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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 8, 2007 19:39:18 GMT -5
Sometimes, when I need a good hearty laugh, I just come here and read a thread or two. You doofs really crack me up! LOL! Illinois son! HA! Oh, boy...
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Post by Charlie on Apr 9, 2007 1:51:15 GMT -5
So what exactly is INTERACT? And why do you feel the need to INTERACT with the college coaches on the behalf of your athletes? Why can't you let the coaches assess all the athletes in the tournament on merit alone without having to have you and 10,000 other club types INTERACTING on behalf of their athletes? All of you forget one thing. College is college and volleyball is volleyball. College is college . . . uh huh Volleyball is volleyball . . . uh huh Hmm, just too deep for me, I guess. Maybe someone who has a Ph.D in Philosophy can explain this one to me. I think because of your oh-so-compelling posts I'll just have to stop doing club volleyball because it's so worthless. I will answer your question first, though. There are a number of reasons to interact with the college coaches at a junior tournament. First, I don't assist the college coaches in evaluating the players. They know how to do that. But there is much more that they need to know, and they can't talk directly to the players during the tournament. It is very helpful for them to find out about such things as: - is the player still unsigned? - what geographic areas is the player willing to go to? - how are the player's grades; good enough? - does the player require financial assistance? - what do they want to study? If the coach's school has a good program in that field, that is useful in the recruiting process. When coaches need MBs, (they always needs MBs) and my club team has MBs available, I can convey that to the coach. And if they've just committed, I can let the coach know that. If the coach is from a small college in upper NY, and the player will only consider a big school in a warm weather climate, I can tell the coach that the player is not one to look at. If the coach is from a university with very high grade requirements, and the player does not meet those requirements, I can tell the coach right away. But, after a quick conversation, we can often ascertain that the player is a potential fit for the coach's program, and the coach can then evaluate the player. The benefit to my club's player is that the coach might not otherwise have started the evaluation process. A few years ago, Jon Stevenson took the coaching job at St. Mary's and was at the Las Vegas tournament just a few days later. We ran into each other and he said he was looking for players who could compete. I told him to look at an unsigned senior who played in another club and was being overlooked because she was 5'9". He liked what he saw, and signed her shortly thereafter. She became one of the key players on a squad that beat Stanford twice in one season. He would not have discovered this player by simply roaming the courts. Jon was not unhappy that I was one of "10,000 club types" present at the tournament. Another time, I ran into a well known coach who had just gotten back into coaching and was looking for players. He needed a middle blocker. I told him about one of our 18-2 players. He evaluated her and she ended up committing to that school and was a starter the next season. He would not have 'discovered' her, and she might not have gotten the scholarship that she required in order to be able to attend a university. She did not have any other schools looking at her. That's what it means to interact with the college coaches.
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rose4vb2
Club
Is a gift to be simple, is a gift to be free. Add honest and humble is all I ask of thee.
Posts: 16
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Post by rose4vb2 on Apr 9, 2007 13:12:09 GMT -5
Blah...blah...blah... Do you club people actually READ your posts? In your attempts to discredit me, you actually continue to solidify my argument. For example: "Yes, it was very expensive, we struggled financially to get her the opportunity to play for the team." Why is it so expensive? "The parents and girls were not as you describe, maybe more than less had alot more money than us but they were all very humble and nice people along with the girls." More than less had alot of money....uhm....okay so I'll take you on your word that they are nice people. But they are still RICH, nice people. POOR nice people, I'm sure would LOVE to have their kids play sports that could potentially get them into college. But I'm thinking their kids are probably going to have to out and get part-time jobs as soon as they can work to help their parents out so that someday they might be able to move out from Section 8 housing, and maybe not have to apply for WIC every month. "I went to Las Vegas to accompany our 18-2 team and interact on their behalf with college coaches while the tournament was going on. Some of these players really want to play in college, and some of them require financial assistance to go to a good college." So what exactly is INTERACT? And why do you feel the need to INTERACT with the college coaches on the behalf of your athletes? Why can't you let the coaches assess all the athletes in the tournament on merit alone without having to have you and 10,000 other club types INTERACTING on behalf of their athletes? All of you forget one thing. College is college and volleyball is volleyball. If club volleyball were truly a vehicle to get kids who wouldn't normally get into college into college and financial aid that they wouldn't normally get, then I can buy that argument. But that's hogwash. Any resources that parents invest into club volleyball in the interest of seeking a path to college could have easily been simply put away in savings or invested wisely and it would have paid off more dividends and been a more secure bet towards funding a college education. Also, financial aid is available regardless of volleyball if a student is truly in need of financial assistance. The mere fact that you mention volleyball as a means towards securing financial aid shows me that these athletes seeking financial aid DON'T QUALIFY IN THE FIRST PLACE FOR NORMAL FINANCIAL AID BECAUSE THEY COME FROM FAMILIES THAT ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH INCOME. In layman's terms, that's upper middle class families. So if I irritate you bleeding heart club folks, great. The whole club scene has been irritating me for years. Well hate to disappoint you, but even an above average student has a hard time getting into the College of his or her choice. Today it is harder than ever even caring a 4.0 to get into some of the Universities that have good or even great Volleyball programs, or any extra curricular program for that matter. If our daughter and son did not get full rides for VB and baseball they would have had to go the Jr. College route, for you see they were only 3.9 GPA students with only 1200 on there SAT's. Believe it or not that does not get you much of a scholarship to be a walk-on. Not all clubs are irritants, as you seem to have experienced, I know that one too, but that comes from not doing your homework. Parents need to take the time to check out what type of players colleges are looking for, do you expect a club to tell a parents that there kid does not have a snowballs chance in hell of making it? That is why they have different levels of play. Yes that does allow some of the richer kids a chance to get to play, but it also gives you a glimpse of what it takes to play at the Gold level, you and you child at a certain point should be able to figure it out, wheather they have what it takes to play at a College level or not, and then if you-all want to pursue it, you can go forward. Question? Do you think that the club coaches should be there and not get paid? Do you think it is cheap to get training facilities, insurance, and to pay for transportation and lodging for tournaments? My husband and I coached for 15 years for almost nothing to assure that our children had quality coaching. I am not saying that it was not rewarding, but foolish? Probably, but we would do it all over again because that was our gift to give, not only to our kids but a lot of others. Our daughter now is a coach for a club team while going to College, and playing Volleyball. The money that she is paid, which when broken down is not all that much, however it does allow her to pay for gas, parking and car insurance for an old beater car. Would you have these players and students coach for nothing? Club is a great showcase for talent, and there are good programs that are less expensive when your kids are younger. Parents should invest the time, to seek those programs out. Sending your kids to good summer camps at different Universities to see if they might posses the skills that College Coaches are looking for is also a great thing, gives your kids a sense of what college life is like and maybe even incentive to work harder to get there, be it Volleyball or anything else. The cost of that is between $400 or 500 dollars, something that if your daughter is really interested in could or should help pay for by getting an extra job, or perhaps being sponsored by different groups in the community.. By the time they are a Jr's. in High school, being part of a good traveling club is well worth its weight in Gold if looking for a College Scholarship. Some of the clubs do have different methods of defraying the cost for parents, fund raisers and things of that nature. Everything in life cost these days, nothing is for free, some already have the money to afford there children things that others of us might not have, but that is why some of us find ways to get extra jobs to defray the cost, not be jealous of those that already have. Even though our children come from modest means they walk as proudly as those who come from wealthier homes. They are all just kids you see, and it is up to us as parents to give them the right values, and to strive to work harder if they want more in life, not be miserable because they do not have what others have been given, and to grip about it. The words that were spoken to our kids about wants and needs, were, work harder, make yourself in expendable. There is always a solution, and do not forget, "The cream always rises to the top", if you churn it hard enough.
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