Switching Sports at Age 15

Can a young athlete change sports at age 15 and find success?

My son's baseball career came to an abrupt end after playing at the highest level from age 9 to 14. A nagging elbow injury limited his ability to throw hard enough to compete on elite teams anymore. He could have moved to a lower level team, but he had lost his love for the game after three years of constant ice and physical therapy.

He decided to concentrate on golf and set his sights on making the high school team as a freshman. It was an ambitious goal for a kid who has spent more time on the baseball diamond than on a golf course, especially considering the school he was going to attend. The school of 800 boys only has two golf teams of 12 golfers (JV and Varsity). The team only took 4 freshman. Nic's score after 4 days of tryouts had him ranked 5th. He was the last freshman cut.

After he was cut, I asked him what sport he was going to play. He was discouraged and did not want to tryout for any sports. I told him that he needed to play at least one sport in high school because it is such an important part of connecting to the school and making friends. I talked him into trying out for the volleyball team. Nic tried to convince me that he could not make the team that wins state championships often. I talked to the coach and the coach told me that while the program is one of the best in the state every year, a good athlete with little experience can still make the freshman team.

While that is what I was hoping to hear, I was a bit surprised because my perspective was baseball and soccer. Boys baseball is a very developed sport and it would be impossible for a player new to the sport to compete with kids who have been playing travel ball for 5 to 7 years. Soccer is also very developed. High school players have been honing their skills on elite club teams since they were 8, so it would be very difficult to jump into soccer and expect to make a team at a big high school with competitive sports programs. The coach explained that boys volleyball is different. While girls volleyball is very developed in our area with 10 to 15 clubs training girls from age 8 on, boys volleyball is not. So a good athlete can pick up the game and compete in a relatively short amount of time.

Nic signed up for a winter volleyball club team to prepare for the tryouts. He came home from the first practice and said he felt like a fool. He knew how to bump, serve and spike, but he did not know the positions. The game was much more complicated than it looks. The coach and the guys on the team gave him the business in a lighthearted way. They called him Kobe because he was the only one wearing basketball shoes. Still, they taught him the game, he improved quickly and he started to love the game.

Nic tried out for the freshman volleyball team at his HS and made it. He did not play a single point until match number 9. Then he got his chance and he did not sit out another point all season. This year, he made the JV team and plays outside hitter and middle back.


Oh yeah, he was also named the team captain.

The Main Point

Keep competing and trying new things. You never know what it is going to lead to.

Youth Sports or Science Fair?

If your young athlete had to choose between competing in a sports tournament or a science fair what would you do?

In December, my daughter, CC, worked on her science fair project. All honors students in her school were required to participate. My daughter decided to study beach erosion after seeing the destruction of the New Jersey beaches from Hurricane Sandy. She replicated a shoreline and ocean floor in a large clear plastic container, simulated waves and then measured the movement of the sand with and without barriers. She also took time out from this project from time to time during the month to try out for a National Level Junior Olympic Volleyball team.

CC won first place in the local science fair and qualified for the District competition on March 15th. She also made the National Level JO team which meant lots of travel. The first thing that we did was check the volleyball schedule to see if the science fair was a conflict. As luck would have it, her volleyball team was schedule to play in a big tournament in St. Louis. We had a decision to make.

Crazy Youth Sports Parent Alert

The St. Louis tournament was scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday had two sessions, an am session and a pm session. I was hoping that CC's team was going to get the Friday morning session so that we could drive out on Thursday night, fly back to Cincinnati for the Science Fair competition and then fly back to St. Louis on Saturday evening to be there to play on Sunday. We planned to drive home after the tournament. I found flights that worked but waited to book the flights until the final schedule was announced. As it turned out, our team was placed in the Friday afternoon session and there were no flights that would work. We had a decision to make.

We decided to forgo the volleyball tournament. It was a really easy decision to make. CC has played in 100's of sports tournaments in her 13 years. She remembers some of them vividly but most are a blur of muddled memories. The Science Fair was going to be a memorable event that had the possibility to shape who she will be. She is not going to be a professional volleyball player.

Another girl on the team, decided to decline her invitation to the Science Fair to play volleyball.

The Main Point

Only 5% of athletes get to play sports in college, so academics should always trump sports.

Actually, a student can increase their chances of getting a scholarship if they are good students. DIII coaches often work with the admissions departments to give academic scholarships to lure athletes to play for their school.

As it turned out, we made a good decision, CC won several cash awards and was selected to advance to the Ohio State Science Fair in May. The first thing that I did was check the sports schedule. She does not have a volleyball conflict, but she does have a soccer tournament that weekend. We have a decision to make.

Youth Volleyball: Crazy Weekend, Crazy Money Spent

I had to share my crazy youth sports weekend and the ridiculous amount of money I spent because of it.

Flash back to November, my wife and I planned a five day getaway trip. Five days is about all I can handle being away from the kids. We planned to leave on Sunday, January 26th and return on a Friday, January 30th. We typically plan our getaways on a Sunday to Friday schedule for two reasons: 1) Every night is a school night. This makes it easier for my parents to watch the kids and 2) chances of missing a game are reduced.

As our trip approached, we found out that our daughter had a volleyball tournament in Nashville, Tennessee which is a 5 hour drive from Cincinnati. Our flight home from vacation was supposed to arrive at 11:30 pm on Friday. I did not want to drive 5 hours at night after a long day of traveling from the Caribbean, so I called Delta and the resort and changed our trip to a Saturday to Thursday schedule. 

COST: $300 and 20,000 miles to change the flight. No charge for the room change.

My wife and I had a great time, but we were ready to go home on Thursday to see the kids. Right before we were about to leave the resort, we found out that our flight to Atlanta, our connection city, was cancelled. We were stuck in the tropics for an extra day. We had to buy an extra day at the resort and Delta was not going to reimburse the amount because it was weather related.

 COST: $350 for an additional night at the resort.

We had to scramble and figure out how we were going to get our daughter to Nashville. Option 1 was to get home at 11:30 pm on Friday and drive all night. Option 2 was to get our daughter a ride to Nashville with a teammate or coach and meet our daughter there. 

We were very reluctant to choose option 2 because we do not know the coach or the other families yet. This is the first season that we have been with this club and this was the first tournament. We spoke to our daughter and she thought it would be fun to ride with the coaches, so we chose option 2. 

We called Delta to change our final destination to Nashville instead of Cincinnati. They were willing to do it, but would not put us on the 7pm flight to Nashville because they did not think that we could make the connection in time due to customs. Our option was a 10:30 flight. Instead of waiting 3 hours for a hour long flight, we decided to reserve a rental car in Atlanta and planned to drive the 3.5 hour trip. Well, our flight arrived early into Atlanta and we breezed through customs, so we asked Delta if we could jump on the 7pm Nashville flight. We made it with minutes to spare. We then rented a car in Nashville.

COST: $270 for a three day rental and a drop off fee.

Nashville is in the south, but it was not exactly warm there in January and the forecast called for snow on the Sunday of the tournament. We did not have any warm clothes. We left Cincinnati in a snow storm the day we left for our trip, but we left our coats at home. As a result, we had to buy a few sweatshirts and some long sleeve shirts. 

COST: $170 for warm clothes.

The team gathered for a team dinner at Old Chicago Pizza and Tap Room and we stopped at a grocery store to get tailgating food, paper plates, forks, etc. so the kids could eat quickly between games. 

COST: $130 for food and drinks.

It was all worth it. My daughter's team did really well in the tournament. Too well. They advanced all the way to the finals. The final match went to 3 games. The final game went to 16-14. As a result, we did not leave Nashville until 4:30 EST which was just about the same time a big snow storm was sweeping across Tennessee and Kentucky. After 6 hours of white knuckle driving, we got home, but we missed the Super Bowl. I apparently did not miss anything because it was not a good Superbowl.

I would rather watch my daughter than Payton Manning any day. She was fun to watch. At five foot one, my daughter was the shortest outside hitter in the entire tournament, but she did great because she can jump. She also played middle back.

The Main Point

Total cost $1,150. 

I would do anything to watch my kids play the sports that they love to play. 

Youth Sports: Hanging up the Spikes to Spike a Volleyball

My son, Nic, was born to play baseball. Or so I thought. He excelled at baseball at a young age.  Age 10 he played on a super elite team. That team went on to be finalist in the CABA World Series and Nic was named to the All Tournament Team. He could hit and he had a great arm. He set his dreams on playing in college and perhaps beyond.

I was amazed at how hard he could throw a baseball at that young age. It seemed unnatural. I guess it was because he broke his elbow at age 11 and his arm was never the same again.

At the end of the U15 season last year, his baseball team broke up. Tryouts for the 2013 season were held immediately after the 2012 season. Nic tried out for several elite teams, teams that were looking for 1 or 2 players to round out their rosters. I talked with many of the coaches. They loved Nic's speed, hitting mechanics, hustle and attitude, but they were concerned about his arm strength. Nic's arm was about dead after the long season and during tryouts. He did not make any elite teams. He was offered spots on lower level teams, but he did not want to do that. He knew his arm was always going to limit him. He decided to hang up the spikes. He felt like a dream died to him.

I convinced Nic to play volleyball, instead of baseball, in high school. I thought that volleyball would be the perfect game for his athletic ability. He will likely be tall, he can jump through the roof and he is very quick and athletic. It is also the perfect game for his temperament. It is sport where mistakes are not recorded. It is also a sport where the fans so close to the action and loud and he loves playing to a crowd.

The Main Point

When one door closes another one always opens. And you can walk through that opened door if you keep your head up.

Nic made his high school freshman team. He sat on the bench for the first 9 games. He was frustrated, but I told him to be patient. I reminded him that he is just learning the game. I told him to work hard in practice and before long he would be starting.

He got his chance in the 10th game. He has not sat out many points since. He loves his new sport.

Youth Sports: Stupid Immature Parent

Crazy Youth Sports Parent Alert. You are not going to believe this one.

What do you think about the ACE cheer in girls volleyball?

If you have ever watched girls volleyball you know that, the players on the court form a circle and on girls on the bench stand up in a line and they all do a coordinated cheer after each service ACE. My daughter's team stomps their feet right, left, right three times while they spell out A-C-E. Then they lift their right leg, clap their hands under their leg and then immediately raise their hands upward while pointing their index finger.

I have to admit. The first time I witnessed the ACE cheer, I thought it was unsportsmanlike. I know that if a HS pitcher did a strike out cheer after each strike out, he would get a ball in the earhole during his next at bat. But after, seeing the cheer from almost every team, in every tournament, I now accept it as part of the game. I came to realize that the girls are celebrating an accomplishment, they are not celebrating the other team's failure.

Volleyball ACE Cheer

Last night, my daughter's CYO volleyball team was matched up against an inferior team who had a tremendous amount of trouble digging and passing serves. Our team is loaded with really strong servers who happen to hit the ball very hard and make the ball move side to side unexpectedly, much like a knuckleball in baseball.

In the first game, our girls recorded 13 aces and 13 cheers in a 15-2 rout. The line judge on our team's side of the court was the dad of one of the girls on the opposing team. His blood boiled with each cheer. After about 10 cheers, he had had enough and did his own cheer. He yelled out, "S-T-U-P-I-D Stupid."

What?!? That did not really just happen. What kind of example does that set for his girl, for any of the girls?

My wife, the assistant coach, confronted him immediately. She asked. "You didn't just call 6th grade girls stupid did you?" He gave her a mischievous smirk and said yeah. The head coach jumped up and had a few private words with this jerk. She let him know that they were not happy. My wife and the head coach decided against a request for a new judge because the game was so lopsided.

Later in the night, this jerk was watching one of our games against another team. He sat in the front row just a few feet from our servers. He was cheered several times M-I-S-S Miss. Unbelieveable.

The last game of the night, our team won 15-0 with 14 aces from our first server. The 7th ace, was a rocket that just cleared the net, then dove downward. The serve caught a girl right in the face and bloodied her nose. Our team did not cheer on that serve or any other one after that. There is a time to celebrate and a time to win quietly.

The Main Point

Don't be a jerk, especially at a Christian athletic event, because the dads in the stands who are far away from your antics might not be all knowing, but God is.

Youth Volleyball: 23 Things I learned at my First JO Tournament

My daughter recently gave up AAU basketball to concentrate on soccer and volleyball. So I went to our first Junior Olympic Volleyball Tournament this weekend. This is what I observed.

1. JO Volleyball tournaments may only be one day events, but they are long and grueling - we arrived at 7am and left at 6pm. 
2. Teams in a 12 team event are guaranteed 4 matches.
3. Each game lasted about 20-30 minutes. (Blowout matches might last 40. Closely contested back and forth matches can last 90+ minutes)
4. The teams warm up for about 30 minutes prior to each match - even if the team is competing in the 5th match of the day. This makes no sense to me. The 11 hour event could have been cut down considerably.
5. Unlike, basketball or soccer, there is only one set game time. The first game of the day on each court is established then the preceding matches follow immediately after the match prior concludes. Some matches last 40 min and others last 90, so games times cannot be set. 
6. Girls volleyball uniforms are ridiculously tight.
7. Sadly, there are a lot of overweight 12 and 13 year old girls.
8. The players are assigned to officiate the games they are not playing in. (They line judge, keep score and they work as the down ref.)
9. The up ref (the one on the ladder) is a paid experienced ref.
10. Considering that most of the officiating is done by the players, I am not sure why volleyball is so much more expensive than basketball and soccer.
11. The young refs and line judges made a few mistakes, but all in all they did well for 12 year old kids. 
12. Thankfully, the fans went easy on the young judges. Our parents were warned prior to the season.
13. The first two games of a three game match are rally scored to 25.
14. The third game of a three game match is played with standard scoring to 15. (Only the serving team can score.)
15. You can missed the excitement of a nail biter third game if you think that it goes to 25. In the first match that went to three games, our team came back from a 11-14 deficit to win 16-14. I watched calmly thinking that we needed 9 more points.
16. Playing time is not distributed equally. My daughter played in about 10.5 of the 12 games. One girl, who really struggles, only played in 5 games. Her parents were pissed.
17. Volleyball parents are just like soccer, football, softball, baseball and basketball parents. They too complain about the coaches, the refs, the facilities, the length of the events, the playing time, etc.
18. Spikes are exciting, but I think that back row digs are awesome and seem to get the loudest fan reaction.
19. Some kids can pay attention on each and every play and some kids are in la la land on most plays. (The rule that a player must hit the ball before it hits the ground is lost on a quite a few of the girls.)
20. Girls develop at different ages. Some of the 11-12 year old girls looked like they could be in 4th grade (my daughter) and others looked like they were juniors in high school.
21. Youth sports facility food is terrible. (NO OUTSIDE FOOD PERMITTED)
22. All the players of a team must stay even after the team is eliminated if a few of the girls are assigned to ref a later game. Our team made it to the final four this weekend. We met a strong team in the semi finals. We, of course, wanted to win, but if we had to lose, then we wanted to lose before the other semi-final loser lost. The last semi-final team to lose had to ref the finals.  Thankfully, we lost 2 minutes before the other semi-final team, so I was able to get home just in time for the kickoff of the Superbowl. The dads from the other losing team and the 2 finalist teams were not as lucky.
23. The ball always finds the weakest player on the court.

The Main Point

Volleyball is fun to watch if the teams are good and the rallies are long. Volleyball is pure torture if a team is struggling. Our team did pretty well, but 12 games of volleyball over 11 hours is not for the weak.

 

Growing Up and Away From Sports

There comes a time when one realizes his or her sports career is coming to an end. It is a depressing time. It was for me.

My youth sports career was limited by my lack of focus. I played soccer and basketball and baseball and tennis and golf. I did not play any of these sports at a high level. I didn't even know that there were higher levels above town leagues. And I guess my parents were not too eager to find out about them either.

In 9th grade, my best days of baseball were behind me and I had fallen behind in soccer to players who knew that there was another level. Additionally, I was not tall enough for basketball and did not have the great ball handling skills to make it as a guard. At the time, there were no HS golf teams, so playing competitively did not cross my mind. That left tennis. I was really good at tennis, but it was not my passion. I decided to tryout for the tennis team. My high school was highly ranked, so I knew that it was not going to be an easy team to make. My dad belonged to a tennis club, so we played a couple of times a week in the mornings to prepare. He also invested in some lessons for me. When tryouts came around, I thought that I was ready. Unfortunately, the coaching staff did not. Very few freshman made the team and I was not one of the chosen few.

I immediately called the baseball coach and asked if it was to late to tryout for the baseball team. He allowed me to join in the later rounds of the tryouts, but I realized he was not paying any attention to me. When he posted the cut list, I saw my name. I wallowed in self-pity for the entire season. It was the first season that I did not have a sport to play. I didn't even pick up a racquet that season to play for fun. In fact, I never picked up a racquet to play competitively ever again.

Luckily, there was a new sport emerging, lacrosse. Few kids had played the sport growing up so I was not too far behind. My lax friends encouraged me to play. I picked up the game very quickly and found my passion. I made the JV team and eventually played on the varsity team. The game made me much much tougher. The game made me much more fit. And most importantly, the game gave me confidence and not just on the lax field. If I had all of these qualities before, I could have made the squads in any of the other sports I had played previously.

My son is going through a similar cycle and this fall is the first fall that he did not have fall ball baseball or golf or basketball. He was the last freshman cut from the golf team despite playing well. His baseball team broke up so he tried out for 4 club teams. He did not make any of the teams, his lingering arm problems finally caught up to him.

He felt the same way I did when I was in 9th grade.

The Main Point

I gave up on tennis after my setback, I will not let Nic give up on golf. Looking back, he wished that he had dropped baseball before last year to concentrate on golf. His friends that made their teams had played all spring and summer long to prepare for golf, Nic only played the three weeks between the end of baseball and the golf tryouts.

Then this fall he did what I did. He found a new sport. He found boys volleyball. He joined a pre-season club team and learned the game. He fell in love with it. He signed up for tryouts for the club season, but a stress fracture in his back have derailed those plans for now. Hopefully he can get back to playing so he can prepare for the HS season.

Regardless, there comes a time when competitive sports stop and real life begins. Luckily, real life includes intramural sports and co-ed adult leagues.

Youth Volleyball: Take your kid to the AVP

Hurricane Isaac was suppose to wash out Labor Day weekend in Cincinnati, so I did not make plans to play golf.

I expected to awake to rain on Saturday morning, but the skies were clear. I turned on the news to see the weather forecast and it showed that the chances of rain were low. After the weather forecast, I saw a news clip featuring the AVP event happening in Cincinnati. It looked like fun. I decided that a day with my little girl at the AVP would be better than another frustrating round of golf. At 9am, I awoke my daughter, CC, and asked her if she would be interested in going to see the AVP right after her basketball practice. She was excited to go.

The event started at 8am and was scheduled to run until 8pm. $15 general admission tickets to get into the park were sold throughout the day, so we did not need to be there at any particular time. We headed to Washington Park in downtown Cincinnati at 12:30.

I was concerned about parking with our late arrival, but we were able to park right next to the venue. I was worried that we would have to wait in a long line to buy tickets, but we walked right up and bought them with ease. We was concerned that we would not get good seats, but we walked into the stadium and sat in the fourth row during a game starring Kerri Walsh.

After the game, CC, was able to get Kerri Walsh's autograph. She also got an autograph from Kerri's new partner, Nicole Branagh. Misty May retired after the Olympics.

After Walsh and Branagh won their match, CC and I went to court 2 to watch the USA Olympic Silver Medal winners, April Ross and Jen Kessy, play a match. Court two was surrounded by bleachers no more impressive that you would find at a local little league baseball game. I would say that 100 people max were watching some of the best volleyball you can find anywhere. After the match, which Ross-Kessy won, CC got both of their autographs.

CC with Nicole Branagh

CC with Kerri Walsh

CC with Kerri Walsh

Jen Kessy Jump Serve

CC getting Jen Kessy and April Ross' autograph

AVP Volleyball in Cincinnati's Washington Park

The Main Point

Take your aspiring volleyball player to see an AVP event. You get to see great athletes compete up close and personal for $15. If you get there at 8am and stay the entire day, that is $1.25 per hour. That is a great deal.

It was a memorable day for me and my daughter, CC.

Youth Volleyball: Why are Girl's Volleyball Shorts So Short? (Part 3)

What??? Beach Volleyball without Bikinis at the London 2012 Olympics. TV ratings must be down and NBC must be furious.

In my last post on this subject, I stated that my post called Youth Volleyball: Why are Girl's Volleyball Shorts so Short? has received the second most all time traffic on my site and it's the number 1 most commented on post on my site. The Olympics bring volleyball to the masses, so the Olympics have increased the number of visits to my site by people trying to figure out Why are women's volleyball shorts so short? Traffic to that post has tripled since the Olympic volleyball started.

Did anyone notice that Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were wearing long sleeves and pants when cool London nights forced the teams to cover up? 

Did you know that bikinis are no longer required uniforms out of respect for the cultural beliefs of some participating countries.

When I first wrote about this subject, I was not advocating for longer shorts or berating shorter shorts, I was just curious about when, where and why the shorts came to be in women's volleyball. I concluded that tight spandex short shorts and the skimpy bikinis do have some function, but these uniforms have more to do with fashion and publicity. Or as the Australian Sport Commission calls it the Sexploitation of sports.

British star Denise Johns agrees with this point of view in a interview in the Sunday Times which was also quoted in the Huffington Post article called Olympic Volleyball Uniforms: Bikinis No Longer Required. 

 "The people who own the sport [the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball] want it to be sexy," Johns told the Sunday Times. "I used to play in shorts and a T-shirt and was reluctant to change. But if it gets volleyball attention, so be it."

The Main Point

More evidence that women's volleyball uniforms have more to do with form over function.

So I have a new question, why are men's divers swim shorts so butt-crack-showing short? I assume for the same reason - to attract an audience.

Youth Volleyball: Why are the girl's volleyball shorts so short? (Part 2)

On January 9th, 2011, in a post, I asked this question "Why are the girl's volleyball shorts so short?". That post is the second most visited post on my site almost every single day and now has over 33,000 pageviews. It is also the most commented on post on my site.

I asked the question after I saw daughter play her first parochial school 4th grade volleyball game. I wondered why the Catholic school would have such strict and modest uniform mandates for school, but allow shorts that Ke$ha might wear to the MTV awards show.

In that post, I determined that the short shorts are for fashion purposes only and have no competitive advantage. This point of view was argued by many volleyball players on my site, but I am still not buying it. If that were true, women basketball players and men volleyball players would wear them to.

Well here is more evidence. This year the NCAA debuted sand volleyball as a sport. Pepperdine was the inaugural champion after they beat Long Beach State in the 2012 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championship.

Pepperdine played in loose fitting gym shorts against Long Beach State who donned bikini style shorts. Watch Pepperdine dominate Long Beach State in this video.

The Main Point

I am not arguing for or against short shorts for college volleyball. Volleyball is a great game with or without the short shorts.  I am simply saying that Spandex short shorts do not provide a competitive advantage for volleyball inside a gym or out on a beach.

Youth Sports: Two Sport Athlete Overcommitted (Part 4)

In the previous three posts, I have questioned whether it is fair for a young athlete to commit to two different teams in the same season? Is it fair to the respective coaches, fair to both sets of teammates, fair to all of the parents who spend a lot of money to put their kid on a top team with high expectations?

I talked to two people who have experienced the two sport situation. After my conversations, I started asking a new question.

Is it fair that a talented young athlete has to commit to one sport over another before he / she knows his / her full potential / passion in any given sport?

The other day, I was at an orthopedic doctor getting a mysterious bump on my shin looked at. (It turned out to be nothing.) Prior to seeing the doctor, a young assistant came into the room to take down some information. While she was asking me questions like when the lump appeared and what medications do I take and am I allergic to anything etc. She also asked me if I had kids, which led to a conversation about youth sports. She was dressed in sweats and looked very athletic, so I asked her if she was an athlete. She said that she had played basketball for a small division 3 college in Ohio. I asked her if she played any other sports growing up. She mentioned that she played club soccer and AAU basketball. Wow, just like my daughter, CC.

So I asked her the burning question - how did you play both? She said,

"You daughter is going to get lots of pressure to specialize from coaches, single sport teammates and parents of teammates. My advice is don't do specialize for as long as you can. My soccer training helped me become a better basketball player and my basketball training helped me become a better soccer player. And, I did not know which sport that I wanted to pursue in college until 9th grade. Play both as long as you can."

I also called a friend of mine to dig a bit deeper into the subject. My friend has two very athletic daughters. The oldest is playing volleyball in college. The youngest just signed a letter of intent to play soccer in college. Both played high level club basketball and volleyball through 8th grade.

Here is what he said after I told him about the pressure we were getting lately:

Wow this sounds so familiar as we had to do this for both of our girls.    

Kate and Shea played both club volleyball and club soccer up to 8^th grade (soccer and Volleyball are the same season in High school and club).  Both also played CYO volleyball and basketball.

My recommendation is to keep CC into as many sports as she want to be in and as you can manage.  I think this gives them a feel for what they want to do and they do not get burned out to early on one sport.   As they get closer to high school, girls start to level out

Youth Volleyball: Pre-Game Prayer

Wordless Wednesday

Pre-game Prayer

The Main Point

I wish all sporting events started with a prayer. Sadly, pre-game prayers are being banned in secular / public settings.

The terms "Prayer in Sports" or "Sports Prayers" searched on Google and other search portals consistently drives traffic to my site from all over the world. 

Youth Sports: This Parent Needs a Hug

Yes

At the end of almost every youth sports season, most coaches give a speech about the team. Invariably during the speech, the coach will instruct the young athletes to give their parents a hug and ask them to thank mom and dad for all the time they sacrificed to allow them to play.

Well, the season has just started and I need a hug.

Last week, I missed my beloved NY Giants play so that I could watch my daughter play volleyball. After that volleyball match, I didn't rush home to watch Tebow-mania and the Broncos win against the Steelers because I was watching my daughter play basketball.

Today, I will not be going to see the Villanova Men's basketball team (my alma mater) play the University of Cincinnati like I do every time Nova comes to town. No, I will be watching my daughter play hoops again. And tomorrow I will again miss my Giants play if my daughter's basketball team advances to the finals of the MLK tournament that they are in. They won the tournament last year so chances are good I will be watching my daughter shoot open three pointers while the Eli Manning is throwing TD passes to an open Victor Cruz.

The Main Point

I love my daughter and thank God for the DVR. Now I'm just waiting for a device to pause my kids games so that can play more golf again.

Youth Sports: Is your family obsessed?

Crazy Youth Sports Parents Series

Is your youth sports schedule as crazy as ours. I know we're not alone. Share your craziness here.

At the beginning of last year, I wondered how many official youth sports games my kids would participate in during the 2010. It was actually the impetus for this blog. They played in 225 games last year.

At the beginning of this year, I wondered how many practices my kids would participate in to prepare for all of the games the would play during 2011. Here are the astonishing numbers to date for this calendar year.

Today is August 15th or the 227th day of 2011. My two kids ages 10 (girl) and 14 (boy) have participated in the following schedule.

• 85 Basketball Games
• 12 Volleyball Games
• 32 Soccer Games
• 61 Baseball Games
• 1   Golf Matches - Started today.
• 191 Total Games
• 111 Total practices for all of the above.
• 302 scheduled events or 1.3 events per day.
• Over 10,000 miles traveled for games in 6 states.
• Over $9,000 spent

 

The Main Point

We're nuts. And we are not alone. 

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Youth Volleyball: Son Did Not Make the Cut

It hurts when you get cut when you are trying out for a team. You feel embarrassed. You feel sad. You feel like a loser. You question yourself on what you did wrong. You make excuses. You look for any reason that can justify the obvious injustice, perhaps it was an injury or politics or whatever.

On Sunday, my son, Nic, tried out for his school's volleyball team. Last year, he chose to play on the B team because he did not think that he could not commit to the A team and play 75 baseball games. Baseball was / is his main sport.

Nic found the B team to be completely frustrating. The season was summed up by one frustrated parent who yelled out during a game, "THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO HIT THE BALL BEFORE IT HITS THE GROUND"

It turned out that Nic had very few conflicts between volleyball and baseball last year. Volleyball practice was held after school and baseball practices were in the evenings. Furthermore, volleyball games were typically played during the week, while most baseball games were on the weekends. As such, this year, my son decided to tryout for the A team with hopes of eventually being the team's setter.

I tried to talk him out of trying out for the team. I expressed my concern about being overscheduled. I suggested to him that he concentrate on baseball and play in a few junior PGA tournaments to prepare for the golf season. He listened and understood, but he wanted to play volleyball with his friends.

After the tryout, he was very confident that he would make the team. I was very confident that he would make it.

The list came out this morning before school started. My son was on the B team list. He did not make the  A team. He was embarrassed. He was sad. And he was dreading going to school and getting teased.

I had an empty feeling in my stomach. Do youth sports parents feel their kids pain or are they reliving pain from the past?

The Main Point

The felt the same way when I was cut from my HS baseball team as a 9th grader. Fortunately, when that door closed, another one opened. I started playing lacrosse. I believe that lacrosse changed my life. I took a beating every practice and game. It made me tougher. It challenged me to push myself and overcome fear. It prepared me for life.

Getting cut from the volleyball team just might turn out to be a life changing event for my son. Who knows.

Another good thing - My daughter is scheduled to play 60 basketball and soccer games between Mar 1 and August 8. My son is scheduled to play 60 baseball games between Mar 1 and Jul 15. We are not sure how we are going to do this, so it was somewhat of a relief that we do not have to fit volleyball into the schedule.

Youth Volleyball: Unhappy Parent Confronts Coach

Crazy Youth Sports Parents Series

My wife and coach of my daughter's 4th grade volleyball team was confronted by an unhappy parent after the last game of the season yesterday.

The situation

• The first year 4th grade team struggled all season long. 
• Most schools in the area start volleyball in 3rd grade. The extra year experience gave many of our opponents a competitive advantage.
• My wife and her co-head coach were dismayed that they could not help their team win more games.
• My wife and her co-head coach played all the girls equally all year long regardless of ability.
• Typically each girl would play two games and sit one. The parish rule is that every player must play one entire game of the three in the regular season. Playing time is at the coaches discretion in the playoffs.
• During the regular season, a match would consist of 3 games even if one team won the first 2 games. 
• During the playoffs, the matches are best 2 of 3. A match is over when a team wins two games. A third game is not played if a team wins the first two.
• Friday night, my wife and her co-coach spent an hour on the phone setting the line ups for all three games of their first playoff match.
• They decided to rotate in the best 7 players in the first game instead of 8 like they have done all year long.
• They did this to give the team the best chance to win the first game to give the team a chance to play 3 games and perhaps advance.
• Unfortunately, the team lost the first game against a much better team. (15-9)
• Three girls did not play the first game, but were scheduled to play in games 2 and 3.
• Unfortunately the second game was a lopsided loss. (15-3)
• Because the game was so one sided, our team did not get to rotate much.
• One of the three girls that did not play the first game did not get to serve in the second game because her serving slot did not come up during the short one-sided game.
• After the game, this player cried her eyes out.
• I thought she was crying because they lost the game. No she was crying because she did not get to serve the entire day.
• This obviously upset the parent.
• The parent confronted my wife and the co-head coach to share his discontent about his child's lack of playing time.
• My wife and her co-coach were completely taken by surprise. Dumfounded, they did not have much to say.
• Both caring and sensitive coaches walked away greatly upset.
• This dad needs a serious reality check.

The Main Point

This disgruntled parent was completely out of line. First he violated a team rule that states an upset parent  cannot approach a coach until after a 24 hour cooling off period. If he had, maybe he would have realized that his daughter did not play a lot because the team only played 2 games. Maybe he would have realized that his daughter did not get to serve only by happenstance and not some evil plot by the coaches to thwart her opportunity to serve.

Listen there are unfair coaches in this world and I think that parents have every right to approach the coach with concerns or questions or even complaints, but this must be done in a respectful manner. I think that the 24 hour cool down period is a good idea.

My daughter had a great year and loves the game. She will eventually need to pick one sport over another, but for now we are happy that she is playing multiple sports.

Bump Set

First Spike

Winner Inside the Line

Youth Sports: Refs and Umps Have Tough Jobs

I am not sure why anyone would want to be a youth basketball referee.

My daughter had a 5th grade basketball game today. There were 4 fouls called in a very physical first half. Both coaches were on the refs for not calling fouls. In the second half, the refs called 25 fouls. Both coaches complained and the ref almost ejected a fan from the gym.

My son had a game today. In the first half, the 7th grade boys were playing a tough and physical game, but the refs did not call any fouls. The fans were all over the refs. The coaches did not mind because they were calling a consistent game on both sides of the court. In the second half, the game started getting out of hand, so the refs started calling fouls on every play. The fans and the coaches complained vigorously.

The Main Point

I think that the most difficult officiating job in youth sports is basketball refereeing. Let's face it. There are fouls on every single possession in basketball. The ref can't call every foul or the game will last too long. Conversely, the ref can't let every foul go or the game will get out of hand. Every play provides a coach or a fan the opportunity to complain. And because the ref is so close to the fans and coaches they hear an earful all game long. I good ref just ignores the chatter and calls a balanced game.

I believe that baseball umpires have the next toughest job again because they are close to the action. It is easier than basketball because the game is less physical and there are typically fewer calls that are questioned in each game compared to basketball. Unless of course the home plate ump has an erratic strike zone.

What sport do you think is the toughest to officiate?

Youth Volleyball: Why are the girl's volleyball shorts so short?

What is the deal with short tight volleyball shorts for girls volleyball?


My 4th grade daughter played in the first volleyball match of her career. My wife is the coach and she has been telling me that CC is a natural at volleyball. I had never seen CC play or even practice before today. Turns out my wife was right, CC was a star in a three game sweep. I was really not surprised that CC was good at volleyball too because she is a terrific little athlete. What did surprise me was that 4th grade parochial school girls were wearing such short and tight uniforms. The school has a very strict and conservative uniform policy during school hours.


This got me thinking. Why do women play volleyball in such short and tight shots? When did it start? I went on line to find out.

On a EastofIndy.com thread a volleyball player named Lauren says:

"There is a reason volleyball players where those shorts. It is easier to dive, roll, and move around. Every sport has there own equipment. I play volleyball."

Anwers.com does not have a good answer.


Topix covers the debate but provides no convincing answers.


Chacha.com claims flexibility and temperature control are reasons. 


Overall, the Yahoo Answers thread on the subject provided the same type answers but it still begged the question, "Why don't woman basketball players wear tight fitting uniforms. They jump, bend, twist and occasionally dive for loose balls. Vollygrl added that "your long shorts can get caught in the net, which could get called against you." Now we have a competitive advantage reason that perhaps led to the decision for the use of the shorts because this net violation costs a team a point and / or side-out. 

Still, I am just not buying these reasons.

Youth Sports: Frustrated with Blurry Action Photos? (Part 2)

Do you have a high end digital SLR but still get blurry action shots when shooting pictures inside a gym? I feel your pain. I was so frustrated when I would get a good action shot beautifully timed and framed only to get home and see that feet, hands and the ball were blurry. 

Despite buying a high end digital SLR D70 Nikon with a Nikon Nikkor 70-300 zoom lens, we struggle to get good action shots inside. The shot to the right shows my daughter walking (not running) up the court. The gym in which this shot was taken is one of the better lit gyms, yet most of the pictures are blurry.

Prior to Christmas, I received lots promotional mailers for cameras that piqued my interest because of my frustration concerning blurry basketball pictures. Basketball seems to be my daughter's favorite sport, so I thought that I would invest money in a newer camera to capture the action.

I decided to go to a photography store instead of a Big Box store like Best Buy. I wanted to make sure that I got advice from an expert before I purchased another expensive camera. 

I was considering a Nikon D7000 for $1,500. I figured that the D7000 camera would be able to capture indoor images better than my 5 year old D70. The D7000 has a 16.2 MP (million pixels) sensor compared to the 6.1 MP sensor of the D70. It also has a higher ISO range. The ISO deals with light sensitivity.

To my surprise, the expert at the store told me that my camera is not the problem, the lens I am using is. He said that he would gladly sell me the D7000 and it would produce slightly better pictures in lower light situations due to the higher dynamic range of the ISO which goes up to 6400 (the D70 max is 1600) but it would still produce blurry stop action shots in lower light situations with a standard lens. He recommended that I keep the D70 and buy a better lens with a larger aperture.

The Nikon Nikkor 70-300mm zoom lens has a f/4 and f/5.6 aperature size. (F/4 when the lens is 70mm and F/5.6 when the zoom is set to 300mm).  The larger the number, the less light entering into the lens. I needed a faster lens. 

I ended up buying the Tamron SP AF70-200mm lens with an F/2.8 (aperture) for $800. Nikon has a similar and perhaps better lens for $1200, but I was told that an amateur photographer like me would not likely notice any difference. I saved the $400 and bought the Tamron.

I am not an expert on photography but I followed the advice below on how best to capture stop action photos in low light situations and it worked for me.

1. Buy a lens with an aperture of 2.8 or less. (Zoom lenses with this aperture are not cheap.)
2. Set your camera to the S setting using the dial indicated with the red arrow. The S mode is an auto-exposure method in which the lens aperture is automatically set by the camera and you manually select the shutter speed.
3. Set the shutter speed. Use the dial indicated by the blue arrow. Look at the shutter speed which can be set between 30 seconds to 1/8000 of a second on my camera. The shutter speed is indicated by the yellow arrow. Rotate the dial until you get to 250. To the right of the number you may see a warning of Lo (low light) or Hi (too much light) for the corresponding shutter speed and the aperture of the lens.
4. Set your ISO to the maximum (1600 on the D70). Two ways to do this. A.) When the monitor is off, press the button on the back of the camera that looks like a checkers board - ISO is printed above it. (Green arrow) While holding this button rotate the dial indicated with the blue arrow. or B.) Using the monitor, press menu, highlight the camera icon on the monitor, scroll down to the ISO and select 1600.
5. Take a test shot. If the picture is bright enough but the image is still blurry, rotate the dial marked with the blue arrow to 320 or faster. When you get the right combination for the gym you are in use it. If the image is not blurry but still a bit dark do not worry about it because you can add light after you download the image. (See step 7)
6. Use a tripod or a mono-pod to deduce camera shake which will also cause blurriness
7. On your computer, you can add light to any image. This is very easy to do especially on iPhoto. 

• Click on the photo (it will be highlighted in yellow)
• Click on edit
• Click on adjust
• Slide the exposure to the right until you get the right amount of light. 
• Click on done.

My wife took the following pictures using the new lens and the advice above.

CC in mid air - no blurry feet

Fast break continues - ball suspended and clear

Low light yet great definition on moving hair

The Main Point

If you are a youth sports nut like me and your kids play inside sports like basketball, volleyball, wrestling or futsal then invest in a good zoom lens with an aperture of 2.8 or lower. You will not regret it.