When the ball is in play, there is always a better place than where you are.
John Betcher
As a volleyball player who knows how to play volleyball well, you may be considering participating in a volleyball competition or two. In South Africa, you can surely participate in volleyball competitions to grow your skills, gain exposure, and to compete with competitive volleyball players who can play the game at an advanced level.
Starting with Local Volleyball Tournaments
While there are many avenues to join a volleyball competition, the easiest way to start competing in the sport is to become part of a registered volleyball club or a school volleyball team. Most competitions require players who wish to compete to be affiliated with an official club. For those who want to compete locally, regionally, or nationally, being part of a club means constant training, regular coaching, and opportunities to gain access to local leagues. It is often far easier for students on the school's volleyball team to speak to the sports coordinator and ask about the various local, district, and provincial tournaments occurring throughout the year.
If you’re in school, speak to your sports coordinator about joining the volleyball team. Many schools participate in district and provincial tournaments throughout the year.
Volleyball in South Africa is governed nationally by Volleyball South Africa (VSA). Under this VSA, each province has its own volleyball association that selects provincial teams.
Advancing your Volleyball Skills
You will advance your volleyball skills by playing the game competitively more often. It is best to compete in local leagues and tournaments first.
While you may be keen to participate in official leagues and qualify for professional championships, to be eligible for these elite tournaments, you must start by competing in local leagues and tournaments first.
Before participating in inter-provincial tournaments, you can play in the local leagues hosted in your province, where teams compete weekly or monthly. Participating in these matches enables players to gain match experience while improving their performance under pressure.
Several types of local tournaments include:
School tournaments
Volleyball club championships
Beach volleyball events
University volleyball competitions
Students who are playing for a university volleyball league can start by competing in inter-varsity tournaments before advancing to more sophisticated inter-provincial tournaments. It must be remembered that being labelled a beach pro at Cape Town's beach pro volleyball tour is still a rather worthwhile title. The Beach Pro Tour usually takes place in Camps Bay between September and October annually. Playing volleyball locally will give you the confidence to participate in events like the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.
Watch this video below to learn what coaches look for in volleyball tryouts:
Other Volleyball Competitions to Consider
Hustle and heart that's how we play.
Unknown
Once you perform well at your volleyball club or at a school level, chances are that you could receive an invite to attend district, provincial, or inter-provincial trials. Strong performances at provincial tournaments can lead to you being selected to play in national tournaments. Without getting too much ahead of ourselves, you must remember that this will only be possible through consistency, teamwork, fitness, and by holding on to a positive attitude.
While having raw talent is important, volleyball players who wish to compete in tournaments that extend beyond local tournaments need to:
Learning volleyball with a qualified volleyball coach can significantly improve your readiness for competitions at all levels. However, before dreaming of getting to that point, you need to be sure join one of the volleyball clubs near you to get started and to work your way towards achieving your dreams.
Ways to Find Volleyball Clubs Near Me
Now that you are ready to start your journey, finding a volleyball club for you can impact your confidence and your ability to enjoy the game. For those searching for volleyball clubs in South Africa, there are a few ways to enhance your search.
- Look through your provincial volleyball association. A quick visit to your provincial volleyball association's website or social media pages will enable you to find a list of registered clubs and the contact details. You will also be able to see upcoming trial dates.
- Rely on social media and community groups. One of the easiest ways is to find a volleyball club while scrolling through Facebook or Instagram. By typing in terms such as "volleyball club near me," you can find many community and social volleyball groups that you can join.
- Ask at schools, universities, and at local gyms. Many private schools bring together teams of people to utilise their indoor volleyball court for extra money, so you could join the community playing at the school's court, or you can get accepted to play for a university or gym team. There are quite a few local gyms that rent their courts to citizens.
Before joining a volleyball team of your choosing, you need to watch local games to see the team culture, get a taste of the coaching style, and find out from players how they ended up joining a particular club.
Before going ahead and joining a volleyball team of your choice, reconsider your own volleyball goals:
Once you are clear about your goals, you can choose a team that will align with these. You need to, however, ensure that you get to grips with volleyball scoring rules before even joining a club.
Volleyball Scoring Rules
Understanding volleyball scoring rules is essential for players, coaches, and even spectators who want to fully enjoy the game. Volleyball players need to know what counts as a point and how points can be acquired. While volleyball may look fast and complex, the scoring system is actually straightforward once you break it down.
Teams usually get points when the opponent fails to return the ball or when the ball lands in the opponent's court.
Rally Scoring System
When it comes to volleyball, a rally scoring system is used where points are awarded on every rally, irrespective of which team served. Each rally begins with a serve and teams exchanging the ball over the net. The point gets awarded when a specific team wins the rally, and every rally results in points with no exceptions.
How Many Points to Win a Set?
With indoor volleyball, a set is played to 25 points, and the team must win by 2 points. If the score is 24-24, then play continues until one team takes the lead. Matches are usually played in terms of the best of 5 sets, with the first team to win 3 sets being declared the winning team of the match.
Knowing what leads to points in a volleyball match and how the scoring system works is important to ensure that you play to win, and even if you don't win, at least you played according to the rulebook. Join a volleyball club or team in South Africa today or start by getting coached by one of the volleyball tutors near you.
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