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Should a college prospect play in High School?


K2ruth
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Signal has a volleyball player who signed with FL in her JR. year.  They want her down there in Jan.  Is this your average player? NO!  She's 6'++  and can touch 11'4" on vertical leap.  We had a quarterback who left in Dec. a couple of years ago and is a back-up role at  KY.  

 

These are not your usual athletes.  Encourage your sons and daughters to represent their HS's.

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CAK has a player committed to play basketball at major D1 school next year and where was she this weekend? Playing Volleyball with her high school team at the Dorman tournament. I am sure their kids all over the country doing the same thing. Why? What do they gain by doing so? Nothing! Everybody knows that club sports is where the you get noticed by colleges now days. For some kids high school sports is is about relationships and life long memories. I guess it is all about what you want out of your high school experience. I don't think you can fault a player for following their heart in the decision to play or not.

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Ebther, you are absolutely right about it being up to the player and/or parents to follow their hearts and make their own decisions. Sometimes I think there is pressure, albeit directly or indirectly for a player to choose only one direction. And this can come from high school coaches as well as the club level. There is not just one side playing that game. One of the advantages of playing different sports is decreasing the chances of debilitating injuries. When you use different muscles and different types of moves, you are not over using the same areas over and over. Nice to mix it up a bit for your body. I have seen too many really good players have quick endings to careers because of over-training by doing the same thing for too long.

Edited by beachboy
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Volleyball is the only sport that I know of that is recruited via club level. Yes the coaches talk to the athletes high school coach (if she plays) but the recruiting is done at the club level. Football and basketball are not. Basketball kids still get recruited via high school and AAU. This is why the girls that have ambitions of playing college volleyball choose club first then "maybe" high school. I strongly believe it should be up to the player and her family. as mentioned before, I have talked to several girls this summer about why they are not playing high school and non of them said it was because their club coach didn't want them to. The high school coaches may think that happens sometimes but that means we aren't giving these students and their parents any credit for being able to figure it out for themselves.

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Again, I agree with the fact that it is up to the parents and individual players to make their own choices.  That is what this great country is about, freedom of choice.  I do have a thought though about the club involvement.  How much is the club involved when they set up opportunities for players not in high school to spend the fall training instead of playing high school?  And I am all for more opportunities for female athletes to improve their skills and athleticism in all sports.  Another point I would like to make is, are the clubs "actively" encouraging their elite and other club players to play for their high school or being luke warm and saying they can offer a better environment if you train with us during the high school season.  If that is the case, then in my opinion they are inserting themselves into the decision making process.  Club is great.  I always loved my time as a club coach, and I still have relationships with many of the girls and parents that I coached.  Sometimes I think I made a difference.  One advantage that high school has over clubs is the fact that the girls play with friends that the often grew up with in middle school or even earlier and they see them everyday in classes.  When you are playing for your school your classmates are always asking what is going on with the team.  Alot of school pride and recognition goes along with that.  Priceless.....   On the flipside, I think several of our local club teams went to nationals this past summer and I don't think anyone knew about it except for the people directly involved.  So essentially no one in the community knew about it or really cared for that matter.  When you have entire school communities rooting for their own friends, that is soooo much fun, and when high school is over that will never be there again.  There are advantages to playing in high school that the clubs cannot duplicate.

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But ... The problem is that outside of Webb there are no coaches currently coaching high school that have any clue on how to help a player get to the level they need to be at in order to play college ball.

The time in the fall for individual work with the club coaches is crucial if the player wants to play in college.

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And I go back to one of my original thoughts and that is I think we are losing the real reason to play the wonderful sport of volleyball, because it is so much fun!  Now, just curious here, out of ALL the players that have gone through K2 since it opened how many players have actually signed to go on to D1 schools on a scholarship?  How many at top 25 D1 schools?  How many have go to a school because they were offered a scholarship, but did not like the school and left without finishing?  What is the percentage of those kids at K2 as opposed to the percentage that did not receive any offers at all? 

 

Chris Hames at Webb has had alot of success there since being hired (state champions last year, cannot beat that), but how many of "her" players have received offers and signed with big D1 schools?  I am really curious about these numbers.  If you could give me a rough idea I would appreciate it.  Thanks

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I think you are missing the point. Most players in high school have no chance, or desire, to play competitive volleyball in college. There is nothing wrong with these players being on a high school team and having fun doing all of those things beach boy is talking about. Also, some of these players want to improve their skill level and use club to actually learn how to play. They don't want to play in college, they just love playing volleyball and want to get better so they use club to learn how to play. Again, that is great.

 

Where you are missing the point is the athlete who has the skill and desire to play competitive volleyball at the collegiate level gets zero benefit by playing high school volleyball unless they are with a "real" coach at the high school level. This player gets way more benefit by using the fall to prepare for club season.

 

Outside of Webb there are no other volleyball coaches at the high school level who can help this athlete. Beach boy, I have asked you before to name one high school coach, other than Webb, that can help the college level player and you couldn't do it.

 

A serious player, that wants to play in college, has no business and receives no benefit playing in high school. I am not slamming high school, it is great fun for the girls that want to play non competitive volleyball. However, that's not why I started this topic.

 

Other than Webb, I dare say that there has ever even been a high school team that could compete with a mediocre power team from a legit club. Facts are facts.

 

As to KVA, it is a good alternative to high school caliber players who want to improve their skill level. There is no comparison between the two. K2 is designed more for the elite player who wants to play in college. KVA is for the high school player who wants to get better. Both clubs have a purpose, which is to promote volleyball.

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