Practice will officially start on Wednesday, September 28th. Practice days and times are Sundays from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, and Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 to 10:30 pm. Right now we are trying to get players together for some pre-season practices (to help get back into the swing of things) on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:30, so if you are interested in early September practices please let us know so we can get those started!
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Hi, I’m an incoming freshman this year and I had just heard about the club volleyball program. I was just wondering what exactly it entails… are there games that go along with it and/or tournaments? Also, is there some sort of “tryout” or is it merely walking on and playing? Just some questions I had because I wished to play at the collegiate level but didn’t want the time commitment.
Thank you!!
Kaitlyn Anderson
Hi Kaitlyn~
Thanks for your interest in the club! To answer your question, we’re probably most similar to the clubs you may or may not have played in in high school. We play competitively in PIVA – which is the Pacific Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, and through PIVA we play other schools club teams in the Pacific Northwest Region (WSU, Oregon, Idaho, Seattle U, Gonzaga, Eastern, and Western to name a few) at tournaments around the region. We have two teams, and both participate in PIVA, but the top team also goes to three travel tournaments outside of the region. This year we’re looking at Nationals in Kansas City, as well as Vegas and California. Of course, you don’t have to go to all the tournaments if you have a schedule conflict, but the top team is a little more serious about attendance than the second team, so if you’re planning on missing a lot of tournaments, you might get placed on the second team, even if you could play with the top team. However, it’s not that bad of a time commitment. And besides, in my experience traveling with the club is super fun and worth doing at least once
As far as tryouts go, the first two or so weeks of practice will be essentially ‘tryouts’ where we’re going to separate people out into the two teams. We don’t explicitly ‘cut’ people, but those who feel uncomfortable playing at our level tend to stop coming to practices. However, if someone is willing to come to practice, and put in the work to improve themselves with the lower team, even if they’re not the greatest player in the world – then we’re glad to have them.
Compared to intramurals or the Friday night open play at the IMA we’re a lot more focused – we do drills at practices, work on skill building, and compete in tournaments, but we’re not as crazy strict/competitive as NCAA. From my personal experience the commitment is manageable, and worthwhile. I’m a pre-med Neurobiology/Biochemistry major, and I’ve managed to keep up my grades without missing a practice.
Hope that answers some questions, and if you have any more, don’t hesitate to ask. Furthermore, feel free to come play with us at IMA Gym C once we start pre-season open gyms up (more info coming soon). We’re also going to be at Dawg Daze out with the other RSO’s, if you’d like to say hi.
Hope to see you around!
~Michelle~
Treasurer, UW Women’s Club Volleyball