Why Roster Size Matters (The Series)
The club season is just around the corner and families are busy trying to figure out which club tryouts to attend. But, are they asking the important questions about how a club operates in order to make a truly informed decision? In this series I will examine a question that I don’t think enough families are asking. Read More
Disclaimer: Blog posts represent the opinions of their author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of MVSA the organization.
When evaluating whether a specific club fits your family’s needs, you need to ask a lot of questions. But are you asking the right questions? Despite its importance, one of the questions families often fail to ask is "How many players do you carry per team?". Why is that important? Not only does the number of players per team directly impact your athlete’s experience during the season, it is a huge indicator of the underlying priorities of the club. Are they truly concerned with the well-being of every athlete in their program or might there be other conflicting priorities at play?
So how exactly does team roster size impact your athlete? The short version of the story is that the number of players per team can have a huge impact on any one player's involvement during team matches. MVSA tries to limit their teams to ten players for this very reason. Why is the number ten important? Well... to understand that is going to require a "long version" of the story where we dive deep into the rules of volleyball, volleyball offensive systems, athlete development philosophy, and other related topics.
The Road Ahead
Doing this topic justice will take time, so I am breaking the discussion up across multiple posts. It will also get quite technical at times, but please stick with me. The more educated you are, the better the decisions you make.
In part 1, I will examine some relevant rules of volleyball as well as volleyball offensive systems. Even if you believe you are familiar with these topics, please still read it since future posts are highly dependent on a firm understanding of these foundational elements. In part 2, I will analyze how everything discussed in part 1 directly impacts player involvement in matches and why it matters. I will then wrap everything up in part 3 with a discussion of club motivations and strategies for non-ideal team rosters. I hope you enjoy the journey.
