After 25+ years of excellence with SMASH girls program, SMASH Boys was created to proudly continue to teach high school athletes volleyball skills, teamwork, and self esteem through competition. The excellent SMASH Boys staff trains players to use the latest individual and team based techniques to play volleyball at the highest level and provide a great experience for our participants.

Over the past decade, SMASH has established itself as the premier New England boys volleyball program and one of the strongest programs on the east coast.   

Commitment
The SMASH Volleyball club season is a significant TIME and FINANCIAL COMMITMENT. A decision to play for SMASH means giving up many weeknights, weekends, and even family vacations. SMASH is singularly interested in providing a great experience for our players, and one person's lack of commitment to the team can drastically impact the experience. We don't want to tell players to not play other sports. But out of respect to the other players on the team, and to the players that got cut from our teams, we do expect that SMASH is a priority for you and that you will work to attend all SMASH events. 

The Club Season
The SMASH Boys club season runs from September to March, ending right before boys high school tryouts. Practices start in October, and tournaments start in November. Top teams in each age group go to Nationals (June/July), and all Nationals practices start in June at the end of the high school season. 

Practices
Teams practice 2-3 times per week, for 2-3 hours per practice. Our primary training will take place in the Newton/Wellesley/Weston area. Ideally practices end no later than 9:30 PM, as we value players being able to get home at a reasonable time on school nights. Exact practice schedules will be set AFTER forming each team based on gym and team availability. The practice schedule often changes 1-2 times per year, usually based on gym availability, especially as high school winter sports start. 

Tournaments

SMASH Volleyball is a member of the New England Region Volleyball Association (NERVA), which is the New England branch of USA Volleyball (USAV). SMASH Boys volleyball plays in tournaments hosted by USAV, as well as by AAU. SMASH also participates and hosts other local tournaments unaffiliated with these organizations. The tournament schedule varies each year, and SMASH chooses its tournaments based on these factors: level of play (SMASH teams want to be challenged), travel time and cost (it costs too much to only have travel/hotel tournaments), tourney availability (some tournaments are invite only). The goal is to have one multi-day and one one-day tournament every month, from mid-November to early-March. Top teams will likely attend a few more travel tournaments than second teams, and this is reflected in the SMASH fees. 

Team Selection and Playing Time Policy
Teams are selected on the basis of performance at our competitive tryouts. SMASH boys intends to field two strong, competitive teams in each age group. SMASH Travel Team Philosophy: SMASH treats all players as serious athletes, and expects commitment, respect, effort, reliability, and adherence to all policies.  We take our tryout process seriously, and feel every player selected should benefit from competition. Therefore all players receive regular playing time. We have no "bench" players.

Cost

Cost of SMASH teams vary from year to year and from team to team. The main factors in the fluctuating cost is the tournament and practice schedule for each team. The SMASH fee includes: hotel costs for out of region tournaments, practice fees, tournament fees, insurance fees, uniform package for each player, travel expenses for coaches, coaches' salary, and other equipment costs. The SMASH fee does NOT include: player travel to tournaments, player food at tournaments.

Compared to other clubs, the SMASH sticker price may look high. This is because we choose to include the player hotel fees up front. At travel tournaments, SMASH players stay in hotel rooms with each other, in rooms booked by SMASH. On these trips, SMASH coaches chaperone the players the entire time.

Though it increases the sticker price, we believe that is better than surprising families with unexpected costs not worked into their club volleyball budget. SMASH chooses to include and advertise this cost up front, so that parents/families have the option of staying home and saving the additional flight and hotel costs, while trusting that the players will be supervised. 
 

For all questions, please contact Pat Helmas using the contact form below.

Tryout Registration for the 2022-2023 season is now available! Click here for more information