Experiencing Bay to Bay - Day 1

The boys club volleyball season has officially started. Some clubs have had open gyms, and unless you are in the know, well, I guess you won't know when they were (duh!). Same goes for tryouts. Unless you have specific clubs in mind and who to contact, then chances are you'll miss them.

For us, the primary factors we considered when choosing a club was practice schedule and cost, in that order. Of course, top on our list is how good the club is and if our son will learn from the experience. The two factors aren't worth anything if the club sucks (pardon my French). With all things considered, we narrowed down our choices to three clubs -- Bay to Bay, Mountain View, and Endline.

There are other clubs out there, but in terms of proximity, I think the practice locations of these 3 clubs are manageable. Last year, I've seen clubs and have played them at tournaments, so I'm quite familiar with them. Of course, Endline was our club last year. I did a little research online, and focused on Bay to Bay.

Having joined club volleyball for the first time last year, our experience with Endline was wonderful. The relationship and camaraderie among the staff, coaches, players, and parents was great. We were one big family. Now, in terms of skill and quality of play of our team, it was probably the best that can be assembled together based on the resources available. Could more have been done to improve skills and overall play? Probably. Well, yes. And I'm not the only one who thought so. I will explain this later in the post.

Bay to Bay Volleyball Club logo

In fairness to our coaches last year, I guess they had their own styles of running their teams, and I totally respect that. I played collegiate volleyball and coached as well (although probably not at the same level as these folks), so I do understand the game and what's needed to improve the quality of play. Again, my role was that of a parent, and I totally supported any decision made.

With the start of this season, we (as a family) learned from last year's experience and wanted to improve on it. And this was the reason why I did my little research on 2 other clubs, and eventually settling to tryout for Bay to Bay and Endline, with all factors considered.

First was Bay to Bay on Saturday. I estimated about 30-35 players tried out for the 15s team, almost half of which were players from last year's 14s team. While the players did their thing inside the gym, all the 15s parents were gathered outside for a meeting with the club director. He talked about the club, what they offered, and what their plans were for the year. Most were returning families, and about 2-3 were new, including us.

When we got back inside the gym to watch the remainder of the tryouts, I noticed that 2 teams of about 14-18 players each were divided into 2 courts. The better players were at center court, while the not-so better players were on the leftmost court, James included. I looked at the composition of each, and I knew that the selection must have been random because my son was playing way better than some of those at center court.

When tryouts ended, I told James that he needed to up his game and be more aggressive on the second day of tryouts. Overall, I think he did OK. But I knew he could do better.

What happened on the second day in the next post. Keep reading.

Note: Author wishes to acknowledge Bay to Bay Volleyball Club for the use of their logo in this post.