When Does Volleyball Season Start and End?

When you’re new to a sport, it can be challenging to know when all the different leagues and levels begin and end their season. It can also complicate things if you are going to participate in both school and club seasons. In this post, we will list the different typical date ranges for the majority of the United States.

In general, the volleyball season for the women’s school teams runs from the second half of August or the first week of September, until the end of October. The men’s school volleyball season usually runs in the spring from March to May.

This is the general answer for most school-aged athletes. In reality, it is always volleyball season somewhere in the world at some level of play. Let’s look at more specific answers for each level and category of volleyball.

When Does College Volleyball Season Start?

In college, the NCAA governs the vast majority of the sports schedules and for the women, the season runs throughout the fall semester. For the men, the season will run through the majority of the spring semester, usually from January through May. In both cases, a typical season will be between 20-30 games.

In college, the women’s program is much more prevalent. Many, many more schools offer scholarships and a traditional full varsity program. Even most Division 3, NAIA, and Junior colleges have a women’s volleyball team.

On the other hand on the men’s side, there are far fewer serious volleyball programs. In some cases, the men’s volleyball team will not be an actual school-sponsored program, but more of a competitive, recreational league.

Another difference with the college season is how wide a range of intensity there is. If you’re playing on the lower end of the competitive spectrum, you may have the entire off-season to yourself to enjoy your college life and anything athletic is truly voluntary. The off-season may be more intense at a Division 1 school where your commitment to volleyball is really a year-round part-time job.

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When Does Volleyball Season Start for High School?

The athletic seasons vary by region and by state, but in general, the women’s season runs from the very beginning of the school year until the end of October. For the men’s team in the schools that have a men’s program, the season is in the spring, from March through May. In a few cases, the men play in the fall as well.

But really that just describes the actual season of games and playoffs. The actual participation on the volleyball team would kickoff during tryouts, then carry through pre-season practices, and then the team would enter the season.

Women’s High School Volleyball Off-Season

For high school girls teams, the tryouts will begin as early as February and as late as April. Usually, this is considered the off-season and there isn’t actual coaching allowed by the high school coach, but they can hold tryouts, select their team, and then the players can make plans and can do conditioning and weight training voluntarily on their own.

The pre-season training for girls in high school will usually begin during the summer and how spread-out or how tightly focussed the practices are will depend on their coach and the rules of the state. Some will only have a couple of weeks of practices with two-a-days (two intense practices each day), while others will spread out their training over most of the summer.

Men’s High School Volleyball Off-Season

The men’s off-season varies widely compared to the more predictable women’s off-season schedule. In some states, the men play 2 shorter seasons, both in the spring and fall.

When Does Club Volleyball Season Start and End?

Club volleyball seasons vary greatly, but in general, tend to run in the off-season of the school volleyball seasons. For example, in our experience, the majority of the club tournaments and programs for both middle school and high school, boys and girls, all run from January until the end of April.

For the girls’ programs, this is perfect because they end their school season at the end of October, they have club tryouts in November, and then depending on their club, begin practice either in December or the beginning of January and then will schedule 1-2 tournaments per month through April.

For the boys’ program, this isn’t as ideal, but the guys can still have a club season where they compete in club tournaments before they’re into the meat of their school season.

It’s important to understand that clubs come in all shapes and sizes and may have all kinds of programs running throughout the year. They may literally offer a 9-month program that runs throughout the entire school year. Some players prefer this if their school either doesn’t have a volleyball program or doesn’t have a competitive one. In some cases, these clubs will travel much further and compete in very high-level tournaments because the teams doing this may be made up of very top-level athletes.

The club season is under the oversight of USA Volleyball (USAV) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Nearly every tournament will be organized by one of these 2 organizations. I’ve linked to each of their volleyball websites so you can research their scheduled tournaments as needed.

If you would like to learn more about club volleyball and what to expect, take a moment to read our article called: How Much Does Club Volleyball Cost, and Is It Worth It?

When Does Middle School Volleyball Season Start?

The volleyball seasons vary by region and by state, but in general, the girl’s middle school volleyball season runs from the very beginning of the school year until mid-October. For the boy’s team in the schools that have a men’s program, the season is in the spring, from March through May.

The off-seasons for middle school are similar to the ones described for the high school programs, but of course, the training will be less intense and shorter. If your middle schooler is interested in playing, ask early in their 6th-grade year when the tryouts are because you don’t want to miss your chance.

If you’re not SURE you want to play volleyball on your school team, check out what your local YMCA has to offer as far as volleyball. Most community programs like that begin volleyball much younger and offer a fun, less intimidating place to experiment and learn to love the sport.

If you would like to learn more about when is the right time to start your child in volleyball, take a moment to read our post: What’s the Right Age to Start Volleyball?

When Does Beach Volleyball Season Start?

Beach volleyball really has exploded over the years. You may think it would only be played during the summer months, but you would be wrong!

Beach volleyball has increasingly been offered in school systems and clubs across the country and they try to tend towards the summer months, but indoor facilities have become more common, which allows for year-round training and tournaments.

**Is there ever a wrong time to play beach volleyball?**

Club beach volleyball typically runs from May 1st through the middle of July. This works well because the school season will be picking up as the club season is ending.

In the NCAA, beach volleyball is a spring sport with a championship tournament hosted in May, at the end of the school year.

When Is the International Volleyball Season?

The international volleyball leagues and seasons are governed by the FIVB. They organize both the volleyball and beach volleyball leagues.

The international volleyball schedule usually runs from May through December with an assortment of tournaments all around the world. The international beach volleyball season literally runs year-round. There are tournaments all around the world that rotate through the parts of the world that have the climate to make it comfortable.

When Does Profressional Volleyball Season Start and End?

You may have been thinking this was the same as the international season mentioned above. But the professional leagues are different than the international. To compare it to something familiar, consider basketball. The professional teams in the United States would be the teams of the NBA (National Basketball Association), while the international team is Team USA that competes on the world stage.

The real answer is that professional volleyball is always in season somewhere in the world. There are leagues all around the world, but the majority of professional volleyball teams are in European countries. It does get confusing because there is overlap between the international players and the professional players and their seasons can move around quite a bit.