It's The Final Countdown... da da da DAAA

By Chris Beerman

Hi everyone!  Thanks for continuing to follow my blog describing my process of building a club from the ground up.  The past few blogs have outlined my journey to the present, and going forward, the rest of the blog entries will be in real time; which I’m excited about.  The past couple of weeks have been about preparing for tryouts and making sure everything is ready to go, hence, The Final Countdown.  After the parent meeting I opened up tryout registration, and within a few days, began receiving the forms in the mail.  As we’ve gotten closer to the tryout dates of November 8-10, the mail has steadily increased, and I’m getting a clearer picture of the kinds of numbers we can expect in the specific age groups.  I’m sure, like with most clubs, my most popular age groups at this point are my 13-16 year olds, but I’m beginning to see an increase in the registrations from the older and younger ends of the age-group spectrum.  My Munciana pros tell me that almost 80% of registrations are returned in the last week before the deadline so we’ll see what happens within the week. 

In order to make sure players feel they are prepared for tryouts rather than rusty from a long layoff, our tryouts will occur the week after the state champion in Kentucky is crowned.  In addition, we will also be conducting a pre-tryout camp the week before tryouts called, quite simply, the Rustbuster Camp. Tryouts will occur at KBA, which is a five-court facility, and we will run three different 90 minute sessions divided by age groups (12-14’s, 15-16’s and 17-18’s). The first day of tryouts: (1) players will check-in at their allotted times, (2) we'll make sure their paperwork is in order and they are trying out for the appropriate age group, (3) players will get sized for apparel and finally (4) begin their tryout session.  Players will be trying out for our Elite teams or Regional teams. Players not chosen for an Elite team will then decide to play on a Regional team.  Due to practice court space limitations, we will be able to offer 15 total Elite teams or approximately 2 teams per age group.  Elite teams will have a longer season and play in more tournaments.  

My tryout evaluation philosophy is very simple: judge the players while they are actually playing volleyball. We (the coaches who are evaluating players) need to see the players perform the skills appropriate for their intended position and age group the best we can while giving them enough reps to show their true skill level.  I think it’s very important to have at least two days of tryouts for each age group since many times I didn’t notice a player on day one, but saw her  on day two and took notice.  Or vice-versa, I was very high on a kid day one, but my initial evaluation changed the more I watched her.  Having two days of tryouts is also the best way to make sure you are forming your teams in the fairest way possible.  My main goal is to place the right kids on the right teams.  Each team is of high importance; I will be invested in every single team and age group. I literally want no mistakes. 

Our tryout format will include evaluating overall skill level, position-specific skill level, athletic ability, focus, attitude, and competitiveness   Every one of those facets should be a part of the evaluation, because many times a player is picked for a team based on their strength in one of those areas, but they fall short in the others and the team experience is not what it should be.  Our coaches will be divided up into (1) evaluators and (2) court coaches.  Coaches will be “evaluators” during their own age group’s tryout session and “court coaches” during the other age group sessions.  Objectively, the “evaluators” will judge players on the physical and mental characteristics I listed above on a 1-5 scale. 

My role as Club Director will be to evaluate everyone to make sure the coaches are seeing the same things I am seeing, and to add a subjective aspect to the process.  We will also get input from the court coaches running the drills.  On Day 2 of tryouts “evaluators” and I will either finalize our initial evaluations from day one, or change our initial thoughts based on a more thorough review of the players.  I’m looking forward to the coaches meetings that will follow tryouts and “talking out” each team to make sure we are all on the same page.  It’s extremely important that the parents and players feel the tryout process was fair, unbiased, and their daughters are placed on the appropriate team.   Thanks again for reading the blog and be back again soon with more “real time” discussion.

Also don’t hesitate to pose a question or comment on the blog in the comment section; I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Face to Face Q & A

By Chris Beerman

After spending 4 months getting the club up and running and making the foundational decisions about how we would operate, it was time to present our club in person to the general public in the form of a parent informational meeting.  In Lexington, our middle school and high school matches occur on different nights, so I decided to hold two separate meetings to accommodate both groups.  The meetings would be held at KBA (the basketball facility we are using as our home base) on a Monday and Thursday night in late September.  To advertise the meetings, I posted the days and times on the club website and Facebook page, and sent numerous email blasts to every high school and middle school coach within 50 miles of Lexington. 

Up to this point, I had released very little specific information about the program structure and cost of the club, so these meetings would be the parents’ first chance to hear for themselves the specifics of Lexington United.  Obviously, the first parent meeting in a club’s history is extremely important and can either create a ton of excitement and momentum or be a big flop.  First impressions are so important in every aspect of life, but maybe even more so when parents are trying to decide if this activity is where they want to invest money for their child.  Lexington club volleyball had experienced a very inconsistent history with no club really lasting longer than a few years.  Organizational issues, coaching problems, charges of politics in picking teams, and finding adequate practice space were some of the issues that plagued previous attempts to bring a big tent club idea to Lexington.  The parents in town were obviously going to be somewhat cynical and possibly even skeptical at my new attempt to create a long-lasting club that could meet the needs of every family.  

I knew I had one chance to make a great first impression and create a buzz and excitement that would create momentum moving forward.  Being organized and completely prepared with my presentation would be the key to success.  I wanted to present the club’s details, followed by a long question and answer session.  I was determined to be so prepared as to be able to answer any or all questions that might be asked, no matter how obscure.  Using Munciana’s long history with parent meetings as a template, I prepared a five-page handout  that would detail the following topics: Tryout dates and times, registration procedure, age-group classifications, competitive programs offered, participation fees, coaches/transportation fees, when and how teams will be selected, where and when will teams practice, apparel packages, coaches and travel distances.  With these subject areas as topics, I needed to make sure I was ironclad organizationally. While creating the handout, it actually forced me to finalize a lot of loose ends in the club structure and at the completion and printing of the handouts, I felt more than ready to go. 

A couple of areas I knew would be of most concern for parents were: how much is this going to cost, how many teams will you have, and who will coach them? Using the Munciana brain-trust as advisors regarding cost structure and pricing was incredibly valuable for me.  I knew how much Lexington parents had paid for club volleyball in the past, so I certainly did not want to set a price that would be met with scorn or the appearance of price-gouging.  After much haggling, we came to a fee structure that we felt was adequate for us to meet our expenses, and hopefully was fair and affordable for our parents.  Our fees were also set much lower than other elite clubs in Kentucky and the near Midwest. 

As far as the coaching staff, the best part of being able to unite the club situation in Lexington is that it allowed me to have access to all the best coaches, and being able to present that fact to the parents was very reassuring.  The other fact about the coaches was that I would be coaching the coaches: mentoring the younger ones, and designing a training system and fundamental teaching style that would be consistently coached throughout the club and with each individual team. Coaching accountability would be a huge part of what our club was about. 

I went to the printing company and had 300 copies of my handout made and at the time, thought that would be way too many, but decided it would be good to have extra copies on-hand.  The night of the first meeting arrived and at about 7:45 pm, approximately 40 people were seated and I was getting a bit nervous that our turnout would be a lot less than what I had envisioned.  That quickly changed as a late arriving crowd pushed the total number of potential players to over 170.  I had all the parents sign in and we began the meeting. In my time as a head collegiate coach I had been in front of big crowds before and done numerous presentations at clinics and camps, so I felt very comfortable, enthusiastic and engaged with my parent crowd.  As I reached the time to talk pricing, I tried to notice any squirming, bad facial expressions and/or negative body language that would lead me to believe we had missed our mark. To my great relief, however, I didn’t see any of those things and as the presentation continued I felt more and more positive energy in the room. 

Following the handout material, I offered time for any questions and I spent the next 45 minutes answering what I thought, were excellent questions regarding everything from tryout logistics to fundraising options.  At the conclusion of the Q & A session, I ended the meeting and spent another hour meeting individually with parents who had additional, more specific questions.  I left the facility feeling great about the turnout, the positive energy, the questions and response from parents.  The middle school meeting that Thursday brought in about 130 more people, and so to my huge surprise, I actually ran out of my 300 copies of handouts.  It was a great problem to have and made me even more excited about the potential for long-term club volleyball in Central Kentucky.  The parent meetings had been a success, the specific information about the club was out in the open and the word of mouth was excited and positive and I felt great about the direction Lexington United was headed.    

Coaches: The Lifeblood of a Successful Club

By Chris Beerman

Another important aspect of a new club is who will comprise your coaching staff.  The personnel helps determine how big your club can be and what kind of programs you can offer.  Quality, caring coaches are the lifeblood of a successful club and Lexington is lucky in that it has many colleges and universities within a 20-30 mile radius with very solid volleyball programs; this creates a big group of potential coaches for LUV.  In my two previous years of coaching club in Lexington I was able to meet and observe some very talented, enthusiastic young coaches and watched them put their heart and soul into their teams, so I was confident I could construct a quality staff. 

The “United” idea of our club was in full effect and with other local clubs deciding to join with LUV, our pool of coaches was outstanding.  Knowing that I had 15 Elite teams, I knew I needed to first identify 15 coaches who would be running those teams.  I made contact with every coach in the area to gauge their interest in our club, what competitive level they wanted to coach, times they would be available, and what age group they were interested in working with.  I got very positive responses from about 30 coaches and I decided to have a coaches meeting to introduce my concepts and answer their questions.  At that meeting, I went over the basics of the club: Luv’s mission, structure, time lines, expectations and we had an awesome Q and A session at the end. 

Once I had a good indication of which coaches were in, I went to work on identifying my 1’s team coaches (top team in each age group) and securing their age-group commitment.  Next, I moved on to our 2’s coaches and regional coaches.  The process of matching strengths and skill-sets of coaches with the appropriate age groups is very interesting, and I found that all of the decisions I made on personnel were met by great enthusiasm.  Once I got full confirmation from the coaches, I posted their names and which age-groups they would be coaching on the LUV website.  I wanted to make sure the parents knew who their potential coaches would be and who would be evaluating their daughters at tryouts. 

I had a bit of trepidation about the response that parents would have once the list of coaches was revealed and I was prepared to hear complaints about this coach or that coach, but instead the response I received was nothing but positive!  The fact that our city was “united” into one club allowed all the best coaches to coach under one roof and that was a tremendous advantage for the parents.  With coaching positions and practice sites secured, it was now time to present our club vision to the community in the form of a public parent meeting.   Parents were eager to hear what we were all about and I knew first impressions would be critical.

The House that LUV Built

By Chris Beerman

In my case, the facility question was by far the most important issue that needed to be resolved before moving forward with Lexington United Volleyball.  Reality is, basketball is the #1 sport in Lexington.  When I began researching potential practice sights, I soon discovered that literally every available high school or church gym in the city is used for that sport from January through March.  The local club I had worked for the past two years had rented court space from the best basketball facility in Lexington and the other clubs had used the other multi-purpose facility in Lexington.  As I continued to research court space, I quickly realized I would somehow have to also use these facilities as a home base or it would be extremely difficult to even have a club. 

The other facility option that was often discussed was to lease or buy our own building.  In analyzing the current national club landscape, the number of volleyball facilities in this country has exploded in the past 5-7 years.  Munciana, who is our partner in this club venture, had opened their facility in 2010 and had seen their entire operation go through the roof.  Of course Munciana had a 30 year head start on developing their brand and has been one of the most successful clubs in the nation, so keeping a realistic notion of expectation and costs involved was very important.  Ideally having your own courts and being able to schedule practices, tournaments, lessons, camps and other events at any time is a dream situation, but the reality is there are huge costs and aggravations in deciding to own verse rent court space. 

It was decided that in our situation, with the unknowns of a new club and potential number of players Lexington could support, a building at this time wasn’t financially feasible. Once the facility option had been exhausted, I decided to meet with the owners of the basketball facility and discuss my vision for the club: camp, practice, lessons, hosting tournaments, and if they were open to a volleyball partnership.  I was very sensitive to the fact that the other club had been using the facility and the owners and I wanted to make sure that club had the right of first refusal, and was not to be “kicked to the curb”.  In the end, the other club decided not to pursue another year with the basketball facility and that left our club as the sole volleyball entity within the building. 

This development was a real coup and allowed us to set a schedule and visualize our club’s size based on the practice space that would be available.  It also allowed us to be housed in THE nicest and most well-known facility in Central Kentucky.  As it turned out, the other multi-purpose facility also lost it’s primary court renter and that stroke of luck allowed me to reserve valuable court space for my regional program, opening up even more playing opportunities for the Lexington volleyball players.  Finally, my short season program found a home at a local high school who would rent me their court space after their basketball season ended.  After much negotiating and hustling for court space, I had a home for all of my competitive programs and that was a huge relief moving forward!  Once I had secured a place to practice, the next issue was forming my coaching staff. 

The Foundation

By Chris Beerman

The organizational foundation was in place for Lexington United and now I needed to answer the bricks and mortar questions of what, where, who, and when as it related to the structure of the club.  Number one on the list was determining what kind of programs we would offer.  As I mentioned in the last blog, I wanted to have something for everyone and make sure that an emphasis was placed on the grassroots youth, beginner level.  I had an overall generic idea of what I wanted to present to Lexington, but now I needed to get specific.

As the hub of the club, I wanted to offer an elite program for the kids who have really big goals and all share similar competitive attitudes about playing volleyball after high school.  As part of the “United” idea, I wanted all of the elite players with similar goals playing together; that is exciting to me, as I feel there is a high probability to be immediately competitive at a high level if that concept can be realized.  I also wanted a regional program that allows kids to play with less of a time and financial commitment, and for players who are new to the sport and need to develop.  There would be a competitive training program for 10 and 11 year olds called the LUV Birds, and finally a beginner program for children 6-9 years old, called the LUV Bugs.  These competitive programs offer an option for almost every girl at any age and commitment level who is interested in playing club volleyball. 

There was still one group, that traditionally never has an opportunity for club volleyball and that’s the multi-sport athlete.  I’ve always wondered how many basketball players, if given the opportunity and time, would also play club volleyball in the spring.  I decided to not even try to compete with their basketball season and instead offer what I call a Short Season program that would begin in March and conclude at the end of May.  Basketball players who finish their season could then play volleyball until their AAU season begins.  I felt this eclectic approach to club volleyball programming allows for the maximum amount of participation. 

Next, I tackled pricing for each program.  Pricing would be determined by what the clientele in the region has been used to paying, the length of the program, coaching salaries, apparel packaging and court rental fees.  Pricing is critical when introducing a new club to a region.    I believe it’s very important that after reviewing what’s being offered, parents feel that the price makes sense financially and they are confident they will get what they pay for.   This is first and foremost a customer service business, and that needs to be a front and center vibe that the parents feel upon first impression. 

Besides the club programs, another focus that could begin immediately were camps and satellite camps. They could help launch the club name, and if run well, could spread positive word of mouth. I decided in late spring to advertise satellite camps under the Lexington United name and the response was great.  In the summer I was able to schedule 7 camps and get the Lexington United ball rolling. That exposure was invaluable and led to a public perception of legitimacy prior to the beginning our first club season!  I was also able to run an in-house camp in Lexington to start introducing the club’s style of training and generate excitement about the new club to local players. The best part of running this many camps so early in the process was handing out Lexington United t-shirts to the over 250 total campers who then began wearing them to other volleyball events...free marketing!  The best advertising to this day is those proud kids wearing Lexington United’s new logo around town. 

Positive word of mouth is absolutely the best advertising!   I felt we had a great club launch and an awesome summer of volleyball camps. I was getting to know every high school and middle school coach throughout Eastern Kentucky and Lexington, and they were getting to know me and what I am about. The next step was figuring out where our club would practice and who would be coaching…