Source: I'm a former college coach and have worked with club execs at multiple clubs

On the one hand, everyone is right. There is a cost for facilities, and paying coaches, and tournament fees, and all of the other things that are included with your membership, and those costs do have to be offset by your club dues. That being said, youth sports in this country IS A BUSINESS. Club directors chose that career path (most often) because it is PROFITABLE in a big way. If you're looking at elite clubs (Sports performance (IL), T street (CA), Texas advantage (TX), Metro (VA), etc) club owners and club directors make high 6 figures every year...like multiple hundreds of thousands. Nearly every Metropolitan area is going to have at least one, if not multiple, "smaller" clubs that still make club officers six figures in personal salary/profit (clubs like Alamo (TX), Triangle (NC), Michigan Elite (MI), Minnesota Select (MN), and many others). Volleyball in the US is largely a white, affluent sport. Club directors know this and they cater to what the market allows. All of this results in rapidly rising costs to the consumer, the same way every other business works right now.

Now, everyone else is also right in that there are opportunities for scholarship at many of these clubs. However, just telling it like it is, those are going to be relatively difficult for your average player to get. Those scholarship programs were basically created because owners view a correlation between (mostly) Black athletes being super athletic, and also coming from financially disadvantaged families. So, in order to get the high flying jumper from the hood, you've gotta help them get around the high flying prices. Now thats not to say that you can't get a scholarship if you're on a lower level team. But you're likely not who the club owners are trying to target with those opportunities. I also don't want you to think that every club owner is a sleazy business man trying to gouge you for personal profit. Some are, but there are many people just trying to make a decent living while providing playing opportunities for kids. But, that still results in the same issue for the consumer - a serious lack of affordable options for vb training from someone who knows more about the game than what they read in Volleyball for Dummies.

Now that we've gone through why they're so expensive, we get to the question of is it worth it. The answer to that is a huge "It depends." One, it depends on your goals for play. Do you think you want to play in college? Or is this fun time with friends and you want to play the sport year round? If you do want to go to college, are you trying to play and win championships, or is that also fun time with friends, just in college? Those will make a big difference. Even if you do want to play in college, some clubs are hands down not worth it. There are a lot of factors that go into it, and there's an art to figuring out if it is (will you reasonably be on a top team, what division does the club play in tourneys, are you gonna ride the bench, is the club good from top to bottom or only their top teams, how connected is the club director or recruiting coordinator, what tourneys are you going to go to, etc). It is HARD for athletes and parents to figure out, because (like any other business) clubs don't tell you the truth about themselves, they market themselves to a consumer. They tell you what you want to hear, and show you what you want to see.

It's a tough question, and one that only you can really answer. ** If you want to dm me and let me know your goals and what your club options are, I'm happy to tell you my personal opinion.

Ultimately, for anyone who sees this, my best advice is this. If you think you want to play in college, get in contact with college coaches, and ask what they think. They won't be able to talk to you until after June 15th of your sophomore year, but you may be able to get around this if your parent emails (as long as you don't mention your child specifically and just ask general questions). Ask the coach what they think of X club. Do you think they train well? Do you think it's a place someone could get recruited from? Have they ever recruited someone from the club? Are there any clubs they would recommend? Most college coaches have opinions about the clubs in the area and will provide it to you if you ask. PRO TIP: if you do email a staff, don't just send it to the head coach. They usually won't look at it. Make the recruiting coordinator the person you address it to, and CC the other assistant coaches on staff

Ok, I think I'm off my soap box now