Hi all,

My kid has recently taken up volleyball (M, U14 level). He had played around with the idea of it last year, but nothing much came of it outside of getting a ball and working with him through the basics of forearm and fingertip passes. Over this past summer, he decided that it was something that he wanted to try with a little more committment. Late in the summer he attended a 1-week half-day camp run by the players and coaches of the local university (highly ranked nationally), and had some great experience and coaching. He tried out for his junior high school junior team and made it, but unfortunately their season is now over.

He seems pretty committed to growth as a player; during the period between the camp and try-outs, he had me working with him roughly an hour a day in the backyard to get more touches on the ball, and there were several times during early season tournaments where we came home between matches and he made me run drills with him, specifically focused on what *he* thought were the weakest parts of his game in the preceding match.

The issues:

1. He's barely 13 and doesn't have a ton of experience with competitive sports, nor with anything requiring explosive speed. His main physical-activity background prior to this has been in ballet, so his development of vertical and the footwork (choreography?) for serve/attack/block have been extremely easy, but he's missing some of the aggressiveness on attack.
2. He's just shy of 6' and still growing, and getting flack from some of his friends that he beat out for making the team, who say that he just walked on to the team because of his height. This is more of an r/relationships issue but thoughts?
3. He's pretty weak on attack, but probably top 1-2 of players on second touches (odd league at this level here, they are basically required to play a 6-6) and top 2-3 of players on serve/attack receive (18 players per team; yes, I know, not the ideal way to develop players)
4. He's got a good eye for the game on the court, to the extent that his performance improved 100% when I started feeding him notes on the opposition during warm-up. He watches the rotations and makes the right decisions during gameplay when he's been told that e.g. your 14 can only hit cross reliably, or their 9 always hits line while 8 only hits cross. He watched the gameplay and reponded well on both offense and defense, and started making his own notes on the opposition during the 5-5-5 warmups.

At the current age level, they play basically a mandated 6-6. However, next year he moves up an age level and it's the coach's choice about how they run the game. If I were coaching a club/university feeder team and knew his background, tendencies and experience, he would be playing as a setter in a 5-1 or the weaker setter/opposite in a 6-2. However, I know that he's going to be pigeon-holed as a middle based on height, as he was the second tallest player in his league this year, and the next tallest player on his team just barely got above his shoulder. And FWIW I'm not disparaging the MHs out there, it's what I played, what I know, and I loved it, it just doesn't seem to jive with his current style/mindset. And also because we're expecting him to max out around 6'6"-6'8" before high school, and a setter that size is a significant asset.

So, I guess it comes down to: what can I do to help my kid develop as a player at this age? He currently wants to enrol in both spring and summer break camps, but are there any exercises that he should be looking into, training videos, resign himself to being a middle, etc? I don't want to force him into anything, I just want to have some ideas and options for when he comes to me for help.

ETA: thanks for reading, I know this is a long one, but it's tough to blend a post that's half parenting with half volleyball, much appreciated if you've gotten this far.

How can I remove the paint?

Hello, I follow the japanese SV League a bit, especially the Stings Aichi, and I was wondering why every team has to play twice the same team back to back, while it seems to not be the case for the other leagues.

Welcome to the Weekly Short Questions Thread! If you've got a quick question that doesn't require you to provide in-depth explanation, post it here! Examples include:

• What is the correct hand shape for setting?
• My setter called for a "31" and I'm looking for advice on to do that.
• What are the best volleyball shoes on the market for a libero?
• Is the Vertical Jump Bible any good?
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Hey everyone,

I’m the president of a local volleyball community. Our group is all about camaraderie, with members mostly 30+ years old and some in their 20s. We’re not competitive; we just enjoy the game and the sense of community it brings.

Recently, I joined a commercial volleyball league as a player. During the league meeting, one of their officials made a point to compare my community to their league and even criticized the way we run things, mentioning specific names from my community. I confronted him and told him not to compare or judge us because we have our own internal setup that works for us. Things got heated, and out of frustration, I walked out of the meeting.

Fast forward to Game 1 of the commercial league: I found out they were using my community’s official ball—without my permission. That ball was purchased for my community’s league, not for the commercial league. I confronted the officials, raising my voice, and asked where their league’s official ball was. I called them out, saying, “After what one of your officials said about my community, now you’re using our ball? You should provide your own!”

Now I’m left wondering, was I overreacting? I felt disrespected by their comments during the meeting and again by their decision to use our ball without even asking. But at the same time, I don’t want to be the person who blows things out of proportion.

What do you think? Should I have handled this differently, or was my reaction justified?

Halo need some recommendations to replace our volleyball net, (I'll be buying it on my own so not sure about the budget) I'm in the Philippines so I only have shopee and Lazada as my options.

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I’m seeing a lot of people IRL and online wear their knee pads right below their knee or even on their shins. It seems pointless to wear them off the knee but a lot of people are saying it just looks better that way.

Where do you wear your knee pads? If you wear them below your knees, why?

So I landed on my knee a few times in volleyball last weekend (on accident, still trying to learn to dive and move my feet rather than land on knees), and now there’s a strange bruise on my shin as well. Anyone out there know if this is a bone bruise or a different common volleyball injury?

https://youtu.be/fAn-RV0d_y8?si=xwlB6I0QetFnmm1T

When my husband died 2 years ago, my daughter’s volleyball team all wrote sweet messages on a ball and gave it to her. I notice now that they are really starting to fade. This ball is not in use but I want to protect the messages. It is ink pen. Is there a spray or something I can do to stop the fading? Thanks

2025 Men's Volleyball World Championship Draw Analysis

https://youtu.be/OTuXWHgO5QM?si=cx-4c_00tEKyff3O

Hi reddit, I'm trying to find a gift for my younger sister in HS who plays as a libero. I've read some other threads and I'm thinking of getting her a blanket in her team's colors that she and her teammates can use during downtime but I'm not really sure if "volleyball blankets" are a specific thing? or if it's just a picnic blanket/large throw blanket? What material would you recommend?

Was also thinking of getting her a new volleyball or a sports bag, but I'm open to other ideas and recommendations! Thanks for any help!

Why was there no positional error called on the serving team in this example? Note that the setter had not started the service motion.

I noticed they immediately switch to this position every time their setter goes to the service area.