May 6, 2024 • 22 mins
For this episode, we take a look at the experience at 18s Nationals for USAV and provide reflections on the importance of creating a positive and celebratory environment for players and their families, suggested improvements like considering the time zone of the event location and avoiding cities with high crime rates, and proposed creation of a new division for 18s to provide a fitting end for great players careers.
Final thoughts emphasize the need for USAV to adapt to the changing landscape of volleyball and continue providing valuable experiences for its participants.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back everybody to another episode of
the Volleyball Q&A Podcast.
This week I'm not going to somuch do a question and answer,
I'm going to do a reaction, as Ijust got back from 18s
Nationals for USAV and I wantedto give some thoughts after
coming back.
But I also wanted to give itsome time after the event so
(00:29):
that there's not a lot ofemotionality involved, because
Nationals is inherently anextremely emotional tournament.
To start, I think it'simportant to understand that
I've been to 18s Nationalsbefore as a parent.
A few years ago the club wewere at, our 18s team, qualified
at the American level and thegirls all decided towards the
(00:50):
end of the season that they weregoing to go to prom, all except
one.
They told the club directorthat they weren't going to go to
nationals in Phoenix.
That's where it was being heldthat particular year.
Well, our club director alsohappened to be the coach of our
team that season and he asked ifthey wanted to go play and
(01:11):
almost all of our entire teamjumped at the opportunity to go.
So at the last minute we kindof all jumped in, got on a plane
, flew to Phoenix and it wasreally and truly one of the most
fun tournaments I've ever beento in my life.
The atmosphere there was unlikeanything tournaments I've ever
been to in my life.
The atmosphere there was unlikeanything that I've ever seen at
any of our previous tournaments.
It was closer to AAU Nationalsthan it was a USAV tournament.
(01:35):
The parents were all sooptimistic there, regardless of
the level that they were playing.
They were all so excited fortheir girls and to celebrate the
journey that they'd been on.
We stayed in a hotel that was alittle ways away from the
actual convention center, but itwas a great setup because they
had an awesome breakfast buffet,which made a really easy
(01:56):
situation for us getting readyin the mornings to go play.
As parents, we would come down,the girls were getting their
plates and we would get food toeat.
And it didn't matter if youknew the parents on another team
, if you'd ever seen them beforeand we weren't familiar with a
lot of them because it wasn'tour age group and they were so
(02:17):
excited about asking us to comeover and sit down, talking about
their journey, talking aboutwhere their girls were going to
college if they were even goingto college and just how excited
they were to watch their girlsplay one more time.
It was a great city to hold itin because it was warm weather.
The time zone was fantastic foreverybody involved.
(02:39):
There was a lot to do in theevenings.
That was a more celebratory lotto do in the evenings.
That was a more celebratory,upbeat kind of situation and it
was just such a fun tournamentto participate in.
We had an absolute blast.
Part of it, I think, did have todo with the fact that we
weren't expected to do anything,so we were sort of playing with
(03:04):
house money, and that reallywas the first time in a long
time that we'd played atournament just for fun, with no
real pressure or expectations,even though we brought our coach
and our coach expected us to goout and play and win and push
hard.
It wasn't the same pressurelevel or the same expectation
level.
That was win or die does win ordie.
(03:31):
All of those things combinedmade for an extremely fun,
upbeat, optimistic tournament,and that imprinted in my head as
to what 18s Nationals was goingto be when we eventually got
there.
It's what I really wanted tosee was this overly positive,
really excited celebration timefor the sacrifices as a family
(03:51):
that we've all made for thegirls and the work that they've
put in for their careers andjust to really focus on a
special group of kids that makesit all the way through to 18s,
regardless of the level thatthey're finishing at.
I would have to say that 18snationals for our actual 18s
(04:13):
year in Baltimore didn't quitedeliver that same experience and
I wanted to understand why thatwas and if it was really about
me and our experience or if itreally was something that's more
universal.
I tried to separate out thethings that were more personal,
just to us, and then look at ifthere were any objective things
(04:37):
that could be feedback for 18sNationals going forward that
could make the eventconsistently such a fun,
exciting ending chapter to allof these players' careers, which
I think they deserve.
So with that in mind, I'm goingto give you some thoughts for
18 Nationals going forward.
(04:59):
This is for USAV.
I have no notion that they willever listen to this or care
about this in any way whatsoever.
It's just an echo chamber.
That might make me feel betterand maybe you agree, or maybe it
gives you some expectation asyou head towards 18s at the end
(05:21):
of your career.
I also think that some of thesethings can apply to nationals
for the younger age groups, butthis really only applies to the
experience this year at 18s, andif it does apply to other
nationals, that's purelycoincidental.
Number one is an item that Ialready alluded to, and it's
(05:43):
time zone.
I just don't think Nationalsshould ever be any further east
than the central time zone, withthe exception of Florida, if
they're going to hold it inFlorida.
It's an extreme competitivedisadvantage for West Coast
teams traveling to the EastCoast to have a three-hour
differential and that justdoesn't promote the highest
(06:03):
level of competitive play.
Now I realize I said somethingabout Florida and it has that as
well, but there are a lot ofefficiencies at play in Orlando
and those cities that are usedto holding events of this size
that can somewhat offset thatthree-hour differential.
It's still not ideal, but thinkabout a team from LA when they
have an 8 am match and it's 5 amtheir time.
(06:26):
The other side of it is goingwest allows West Coast teams to
not have to acclimate todifferent times, but it also
doesn't adversely affect theEast and Central teams.
The one exception to that is ifpools do run really late and
there is a pm to am typesituation, but crossovers can
easily be moved to earlier onday two to ensure those late
times don't occur in the mostcompetitive divisions.
(06:49):
These events that are crowningnational champions are built for
the highest levels to appointthe best teams, so they do
deserve the most accommodation.
I know everybody's paying thesame thing.
I know everybody's on the hookfor the same amount of money,
but this is ultimately aboutsports and figuring out who's
(07:11):
the best and winning is thenumber one thing.
So those top divisions deserveto be accommodated.
First, working their way downand being able to push those
crossovers earlier where theydon't have to leave the facility
for five hours and then comeback at 7 pm and play for an
early game the next morning,that's an easy, easy fix.
(07:31):
So, overall, being able to movewest versus moving east in my
mind levels the playing fieldquite a bit more and it doesn't
put anyone at a decideddisadvantage, the same way that
moving from west to east does,where you can have teams that
are having to get up at reallyearly times in their particular
(07:54):
time zone and trying to playgames when they would normally
be asleep.
Number two cities that are inthe top five for crime rate in
(08:14):
the United States shouldn't bedestinations for thousands of
teenage girls, many of whom arebringing younger siblings along
with them.
In our time that we've donenationals, we've gotten to have
Las Vegas, not on the MandalayInn but at the convention center
, and that created some reallyinteresting conversations that
we had to explain to ourdaughter walking to and from the
hotel.
(08:34):
Number two we've had Detroit,and during our time in Detroit
the downtown area right aroundthe convention center was really
nice, but it was about a twomile radius that we were allowed
to be in, and the nights wewere there there was a mandatory
curfew because it was 4th ofJuly and there was concern of
gunshots at the same time asfireworks.
(08:56):
And then number three wasBaltimore.
Now I understand thatprofitability matters.
I understand convention centercosts, tax incentives, hotel
kickbacks, but if thisexperience continues,
particularly at 18s, you'regoing to lose families.
When we arrived in Baltimore,we took our Uber to the hotel.
(09:17):
When we pulled up to the hotelit was later in the evening and
we asked our driver where's agood place for us to eat dinner
tonight.
His direct response was nowhereafter dark, stay in the hotel.
So that was number one.
Number two I'm going to read youa text message that came from a
parent of something thatoccurred when they were out and
(09:37):
about in broad daylight.
So we met up with so-and-so andfam walking back from
Cheesecake Factory and they hadjust gotten off paddleboats and
I guess there was a floatingbody right in front of them.
We had kids in a paddleboat ina main tourist area in a harbor
across from our hotel and thepolice were actually lifting a
(09:59):
dead body out of the water whenthey were paddleboating in that
water.
That's not something that18-year-old girls should be
seeing or dealing with whenthey're at nationals and there
are places to go, that thepercentage chance of that
occurring are much lower.
This is another text messagefrom a parent on a different
(10:21):
team that they sent and saidYesterday at like 4.50 pm, while
in broad daylight with tons ofpeople walking all over the
Inner Harbor area, we saw a kidget mugged and beaten down by a
mob of other kids in ski maskswhile waiting in line for ice
cream.
It was horrible.
So many people around.
No one did anything.
(10:43):
My heart hurt for him and wasso scared to say anything.
They took his shoes right offhis feet, his backpack and dug
in his pockets, all while he waskicking at him and trying to
get up to run away.
It was unreal.
Guys, we got to do better whenwe're picking destinations for
(11:03):
where we're putting thousands ofteenage girls.
Travel is getting more and moreexpensive and more and more of
a burden on parents, and theexperience is going to have to
deliver in some way just at areasonable level.
We can't have dead bodies andmuggings in front of kids in
between play.
(11:32):
Number three I'm going to goagainst something that I said
earlier just a little bit.
I know that the key objectiveof this event is to determine a
champion, but this event reallyand truly needs to be a
celebration for 18-.
This event really and trulyneeds to be a celebration for 18
year olds.
It needs to be a celebrationfor parents that have given up a
lot.
It needs to be a celebrationfor families, siblings, all of
(11:54):
those people that have given somuch over the years.
You know what 10, 11, whateverit is through 17,.
If you want to go, do differentparts of the country because
it's more profitable, that'sgreat.
It still shouldn't be unsafe,but warm weather cities or
cities where there are things todo for entire families to
(12:14):
celebrate together as a familyas a team, as a club and as an
age group.
That really needs to be apriority.
Families have funded a lot forUSA Volleyball over these years
and it would be really nice forUSAV to take a look back and say
we want to give you anexperience and say thank you for
all of the things, all of theresources, all of the support
(12:38):
and the journey that you guyshave been on with us through
this, and we want to celebrateyour girls.
So I want to reflect back onPhoenix and there's a reason why
that event was what it was.
It was in a great city withgreat weather, with a great
destination.
It was inherently joyful, basedon where we were and the nature
(12:58):
of the city, and there wasn'tsort of this cloud of fear
hanging over you in terms ofcrime.
It was very conducive to family, team and community
celebrations.
I never got that feeling frompeople in Baltimore.
It felt heavy.
The convention center felt heavy.
It's nice but it's built in adifferent era and it has very
(13:21):
much inspiration of brutalistarchitecture in there.
I mean even down to the foyerwhen you walk in a lot of times
we've gone into these andthere's a lot of decoration,
there's music playing for thegirls.
It's a really high energy typesituation because the weather is
great when you're getting there.
The interior of the conventioncenter that's relatively new
(13:44):
looks great.
Everyone is optimistic.
That component never entered thefray when we were in Baltimore,
and that's something that needsto be looked at heavily is to
say you guys, on average I don'tknow what are you spending 20
grand a year, 15 grand a yearfor eight years?
That's a lot of money, right?
(14:04):
We want to say thank you forthis and we also want to
celebrate your girls that havedefied the odds.
And this needs to be a greatsituation for you, your family,
your club and the entire sportto celebrate Watching these
girls go on to whatever it isthey're going to move on to.
Okay, this is my last key pointand it's a little bit thinking
(14:34):
off the wall here, but I believethat USAV needs to create a new
division, or rebrand theFreedom Division, specifically
for the 18s.
18s is one of the strangestyears I've ever been a part of.
It really has a unique set ofchallenges that no other age
group has to deal with.
The girls are in a differentlife stage and the pressures
that are put on them and pullthem from so many different
(14:56):
directions is something that'snew, different and unique from
the other age groups.
There is so much attrition onteams throughout the season you
could have injuries, prom,somebody commits and they feel
like that they're done.
They don't need to be committedto a team anymore and they can
leave Finances priorities whenthe team's not as good.
(15:17):
They make commitments at thebeginning of the season and they
understand what thosecommitments are and then, when
it comes time to enforce them,many times other pressures take
over and they will obliterateteams throughout the season.
I don't think we've ever beenon a team that's lost this many
players throughout the course ofa season for all kinds of
different reasons.
(15:37):
We lost players before theseason started, we lost players
throughout the season and welost players right before
nationals.
It was really one of thestrangest things where the team
didn't resemble really what westarted out with.
I know that's happened to a lotof other teams throughout the
country.
Just trying to cobble together ateam to get to nationals is a
(15:58):
pretty big deal, and if yourteam is the same team at the end
of the season that you startedwith, it is almost a miracle.
So what I would like to proposeis open, stays open.
It is the gold standard, it'sthe one you signed up for.
It's the one that really andtruly determines the national
(16:19):
champion for USA Volleyball.
But it would really be kind ofamazing if there was an AAU-like
division that's below open butis still highly competitive.
There are a lot of greatplayers who sat home during
nationals, really great playersthat are going to go play on
great teams in college becausetheir teams imploded for various
(16:40):
different reasons.
And for kids that are going toplay in college, by the time AAU
rolls around they're already atschool, they've already
reported and they're alreadyplaying.
Why not give them theopportunity their 18th year to
finish strongly or have a greatfinish?
That's a celebratory finish.
So let's create a division thatis not open and will not
(17:02):
determine a national champion,but allows teams to be a little
more flexible, and it doesn'thold you to just having to have
kids that are within your club,that are tied to that particular
roster because of helping themqualify City from another club
(17:32):
that didn't make it, and puttogether some teams and go play
one more time, just for thesheer joy of competing and for
the sheer joy of having a happyending to a season, rather than
the season ending with themsitting at home and watching on
baller TV or checking the scoreson AES.
It would be a reallyinteresting thing because it
would allow teams that lost coreplayers to replace those
players and go play at a highlevel.
(17:53):
Allowing those opportunitiesfor eight teams from other clubs
other teams to come in and puttogether a team for one more run
just for fun like what AAUoffers can almost be therapeutic
and it allows for a joyous endto a career rather than just
sitting at home or knowingyou're going to go get hammered
at nationals because you've losta huge chunk of your team.
(18:16):
It's not even the team youqualified with.
Aau is not filling the void at18s.
They are doing it at theyounger age groups and there is
something that's really valuableand significant about what AAU
offers but their 18s justhappens to fall way too late, so
it ends up beingnon-competitive and ineffective.
I wish I could impart to youthe number of players and the
(18:39):
number of times that having AAUat the end of the season
provided emotional closure and arestart for girls that had
really hard seasons, and itstinks for your 18s year to be
that hard season and kind of goout on a flat note.
I think it would be awesome forUSAV to offer that type
(19:01):
division.
It creates logistical issues interms of if a team qualifies at
one level and then half theirteam quits, what do they do with
those bids that those teams hadwon?
How do they manage all of it?
I know, organizationally,there's a way to do it, because
AAU does it.
I know there's a way to do itbecause teams vacate bids, or
they get another bid or qualifyup, and then those other bids go
(19:23):
to at large pools.
I think there's a way to do itto put some time behind it, but
it would allow great players tohave great experiences at the
end of their 18s career, ratherthan just being at home or being
at a tournament knowing they'regoing to get their brains
beaten in because half theirteam is gone.
(19:49):
I do believe volleyball is in acritical time right now.
I believe its popularity is atan all-time high, and there's
stats to support thatParticipation is at an all-time
high.
Resources now, though, arebecoming stretched, and
experiences, in my opinion, arestarting to suffer because of
the sheer scale of things.
I know that we have gottendiminishing returns as we've
(20:12):
gotten older and the inflationof things has gone up.
That all leads to a point whereyou're moving towards a peak,
but the closer you get to a peak, the closer you are to it
turning and going back down orsliding.
So as an organization, you haveto be really mindful about
where you are.
And how can we continue tocreate experiences for people
(20:33):
that are on level or above whatthey're spending so that they
feel like they're gettingadequate value out of it?
I absolutely don't want to seethe sport contract.
I really would love to seeleadership continue to be really
judicious in their reviews andbe proactive in experiences to
keep the sport growing.
Because I love volleyball.
I think one other key thing iswe're getting close to the end
(20:56):
of one generation of parents anda different generation is
coming up and they're wired verydifferently than we are and a
lot of the things that workedwith us I don't believe will
work with the next generation.
I also think and I think thisis very much to their credit and
was a failing of our group wasthey're a lot less afraid to
take their money and gosomewhere else.
They're a lot less afraid ofusing their expendable income on
(21:20):
things that give them joy, andthey're not necessarily so
focused on.
This is just the way things are.
They're a lot more willing totry to push things for change.
Usav is going to need to takenote of that.
So those are my thoughts after18s Nationals.
If you were there and you had adifferent experience, I'd love
to hear it.
If you have other thoughts andsuggestions that you want to
(21:40):
throw in the ring, that's greattoo.
Thanks for taking a minute tolisten, and we'll return back to
our standard programming nextweek.
Feel free to email me atvballqa, at gmailcom, or find me
on Twitter and Facebook atvballqa, or on Instagram at
volleyballqna, if you want tocomment, submit a question or be
a guest on the show.
You can also subscribe forfuture episodes through Apple
(22:03):
Podcasts and Spotify or on yourfavorite podcast directory.
Welcome back everybody to another episode of
the Volleyball Q&A Podcast.
This week I'm not going to somuch do a question and answer,
I'm going to do a reaction, as Ijust got back from 18s
Nationals for USAV and I wantedto give some thoughts after
coming back.
But I also wanted to give itsome time after the event so
(00:29):
that there's not a lot ofemotionality involved, because
Nationals is inherently anextremely emotional tournament.
To start, I think it'simportant to understand that
I've been to 18s Nationalsbefore as a parent.
A few years ago the club wewere at, our 18s team, qualified
at the American level and thegirls all decided towards the
(00:50):
end of the season that they weregoing to go to prom, all except
one.
They told the club directorthat they weren't going to go to
nationals in Phoenix.
That's where it was being heldthat particular year.
Well, our club director alsohappened to be the coach of our
team that season and he asked ifthey wanted to go play and
(01:11):
almost all of our entire teamjumped at the opportunity to go.
So at the last minute we kindof all jumped in, got on a plane
, flew to Phoenix and it wasreally and truly one of the most
fun tournaments I've ever beento in my life.
The atmosphere there was unlikeanything tournaments I've ever
been to in my life.
The atmosphere there was unlikeanything that I've ever seen at
any of our previous tournaments.
It was closer to AAU Nationalsthan it was a USAV tournament.
(01:35):
The parents were all sooptimistic there, regardless of
the level that they were playing.
They were all so excited fortheir girls and to celebrate the
journey that they'd been on.
We stayed in a hotel that was alittle ways away from the
actual convention center, but itwas a great setup because they
had an awesome breakfast buffet,which made a really easy
(01:56):
situation for us getting readyin the mornings to go play.
As parents, we would come down,the girls were getting their
plates and we would get food toeat.
And it didn't matter if youknew the parents on another team
, if you'd ever seen them beforeand we weren't familiar with a
lot of them because it wasn'tour age group and they were so
(02:17):
excited about asking us to comeover and sit down, talking about
their journey, talking aboutwhere their girls were going to
college if they were even goingto college and just how excited
they were to watch their girlsplay one more time.
It was a great city to hold itin because it was warm weather.
The time zone was fantastic foreverybody involved.
(02:39):
There was a lot to do in theevenings.
That was a more celebratory lotto do in the evenings.
That was a more celebratory,upbeat kind of situation and it
was just such a fun tournamentto participate in.
We had an absolute blast.
Part of it, I think, did have todo with the fact that we
weren't expected to do anything,so we were sort of playing with
(03:04):
house money, and that reallywas the first time in a long
time that we'd played atournament just for fun, with no
real pressure or expectations,even though we brought our coach
and our coach expected us to goout and play and win and push
hard.
It wasn't the same pressurelevel or the same expectation
level.
That was win or die does win ordie.
(03:31):
All of those things combinedmade for an extremely fun,
upbeat, optimistic tournament,and that imprinted in my head as
to what 18s Nationals was goingto be when we eventually got
there.
It's what I really wanted tosee was this overly positive,
really excited celebration timefor the sacrifices as a family
(03:51):
that we've all made for thegirls and the work that they've
put in for their careers andjust to really focus on a
special group of kids that makesit all the way through to 18s,
regardless of the level thatthey're finishing at.
I would have to say that 18snationals for our actual 18s
(04:13):
year in Baltimore didn't quitedeliver that same experience and
I wanted to understand why thatwas and if it was really about
me and our experience or if itreally was something that's more
universal.
I tried to separate out thethings that were more personal,
just to us, and then look at ifthere were any objective things
(04:37):
that could be feedback for 18sNationals going forward that
could make the eventconsistently such a fun,
exciting ending chapter to allof these players' careers, which
I think they deserve.
So with that in mind, I'm goingto give you some thoughts for
18 Nationals going forward.
(04:59):
This is for USAV.
I have no notion that they willever listen to this or care
about this in any way whatsoever.
It's just an echo chamber.
That might make me feel betterand maybe you agree, or maybe it
gives you some expectation asyou head towards 18s at the end
(05:21):
of your career.
I also think that some of thesethings can apply to nationals
for the younger age groups, butthis really only applies to the
experience this year at 18s, andif it does apply to other
nationals, that's purelycoincidental.
Number one is an item that Ialready alluded to, and it's
(05:43):
time zone.
I just don't think Nationalsshould ever be any further east
than the central time zone, withthe exception of Florida, if
they're going to hold it inFlorida.
It's an extreme competitivedisadvantage for West Coast
teams traveling to the EastCoast to have a three-hour
differential and that justdoesn't promote the highest
(06:03):
level of competitive play.
Now I realize I said somethingabout Florida and it has that as
well, but there are a lot ofefficiencies at play in Orlando
and those cities that are usedto holding events of this size
that can somewhat offset thatthree-hour differential.
It's still not ideal, but thinkabout a team from LA when they
have an 8 am match and it's 5 amtheir time.
(06:26):
The other side of it is goingwest allows West Coast teams to
not have to acclimate todifferent times, but it also
doesn't adversely affect theEast and Central teams.
The one exception to that is ifpools do run really late and
there is a pm to am typesituation, but crossovers can
easily be moved to earlier onday two to ensure those late
times don't occur in the mostcompetitive divisions.
(06:49):
These events that are crowningnational champions are built for
the highest levels to appointthe best teams, so they do
deserve the most accommodation.
I know everybody's paying thesame thing.
I know everybody's on the hookfor the same amount of money,
but this is ultimately aboutsports and figuring out who's
(07:11):
the best and winning is thenumber one thing.
So those top divisions deserveto be accommodated.
First, working their way downand being able to push those
crossovers earlier where theydon't have to leave the facility
for five hours and then comeback at 7 pm and play for an
early game the next morning,that's an easy, easy fix.
(07:31):
So, overall, being able to movewest versus moving east in my
mind levels the playing fieldquite a bit more and it doesn't
put anyone at a decideddisadvantage, the same way that
moving from west to east does,where you can have teams that
are having to get up at reallyearly times in their particular
(07:54):
time zone and trying to playgames when they would normally
be asleep.
Number two cities that are inthe top five for crime rate in
(08:14):
the United States shouldn't bedestinations for thousands of
teenage girls, many of whom arebringing younger siblings along
with them.
In our time that we've donenationals, we've gotten to have
Las Vegas, not on the MandalayInn but at the convention center
, and that created some reallyinteresting conversations that
we had to explain to ourdaughter walking to and from the
hotel.
(08:34):
Number two we've had Detroit,and during our time in Detroit
the downtown area right aroundthe convention center was really
nice, but it was about a twomile radius that we were allowed
to be in, and the nights wewere there there was a mandatory
curfew because it was 4th ofJuly and there was concern of
gunshots at the same time asfireworks.
(08:56):
And then number three wasBaltimore.
Now I understand thatprofitability matters.
I understand convention centercosts, tax incentives, hotel
kickbacks, but if thisexperience continues,
particularly at 18s, you'regoing to lose families.
When we arrived in Baltimore,we took our Uber to the hotel.
(09:17):
When we pulled up to the hotelit was later in the evening and
we asked our driver where's agood place for us to eat dinner
tonight.
His direct response was nowhereafter dark, stay in the hotel.
So that was number one.
Number two I'm going to read youa text message that came from a
parent of something thatoccurred when they were out and
(09:37):
about in broad daylight.
So we met up with so-and-so andfam walking back from
Cheesecake Factory and they hadjust gotten off paddleboats and
I guess there was a floatingbody right in front of them.
We had kids in a paddleboat ina main tourist area in a harbor
across from our hotel and thepolice were actually lifting a
(09:59):
dead body out of the water whenthey were paddleboating in that
water.
That's not something that18-year-old girls should be
seeing or dealing with whenthey're at nationals and there
are places to go, that thepercentage chance of that
occurring are much lower.
This is another text messagefrom a parent on a different
(10:21):
team that they sent and saidYesterday at like 4.50 pm, while
in broad daylight with tons ofpeople walking all over the
Inner Harbor area, we saw a kidget mugged and beaten down by a
mob of other kids in ski maskswhile waiting in line for ice
cream.
It was horrible.
So many people around.
No one did anything.
(10:43):
My heart hurt for him and wasso scared to say anything.
They took his shoes right offhis feet, his backpack and dug
in his pockets, all while he waskicking at him and trying to
get up to run away.
It was unreal.
Guys, we got to do better whenwe're picking destinations for
(11:03):
where we're putting thousands ofteenage girls.
Travel is getting more and moreexpensive and more and more of
a burden on parents, and theexperience is going to have to
deliver in some way just at areasonable level.
We can't have dead bodies andmuggings in front of kids in
between play.
(11:32):
Number three I'm going to goagainst something that I said
earlier just a little bit.
I know that the key objectiveof this event is to determine a
champion, but this event reallyand truly needs to be a
celebration for 18-.
This event really and trulyneeds to be a celebration for 18
year olds.
It needs to be a celebrationfor parents that have given up a
lot.
It needs to be a celebrationfor families, siblings, all of
(11:54):
those people that have given somuch over the years.
You know what 10, 11, whateverit is through 17,.
If you want to go, do differentparts of the country because
it's more profitable, that'sgreat.
It still shouldn't be unsafe,but warm weather cities or
cities where there are things todo for entire families to
(12:14):
celebrate together as a familyas a team, as a club and as an
age group.
That really needs to be apriority.
Families have funded a lot forUSA Volleyball over these years
and it would be really nice forUSAV to take a look back and say
we want to give you anexperience and say thank you for
all of the things, all of theresources, all of the support
(12:38):
and the journey that you guyshave been on with us through
this, and we want to celebrateyour girls.
So I want to reflect back onPhoenix and there's a reason why
that event was what it was.
It was in a great city withgreat weather, with a great
destination.
It was inherently joyful, basedon where we were and the nature
(12:58):
of the city, and there wasn'tsort of this cloud of fear
hanging over you in terms ofcrime.
It was very conducive to family, team and community
celebrations.
I never got that feeling frompeople in Baltimore.
It felt heavy.
The convention center felt heavy.
It's nice but it's built in adifferent era and it has very
(13:21):
much inspiration of brutalistarchitecture in there.
I mean even down to the foyerwhen you walk in a lot of times
we've gone into these andthere's a lot of decoration,
there's music playing for thegirls.
It's a really high energy typesituation because the weather is
great when you're getting there.
The interior of the conventioncenter that's relatively new
(13:44):
looks great.
Everyone is optimistic.
That component never entered thefray when we were in Baltimore,
and that's something that needsto be looked at heavily is to
say you guys, on average I don'tknow what are you spending 20
grand a year, 15 grand a yearfor eight years?
That's a lot of money, right?
(14:04):
We want to say thank you forthis and we also want to
celebrate your girls that havedefied the odds.
And this needs to be a greatsituation for you, your family,
your club and the entire sportto celebrate Watching these
girls go on to whatever it isthey're going to move on to.
Okay, this is my last key pointand it's a little bit thinking
(14:34):
off the wall here, but I believethat USAV needs to create a new
division, or rebrand theFreedom Division, specifically
for the 18s.
18s is one of the strangestyears I've ever been a part of.
It really has a unique set ofchallenges that no other age
group has to deal with.
The girls are in a differentlife stage and the pressures
that are put on them and pullthem from so many different
(14:56):
directions is something that'snew, different and unique from
the other age groups.
There is so much attrition onteams throughout the season you
could have injuries, prom,somebody commits and they feel
like that they're done.
They don't need to be committedto a team anymore and they can
leave Finances priorities whenthe team's not as good.
(15:17):
They make commitments at thebeginning of the season and they
understand what thosecommitments are and then, when
it comes time to enforce them,many times other pressures take
over and they will obliterateteams throughout the season.
I don't think we've ever beenon a team that's lost this many
players throughout the course ofa season for all kinds of
different reasons.
(15:37):
We lost players before theseason started, we lost players
throughout the season and welost players right before
nationals.
It was really one of thestrangest things where the team
didn't resemble really what westarted out with.
I know that's happened to a lotof other teams throughout the
country.
Just trying to cobble together ateam to get to nationals is a
(15:58):
pretty big deal, and if yourteam is the same team at the end
of the season that you startedwith, it is almost a miracle.
So what I would like to proposeis open, stays open.
It is the gold standard, it'sthe one you signed up for.
It's the one that really andtruly determines the national
(16:19):
champion for USA Volleyball.
But it would really be kind ofamazing if there was an AAU-like
division that's below open butis still highly competitive.
There are a lot of greatplayers who sat home during
nationals, really great playersthat are going to go play on
great teams in college becausetheir teams imploded for various
(16:40):
different reasons.
And for kids that are going toplay in college, by the time AAU
rolls around they're already atschool, they've already
reported and they're alreadyplaying.
Why not give them theopportunity their 18th year to
finish strongly or have a greatfinish?
That's a celebratory finish.
So let's create a division thatis not open and will not
(17:02):
determine a national champion,but allows teams to be a little
more flexible, and it doesn'thold you to just having to have
kids that are within your club,that are tied to that particular
roster because of helping themqualify City from another club
(17:32):
that didn't make it, and puttogether some teams and go play
one more time, just for thesheer joy of competing and for
the sheer joy of having a happyending to a season, rather than
the season ending with themsitting at home and watching on
baller TV or checking the scoreson AES.
It would be a reallyinteresting thing because it
would allow teams that lost coreplayers to replace those
players and go play at a highlevel.
(17:53):
Allowing those opportunitiesfor eight teams from other clubs
other teams to come in and puttogether a team for one more run
just for fun like what AAUoffers can almost be therapeutic
and it allows for a joyous endto a career rather than just
sitting at home or knowingyou're going to go get hammered
at nationals because you've losta huge chunk of your team.
(18:16):
It's not even the team youqualified with.
Aau is not filling the void at18s.
They are doing it at theyounger age groups and there is
something that's really valuableand significant about what AAU
offers but their 18s justhappens to fall way too late, so
it ends up beingnon-competitive and ineffective.
I wish I could impart to youthe number of players and the
(18:39):
number of times that having AAUat the end of the season
provided emotional closure and arestart for girls that had
really hard seasons, and itstinks for your 18s year to be
that hard season and kind of goout on a flat note.
I think it would be awesome forUSAV to offer that type
(19:01):
division.
It creates logistical issues interms of if a team qualifies at
one level and then half theirteam quits, what do they do with
those bids that those teams hadwon?
How do they manage all of it?
I know, organizationally,there's a way to do it, because
AAU does it.
I know there's a way to do itbecause teams vacate bids, or
they get another bid or qualifyup, and then those other bids go
(19:23):
to at large pools.
I think there's a way to do itto put some time behind it, but
it would allow great players tohave great experiences at the
end of their 18s career, ratherthan just being at home or being
at a tournament knowing they'regoing to get their brains
beaten in because half theirteam is gone.
(19:49):
I do believe volleyball is in acritical time right now.
I believe its popularity is atan all-time high, and there's
stats to support thatParticipation is at an all-time
high.
Resources now, though, arebecoming stretched, and
experiences, in my opinion, arestarting to suffer because of
the sheer scale of things.
I know that we have gottendiminishing returns as we've
(20:12):
gotten older and the inflationof things has gone up.
That all leads to a point whereyou're moving towards a peak,
but the closer you get to a peak, the closer you are to it
turning and going back down orsliding.
So as an organization, you haveto be really mindful about
where you are.
And how can we continue tocreate experiences for people
(20:33):
that are on level or above whatthey're spending so that they
feel like they're gettingadequate value out of it?
I absolutely don't want to seethe sport contract.
I really would love to seeleadership continue to be really
judicious in their reviews andbe proactive in experiences to
keep the sport growing.
Because I love volleyball.
I think one other key thing iswe're getting close to the end
(20:56):
of one generation of parents anda different generation is
coming up and they're wired verydifferently than we are and a
lot of the things that workedwith us I don't believe will
work with the next generation.
I also think and I think thisis very much to their credit and
was a failing of our group wasthey're a lot less afraid to
take their money and gosomewhere else.
They're a lot less afraid ofusing their expendable income on
(21:20):
things that give them joy, andthey're not necessarily so
focused on.
This is just the way things are.
They're a lot more willing totry to push things for change.
Usav is going to need to takenote of that.
So those are my thoughts after18s Nationals.
If you were there and you had adifferent experience, I'd love
to hear it.
If you have other thoughts andsuggestions that you want to
(21:40):
throw in the ring, that's greattoo.
Thanks for taking a minute tolisten, and we'll return back to
our standard programming nextweek.
Feel free to email me atvballqa, at gmailcom, or find me
on Twitter and Facebook atvballqa, or on Instagram at
volleyballqna, if you want tocomment, submit a question or be
a guest on the show.
You can also subscribe forfuture episodes through Apple
(22:03):
Podcasts and Spotify or on yourfavorite podcast directory.
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