Whether you are familiar with volleyball or not, understanding when this sport is typically played can be confusing. Many different levels of play in volleyball will compete throughout a regular year. It can be difficult to understand what constitutes a typical volleyball season. Since it is the case, I would like to explore with you all when each level of volleyball is competing.
Volleyball seasons can be found all year-round. Professional and international competitions will take place all year, whereas lower levels of play will find themselves between two periods of the year. In the summer with beach volleyball, or in the fall and spring with indoor volleyball.
This answer is all well and good but we can be more precise. There are many levels of competition in volleyball, from your high school teams up to some international leagues and tournaments. Read on to find out when each level of competition is playing volleyball.
Middle and High School Volleyball
The first level of play to find structured competition and seasons of volleyball are often Middle Schools and High Schools. When first sitting down to write this article, I was hoping to find a simple answer for when was their volleyball season. Unfortunately, it was not as easy. My short answer for everyone is that school volleyball seasons will vary depending on your location. Most school districts have different seasons for different age groups, and also for each sex. Please note that in the U.S., most High School competition will follow the National Federation of State High School Association guidelines and rules for volleyball.
Although it can vary, in most cases girls have their volleyball seasons in the fall, from late August until the end of October and boys have theirs in the spring, from March till May. Their typical season will span between 10 to 12 weeks of competition. As I mentioned earlier, this can vary depending on where you live. Many leagues and tournaments in a District/State will have their own schedules for volleyball seasons in which Middle/High school teams compete.
If you are a parent or a student looking to find more information about when a volleyball season is, I would recommend inquiring with your school or with their coaching staff.
Club Volleyball
Oftentimes, more serious athletes and volleyball enthusiasts will look for other opportunities to compete. This desire for competition should lead them to the club level. Most Clubs will offer programs for different age groups, generally between the ages of 11 and 18 years old.
A typical club season should be much more demanding out of players than school volleyball. The average club season will last between 6 to 9 months of competition. For most clubs in North America, a season will start late August or September and will end in the Spring, around April or March.
College Volleyball
College-level volleyball is for experienced athletes that are very competitive in this sport. In the US, the NCAA oversees the biggest competitive sports circuits at the college level, which includes volleyball.
In the US, women’s volleyball has a lot more gravitas and recognition as an NCAA sport. On their website, Women’s volleyball can be found under the fall section under which its season roughly follows the fall semester of college. Their typical season begins between late August and early September. The NCAA women’s volleyball has three different divisions of competition where a total of 335 teams compete. A season includes between 20 and 30 games concluding with a championship tournament in December, where a champion will be crowned.
Now, if we look at men’s volleyball, being a less recognizable men’s sport in the US, there are only two participating divisions. These are found under the NCAA categories of DIII and the National Collegiate division (or NC). They can be found in the NCAA’s “Spring” category of sports and will follow the winter/spring college semester. Both divisions will compete from January until April/May. Similarly to women’s volleyball, the men will play around 20 to 30 games and conclude the season with a championship tournament.
International Volleyball
Like most sports, volleyball has an international association that overviews world-class competition in the sport. Volleyball has the FIVB or “Fédération International de VolleyBall”. As the international governing body in all forms of volleyball, they plan and organize yearly volleyball events such as the “Volleyball Nations League”, and are also responsible for quadrennial events, such as Olympics volleyball and the “Volleyball World Championship”. These competitions have been the highest level of play in volleyball since the FIVB’s creation in 1947.
World-class events and tournaments of the sorts have historically been taking place in the summertime. In 2019, the VNl took place in the months of May through July. The VNL hosts the top 16 nations in volleyball where they face off in a month-long competition until only the top 6 remain. A final tournament follows where a nation is crowned champion.
Professional Volleyball
There are many professional leagues of volleyball in the world, although the more popular ones are mostly found in Europe. Among the biggest organized men’s leagues, you’ll find the Italian, Russian, Polish, and Brazilian leagues. As for women’s professional volleyball, the biggest leagues can be found in Italy, Turkey, and Switzerland.
To answer the main question of this article, the short answer is that professional volleyball is being played all year long. Although most big international events and leagues take place in the summer, between June and August, you will still see professional levels of play outside of that season. For example, the “CEV Women’s Volleyball Champions League” started in October of 2018 and ended with a gold medal match in May of 2019.
The best way to keep yourself up-to-date on professional volleyball is to follow the FIVB or for more info on how to watch, you can read this article on how and where to watch professional volleyball.
Beach Volleyball
This one is quite simple, but once again can be vary depending on your location. For most of North America, beach volleyball is a sport you can play in the summer between the months of May and August. If you are lucky enough to live in Mexico, Florida or in other similar climates, maybe this limited time period doesn’t apply to you.
Fortunately for us enthusiasts, beach volleyball is a sport that has developed enormously in recent years. With this increase in popularity came indoor beach terrains. If you enjoy beach volleyball, you should research if there are any in your area.
Beach volleyball is often a sport available to all levels of play. You should be able to find some sort of organized leagues for all levels of competition in most communities and cities. Beach volleyball has also more various types of competition. You should be able to find leagues for men’s and women’s 2v2 or 4v4, and co-ed 2v2, or 4v4.
A great aspect of beach volleyball is that opportunities to compete for many players are often numerous, be it with recreational leagues, friendly tournaments, all types of events, and more. If you have never played before and would like to play some beach volleyball, have a look around your community this summer. You’d be surprised by the many opportunities available to you.
Snow Volleyball
Among the recent trends in volleyball, you’ll find the appearance of snow volleyball. Obviously this version of the sport is commonly played in the winter. This somewhat recent twist on volleyball is coming as a solution for beach volley not available in some areas in the winter season.
Although still rarely available, it can be a fun and unique experience to seek out for all volleyball enthusiasts. To learn more about this sport, here’s an interesting article on snow volleyball to read up on.
Conclusion
In short, volleyball is a sport that is played competitively year-round. In a typical year, you’ll find that school levels of volleyball start early in their school calendar year, with a relatively short season of 10 to 12 weeks. As for club volleyball, their season often starts in August/September and will remain active till the spring. Collegiate volleyball teams will also be competing at that time of the year, naturally following the college semesters.
Following these seasons, depending on your geographical location, summer should be around the corner where you should easily find players starting to play beach volleyball. Summer is also home to some international levels of play, between the VNL’s, the Olympics and other quadrennial events every 4 years.
