Volleyball: Club Lite

Danielle tried a new volleyball experience -- a summer session at a club league, Frisco Fliers. So, this was higher than rec league, but not full-blown club experience. It was a short 5-week season, with a practice each week, 2 games each Saturday and a final end-of-season tournament.

Her team was an interesting mix of players. She ended up with a few of her friends, a couple free-agents, and another group of 5 friends. Most had equivalent skill-level and interest level, but a few always looked like they wished they were somewhere else or preferred not having to bother paying attention during practice sessions....

Pros: 

• First experience at a club facility (10 courts all playing at once under the same roof!)
• Valuable practices with experienced coach (good drills, kept all the girls moving, practice 5-1 rotation)
• Fair price (not as cheap as rec, but not nearly as expensive as club)

Cons:   

• Competition at games was quite varied -- several of the teams could not return the serve, so it made for an unexciting, and not-so-valuable game experience
• Location was 20 minutes away - not horrible, but not nearly as convenient as rec
• Too many players on the team, meant limited game-time opportunity (would be nice to have only 8-9 players, instead of 12-13)

They won all but one weekly game, but were finally challenged in the final tournament! Check out the video of their last game below (they lost in 3 sets) -- Danielle enters at 1:28 and has epic slides and dives at 2:45 and 5:25. (She plays back row, wears black shoes and black kneepads). Last minute is the most exciting!

Lesson learned: Do NOT celebrate before the point is complete.

Would she do another short season at Frisco Fliers? Perhaps, if there were no other viable options for her to keep honing her skills. She's looking ahead to 9th grade volleyball, so she'll need to keep practicing and playing and improving!