated last year when they did it and club volleyball interfered), and MommaQuant and I had said if a musical was in offing this year that no matter what she would be allowed to audition/participate. Her club coaches (and the school teachers responsible for the musical) have said we'll work it out, so she's been bouncing around as happy as can be. At least for next year, MommaQuant and I think it can be worked out that she won't have to give anything up. After that, all bets are off. Dreading that day. Selfishly, I'd prefer she stick to volleyball and orchestra (if it's the case she can do only two), but I suspect my preferences are of little importance in this matter!

 

[LongTimeListener]

How good is her high school athletic program?

One thing I've come to appreciate, much to my surprise, is that our son's high school isn't that good at sports -- meaning he can do his two sports on something less than all-in basis while he stays in other activities too. They'll never win anything, but every kid gets to balance multiple interests.

But if she's playing VBall at this level already, that might not be a possibility.

 

[User 11148]

How good is her high school athletic program?

One thing I've come to appreciate, much to my surprise, is that our son's high school isn't that good at sports -- meaning he can do his two sports on something less than all-in basis while he stays in other activities too. They'll never win anything, but every kid gets to balance multiple interests.

But if she's playing VBall at this level already, that might not be a possibility.

Her high school is huge and it's good at every damn thing -- academics, athletics, fine arts. It's tough to do more than one thing. My son did it for three years. Doing three things? I don't know.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Yeah I figured if there are already this many girls playing at that level, it won't get easier.

Good luck to her. Keep us posted on the moms.

 

[User 11148]

Yeah I figured if there are already this many girls playing at that level, it won't get easier.

There were 10 girls, including DaughterQuant, on her school's 8th grade A-team. She and another girl are on the same "Elite" team, another two are on the other "Elite" team, another three are on the "National" team, and one (DaughterQuant's best friend) is on that top-most team. The other tall girl on that school team has gone on to some other club because her parents -- who are just fixated on her playing in college -- wanted "better" coaching.

At her high school, there will be two 9th-grade teams. It's probably going to be the case these will be filled largely with the A teams from DaughterQuant's school and that other junior high that feeds into this high school. DaughterQuant's as tall and as good as any of the middle blockers coming in, so if she wants to play we assume she'll make it. It's beyond the 9th grade -- assuming she keeps playing -- that it's going to get really sticky, because she may need to develop more as a hitter to stay in the game. Doing that requires time/instruction, which will cut into other stuff.

 

[User 11148]

Tough, tough day in pool play today. Team DaughterQuant won only two out of six sets (each was scheduled for three sets no matter what), but their point differential for the day was 4. Against the top seed, they lost by two in the first set, made a huge comeback (more on that later) but lost by two in the second, then came back and won 27-25 in the third. Against the second seed, they lost by four in the first, coughed up an 8-1 lead and lost by two in the second, then jumped out to a good lead and held on to win by four in the third.

In that second set against the top seed, Team DaughterQuant fell behind 11-5 then was found to have been out of rotation (not really sure how it all went down, but DaughterQuant wasn't involved) on all five points they'd won. So, they forfeited those five points and found themselves trailing 11-0. They won the next point on a blistering kill by a seriously pissed DaughterQuant -- hardest hit I've ever seen from her -- and then gradually started a comeback. A few points here, a few points there, suddenly they'd clawed back to trail by only one at 22-21. The other team escaped, but Team DaughterQuant was pretty pumped at having come back that far.

On other DaughterQuant fronts this week, she showed herself to have a pretty good poker face. As I mentioned earlier, she had been on cloud nine at the thought of auditioning for the junior high musical (they're doing some scaled-down version of The Sound of Music). Well, yesterday was the day the cast was set. When I got home, she sighed and said, "Well, at least I got a part."
"What part did you get?"
"A nun."
"A nun?"
"Yeah ... Maria!"
She had me, let me tell you.

 

[User 11148]

Team DaughterQuant went 4-0 in bracket play yesterday and won their silver-medal bracket (I probably should clarify that they finished second -- i.e., won silver -- in their consolation bracket last time out). Everyone (including the players MommaQuant and I were ragging on in our customary back-home-with-a-glass-of-wine happy hour on Saturday) played lights out. In the second match I (and most of the team's parents) didn't think the girls had much of a chance; the other team, in its opening match, seemed bigger and far more comfortable attacking. But Team DQ didn't seem bothered in the least. They trailed a bit here and there but ultimately won both sets fairly comfortably (25-18 and 25-11).

Several family members of that team were sitting right behind us, and they were pretty chirpy at first (when their girls jumped out to small early leads). As the match wore on, however, they got awfully, awfully quiet.

 

[User 11148]

Another weekend, another tournament, but an especially good one this time around. Team DQ had the best tournament that core of girls has ever had. They blew through their four-team pool 6-0 (with a point differential of 65), then today handily won two-setters against teams ranked roughly 50 spots higher to move into the championship match of the gold bracket. There they ran up against and lost to a good "national" team ranked 90 spots higher (the highest ranked team in the tournament). They kept it close, losing 25-22 in the first and 25-18 in the second, but weaknesses with their back line got discovered by the better team and that was all she wrote.

 

[Starman]

Things are reaching critical mass quickly with Sis-14's Metro Starrville Spikers: the first three tournaments of the season, there were 12 players on her team, resulting in dramatic PT problems including certain players playing only a few points per game, including StarSis. Mom StarSis and hubby Star-BIL sounded off to the league directors a couple weeks ago, so last week there was some roster reshuffling, resulting in 8 players on the roster and the solution of most PT problems.

Of course, on Saturday they travel 80 miles halfway cross-state for another tourney, and SIX (6) players are in uniform for the game. Star-BIL attends the game as 'parental unit' since StarSis was busy at home coaching basketball and softball, and the report is the two unexpected no-shows may have pulled a wildcat strike of sorts in protest against the earlier roster moves. Apparently they liked 12-player rosters for some reason or some of the reassigned players were their car-pool partners.

With 6 players in uniform of course there is no PT problem -- everybody must play all day. That works fine for two or three matches, then fatigue starts making its impact along with a few twisted ankle/wrenched finger things and they start getting pretty roundly beat. None of the injuries are bad enough to send anybody to the showers but half the team is limping around or has taped-up fingers.

By the time of the final matches of the day, they can barely drag out on the court and they lose in a preposterous 25-0, 25-0, 15-0 massacree. That's right, skunked, not even a point on a net serve.

Section One of the two-stage volleyball season ends with spring break. Those who elect to do so can return (at the cost of another $500) for -- supposedly -- another eight-week 'spring session' going from early-April until Memorial Day. Sis-14 is thinking very seriously of digging her softball glove out of her closet very soon.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Starman volleyball updates are very boring.

 

[Starman]

Starman volleyball updates are very boring.

Yeah, since they mainly consist of people not showing up for games.

As noted, my guess is the plug will be pulled on this situation reasonably soon.

 

[User 11148]

The playing time thing has, thankfully, not come up as an issue for Team DQ. Of the 11 girls, there are only two who don't play much, and neither has much experience or ability. The coaches make sure they get on the floor for pool play, but these last two tournaments they haven't played at all on a Sunday.

Neither cluster of parents has seemed to have an issue with it. I think they came looking for a club very late in the game and all the lower-level teams were full, so this was their only slot. I'm sure they were given the full Monty about the realities of the deal; DaughterQuant's club is very consistent with its all-caps disclaimer: "TOURNAMENT PLAYING TIME IS NOT GUARANTEED!" And those two really can't play remotely at the level of the worst regular on the team.

One girl, "Autumn," is about 5-4 and originally was slated to be a setter until it was learned that: A) she had no clue as to what a setter actually does; and B) upon learning what a setter does she proved herself absolutely unable to do it. Autumn now comes in on the front row, runs into a couple of the other players, lets a ball or two drop and then trots off. The other girl, "Lacy," is about 5-7 and slightly knocked-kneed, so she's also consigned to the front row. She doesn't move very well to begin with, and with her limited experience she has to think her way around rather than reacting naturally. She had a great chance at a kill Saturday -- EVERY team parent in the stands was ready to explode, because she's such a sweetheart -- but jumped too late and dumped it in the net. I'm terribly soft-hearted when it comes to girls like Autumn and Lacy, though, so it was awfully nice to see them get to play.

Last Sunday, after the girls had won that consolation bracket, everybody went out for lunch ... except Lacy. Her dad, who was there with Wife No. 2 (and her son), wasn't interesting in coming along, so he insisted that Lacy go with him. Lacy was sobbing as they drove away, devastated that she wouldn't get to hang out with her teammates. Her mother and step-dad came anyway, then an hour or so into lunch Lacy called her mom and said that dad was now ready to drop her off. What an absolute **** move: You couldn't give up an hour, and now your daughter is in tears? Anyway, Lacy was thrilled to learn that lunch was still going on and that she'd get to join anyway. When she came in, all the other girls made a big hoodoo about it. Like I say, I'm terribly soft-hearted when it comes to stuff like this; I get a little misty just thinking about it now.

 

[Starman]

The PT issue comes down to pretty much the whole reason you would play club volleyball: game experience.

The way it was set for the first three weeks on the Starrville Spikers, essentially they had their six starters, three part-time subs who would rotate in for maybe 1/4 of the game, and three end-benchers who barely played at all (or, in one case, none).

None of the players owe anything to this "team." Nobody wakes up in the morning dreaming of leading the Starrville Spikers on to the glory of victory. It's an economic transaction: the players invest their practice time and effort and entry fees, and they're supposed to get PT which will benefit them in high school competition. If the club doesn't deliver, **** 'em.

 

[User 11148]

True, but you stick a player with little ability out there, and nobody's getting any experience. As one of DaughterQuant's coaches -- a former D1 libero -- said at lunch Saturday, "The ball will find you." You stick a weak passer out there and suddenly every serve is coming her way and your offense grinds to a halt. Your setter starts putting them shoulder high and suddenly your hitters are simply scraping the ball out of the net. And if your middle can't move, she's going to get dinked to death.

In a legitimate competition, all the pieces have to be there, or it's simply not volleyball.

At DaughterQuant's club, they're explicit in saying that if you want guaranteed playing time, there are city and Y leagues available. If you join with them, you're only guaranteed practice time (which is extensive and high quality).

Good friend of mine has a granddaughter who played at that club. She became a badass libero/hitter in college and, in her senior year, was named her mid-D1 conference's player of the year. But her sophomore year in high school, at that club she moved up to one of its national travel teams. They went off to some monster tournament in Florida, and her parents popped for airfare, etc., to go watch. She never got on the court.

 

[Starman]

Nobody on the team is of "little" ability: virtually all of them were/are well-above-average players for their age group/grade level.

Last fall, as a freshman at a Class A high school, Sis-14, a setter, was by far the best player on the freshman team. The last two weeks of the season she was moved up to JV and immediately started there too.

On the club team, she was one of the part-time (1/4 time) players (which of course is way better than being an end-bencher who never plays period). She has shown up for every minute of every practice (involving a 25-mile, 40-minute drive each way by parents).

Which isn't always a totally productive strategy since the coaches' practice plan includes random warmup-style back-and-forth hittting for the first 15-20 minutes of each 90-minute practice, a highly ineffective strategy in producing high-intensity focused workouts, but very effective in producing general ****ing-around.

At least in the days of the 12-player roster, 3-4 players would consistently saunter in 10-15 minutes late for practice with some excuse (traffic jam or caught at railroad crossing). Coaches pretty much waved it off by saying, "practice doesn't really get going for about 20 minutes anyway." There were no PT consequences for the stragglers.

Of course her parents say Sis-14 is hard-working and attentive in practice, and no coaching staff member has ever said anything otherwise either to her directly or the team in general, so practice effort can't really be the issue. She's well-versed in most offensive sets and passing attacks.

On the court, the team has been well under .500, certainly attributable to high levels of competition, but at the same time there are no individuals on the team so outstanding they are clearly carrying the team to overall domination. And at the same time, when the "part-timers" came in to play, there was no noticeable dropoff in the level of team performance, so the argument couldn't really be made, "well, A-B-C-D-E-F have to play 85% of the time, because the second G-H-I come in, everything goes to hell."

Anyway this is all mostly a moot argument because the club management did agree that 12 players was too many to have on the roster and cut back to 8-9, but now there's this second crisis with several families/players threatening to quit and reduce the roster to 6. But this club had a similar midseason blowup last year and ended up firing half its coaching staff and reshuffing the rosters then too. There just doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot of thought put into how the teams and rosters should be structured.

 

[Starman]

Sudden shocking update: After slogging through another month of club volleyball, with playing time issues resolved (8 players on the team so everybody plays) if not performance level ( the team sucks), Sis-14 decided pretty much on the drop of a dime last week to go out for HS softball.

The club VB season still isn't done for 6 weeks and StarSis and hubby have paid in some big bucks, so Sis-14 will play out the season in volleyball.

But the VB team is made up of girls from schools scattered over half the state. The softball team is all her friends and classmates.

 

[User 11148]

Not much to report on the Team DaughterQuant front. Just came off a three-week tournament-a-week stretch featuring three second-place finishes in pool play, three opening-match losses in gold-medal bracket play, and a 1-2 record in follow-up consolation matches. One of those consolation losses was particularly painful, as it was a three-setter to the other "Elite" team from Team DaughterQuant's club. It appears some rotation changes are in the making, as girls who had been regulars at the start of the season have begun to be edged out. Lacy, mentioned earlier, is now playing extensively, and Autumn has begun to appear even in bracket play. DaughterQuant continues to play well -- she, the setter, one hitter and the other middle make up the core of the team -- and is a blast to watch. Only two tournaments left this season, but DaughterQuant's making noises about playing in the club's summer sand (two-girl) league. Rather looking forward to it.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Not much to report on the Team DaughterQuant front. Just came off a three-week tournament-a-week stretch featuring three second-place finishes in pool play, three opening-match losses in gold-medal bracket play, and a 1-2 record in follow-up consolation matches. One of those consolation losses was particularly painful, as it was a three-setter to the other "Elite" team from Team DaughterQuant's club. It appears some rotation changes are in the making, as girls who had been regulars at the start of the season have begun to be edged out. Lacy, mentioned earlier, is now playing extensively, and Autumn has begun to appear even in bracket play. DaughterQuant continues to play well -- she, the setter, one hitter and the other middle make up the core of the team -- and is a blast to watch. Only two tournaments left this season, but DaughterQuant's making noises about playing in the club's summer sand (two-girl) league. Rather looking forward to it.

This post is about as exciting as the return of the X-Files. Much less hype, though.

 

[User 11148]

Bad, bad day with Team DaughterQuant back in action at an unbelievably huge tournament -- there are more than 100 courts in use at any moment -- in Dallas. Team DQ had a good start with a straight-set victory in its first match, but then after a very long wait ran into some bad luck: DaughterQuant severely sprained her ankle about 10 points into the second match and was done for the day (and likely the tournament and maybe the season).

She went down hard and in a hurry and was in severe pain. She, like me and MommaQuant, was clearly thinking about more than volleyball: The Sound of Music, with DaughterQuant as Maria, is only three weeks away. When the tournament trainer did his thing and declared there to be no fracture, DaughterQuant burst into tears in relief. The trainer kept talking about the tournament, but I know what was going on in her head.

Team DQ did OK in her absence -- her coaches cobbled together a makeshift rotation and they managed to win that first set -- but lost both remaining matches.

The trainer said to come back tomorrow and he'll tape her up and see how it goes. I am not at all inclined to push anything. Guess with taping she can't do any more damage (if she's good to go) but I am going to be ****tin' bricks ...

 

[Starman]

On the Starrville volleyball front, the softball season got under way this week with Sis-14 (actually about to become Sis-15) on the jayvee team.

On Wednesday night StarSis gets a call from the varsity softball coach. The JV had its first two dates rained out (and won't be rescheduled) so he wanted to pull Sis-14 up to varsity as a pinch-runner/ defensive sub, but probably only on a one or two-game basis.

Eligibility is set on a total-games basis so Sis-14 is not risking any eligibility problems by sitting on the varsity bench a couple games. So StarSis said OK, plus, as she added, "if you get in the game and steal a base or get a hit, you might not go back down anyway."

But another factor was the varsity softball doubleheader was set for 4 pm Friday and likely to get over about 8.

Sis-14 had a huge volleyball tournament 200 miles away in Indiana at 8 am today. So she had to play out the softball games (she did get in the game, caught a fly ball and scored a run), mad-dash home for a 5-minute scrub-shower, then the whole family (all the girls anyway) piles in the van and heads for Indiana.

Sis texted to report they got into the hotel about midnight (11 local time) and everybody was sacked out within 20 minutes.

Sis-14 was on the court bright and early at 8 in the morning. Mom and three sisters were much less perky slumped over in the bleachers on their rolled up sleeping bags.

Over the course of the day the Starrville Spikers went 2-6 in pool play, the final match wrapping up about 9 pm. That's about consistent with their season performance.

Sunday they're in some kind of consolation bracket, and could play as few as two or as many as six matches. Sis reports she has "high hopes of being on the road by lunchtime."