These are best practices that WAVE has implemented over the years and can be valuable to players, coaches, and parents when participating in club sports. Remember that we are all here to use sports to inspire players to become confident in themselves and grow up to be outstanding adults!
This sport is a process and we really want families to trust this process. We as a club want to win and have success. First and foremost we want our athletes to show growth as players and as a team. This does not happen over night. We systematically work on skills/concepts at the beginning and progress to new through out the season. There is no reason to panic over not performing at their best during the beginning or middle of the season. By our last 6-8 weeks we should see our teams starting to put it together (specific to their level). It may seem like the player or team can take a small steps backward at times. This is ok. Be patient in the understanding that there are a lot of variables that factor into winning and losing.
Playing time: Coaches are always thinking about playing time and line-ups. Please remember that our policies on this do not guarantee equal playing time. We are very upfront about this and a parent’s opinion on playtime will never be considered The coaches are playing to win and are looking to put their strongest line-ups in. That may result in some players not seeing the court as much as others. We also know that when the opportunity presents itself to get players in the game, that we are doing our best to do just that. If you are becoming concerned about that. Make sure to speak with your daughter and make sure you are on the same page as she is. Also encourage her to speak with their coach if they are having concerns. PLAYERS SHOULD ALWAYS EXPECT EQUAL PRACTICE TIME!!
In volleyball, teams can get stuck in a rotation where a sever or serves go on a run. This can result in the team not fully rotating limiting other’s play time. Make sure you understand this can happen and not negatively accuse the coach of not playing your daughter. There are also times when players do not pay attention and forget to sub in. If they miss their sub they can be skipped up to 3 additional rotations before they get a chance to go back in. Parents must absolutely not speak to a coach at an event or before your daughter has. We do not want to see your daughter sit out because a situation was not handled according to the policies we set. We are very clear on this in our contract that the player and parents sign at the beginning of the year.
Appropriate Contact with Coach: We hear this every year either by phone call or email…
“My Daughter doesn’t know that I am contacting you and would kill me if she knew”
“I am not that parent that complains, but…”
“My daughter doesn’t have an issue or want me to contact you, but…”
What we will do is be available to parents who want to know more about the game of volleyball, rules, processes, procedures and how it works. We will also be happy to help identify specific areas of opportunity for your daughter. We will not get into a playtime discussion or discuss other players. It is the parent’s responsibility that they do not lead the conversation down that path. Again, we want to be a resource, but parents (no matter how knowledgeable) have a very hard time not being subjective towards their daughter. We also know that we will not please everyone, but we will do our best to be professional in our conversations with the parents while sticking to our policies.
How do I help my child? Your daughter will leave practices or tournaments frustrated with herself, teammates, or coaches. This is NORMAL. It is not your job to fight their “battles”. The best thing you can do on the drive home or when your daughter is venting to you about an issues is to let them know you hear them, but encourage them to talk to the coach(es). This is their job, not your job. The best thing you can do is force them to advocate and speak for themselves. They will be impowered if you allow them to do this.
They may feel like they can’t speak to a coach and use the excuse that they are unapproachable or will yell at them. I promise we will not yell at them. We may disagree, but we will never shoot them down if they approach it in the right manner. Majority of our coaches have or are in education and all of our coaches have been in your daughter’s shoes as a player. Please understand that we may not always agree with them, but we will listen and process what they are saying as long as they are looking for feedback to improve.
Schedules: The schedules for tournaments are online. Please triple check your playing location, ref and play times. It is required that you are at the venue 1 hour prior to your first reffing or playing time. With Tampa/Clearwater events, it is always a good practice to arrive 1.5 hours prior due to potential traffic/weather issues. It is also required that all players stay when a team is officiating the last match. Please do not leave until the coach releases you. Any events that are outside of Tampa/Clearwater require a hotel stay.
Typically the wave times are released 2-4 weeks prior to the event. AM Wave typically is 8am-2pm & PM Wave is typically 2:30p-8:30pm. Many times events will run behind, so be mentally prepared to stay longer than the wave. The schedule itself is not usually released until Tuesday or Wednesday the week of the event. Teams will drop/add/or change divisions leading up to the first day so they wait until those days to post the schedule.
Online Schedules: SPORT WRENCH & ADVANCED EVENT SYSTEMS are the two most common scheduling systems used for indoor volleyball. Other popular tournament websites we will use are below.
www.aausvolleyball.org
www.fostervolleyballclinics.com,
www.jvctournaments.com
http://www.usavolleyball.org
http://www.floridavolleyball.org
Cheering: We can quickly become very caught up in the intensity and heat of the moment when we are watching our kids participate. Remember that this is an amateur sport, they are kids, they do not train every day like professionals, so they will make mistakes. Please keep this in mind when you are cheering for your daughter’s and your daughter’s teammates. We also want to make sure we avoid any negative communication towards officials, opponents, coaches, or teammates. Our kids will fail. When they do, it is best to be honest with them, but also to let them know that they will learn just as much about themselves if not more when they lose compared to when they win. How do they respond to losing is what is important! Make sure that when you are representing our club and our region we are using good sportsmanship.
Pictures: Please text me a team photo if they win a division or have a top three finish in the gold division! If you have a cool team or group shot you can send that as well! 941.962.4859.
Uniforms: Please make sure players have all three jerseys with them at all times this over the weekend! Without having to go into detail, issues arise where players or a team may need to change. Even if the jersey is not clean, keep it in the bag as it could play an issue into the team not being able to compete or a player not being able to play.
Practices: Parents are able to attend the last 15-20 minutes of practices as long as they stay off to the side or back and do not interfere with practices. If there are Covid rules for the facility that limit additional people in the gym, parents must remain outside the building and follow any facility rules. Parents must pick up players after practice. If there is an additional practice after your daughter’s practice has ended, those players may remain inside the gym until you pick them up.
