"Why should I bring my daughter or son to Aggression?"
Aggression was established in 2010, so you can be rest assured we are a well-established club who will be here each year. Aside from that, Aggression is a club that is different from most (see our Mission Statement for more on this).
Let me start from the beginning:
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My name is Keith Foster and I'm the founder of Aggression Volleyball Club and it's acting Club Director. I started my coaching career in 2006 when I coached for a school in District U-46. I loved the school I was coaching for; however, year after year I continued to see the girls on my teams losing matches as a result of a lack of experience. Upon approaching the girls season after season about whether or not they were playing club volleyball all of their responses were the same, "My family can't afford it.." Understanding how expensive club can be - particularly now as a father of three myself - I spent the next six years working as an Elite-level coach for several larger clubs in the area in an attempt to learn how and where to appropriately cut costs to make club more affordable while still being highly competitive. Each and every time I helped coach one of my high school players up, it broke my heart to see them wish to play, but not be able to do so. After moving from District U-46 to District 424 (Genoa-Kingston) I now had the resources and experience to start a club of my own. I promised myself this club would be about each player on the court rather than any monetary gain. Over a decade later, we have done our absolute best not to stray from that philosophy. The cost of Aggression is a fraction of the cost of other clubs while still competing at a very high level against other national-level teams and clubs.
Unfortunately, however, with a lower price there is oftentimes the misconception as to whether an athlete might receive a lesser experience. With Aggression, this is absolutely not the case. We compete in the same nationally-recognized leagues as the much larger surrounding clubs, but at a fraction of the cost. We are able to keep our costs below other larger clubs because of the generosity of the Sycamore Park District and the Cornerstone School in Sycamore (ACS) along with other not-for-profit organizations that allow us to rent their facilities as a much lower rental cost than we would be able to find elsewhere.
Additionally, because we are a smaller club, a huge advantage is that our smaller size allows me to have a hand in everything to do with the individual teams and the club as a whole. As most other clubs grow, the Director begins to be phased out more as the workload increases. Aggression, on the contrary, is in a unique position in that I aim to keep the club more manageable with smaller teams and as a result, can focus more on each player's experience rather than the managerial items that can become overwhelming for larger clubs.
The last reason Aggression is so different - and certainly not the least important - is each coach on our staff is hired to make each athlete feel "seen." Athletes in larger clubs feel like a number or a paycheck rather than as a boy or girl who is trying to increase his or her chances of playing at a higher level or even just to stay active while learning the sport. We know our players' names, we know what their goals are, and we do everything we can to help them in their quest....simply put, we care. Of course we're not perfect, and not every athlete will have the experience we set out to give them, but we are always available to talk and we're always willing to do our absolute best for each family. Nearly 15 years now, and with a retention rate of over 80% year over year, we're proud to be a part of this community and hope to be offering Aggression-brand club for years to come!
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We'll see you on the courts!
