CAP II CLIPBOARD
Starting a USAV junior club volleyball program
Elevating the game where there is a need can be challenging and fulfi lling By Linda Osterman • High school and junior club coach in North Carolina
change in careers meant a move from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and with it a change in my involvement with USA Volleyball junior club volleyball. I had spent a number of years with a club in Pennsylvania that participated in the Ohio Valley Region (OVR) of USAV. The past few years in Penn- sylvania I had served as the assistant director of the club which would serve me well in my new endeavors in North Carolina. I was fortunate enough to fi nd a high school volleyball coaching position literally two weeks before the season and school year was to start. During the course of the high school season, I asked my players where they played junior club volleyball in the off-season. The players had no idea what I was talking about. The unanimous response was, “What is junior club volleyball?!”
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I went on to explain that junior club volleyball was a part of USA Volleyball and was either a local or travel program, outside of their school sport season, similar to experiences they might have had in other sports such as softball and basketball. Since the players had no idea what USAV junior club volleyball was, I needed to see what options were available. After doing some research, I real- ized that there weren’t any local options for my players. Currently if players wanted to play USAV junior club volleyball, they had to travel outside of our county to do so. Once I realized that the opportunities were limited at best, I made the decision to start a USAV junior club volley- ball program in our area.
There are many things to consider when starting a program. My fi rst step was to contact the USAV Region Offi ce responsible for North Carolina. I was able to fi nd the region website (
www.carolinaregionvb.org) and there were a number of documents that were useful in helping me understand how the Carolina Region (CR) operates. As I was to learn, there were some distinct difference
48 | VOLLEYBALLUSA
between the OVR and the CR regions. Once I had the guidelines for starting a USAV junior club program in North Carolina, I needed to shift gears and focus on my individual program. The fi rst issue was fi nding players for the program. I knew that I would probably be able to get some of my high school players to participate, but I would need more than
must consider a number of things. First, what is the cost for the players to register with your particular USAV Region? How much does it cost to enter a tournament (local or traveling) and how many tournaments will you attend? Where will you practice and what will the gym time cost? What equipment will you need – the basics are balls, bags and carts and of course courts and net systems. What will you spend on player uniforms? You can use a basic T-shirt with a number or buy a more expensive jersey to use. Will you have two uniforms? At a minimum you will need to have an alternate jersey if you choose to use a libero. It is also imperative that you consider the economics of the area. I knew that the amount that we charged players in our club in Pennsylvania was well beyond what the players in North Carolina could afford and therefore had to budget accordingly.
In terms of the schedule, I saw
a difference in the USAV Regions right from the start. In the OVR we played on both Saturday and Sunday in region play, whereas in the CR they scheduled region play only on Saturdays.
There was also another huge
that to fi eld a team. I started by drafting a fl yer that I emailed to all of the high school coaches in our county as well as those we played against during the season. I set up an initial information meeting at our local library where I would give an overview and answer questions regarding the proposed program. I realized I would have to prepare a budget for the upcoming season as well as having a proposed schedule and have both ready for this initial meeting.
When starting to comprise a budget you
difference. In the OVR you could choose to play every weekend if you wanted to and you determined where you played. If we wanted to stay close to home we could as chances are someone in our area was running a tournament. In the CR the region determined when and where you played. If play was scheduled on a weekend that was bad for your players, you didn’t have any recourse other than to not play.
Next, I needed to determine where we would practice and if there would be a cost associated with the facility. Some school dis- tricts will let you use their facilities for free or for a minimal cost; others can be quite ex- pensive. Be sure to consider local recreation and multi-purpose facilities. As more of those facilities are being built it gives you more
PHOTO: DANIEL SHIREY
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