*If you are in any club volleyball team, this post will be very useful to you, or if you are always confused on what to bring to a volleyball game, keep reading*
Your first volleyball tournament. How exciting! You have been practicing with your team for about a month now but you have no idea what to expect, or what to bring. Should you wear one of those cool ankle braces the olympic volleyball players wear, or will that be too much. Should you bring a first aid kit?
Have no fear, Colleen is here :) this blog will be all about what to bring, what to expect and what to wear to a volleyball tournament (This could also apply for any sport)
1) Volleyball Uniform
This may seem as a "duh Colleen" but it would be pretty horrible if you forgot your jersey. The night before, make sure to have your jersey, spandex, knee pads, socks and shoes all folded in your team bag. That way, in the morning they will be all in the same place so you won't be scrambling everywhere to find your sock then be late. (MAJOR ALERT: Make sure your jersey is washed before your game, you will get sweaty and it won't be fun to be even more smelly with a disgusting uniform to begin with)
If you are playing for club, having ribbons in your hair or your nails painted to the colors of your team is a really fun way to represent team spirit and be unique when in a sea of players. For the past two times I have been on club, the coach or the coache's wife had made us hairties with ribbons tied to them to put in our hair. Before the tournament, I also painted my nails black, to match the black stitching on my jersey. If your going to a tournament finalist championship, painting war lines on your face is always fun. As long as it's actual paint that won't burn your skin, have at it!
Many tournaments in aftershock are really far away and are such a drag to drive all the way there early in the morning, so why not bring a friend with you? This past tournament I had to drive to San Jose, and my good friend Mila needed a ride there. She came over the night before and we had a sleepover before waking up really early to drive down to San Jose. This is a really good idea to do for a far tournament, especially if it's with a player you will be interacting with on the court. For me, Mila is an outside hitter and I am a middle, with the bonding we had the night before, we worked way better and had a lot of fun. (Tip: the more people you have to carpool with, the better. Get to know your whole team on a personal level while at the same time reducing green house gases)
If you are playing club, your team should give you a super fancy team backpack with your number stitched on the back super cool and professional. But the bag isn't to show off how cool you are, it's to actually put stuff in. Here are some things you might want to include in your bag:
Team backpack, blanket, jersey, sweatshirt, warm up shirt, court shoes, water bottle, warm up pants, knee pads, socks, slip on shoes
During a break at a game, you will find utter boredrum if you don't have entertainmet. For me, I bring my beats by dre headphones. They are an excellent source of blocking out any other distracting noise on the car ride there or right before a match. But during lunch breaks, you will be with your team and it's great to have a wireless speaker to play some music in your site and get everyone talking to each other and having fun.
A tradition my team does for every tournament is similar to Secret Santa, a confidential gift exchange during the holidays, except this is all season long. Before the first tourney, we wrote down our interests then threw the papers in a hat. The paper you got is the person you will give a small motivational gift each time to. This is a really fun idea, and always be sure to include a motivational note to keep their heads up high if they didn't play as well as they wished, or to congratulate them for their great skills that day.
That's all for this post :) thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I have way other plans on this post so there will most certainly be a part two and maybe even three to a tournament theme. Follow Mila on Instagram because she only agreed to be featured in this post if I gave her a shout out. @mila.sugarman Leave a comment to let me know how I did and for any other suggestions you might have. Until next time volleyball players :)
2) Bling-Bling
If you are playing for club, having ribbons in your hair or your nails painted to the colors of your team is a really fun way to represent team spirit and be unique when in a sea of players. For the past two times I have been on club, the coach or the coache's wife had made us hairties with ribbons tied to them to put in our hair. Before the tournament, I also painted my nails black, to match the black stitching on my jersey. If your going to a tournament finalist championship, painting war lines on your face is always fun. As long as it's actual paint that won't burn your skin, have at it!3) Carpool!
Many tournaments in aftershock are really far away and are such a drag to drive all the way there early in the morning, so why not bring a friend with you? This past tournament I had to drive to San Jose, and my good friend Mila needed a ride there. She came over the night before and we had a sleepover before waking up really early to drive down to San Jose. This is a really good idea to do for a far tournament, especially if it's with a player you will be interacting with on the court. For me, Mila is an outside hitter and I am a middle, with the bonding we had the night before, we worked way better and had a lot of fun. (Tip: the more people you have to carpool with, the better. Get to know your whole team on a personal level while at the same time reducing green house gases)
4) Backpack essentials
If you are playing club, your team should give you a super fancy team backpack with your number stitched on the back super cool and professional. But the bag isn't to show off how cool you are, it's to actually put stuff in. Here are some things you might want to include in your bag:
Team backpack, blanket, jersey, sweatshirt, warm up shirt, court shoes, water bottle, warm up pants, knee pads, socks, slip on shoes
5) Source of music
During a break at a game, you will find utter boredrum if you don't have entertainmet. For me, I bring my beats by dre headphones. They are an excellent source of blocking out any other distracting noise on the car ride there or right before a match. But during lunch breaks, you will be with your team and it's great to have a wireless speaker to play some music in your site and get everyone talking to each other and having fun.
6) Secret Sisters
A tradition my team does for every tournament is similar to Secret Santa, a confidential gift exchange during the holidays, except this is all season long. Before the first tourney, we wrote down our interests then threw the papers in a hat. The paper you got is the person you will give a small motivational gift each time to. This is a really fun idea, and always be sure to include a motivational note to keep their heads up high if they didn't play as well as they wished, or to congratulate them for their great skills that day.
That's all for this post :) thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I have way other plans on this post so there will most certainly be a part two and maybe even three to a tournament theme. Follow Mila on Instagram because she only agreed to be featured in this post if I gave her a shout out. @mila.sugarman Leave a comment to let me know how I did and for any other suggestions you might have. Until next time volleyball players :)
