There has been an ongoing conversation taking place in my household for many years about the cost of club volleyball and whether to allow our daughters to continue once they each decided that they did not plan to play after high school. My husband argued that if they don’t plan to play in college, why are we paying for this? My response has been that the takeaways were more positive than negative and that they would carry the things they learned, about themselves and others, with them for the rest of their lives.
Let’s face it. Club volleyball can be expensive, and for some, a financial burden. What are our children getting in return for our open wallets and total devotion to getting them to practice and tournaments other than simply playing volleyball? For so many of us parents, supporting our children’s volleyball passion is an act of love. We want to raise our sons and daughters to be thoughtful, successful, and loving adults. There are many life lessons that come from taking part in team sports, and many of you reading this who participated in team sports in your childhood – and even adulthood – can agree that there are many hidden soft skills that you learn while playing and working with others, and from participating in sports in general.
For husband and me, two lifelong athletes ourselves, it was particularly important to us for our children to be physically active beginning at an early age in the hopes that sports would instill in them a keen sense of wanting to be healthy and active throughout the rest of their lives. They each tried different sports for many years before they both discovered a love of volleyball. And, I might add, we were also hooked as it was a much nicer way to spectate; indoors rather than outdoors in the cold and occasional rain of spring and fall softball seasons.
We watched as they learned the skills needed to play competitively. We cheered their teams’ successes and felt the pain of their losses. We tried to bite our tongues on those long car rides home to avoid discussing what they did and did not do; they needed to figure that out themselves and we were always available to talk when they were ready or asked. They learned how to work together with the rest of the team toward a common goal, whether that was to win their pool, their division, or try to get that coveted bid to nationals. They also learned how to get along with the other players on their team, even if they didn’t always like everyone. They learned how to set goals for themselves, whether it was to jump higher, block better, or make sure a ball never hit the floor.
When my oldest daughter tore her meniscus, she continued to attend practice because after all, she was part of a team and teams do things together. She learned to overcome the adversity of injury and surgery and work hard to get back on the court. It takes a lot of perseverance and self-discipline to continue to stay fit during an injury and we were proud of the passion she showed for volleyball and for herself. The personal fortitude that she exhibited assured us that she could handle the things life threw at her.
We saw their soft skills develop whenever they cheered a teammate who was having a difficult day or weekend, or when despite a lost match they still saw the positives. A major life skill that I am so proud of them for achieving was their devotion to schoolwork and learning to manage their time and priorities. It’s not easy maintaining good grades as a student-athlete, especially when weekend travel comes into play; it’s much more fun to hang out with the team and explore a new city instead of sitting in a hotel room doing homework. As each year passed, we felt more confident that they were developing into the young adults we were hoping they would become; confident, capable, compassionate, and responsible with self-discipline and integrity to greet life and everything that it throws at them as they move into adulthood.
So, when asked about the investment on the front end of this volleyball experience and whether it’s worth it, my response is a resounding yes. I can see firsthand how it has helped my children grow into intelligent, responsible, adaptable young adults. I am confident that when they reflect on their experiences, they will draw on the lessons they learned while playing volleyball and use them when making big decisions in college and later in the workplace.