Welcome to our first post:) If you haven't read my about me section to the right of this post here it is in greater detail. I feel that I need to outline not only the qualifications that make me the right person to write this blog, but also the things I feel everyone should know about the clubs they are considering.

My love for volleyball started when I began watching my older sisters play, I was 8 years old. I watched them play for 3 years before I was old enough to play. I played on a 12's Club team when I was 10 yrs old. I played club volleyball for the next 8 years while also playing in middle school and high school. I went on to play college MH(middle hitter) and OH(outside hitter). I had 3 very successful college seasons and then left play after a serious injury prevented me from playing for 18 months. I then got married had a few kiddos and started coaching.

My coaching career started with a park and rec team who the bulk of the team stayed together and they went undefeated for 8 seasons. I then took those same girls and started a club team. They played together till they were 16 and for the three years of club play that I coached them they were ranked between 29-40 out of 180 teams. They did very well. I went on to coach with another club for 2 years and then a another for 1 and I stopped coaching 2011. Throughout my coaching career I have coached over 75 girls ages 10-17. In the years I spent coaching the dynamic of the club mentality changed significantly.

Clubs went from wanting to enrich players individual and team abilities to their sole purpose of making money. It is this shift in dynamic that possesses me to write this blog. My last year as a coach I was excited to coach for a club who I thought had the same views and goals toward a club as I did. I was unfortunately wrong. They were only a club to create a business income. I witnessed them move girls from their age group up to the year older when they were not ready to play at the upper age group. I watched them have enough talent for one team but create a second team in an age group when their wasn't enough talent to create a successful team. They created a second team they knew and told the coach wouldn't have a chance to succeed. Practices like this and much worse happen in many clubs. Their are clubs out there that still hold to some sort of values on individual skills enrichment and I hope to help you find them.

Please share with me your personal experiences with club volleyball. All submissions will be confidential. ClubVolleyballKC@gmail.com