In Bay Area, there are quite a few open gyms for adults. We list them here.
- Campbell Community Center Volleyball Open Gym. Here is the link.
- The Plex Volleyball Open Gym.
- Install ReClub app, there are plenty of volleyball open gym
- Also, there are grass volleyball meetups if search those on meetup. Here is the link.
- Plus, if you join the volleyball open gym group on Facebook. There are plenty of adult volleyball open gym.
However, open gym comes with two issues.
Issues with Open Gym
If you are a hitter and go to the open gym, please wear ankle braces. Courts in open gym are usually next to each other. Level of players are vastly different. Some are playing at high school varsity level. Some may learn volleyball yesterday. The ball trajectory is rather unpredictable. We heard many cases that club player got injured at the open gym and have to stop playing in the middle of club or school season. Very inconvenient not just for playing volleyball but also for study at school. So, please, please wear your protection and do not hurt yourself there. Here are two ankle braces we reviewed.
Zamst A2-DX Ankle Brace and Med Spec 264014 Ankle Stabilizer
The second issue is related to the safety. Most of the open gym are suitable for high schoolers. For middle schoolers, to put them in the adult open gym is not a good idea, especially when young players are on the same side of court with adults. It is a safety concern. One fix for it is to have 6 young players on the same side of the court. However, if the other side has a strong hitter, hitting on the head can really cause concussion. In short, it is not safe to have young players join adult open gym. So, if you are looking for open gym for your middle schoolers. What are your choices? During the tryout seasons, usually in July and August, the clubs offer many different open gyms suitable for youth. If your boys want more practices, you may want to have grass net. Here is a very popular choice for grass net in volleyball community.
Click here to check its price on Amazon
Or, you can just rent a gym at one of those facilities. Usually $100/hr rate. If 6 families want to join, each pay about $35 for 2 hours. This should be reasonable.
Conclusion
All in all, for high schooler, adult open gyms is a good choice. Do wear your ankle braces if you do any hitting at open gyms. For middle schoolers, owning a grass volleyball net or renting a gym court with a few other families seems to be a sound and safe choice.
