If you are new to school sports, you may not be familiar with the concept of a spirit pack. Some middle and intermediate school sports teams have them, but nearly all high school sports teams will have a spirit pack program.
What is a spirit pack? A spirit pack is a collection of apparel and equipment that’s required for your player to play in their school sport. This typically includes uniforms and warm-up clothing. It can also include equipment like knee pads, shoes, and even duffel bags or backpacks.
Spirit packs can be organized online or through paper order forms with pre-approved merchandise available for the players, their families, and their friends. Usually, the spirit pack will be laid out with a required section for the player.
These are the items that are essential and must be purchased. This whole package will be already chosen and this will be for the price listed by the coach.
Then, depending on your school’s program, they can have an additional section for optional apparel. This can be for both the player and their family and friends (and fans!).
The merchandise is selected by the coach and typically includes items such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts, socks, hats, and pullovers in both men’s and women’s styles.
When I was growing up there was no such thing as a spirit pack in any of the schools where I lived. The school provided uniforms and parents supplied the equipment as needed. The thought that was you were playing for the school and representing them, so they paid for the basics.
It seems like over the years the mindset has become along the lines that, “Since you want to play the sport, you need to pay for it.” This is understandable, but also presents a financial challenge to some families.
If you know you want to be playing school ball and you don’t know the details yet, ask the coach ahead of time. They can usually give you a rough guess as to the cost because the spirit packs price should not change too dramatically from year to year. They shouldn’t mind telling you ahead of time because that means you’re planning ahead and will be more likely to pay on time.
Why Do We Need Spirit Packs?
Having a spirit pack allows a coach to ensure that all players will match and coordinate and be equipped in an equal way. If the coach deems it important, they will choose everything to match, down to the backpack that the players carry to the sideline.
While it may not seem important to some players or parents, having matching everything is important for building a sense of team unity and equality. Just try being the only girl with black shoes while everyone wears white or the one with big turtle shell shaped knee pads while everyone else has slim ones.
Now that you’ve read this, you will notice the next time you face a team where they all have uncoordinated gear. Again, to some of us, this wouldn’t be a big deal at all (me) but to most teenage players, this provides a standard that takes away the possibility of team divisions or hard feelings.
Another benefit is that it ensures that players are getting new apparel and equipment each year. While uniforms may stay the same (and some teams offer a discount to returning players who keep their uniforms), most of your gear needs to be updated each year.
A player shouldn’t be wearing the same knee pads for multiple seasons just because your parents didn’t take the time or want to spend the extra cash! Requiring a new spirit pack is, therefore, a way for coaches to ensure that their players are well cared-for.
The coach is also able to choose high-quality equipment. How many players would pick their equipment based on the color more than the stitching? How many would be more concerned with the level of support their shoes are giving rather than just think of how cool they look.
Your coach will search to find equipment that is safe, durable and proven, and hopefully look cool at the same time. Some coaches will pick a few good options and then offer their older players a chance to weigh in on the choices for the next season.
How Does the Ordering Process Work?
This will depend largely on your coach. Coaches looking for a great company to work with can check out our recommended resources page for the service I recommend.
The coach will choose a company and select a line of items that they want their team to use. They may select mandatory items and then have an optional item list as well.
They may send information home with the players for them to fill out or to order online. Many companies rather the players simply order online by following a link that the coach will provide for them. The players enter their information and then pay.
Some coaches handle the whole process themselves and collect the forms and payments and submit them all as one group. Our school coach currently handles the process this way and has a day where all the players come and get measured and fill out the choices together.
The company will typically send all individual orders to the coach to be distributed to the players.
How Much Should Your Spirit Pack Cost?
It really depends on what all is included in your package. It also depends on the demographic in your school. Are there a large majority of families in your school system that are wealthy? Then you’ll have more expensive packages. If the area is mainly low-income families, a small package is more likely.
If it’s very basic and small, with just 2 uniform jerseys and maybe one warm-up shirt, the pack might cost as low as $75. We usually expect to pay about $400, but that’s for a very well-rounded package, including a high-quality backpack, kneepads, a jacket, and volleyball shoes.
Coaches: How To Collect
For coaches collecting for the spirit packs can be a struggle.
1. Know Your Numbers
The first thing is to really know your numbers. Do your research ahead of time. Make sure to include tax and shipping costs before you decide on a total price.
2. Communicate Clearly Early And Often
A second main thing you can do to make this process easier is to communicate to the point of over-communication. Tell the parents what to expect early on. If you have a parent or team meeting before the season (you should have this after you’ve selected your team in the spring), have the packages already selected and priced.
Make it clear what the total cost will be and when the deadlines to pay are. If parents know up front they can plan ahead and make your life easier. If the package has a large price tag, break up the deadlines to help parents stay on pace.
3. You Only Get The Pack When You’ve Paid In Full
You absolutely can’t give the player their pack until they’ve paid in full. Be consistent about that rule because it’s fair to everyone. If you have families that need financial help you may have to come up with some creative ways for some in your community to create some kind of sponsorship program to help out.
One of the tactics some coaches use to remind parents they’ve missed a deadline is to have that player run extra at the end of each practice until they pay. While some may find this harsh, you can believe that that player will remember to persuade their family to make the payments very passionately and get quicker results than a nagging email from the coach.
Club Volleyball Spirit Packs
You won’t really hear people talk about spirit packs in club ball because they are part of the base package when you join a club. Your club will include many if not all of the same things described above in their standard package when you pay your club dues.
You may not really see a breakdown of the costs, the club dues include everything from tournament fees, to coach pay, equipment costs (nets and balls, etc.), paying for practice facilities and player equipment and apparel.
If you would like to learn more about Club Volleyball, check out this article next.
Related Questions
Custom Volleyball Jerseys
With today’s technology, it’s quite easy to order completely customized jerseys. Many companies offer a wide variety of jersey designs and you can customize size, name, number, and logo.
You can upload your image and configure where you want it to be printed. With some of these companies, there are no minimums, you can order a single item. But of course, the more you order, the better the prices will get. For our recommendations, check out our recommended resources page.
You should expect to pay between $20 and $60 per item depending on the type of jersey you choose and the quantity you are buying. Delivery times are surprisingly quick, ranging from 1 to 3 weeks.
Reversible Volleyball Jerseys
The main options available as reversible jerseys for ladies are tanks. Many volleyball coaches and players prefer sleeves, which makes the reversible option more difficult. Many players and coaches really enjoy the long sleeve jerseys, they look professional and even provide a little protection for when you’re diving onto your arms.
Volleyball Spirit Wear
Other family members and friends or even just other students may wish to support your volleyball team. Coaches should choose a line of clothing that is a high quality that can be branded with the team’s logo and can be merchandised to their fanbase. Offering this as options in the player’s spirit pack is a good idea.
Having a table or booth located near the entrance during home games would be ideal. If the team is making a profit margin on this apparel, recruit parents to work the booth or table, explaining that this helps support the volleyball program and helps keep costs down.
Photo credits:
Feature image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay
Team pose image by David Fulmer on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, cropped for size.
Gators celebration image by Matt Pendleton on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
Ontario huddle image by 2017 Canada Summer Games on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Black & blue team image by popo.uw23 on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
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