The Au-Zone Files 2017-2019

[Turbine]

The man has been busy.

[IndiaPaleAle]

Ragin' Cajun volleyball coach Heather Mazeitis Fontenot discussed the upcoming season this morning. The interview takes up all of the third hour.

[Cajunsmike]

Ragin' Cajun volleyball coach Heather Mazeitis Fontenot discussed the upcoming season this morning. The interview takes up all of the third hour.

Listened to much of this. Found a couple of points interesting. First, is that players and coaches have taken personality profile tests and results shared. That lets them know how they should communicate with each other. Sounded familiar becasue I went through that more than once in my professional career. It can help with communication which all organizations need for success. Second, they rarely recruit at HS matches. If a young lady is not playing what is club volleyball, she will have a difficult time getting a scholarship offer. I had not realized that even volleyball is inflicted with the travel ball issues. Makes it tough for someone without financial means to travel to earn a scholarship. I knew that was the case with many sports but did not realize it extended to volleyball as well.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Seems to me a lot of gifted athletes are being overlooked.

[Cajunsmike]

Seems to me a lot of gifted athletes are being overlooked.

Agreed. Kids who can't afford all the travel ball costs have to show more in their HS games. If it is not football however, apparently you don't even get looked at if you are not in the travel ball circuit.

[Policarp]

Travel volleyball here in DFW is a large investment. 1 daughter + 2 seasons a year (court/sand) Conservatively is 15k year.

Sand volleyball tournaments typically have booze which adds to the Visa bill....Best Bloody Mary ever is Bradford Beach, Milwaukee, WI.

[ManAboutTown]

Holy crap Poli! I would have never thought..

I listened to much of this as well. (Great job btw Ian).

I also found the recruiting comments odd. I get the club angle but how can you not at least send assistants to watch HS Vball? That surprised me a lot.

[CAJUNJUDO]

Especially within a 15 mile radius.
Don’t STM and Teurlings always have pretty good volleyball teams?

[CRAWFISH61]

I am guessing it is like HS school soccer. A few really good teams with a lot of bad teams. If you want to see girls play at a high level with good competition you need to see the travel teams play. And volleyball is first with girls which has really lowered level of athletes in high school basketball.

[Turbine]

I get the point of diminishing returns on local and the value added proposition of travel volleyball.

However it seems to me that taking your tablet to local games and doing office work in the stands is the right use of time, and you might spot a gem.

[Cajunsmike]

Especially within a 15 mile radius.
Don’t STM and Teurlings always have pretty good volleyball teams?

There are plenty of local kids on the team. Best players on those teams play at the club level.

[Cajunrunner]

There are plenty of local kids on the team. Best players on those teams play at the club level.

My oldest tried out for her 7th grade volleyball team here in TX a few years ago. There was an A, B and practice team. She didn’t even make the first cut for any of them.

We put her on a local club team for the Spring. A few years later, she’s been playing with their elite team and is on her high school JV team. That first Spring of club helped her start to catch up with girls who she was competing against for school team spots.

And actually (this isn’t the case with us), some players and parents seem to have more pride in their club team than their school team. I don’t understand it, and I enjoy the school season more. I guess because Lafayette area was more in school pride for your sports. But for sports like volleyball around here, some get more excited for the club season.