When Do You Show Up To Practice?

When do you show up to practice? Do you show up with enough time to put your gear on? I know some players show up with their gear on as practice starts, making sure they are in the huddle or on the line with just enough time that the coach can't punish them for being late. A word of advice: early is on time and on time is late.


If you show up with enough time to prepare yourself, then who is setting up the equipment? Coaches can't be expected to set up all the equipment for three (sometimes four) teams. If players are expected to start warming up at 3 pm then they should be there by 2:30 pm to ensure the equipment gets set up on time. And the more girls who show up early, the quicker you can get to warm-ups and the less work for any one individual person.
Coaches do pay attention to who is setting up equipment and typically it is the same 5-10 individuals before each practice. I've had a coach film set-up to have evidence of who set-up frequently so that they could get a week off of tear-down. Coaches also pay attention to how you set-up. They typically know which players understand how to set-up the nets and who cares the most about getting things done properly. Nets need to be set at the proper height and they need to be tight enough. There are certain ways that straps need to be positioned so that they don't alter the tension on the net and so that they don't alter the height.
I'm the type of person who likes being at practice before everyone else. I show up to school in my practice gear with a pair of sweats on top because I don't want to waste time changing before practice, unless I have a presentation in class. I'd show up to the gym at roughly the same time as the coaches, get at least the varsity net up along with the poles for JV and I laid out the net for JV before I even put my shoes and kneepads on.
One of my coaches asked if I ever got tired of being the one who consistently set up the net. My response: I'd rather do it myself then have it be done wrong. I actually enjoy set-up, partially because I am the type of person who will stop in the middle of practice to fix the net if I notice something done wrong on the net. I'd rather do it right once then have to do it twice.
I'm also all about safety and I make sure that the poles are properly padded and any metal bits are covered by protective gear. It's the little things like that that are often overlooked but can be important and can prevent serious injury. Also, having the net at the proper height during practice ensures that you are practicing on the same net you are going to play on against other teams. If your net is six inches too low then I can assure you that your serving errors are going to increase along with you hitting errors.
Now that we've covered the importance of when you show up to practice, half an hour early is a good estimate for high school, for collegiate I'd say one hour minimum to make sure you are properly warmed-up before the coach arrives to start drills. Now let's cover when you leave practice.
Having to leave practice early not only hurts you as a player, it also hurts the team dynamic. Having an essential component missing from the team causes improper practice, particularly with scrimmaging. Volleyball is a very dynamic game and the ONLY skill that is entirely dependent on you with no outside interference is serving. Setting, hitting, passing, all of these skills requiring interacting with teammates. Leaving early means that not only are you missing hitting reps, it means your setter is missing the opportunity to practice setting you, it means your defenders are missing the opportunity to dig your hits which are unique from your teammates.
Leaving early once, maybe twice, is understandable. But leaving early consistently, or worse, running out the door immediately as practice is ending, is damaging to your team and your coach will deduct it from your playing time. Your teammates are putting more time in and showing a greater level of dedication to the team and therefore deserve more time in competition.

Making sure you stay late enough to help with a proper tear down is important. Pads, poles, antennas, nets, and balls are all expensive and putting them away properly and securing them properly is important. At one point, we had to start locking up our nets at my high school because the PE program had used them without asking and then hadn't put them away in the correct spot so we had to wait until our athletic director arrived to open the PE closet for us. These were also our brand new nets that we were using for competition. Putting equipment away properly also decreases the time it takes to set-up equipment the next time. Making sure that all the Velcro is secured to it's mate helps to make sure that the nets aren't tangled the next day.
Last but not least, help tear down the nets before you take your own equipment off. It's good form. If your teammates are all tearing down, then you should be too.
Happy second week of practices!