Thread: Girls Volleyball, WHERE!?!?!

Everyone:

I'm hoping someone here can provide my wife and I with some guidance.

Our daughter is 8 and has a desire to learn to play volleyball. We've found a couple local clinics in the San Fernando Valley near us where she can begin to be exposed to the sport in a relatively low-cost, low-pressure environment. We'll be doing those, for sure.

Our problem is that, once the clinics are over, we can't figure out what the next step should be! There's club tryouts...but each club has very few teams and there's a good potential that our daughter might not make the cut right out of the gate (understandably, after only recently being introduced to it). The other thing is, if she DOES make a club right out of the gate, club dues are WHOA BIG MONEY!!! It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us to pay that kinda dough to simply expose her to the sport before we find out if she's really going to enjoy it well enough to pursue it more tenaciously.

The question is: Is there anyplace in the San Fernando Valley where a young girl can go to A) Learn the sport, and B) Compete recreationally? Is there any place where this can be done for a reasonable amount of money?

We tried looking at LAParks&Rec, and they don't offer youth volleyball.

Does ANYONE have any suggestions about how to get an eight-year-old kid started in volleyball in a way that won't break her spirit (or our bank account)?

Thanks in advance...

Try the YMCA?

Don't know of any places as I don't live in LA county. If she wants to watch the women's (or men's) US Olympic team practice or you want to travel to Orange County, pm me.

Buried in their website...just located that now. Thanks!!!

Any other suggestions?

paging Annapurna...

Don't know your exact location but I just spoke with someone from USA Volleyball and they pointed me in this direction. Go to 818volleyball.com and contact them. They might know of something in your area that fits your budget/age/skill level.

We tried 818. First, they're a club league, in business to make money (which is fine by me), and they're expensive. Second, they didnt bother to reply to any emails or phone calls we made. Not sure we'll be using them if the daughter gets serious into this.

There are two or three other club leagues in the area, one of which being Supernova All-Stars who provide affordable clinics. They are also WHOA BIG MONEY as far as league play, but they've been very responsive to our requests today. The daughter will be attending clinics over the next two weeks.

We did sign her up for the YMCA program (which isn't very well-advertised at our local YMCA that we've been members of for years). $140 for three months of practice and play including uniforms. THAT is an affordable way to introduce a kid to the sport!!

Thanks, everyone!

Originally Posted by WingHater

Don't know of any places as I don't live in LA county. If she wants to watch the women's (or men's) US Olympic team practice or you want to travel to Orange County, pm me.

That's a killer offer! I'll remember that. Thanks!!

I would guess, the way things are now, she needs to be noticed by an elite coach, and brought along from there. Glenn, as much as I hate to say it,"Got bucks in the bank? Go get them"