Making an Early Court Appearance : Young Volleyball Players Are Getting the Club Experience

When Colleen Suwara used to go to girls’ junior volleyball tournaments in Orange and Los Angeles counties three years ago, she was bothered because she did not see any teams representing San Diego at the events.

Suwara, who viewed the tournaments as a recruiter for her husband--San Diego State women’s volleyball Coach Rudy Suwara--believed local athletes were being shortchanged because they did not play in such tournaments.

“I realized we had a lot of talent in San Diego,” said Suwara, who played for her husband at SDSU in 1976 and ’77. “But every year, maybe just one or two local girls were being recruited by the colleges. We had just the same talent as everyone else, but the girls just weren’t being noticed. It seemed sad that no one was promoting them.”

When Suwara travels north to a tournament these days, she usually sees plenty of San Diego players. Where just a short time ago there were no local clubs, today there are two: Suwara’s San Diego Juniors and Tom Saunders’ North County Volleyball Club.

Suwara started her club in the fall of 1982 with 40 players, ranging in age from 14-17 and divided into four teams by age and talent level. Currently, the club is comprised of 50 players, ages 11-17, who play on four teams.

The North County club, founded in 1983 by Saunders, numbers 60 players, also ages 11-17, on seven teams.

These 110 San Diego girls--culled from a group of some 300 who tried out for spots on the two clubs--are among more than 6,800 playing on junior teams sponsored by the U.S. Volleyball Assn. today, according to USVBA statistics. By comparison, there 2,300 playing on USVBA junior clubs in 1980.

Saunders, who was involved with club volleyball in the Bay Area before moving to San Diego in July 1983, thinks the sport will continue to expand locally as well as nationally.

“I have no doubt it will keep growing,” he said. “The only thing that might hold it back is not having enough people interested in administration of the clubs. Coaching is easy. Running something like this isn’t.”

Suwara, who will continue to run the Juniors even after she takes over as coach of the Grossmont College women’s team this fall, agrees.

“It’s a much, much bigger project than I ever dreamed,” Suwara said. “There are so many people to organize--uniforms to buy, travel, facilities, finding coaches. Everything is a big project.”

The local clubs are also successful, according to rankings based on tournament results. The best Juniors teams in the three age groups--17-and-under, 15-and-under and 13-and-under--are ranked in the top 10 in Southern California. The best North County 13-and-under squad is rated in the top five, and the 15-and-under team is in the top 10 and the 17-and-under players are in the top 15.

Southern California is by far the finest volleyball region in the nation, Suwara and Saunders said. The Orange County Volleyball Club’s 17-and-under team, for instance, won the national title last year and is ranked first nationally this season.

Junior volleyball continues to thrive despite a cost far higher than that charged for sports such as softball or soccer. Fees for the Juniors’ seven-month season total about $1,000, the North County club costs close to $900. About half the money goes for equipment, practice facility rental fees and minimal salaries for the directors and their coaches.

The remainder is allocated for travel expenses. Both clubs travel to Los Angeles or Orange counties twice a month for one-day tournaments and also go out of state for events such as the National Junior Olympic Volleyball championships, set this year for late June in Missouri.

Yet, many players view the high registration fees as investments in the future.

“Sure, it’s a lot of money,” said Julie Uglow, a 17-year-old from Poway High School who is a three-year veteran of Suwara’s club. “But for the girls who get college scholarships, it will be worth it.”

Uglow, who is headed for the University of Louisville, is among five players from the Juniors who have already earned scholarships this year. Another 15 from the club earned scholarships in the past two years, Suwara said. Seven North County players were awarded scholarships last year as well, Saunders said.

He said girls try out for the junior clubs for two reasons: to prepare for high school competition and to get scholarships.

“Girls interested in college ball have come to realize that this is the perfect vehicle for getting college scholarships,” Saunders said. “I’ve told them the competition is tough, that girls in L.A. start playing in fifth or sixth grade and end up with most of the scholarships.”

According to Saunders and Suwara, their clubs give athletes both the training they need to impress college coaches and the exposure to recruiters through playing at tournaments. Players compete from September to mid-November on their high school teams, and the club season begins in late November and runs through July, when nationals take place. Suwara finds such a schedule rigorous but necessary.

“Most of the girls on our 17-and-under team only play one sport, volleyball,” she said. “They made the decision that, since they want to play volleyball in college, they should devote most of their time to it so they can get better at it. That’s not really cutthroat, it’s just smart, realistic. A boy who wants to play pro baseball spends a lot of time at that, too.”

The teams practice two or three times a week at various high school gymnasiums, as well as playing in tournaments most weekends. This translates into 20-25 hours of volleyball per week.

“It’s hard, it’s a lot more work than any other sport I’m in,” said Lori Bonstein, 16, a Carlsbad High student who plays for North County.

“It’s a bummer when you have to drive all the way to Los Angeles Sunday morning at 6:30, but it’s worth it,” said Brooke Schakel, a 15-year-old from Ramona and one of Bonstein’s teammates. “And on practice nights, I just come home, do my homework, then head straight for practice. But I love it. We really have a lot of fun together.”

Suwara thinks the future for local junior volleyball is bright largely because more and more girls are getting involved at Schakel’s age--and even younger. The San Diego clubs will improve in tournament competition as the players now on the 13-and-under squads mature and gain experience, she said.

“The teams up north start very young,” she said. “That’s what’s needed here. They play a pretty good level of volleyball up there in the junior highs.”

In any case, the girls from Orange and Los Angeles counties are finally getting some competition from San Diego.