Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Mamma on the Bench: Our First Year Playing Club Ball


Welcome back our guest blogger Jamie Hofmann.

We made Southwind Rising’s 12-2 team!  At first, we were not quite sure what that meant, but later learned it was based on the age (12 and under), skill level and number/type of tournaments you played.  Our first formal exposure to the club was a potluck dinner meeting for the entire club.  A huge hall was rented.  There were hundreds of folks there.  The meeting began with a great inspirational speaker for the players, and a “club talk” from the director, Rachel Magana. She discussed developing the players to the best of their ability but also about developing good character as a goal for the club.  We had an inspirational slide show and everyone was fired up for the season.  Rachel ended the talk with asking the players to go to their parents or to whoever brings them to practice and tell them “Thank you.”  Rachel wanted to remind the players to appreciate the people who got them to practice, to tournaments and paid for their club ball.  Without them, there would be no volleyball for the player. 

Southwind Rising asked for a couple of parent volunteers for the season.  One parent volunteer would be responsible for getting communications out to the team.  The other parent would help the team with scorekeeping and chaperoning the players at tournaments.  I chose the latter.  One of the first tasks of the season was to have the entire club to either “review” scorekeeping and refereeing rules, or to “learn” them. We had a big gym full of players, coaches and parent volunteers. Since we were new, we were in the “learning” group. We spent the better part of a Saturday working on learning to score a volleyball game and reviewing refereeing rules and regulations. Older experienced players were assigned to the new groups to assist in the instruction. Drilled throughout the day was emphasis in being confident in what you were doing, being respectful to everyone, looking coaches and other players in the eyes when you are speaking to them or being spoken to, shaking hands properly, and having good sportsmanship behavior at all times.  Of course there were lots handouts and overheads, but by the end of the day, we had covered it all.  We knew that we all represented Southwind Rising and that there were expectations of behaviors we must meet.  It was not just technical knowledge but being a good steward and sportsman.   As a parent, sitting in that crowd all day, I was thrilled to have someone impressing on my child these lifelong morals.

We had sat with our coach during the potluck, so we had met with her and had an opportunity to visit with her before our first practice.  There were nine girls on our team, all from different schools in the area. None of them really knew each other well. Practices ran for an hour and a half, twice a week. I liked to sit and watch the practices.  The girls all slightly varied in skill levels and attention spans.  Our coach was great about getting them to focus and improve their skills week after week.  She was always patient, yet firm with them.

We had about ten practices before our first tournament experience.  It was an intra-club tournament where we played teams in our club close to our age group.  This served two purposes:  one, to give them a feel of a tournament setting and two, to practice their scorekeeping and refereeing skills.  It was a crazy long day, but a good experience to prep them for the real thing. The first thing I noticed, was the noise.  There were about six to eight games going on with cheering players and parents. It was crowded. There were team campsites everywhere. Campsites were a general congregation site where the teams could rest between playing and refereeing.  The girls had sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, healthy snacks and few brought some form of electronic entertainment. The girls had to keep in touch with their coach and parent rep for the game schedule and their working schedule. (During the tournament we had to provide about six players to referee and scoring other games). There was a lot going on!

After the intra-club tournament, we had another ten to twelve practices and then our first real tournament.  We were nervous but played well. We got second place and brought home a medal. That was a pretty good way to start the season.

We deftly handled the refereeing and scorekeeping at our first tournament.  We made a few mistakes but most coaches were patient with the girls. At this age, everyone was pretty new to scorekeeping and refereeing.  I did say most coaches.  Sitting on the bench with the team during the season, I learned quickly that there were a few coaches from other teams that got a little nutty during the tournaments.  Some of the behavior was shocking!  I was very thankful for the high standards and expectations that Southwind Rising had set for our coaches and players.

We had eight tournaments during our season.  Most of them were local but all of them started very early and ended late in the afternoon.  Some tournaments were two days long. I sat on the bench for every game, keeping stats, helping the coach toss balls for warm ups, keeping the girls focused, scorekeeping or whatever she needed.  My daughter did not start as a player in the beginning of the season. Sometimes she played very little and that was hard on both of us. However, I had been a coach and a player before and knew she needed to play better to start. There was no other way around it.  I was not going to say one word to the coach.  I told my daughter she had to improve and work very hard for a starting spot. She needed to learn that lesson. Moving from recreation ball to club ball is a whole new world.  Club ball is competitive and the girls, the coaches, the club and the parents want to win. That means putting the best players on the court.  The coach is at every practice and she sees how the players perform. She sees their drive and their attitude.

As the season progressed, the girls and their coach became close and meshed as a team. Everyone improved her skills and knowledge of the game. We won another medal, a first place and had some very close tournaments that should have swayed our way. The parents made new friends and learned a lot as well. It was a ton of fun.

Here are the caveats we learned our first year of playing club ball:

·      Club ball teaches competitiveness, hard work, and that a good attitude pays off.  Those are a great life lessons, as we compete in life for so many things. 
·      Club ball also teaches responsibility.  Your daughter will learn that she is now responsible to her teammates and her coach.  She is responsible for:  playing to the best of her ability for the team; being a supportive teammate; a good referee; a scorekeeper; a line judge; being where she needs to be at all times for the team; keeping herself healthy and well nourished.  The success of the team depends on everyone doing her part.
·      Parents and players need to understand that at a club level, not everyone will get to play.  To win, the best players need to be on the court.  It may or may not be your child.  Trust your coach and encourage your player work hard.
·      A good club will emphasize good character, as well as skill development.  Sports offer so many opportunities to learn great life skills that will carry them on into the future to become successful individuals.
·      I was very glad that our club had a limit of nine players to a team.  Some teams had ten or more players, meaning more sitting on the bench.
·      Finally, a club team and coach should model proper behavior on and off the court.  I definitely learned there were a few clubs with coaches and teams that could improve on their behavior.

This summer will be full of hard work with the Southwind Rising Summer Intensity Program.  It will be fun working to improve our game and skills.  We are looking forward to another exciting season of volleyball and know where we want to be! 

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