I have been a club volleyball coach for going on six years now, and a club director for almost three years. I have been answering the same questions from parents for years. Mostly about how club volleyball works and how their kids can get the most out of the experience. Now there is a book that can answer most of those questions in an intelligent manner. The book is not actually a how to guide but it is close enough.Some of the stuff that I talk to my club team parents about, such as nutrition, preparing for the tournaments, how to mentally prepare kids for tryouts, how to deal with the stress of competition, the kind of equipment to buy, what to look for when shopping for a club and a coach, etc. are all in this book.
The authors also attempt to deal with the rules of the game. Although the book is brand new for 2000, it is also a tad out of date for this upcoming year. The libero rule and other rule changes being integrated into the USAV rules were not touched on.
In a way this book is somewhat minimalist in that it deals only with the basics, but that is more than enough for most parents or players. I would have like to have seen more on how to prepare kids for club recruiting, or the peer pressures that comes from the experience, and the competition for players from the different clubs. The book touches on some aspects of college recruiting, not really enough to prepare the parents for the onslaught, but they do mean well. The authors does a generally good job of differentiating between the different levels of competion, but I think they really need to emphasize the difference between a traveling team and a local team.
Another issue that is ignored is the level of coaching and how to identify good coaches versus bad coaches. The usual way is through the volleyball grapevine, but there are certain tell tale signs from how the clubs run their tryouts that will tell you whether this is a good or a bad club. Most of that is quibling because I love this book.
I love the fact that I now have a book to recommend to parents who have a million questions about club volleyball but have nowhere to go. This is a must read for parents who wants to get their kids involved in volleyball as well as those parents whose kids are transitioning to higher levels of club volleyball.
Now if only they could add a chapter about how valuable coaches are and how they really should be paid a lot more money, all my problems would be solved!!!:)
