@bh24:
I'm thinking of the older player who has already participated in the vb program at the school. The odd way that the calendar fell this year means that the HS coaches have to make an exception to allow a player who has already contributed to the VB program to attend softball nationals or the student has to decide she can't attend softball nationals so she can qualify for her HS volley ball team.
I confess that I don't know when actual HS volley ball competitions begin this year. Maybe the practice period would be so short that attending softball nationals eliminates an effective practice period. But if a player were injured for that week, would she be shut out of consideration for the volley ball team?
We have always taken the position that a HS team in season takes priority over anything we've wanted to do with the TB team. We find other softball players to help us in the fall. And we don't attempt winter practices because of the basketball players and the HS softball indoor teams.
This matter of the bad luck of the calendar (the conflict only happens once in a blue moon because vb season tryouts are defined by the "1st Monday in August") conflicting with the traditional end of the TB season (nationals almost always spill over to the first week of August) is forcing some girls to choose between helping their girls of summer teammates compete at a nationals tournament or helping their schoolmates in a HS sport. That's not a choice I think they should be forced to make and I appreciate the apparent fact that some high school coaches have tried to accommodate the problem.