Palmetto Region

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Palmetto Region

• How to start a Club Program

• Simple as 1-2-3
• Where and Who Where can you practice, who is
  doing the training, and the club administration.
  
• Plan, Promote, Promote, Promote Unless you
  have a ready made team, you need players. ?
• Implement your plan all the little stuff.

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Palmetto Region

• A club begins in the mind of a coach, player, or
  parent. Someone has to be the Big Dog and head
  up this endeavor. This person should be
  organized and motivated not a talker, but a
  doer.
• The club or team administrator should have the
  motivation to do this and be a well organized
  person. Of course, the more teams and players
  you have, the more work is involved. We also
  suggest this person be paid, at least
  reimbursement of all expenses. If paid, suggest
  20 per player for the season. This may vary
  based on the work load this person is assigned.

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Palmetto Region

• You must have a place to practice Secure a
  location if you do not have one. Look for
  churches, elementary, or middle schools first.
  Typically, these locations are easier to secure
  than high schools, due to less conflicts.
  Ideally, you want to be able to practice twice a
  week per team. Plan on practice times from 90
  mins to 2 hrs each. Two teams can share one
  court. Of course, try to get the facility
  donated. Part of your fee to join USAV includes
  liability insurance for the facility. If the
  facility needs an insurance certificate, you may
  request this from the region office. Info is also
  located on the region website.

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Palmetto Region

• Your coach is very important. Find someone that
  is knowledgeable, has the desire to train and the
  time to invest into the team. We suggest you pay
  the coach, some will volunteer, but we find
  volunteers are less committed than paid staff.
  Average pay is 10-20 per practice hour and
  50-100 per tournament day.

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Palmetto Region

• Plan and Promote
  Come up with a plan on the following
• How many teams you desire to offer. This is
  normally dictated by the facility. If you can
  only get one court twice a week, you probably
  will be limited to a maximum of two teams. Also,
  consider how many players you want on a team. We
  suggest 8-10. For new clubs, 10 may be better.
  You will find 1 or 2 will drop out before or
  during the season.

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Palmetto Region

• What age division you want to target If you want
  to start with young players do your promotion
  to middle school or younger. Specify your age
  goal on your brochure, if applicable.
• Determine when you want to start Typically,
  this should be in December for tryouts, so you
  can start practices and get into the Officials
  clinics and certification tournaments in January.

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Palmetto Region

• Determine how long your season will be Most
  clubs continue until the state regional
  championships, which are held late March to early
  April. Some teams may continue beyond this date,
  based on your plans and tournaments available.

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Palmetto Region
Promote promote - promote!

• Unless you have a pre-committed team of players,
  you must promote to the local schools, EARLY!
  Waiting until a few weeks out will simply not get
  it done. Get to high school tournaments,
  matches- talk it up with parents. Ask if you can
  give handouts to the players. Design a
  promotional letter or brochure for information /
  sign up meeting. See SAMPLE. Get this
  information out to the schools. Personal contact
  to the coaches is highly suggested- get them sold
  on the idea.

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Palmetto Region

• Determine a date and place for your information
  meeting.
• We suggest this be done in November or early
  December. At the meeting, you want to provide
  information on (a) teams (b) ages offered (c)
  Cost see how to determine a budget (d)
  beginning and end of season (e) introduce coach
  (f) how many tournaments you plan to attend.

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Palmetto Region

• Implement your plan

Once you have your plan and goal, running
the club is not to difficult. Normally, the club
administrator or director is the primary contact
person with the region. We will assist in helping
you with all requirements. We suggest that you
request to be placed on several other clubs
email newsletters. This is a great way to know
what information you should also be sharing with
your parents. Most of the items that need to be
addressed are listed next.
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Palmetto Region
You will need to meet all the requirements of
joining the Palmetto Region. See instructions on
How to register for the Season.

P A L M E T T O V B .com
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Palmetto Region

• Once you fulfill the region requirement to get
  players, coaches and teams registered, you will
  need to do the following.
• Get players and coaches certified to officiate.
  All coaches and most of your players need to be
  certified to officiate matches in tournament
  play. See section on Officiating Requirements
  for a Region Team. This area needs to be taken
  seriously and planned in advance. Waiting until
  the last minute is not recommended.

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Palmetto Region

Determine the number of tournaments you desire to
play during the season. We suggest you enter
these as soon as possible. Due to limited space
at junior tournaments, often these fill up early.
Make sure you have players committed to
attending the dates you choose before you enter.
Note the withdrawal region rules- you dont want
to lose money.
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Palmetto Region

• The region will assist you with suggestions as to
  what division to play. We normally offer two
  levels of play per age division, called Power
  (stronger) and Club level. Age groups are offered
  in each single age divisions, 12,13,14,15,16,17,-
  18s.
• It is suggested you consider a website.
  www.Eteamz.com offers a free website for sport
  teams- you can have a up and running website in a
  matter of a few hours with average or above
  knowledge of computers.
• The best way to learn is to visit other club
  websites. See what there rules are, fees, how
  they handle problems, etc. I complete list of
  club sites are posted on the region site.

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Palmetto Region

• Uniforms and equipment
• Note the rules concerning uniforms with USAV.
  We suggest you order in plenty of time to get all
  your uniforms in before you first tournament.
  Keep in mind that is you are ordering from a
  dealer, the later the season, the more the risk
  you run of the items being backordered.
• Remember to plan for equipment you will need
  Volleyballs, carts, etc. Contact region if you
  need new or used. Hopefully you can borrow what
  you need to get started.

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Palmetto Region

• Suggestions on how to avoid problems with a new
  club
• Once you determine you expenses and fees, we
  suggest allowing parents to make payments. For
  example, if your fees are 400 a year, allow 3 or
  4 installments. Plan to start installments early
  (get a deposit early (at tryouts or before) so
  you know who is committed. You want to try to
  have last payments by late Feb. or early March.
  If you have 9 on the team, base your budget on
  8.. most likely you will have unexpected cost
  and/or someone will not pay.

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Palmetto Region

• Expect two consistent problems that are universal
  with all clubs. Team Placement (if you have more
  than one team, someone is going to complain
  because they didnt make the higher team.) Most
  clubs have ranked teams, like 1 and 2, rather
  than dividing talent equally. Try to have fair
  tryouts, the smaller the numbers, the easier it
  is.

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Palmetto Region

• Second problem is Playing Time. Determine what
  your goal/plan will be to allow playing time. Any
  more than 6 on the team, you can count on a
  parent complaining about playing time. Determine
  what your policy will be and make sure all know
  it.

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Palmetto Region

• Commitment- dont expect every person that signs
  up to stay with your team for the entire season.
  Generally, higher the level of talent, the higher
  the commitment. As a general rule, you will
  start to lose interest and attendance toward the
  end of your season. We also suggest you work
  around school sports as much as possible.

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Palmetto Region

• Communicate with your players and parents (email
  is ideal). Make sure practice plans and
  tournament information is announced well in
  advance. Avoid last minute practice changes-
  makes for very frustrated parents.

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Palmetto Region

• GOOD LUCK !