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About Tom Houser
Expertise
I can answer any type of volleyball question: school, college, club, coaching, playing, etc. (I am not, however, a athletic trainer! haha)
Experience
23 years coaching varsity, JV, club.
You can see all about me at www.coachhouser.com There are also free downloads for coaches & parents, and hundreds of smiling faces for you volleyball players!
Publications
www.active.com
www.yesIcansports.com
Education/Credentials
BS degree from Va Tech in Math Education. MS degree from Va Tech in Secondary Administration. 28 years teaching high school math!
The Picture!
The picture that you see is my team after winning the 52-team Capitol Hill Classic in February 2008 in Washington DC. We were the only undefeated team in the 15's division. However, they presented our awards to the team that won the SILVER division! haha So the tournament directors had to reorder our medals and our player's MVP trophy, then mail them all to us later!
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You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Volleyball > Volleyball > High school boy wants to find a club team!
Expert: Tom Houser
Date: 10/9/2008
Subject: High school boy wants to find a club team!
Question
QUESTION: I live in southwestern Kansas. There are no volleyball opportunities. I really
would like to play college. My positions are ds, l, and possibly, rs hitter. I'm not
the tallest, but I am only a freshman. If you could send me club information or
any at all that would be greatly appreciate.
ANSWER: Good afternoon!
Thanks for visiting www.allexperts.com! It's great to hear from you!
Tryouts for club ball should be approaching soon. For some clubs here in Virginia, they've already occurred. But in many states, they cannot occur until after the high school season is over.
Club volleyball will take a player to the next level, just like travel basketball, travel soccer, travel softball, etc. There is no way an athlete won't be a better player when playing a sport 8 or 9 months a year, rather than just 3. Furthermore, when a player who doesn't play travel sports in the off-season tries to compete at the college level against those who did play travel sports........it's stunning how much better the travel players are. Stunning! The non-travel player is nearly always the one who gets the ax.
Now, to answer your question! First, you must find clubs that are close by your home. Copy & paste the following website into your browser: http://www.usavolleyball.org/WannaPlay/newregions.v2.asp. Then touch the area of the country that you're interested in. I recommend touching Kansas. Later also touch Oklahoma. Since you're in southwest KS, you may be able to find a team in either state.
Second, when you go to each region's website, find a list of clubs. Find how far they are away from you. For the teams that are closest to you, find when their tryouts are. If they've already occurred, then you may be out of luck. But I recommend contacting the club director anyway. Maybe, just maybe they need one more person to fill out a team!
If tryout info isn't on the websites, then email the club director and find out when tryouts are. If you procrastinate, then you may miss tryouts completely. So do it this weekend!
If there are no clubs close by, then maybe a coach or a parent will start their own club in your area. It's really not all that hard......scary and time-consuming, but not that hard! haha I know. I started a club in 1991 and ran it until 2000. If there's an adult who's interested in this option, have them email me at coachhouser@yahoo.com and I'll send them info on how I did it!
Finally, if your parents can afford it, and the closest club is 50 miles away, and you REALLY love vball, then go for it. In a few weeks, girls from Lynchburg will be trying out for my Roanoke Jrs 16 National team, and they live about 50 miles away. It'll be a rough drive for 5 months, 3 days a week. But they WANT to play that badly. I can't wait!
Again, thanks for visiting our website. If you have a moment, please visit me at www.coachhouser.com. Last year I directed camps in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia. And my staff this coming summer is bigger & better than ever before! If you think your school coach (or a coach nearby) is interested, then please forward my website to them. They'll love all the smiling faces.
Coach Houser
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I'm looking for a way to let college volleyball coaches for men to know that I
exist. How do i do that? I accidentally typed girl on my last question. Sorry bout
that.
Answer
Hey man!
I don't know if you typed "girl" or not.....I may have just assumed, since that's 95% of the mail I get. I'm sorry.
First off, realize that you'll be playing college sports for 4 years, but you'll be using your college education for about 60. So, don't try to go to a school just to play sports.........when you hate the school. "Coach Houser, I don't know if I hate if b/c I've never seen it." Then you don't know if you like it either! Go visit it, stay a day or two, stay in a dorm room, go with your parents, visit the website & read & read & read. I've had my own players attend a school they didn't like just to play ball. Guess what? 90% of them left after a year or two......they didn't LIKE the school, so they didn't stay.
Second, if the school doesn't offer what you want to study, don't go there! You would change what you dream of doing for the next 60 years.......just to play ball for 4? That makes no sense.
Now, when you find a school you like AND it offers what you want to study, then here is your formula!
To get known:
a) Contact the coach at the school that you're interested in.
b) Send the coach a skill's video.
c) Attend the coach's summer camps.
d) If you play club ball, send the coach your schedule. Also send the coach your school ball schedule.
e) Contact the coach at least every 2 weeks with an email about how you're doing, how your team is doing, where you'll be in the upcoming weeks, how you made honor roll (YEAH), etc.
f) Don't stop being interested in that school until (a) you personally lose interest for whatever reason or (b) the coach tells you that he's not interested in you any longer.
How's that sound?
If you have more questions, please visit here again! And please visit me at www.coachhouser.com. I think you'll like the site........a lot!
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