GUIDE FOR STARTING A BOYS TEAM AT YOUR SCHOOL
NOTE: Steps 1-3 can be done simultaneously.
STEP ONE
Gauge interest – There are many ways to do this, but it’s very important to have evidence of interest when you approach your Booster Club or Athletic Director to start a new club sport. You can do this by having an interest meeting either in person at school or via zoom, sign-up sheets at lunch or open house, make signs for the hallways and have the guys you know that want to play talk up the season. Social media is also an amazing way to get the word out! Be sure to gather email addresses/cell numbers so you can communicate with the players that are interested. For your first interest meeting it’s good to have the office talk about it on the announcements every day leading up to it. This will increase your turnout.
STEP TWO
Get permission – Speak to your Girls' Volleyball Coach, Athletic Director and/or school administration about creating a team. Find out what you need to do to satisfy your school’s requirements for beginning a new club sport.
STEP THREE
Get on MaxPreps – Ask your AD to add your volleyball team to your school's MaxPreps account and give you admin access to keep scores, schedules and stats updated. MaxPreps is also a great way to expose yourself to recruiting colleges!
STEP FOUR
Find a sponsor or coordinate with your booster club – Note: Not all schools require club teams to be affiliated with the booster club. Your initial costs will stay down if you approach it as a parent/teacher sponsored club. You’ll likely need a sponsor. This can be a parent and/or teacher (depending on your school). This person is often a figure head and can have as much or as little involvement as they wish.
STEP FIVE
Find a coach –Struggling to find a coach? Tap into the local adult volleyball community. You can reach out to your girls’ HS volleyball coach, club teams, colleges and college players in your area and parents to try and find someone that is available. If there's not a coach willing to volunteer, consider building in a certain amount into player fees that can cover uniforms if necessary as well as compensation for your coach. A coaching stipend varies between $1000-$2300 if you decide to go that route and is paid for by player fees. If the team sponsor/coach has limited knowledge of how to run a practice, you can access practice plans online. If your sponsor/coach isn't comfortable teaching skills, you could ask one of the HS or MS girls’ coaches to help out a few times during the season and do a clinic for the guys during practice. If available, area club men's coaches have been willing to come to the school and do a clinic during practice times.
STEP SIX
Set team cost – This varies in what the player dues will cover. They will be higher if they're covering uniforms, coaching stipend and refs for home games. A normal season cost to cover those is approx $300 per player and covers all of the aforementioned fees. Some schools did not have refs, admin fees or coaching stipend and the dues were as low as $50. They would have girls’ varsity players ref their matches. This made it feel less formal, but if cost is a barrier then this is a good solution. You could also consider a fundraiser to help offset some of the costs for the families and/or charge admissions and have concessions. The good news is that you don’t have to buy a net system or balls or any other equipment! Every school already has those!
STEP SEVEN
Plan the season – Your Athletic Director will need to help with coordinating and communicating available gym time for practice and games. (Season starts mid-Feb and ends mid-May. Average gym time per week is 2-3x including practice and games.) Once you have your games scheduled, you’ll need to coordinate with your AD about lining up officiating.
STEP EIGHT
Have tryouts – Work off your interest meeting list, but also create another sign-up sheet for tryouts, advertise everywhere you can: school announcements, signs for the hallways, school’s booster club and social media sites and word of mouth. Have an interest meeting and hold 2 open gyms before tryouts to create interest. We suggest tryouts should be one day and last 2 hours. It’s advisable to keep as many guys as you can, because you never know which guys will really take to the sport.
STEP NINE
Order uniforms & create a team store – Most schools have a company that they work with for uniforms/gear. The process was very simple and easy. If your school doesn’t have that, there are online stores where you can buy/design gear. Until we are sanctioned, the only rule is that you have a number on it, and liberos should wear a different color. However, it's a good idea to check into TSSAA uniform guidelines if you are ordering, in preparation for sanctioning!
STEP TEN
Parent meeting - Once your team is established, have a parent meeting to discuss the season and gather contact information. This info will be needed to coordinate transportation to games and other items that need to be communicated to parents. Make sure you ask for a parent volunteer to be team Mom(s) or Dad(s). This will make the sponsor/coaches life much easier. The team Mom/Dad(s) will organize events such as Senior night and end of season
party.
STEP ELEVEN
The season – Once you’ve worked with other coaches to plan, the season is the fun part! You’ll need to communicate with your AD to make sure they have all of your practices/games/tournaments on their schedule. We hope this game plan was helpful. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.