First, let’s talk about what club volleyball is; club volleyball is a competitive sport where you compete versus different teams and clubs. Meaning that you try out for a club team under that club there are multiple teams in age groups. Normally the teams are made up of girls in your region or county that play volleyball. Once you’re on the team these teams travel nationally and regionally to volleyball tournaments. 

There are a lot of cons and pros to play club volleyball and most people really don’t know the true reality of what it’s like to play club volleyball. The first thing that people really don’t realize about club volleyball is that it’s very expensive to play. The total average for the whole season is around 8,000 to 10,000 dollars. That is including your tournament fees and your hotels for each tournament you go to. Normally it depends on the cost for the actual team that you’re on depending on if you’re going to be traveling regionally or nationally. Bigger clubs have regional and national teams so people that only want to travel regionally can be on those teams and people that want to travel nationally can be on those teams. The average cost to be on a regional club team is around 1,500 dollars and the average for a national team is around 4,000 dollars for the season. That cost does not include your travel to each tournament, your hotel for each tournament, and any other tournament fees. 

Another reality that many people don’t know about club volleyball is that people play just for fun. Yes, there are a few people who play club volleyball just for fun, but the majority of people that are playing club volleyball also play high school volleyball and are looking to play volleyball in college. People play club volleyball because there are tournaments set up for college recruits to come and other college coaches to watch you so you could potentially get an offer in the future. When playing Club volleyball you get a lot of exposure to college coaches and opportunities to play in college. If they see you you can be sent letters to go to camps with multiple colleges there. Overall you get lots of exposer to college teams and coaches while playing club volleyball.

One last reality that people often don’t think about is the amount of time that club volleyball players spend with their team. Most club teams practice with their actual team three times a week then we’ll have another practice during the week called position rules so that everyone from other teams can come for the position that I play to get better. They also have volleyball tournaments almost every single weekend. If you think about it that’s a lot of time at the Players stay in the gym with their team or with other girls to get better at volleyball. Meaning that most club volleyball players don’t really get to make plans with people or go to special occasions with friends or family because they’re playing volleyball and the schedule that they have. Although in the end all the hard work and effort pay off.

All in all Club volleyball has pros and cons but in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons and it’s a great sport to get involved in and play because you gain so many new friends and opportunities that you wouldn’t have if you didn’t play. Club volleyball has made me a better person and a better player in the reality of playing it is that it’s so much fun.