Columbia depends on two fantastic groups of people to make our club run smoothly so our players can learn and compete all season. The first group is our volunteer coaches. Our coaches keep returning season after season to work with our players and create great individual players, and our very competitive teams. The second group is our terrific parents. So many things big and small get handled by our parent volunteers all season long. We really appreciate everything you do! Here is a partial list of things to volunteer for this season:

Chaperones: Columbia teams don't use chaperones to manage player travel (our players travel with their families), but we are still required to have an official chaperone on each team. Being a chaperone means registering as a USAV member, and passing a background check. (Columbia will reimburse you for the membership fee.) Most of our head coaches have already chosen a volunteer to be chaperone, but if you are interested in the job check with your team's coach.

Instructions for chaperones: AFTER you have been chosen by your team's coach, register with USAV on Webpoint for membership. (Be sure to choose Columbia Jrs as your club.) You'll need to pay online and can deduct the fee from your player's January fees. Email Chris your first and last name, so he can list you with the team.

Reporting tournament results: Prior to this season, we've always relied on our coaches to report back their teams results from tournaments. Our coaches are VERY busy at tournaments however, so we'd like to shift to using parents to report results. Done consistently, reporting our results can affect team seeding over the course of the season, so this can be a very important role.

Instructions for volunteering to report results: Email Chris if you are willing to do this role for your team. (You can recruit other parents to help or divide up the role.) You'll get instructions back for how to identify opposing teams and correctly report results.

Shagging balls at tournaments: This may not seem hard or even important, but it is EXTREMELY important! Having parents help control our volleyballs means that players can focus on warmups, coaches aren't distracted by equipment management, and we can help control our team fees by reducing the number of volleyballs we are forced to replace.

How to control volleyballs during warmups: This takes ALL parents. You aren't allowed to be actually on the court, but you can "surround" the court to stop/chase balls that are escaping during warmups. Don't roll balls back through the court duing team warmup (this can result in injury.) Instead, watch for players or coaches who are ready to receive balls back either on the receiving side of the court, or along the side of the court. Every team quickly develops their own style for this, but the more parents who help, the better it works. (Organized parents make our teams look great during warmup!)

Feed your player during tournaments: Players, especially younger or less experienced ones, aren't always good at judging just how much their effort is taking out of them over the course of the day at a tournament. Push them if needed to eat right and stay hydrated over the course of the day. Talk to you team's coach if you need recommendations about what to feed them. Don't wait for "lunch time", there is no such thing at a volleyball tournament. They need to eat the night before, and in the morning before arriving, and they need to drink water all day long. (Don't forget to watch out for our coaches too, sometimes they need to be reminded to eat as well.)

We'll add other options here soon...