How Do I Choose A Club?

We know the process of choosing a club can be very overwhelming. We've put together some tips to help you through the process.

Background
Badger Region is one of 40 Regional Volleyball Associations of USA Volleyball. Essentially, we're the Wisconsin chapter of USA Volleyball. Each club in Badger Region is an independently-run business who joins our association for the organizational framework of rules and regulations, coaching education, officials training and many other offerings. When you pay the membership fee to register with Badger Region, about half of that stays within the region to fund programming while the other half goes to USA Volleyball for the national-level programming and support. The fees that you pay to the clubs stay within that club for their own expenses.

Where Do I Find The Clubs?
The best way to find out all of your options is to visit the Badger Region Volleyball website at www.BadgerVolleyball.org. Click on “Junior Volleyball” on the left side, then boys or girls clubs. You can click on a link to sort by area. You will find a contact person and, in many cases, a club website linked within the club name. Much of this information is updated by October.

Now What?
Get information on all the clubs in your area. Check the websites or email the club directors and ask for information. The kinds of things you want to know are:
- What age groups do you offer?
- How do you select your members?
- How many teams do you have at each age level?
- Who are the coaches at your child’s age level?
- What is their background in coaching?
- What is the club philosophy? (Does everyone play? Is it “play to win?)
- What are your membership fees? Is there a payment schedule?
- What is covered/not covered in that fee?
- Are there any other financial obligations? Travel? Fund raising? Uniforms?
- Where, when and how often do you practice?
- Are practices mandatory? What if my child misses a practice? Misses a tournament?
- How long is your season?
- How far will the team be traveling?

Once you have this information for all the clubs, sit down as a family and see which clubs fit into your goals, commitment level, financial situation, etc.  Ask yourselves some questions:
- What does my child want to get out of the club experience?
- Does my child want to play in high school? At what level in college?
- Does my child just want to enjoy the game and play with friends?
- What is my child’s priority for allocating free time: job, activities with friends, other club sports, etc.?
- Can my child keep up with school work?
- Can we afford the program we choose?
- How important is it that we, as parents, travel with our child? Can we save money if our child travels with the team?

Then register with Badger Region/USA Volleyball prior to tryouts (by clicking on 2011-12 Registration at left), and attend tryouts for a number of your top choices if you can. Don’t be afraid to shoot too high! Don’t assume big clubs are better than small clubs. Don't assume a "volunteer" coach is better than a "paid" coach. Most important of all – don’t listen to rumors!!! Ask the club personnel questions – that’s what they’re there for.

This is a big decision from both a financial and time commitment standpoint and it’s your right to find out as much as you possibly can heading into this decision.

Good luck and please contact the Region office or board of directors with any questions!