How Much is Too Much?

[mstateglfr]

Yall are talking about baseball, but youth volleyball in Mississippi is having a bit of a reckoning. Lots of parents are figuring out its just not worth it, and Mississippi teams cannot compete out of the region.

There's a long text thread amongst about 20 dads right now about the latest college commitment. Arguably the best non-connected player* in the state's history just committed to Loyola Marymount. That's fine and hopefully she will do well, but that's the best player in the state going to a decent mid-major. Most players in Mississippi are going JUCO with an occasional D2 signee. Its got people questioning spending $10k+ a year.

I casually follow the club she is at. Madkin played there before going to Arkansas, another girl committed to Arkansas recently, they have Dampier's kid(no idea if she is good, but the height is there!), and they then get some signed to mid-majors and jucos, like you mentioned.
Your post motivated me to look up Infinity's 18s teams in USAV rankings and...holyshit. I just casually assumed they were higher ranked. IVBA 18 REN is 345th Nationally and IVBA BLACK is 1747th nationally.

What is the best overall club in Mississippi then?
Who is the best connected player(you mentioned non-connected, so I assume itll be someone different).




For perspective, the top 3 18s teams in my region(state) this year were...
RANKED 19th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 4 higher level D1 girls- Louisville, UNI, UNI, Arkansas, 1 mid-D1, and 2 D2 girls.
RANKED 51st NATIONALLY IN USAV - 1 higher D1 girl- UNI, 2 mid level D1 girls, 3 D2 girls, 1 D3 girl, 1 JUCO, and 1 that chose to not play in college
RANKED 55th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 3 higher level D1 girls- ISU, Drake, Auburn, 3 D2 girls, 1 JUCO, and 2 that chose to not play in college(they would have been D2 and were recruited).

And in those teams, I am including UNI and Drake in 'higher D1' even though they are mid-majors since I think the teams are legitimately higher D1, but that may be generous to some.

 

[AttalaDawg72]

So what do you spend your money on that's sports related?

The gym for personal use

 

[615dawg]

I casually follow the club she is at. Madkin played there before going to Arkansas, another girl committed to Arkansas recently, they have Dampier's kid(no idea if she is good, but the height is there!), and they then get some signed to mid-majors and jucos, like you mentioned.
Your post motivated me to look up Infinity's 18s teams in USAV rankings and...holyshit. I just casually assumed they were higher ranked. IVBA 18 REN is 345th Nationally and IVBA BLACK is 1747th nationally.

What is the best overall club in Mississippi then?
Who is the best connected player(you mentioned non-connected, so I assume itll be someone different).




For perspective, the top 3 18s teams in my region(state) this year were...
RANKED 19th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 4 higher level D1 girls- Louisville, UNI, UNI, Arkansas, 1 mid-D1, and 2 D2 girls.
RANKED 51st NATIONALLY IN USAV - 1 higher D1 girl- UNI, 2 mid level D1 girls, 3 D2 girls, 1 D3 girl, 1 JUCO, and 1 that chose to not play in college
RANKED 55th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 3 higher level D1 girls- ISU, Drake, Auburn, 3 D2 girls, 1 JUCO, and 2 that chose to not play in college(they would have been D2 and were recruited).

And in those teams, I am including UNI and Drake in 'higher D1' even though they are mid-majors since I think the teams are legitimately higher D1, but that may be generous to some.

Allie Hazelwood signed with USC a couple years ago. She has appeared in nine matches for USC, with no points scored. She was a great high school player, but well connected with her mom being a former SEC coach and at the time, an ESPN analyst. Madkin developed into a great player at Arkansas - she was good and really tall at Clinton, but she didn't stand out and was poorly coached.

Memphis Volleyball Academy is the best club in MS, they are in Southaven. Their 18s is ranked 102nd nationally and had a similar mix of signees as the ones you mentioned above.

Dampier's kid will be the best player in state history by the time its over. I expect her to be an SEC signee. She's at MRA, who is the defending MAIS champ.

The point being is that MS is averaging one Power conference player every 2.5 years. They are filling up JUCOs though. There was a girl from the Metro that barely played for her bad high school team that signed with a JUCO. Its ridiculous.

 

[Duggar Hall Desk]

The thing about Little League is that they are 13-14 year old kids playing on a field entirely too small. I do not know the exact dimensions but compared to USSSA it is a huge difference.

I'm a Little League umpire. The kids that are 13-14 (Junior League) are playing on a 90 foot diamond in LL (13 year olds can play "intermediate" which is a 70 foot diamond, but a lot of leagues don't offer that).

 

[Duggar Hall Desk]

Or a 529

The bats alone can be four or five hundred dollars. Ridiculous.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Like bragging rights?

You can pay a year's tuition at community college for the cost of one year of travel ball probably. You take what some people spend on travel ball for 8 year olds and put it in a 527 and that would probably cover two years of tuition by the time they get there.

One year of travel ball would pay for both years of JUCO

 

[mstateglfr]

Allie Hazelwood signed with USC a couple years ago. She has appeared in nine matches for USC, with no points scored. She was a great high school player, but well connected with her mom being a former SEC coach and at the time, an ESPN analyst. Madkin developed into a great player at Arkansas - she was good and really tall at Clinton, but she didn't stand out and was poorly coached.

Memphis Volleyball Academy is the best club in MS, they are in Southaven. Their 18s is ranked 102nd nationally and had a similar mix of signees as the ones you mentioned above.

Dampier's kid will be the best player in state history by the time its over. I expect her to be an SEC signee. She's at MRA, who is the defending MAIS champ.

The point being is that MS is averaging one Power conference player every 2.5 years. They are filling up JUCOs though. There was a girl from the Metro that barely played for her bad high school team that signed with a JUCO. Its ridiculous.

Appreciate the info/context. The regionality of the sport makes it difficult to assess sometimes.

As for Dampier's kid...well I certainly have never seen her in person, but based on 'highlights' I have seen, she is really slow. I saw she plays up a year so there is obviously time to get faster, but that was just the thing that stuck out to me after the obvious- she towers over everyone.
Sometimes I do think an overly large person looks slow compared to everyone else when it comes to basketball and volleyball. It looks like they lack explosiveness, but when you test quickness, vert, transition, etc- they score well despite looking slower.

We played against a girl last fall that was a sophomore and 6'7. Very similar look to Dampier's kid from a size and speed perspective. That girl has gotten a lot faster over the winter- that sort of thing definitely does develop between 15 and 17.

Itd be cool to see Dampier's kid continue to progress in person. You cant teach height!

 

[615dawg]

Appreciate the info/context. The regionality of the sport makes it difficult to assess sometimes.

As for Dampier's kid...well I certainly have never seen her in person, but based on 'highlights' I have seen, she is really slow. I saw she plays up a year so there is obviously time to get faster, but that was just the thing that stuck out to me after the obvious- she towers over everyone.
Sometimes I do think an overly large person looks slow compared to everyone else when it comes to basketball and volleyball. It looks like they lack explosiveness, but when you test quickness, vert, transition, etc- they score well despite looking slower.

We played against a girl last fall that was a sophomore and 6'7. Very similar look to Dampier's kid from a size and speed perspective. That girl has gotten a lot faster over the winter- that sort of thing definitely does develop between 15 and 17.

Itd be cool to see Dampier's kid continue to progress in person. You cant teach height!