What does volleyball cost per month? The bill for a season
You ask the club what volleyball costs and you get one number: the membership fee. Four months later you have also paid for shoes, a share of the team kitty, a tournament day and a dozen drives to away matches. That whole amount is what the sport costs, and nobody works it out for you. Here is the complete bill, including the items that are rarely mentioned up front. The euro figures below come from one European country and are there as worked examples — what these things actually cost differs enormously per country, per federation and per club.
Volleyball isn't one bill, it's five
This article is about what the sport costs a member or a family: the membership fee and everything around it. Not about apps, subscriptions or software — what Koach itself costs is in what Koach costs. And the first step is realising that there is not one amount but five separate streams, arriving at different moments in the year:
- Membership. The club's fee. Once or twice a year, sometimes in instalments.
- Taking part in the league. Federation levy and player licence. Sometimes built into the membership fee, sometimes a separate line on the bill.
- Kit. Shoes, knee pads, possibly a strip. A peak in the first year, after that mostly replacement.
- Team costs. Team kitty, tournament entry, end-of-season event, kit fund. Small each time, surprisingly large added up.
- Travel. To practices and to away matches. The item you halve most easily with a single good agreement.
Plenty of comparisons between sports or between clubs go wrong because only the first stream gets looked at. A club with a low membership fee and six compulsory tournament days can work out dearer than a club that asks for everything in one amount.
The membership fee: why the same game costs twice as much at the club down the road
Membership fees vary enormously, and that is not arbitrary. Five things account for virtually the whole difference, and you can ask about all five in one phone call:
- What the hall costs. A club that gets a favourable rate from the local authority is structurally cheaper than a club renting commercially. At many clubs this is the largest item in the budget.
- Whether the coach is paid. A volunteer versus a qualified, paid coach can be hundreds of euros per team per season, and so tens of euros per member.
- How many hours you train. Twice ninety minutes a week is literally double the court hours of once ninety minutes.
- How full the teams are. The hall, the league entry and the coach cost the same with seven members as with fourteen. A club with half-empty teams has to ask more per member.
- Whether league volleyball is played. Match hours, entry fees and officials only sit in the competition rate. Recreational players therefore pay less almost everywhere; what you get for that is in coaching recreational players.
What counts as a normal amount differs per country, per municipality and per club — there is no national rate, and a European average tells you nothing about your own club. What does hold everywhere: youth pay less than seniors, recreational players less than league players, and two clubs in the same region can be a long way apart without either being the better one. The only figure worth anything to you is on the fees page or in the club rules of your own club. If you want to compare, ask two or three clubs near you for the total amount and put the five factors above alongside it.
Ask two more things at the same time, because they cost money later. One: when is it collected — all at once in September, in two instalments, or monthly? Two: what happens if you stop halfway through? At many clubs the membership runs by season and you pay for the whole year, even if your child drops out in January: the hall and the team entry have already been paid for. If that is in play for you, first read what is behind that wish to stop — a three-week break is often cheaper than cancelling.
Federation levy and player licence: the part that isn't the club's
Anyone playing league volleyball is usually also a member of a federation. A federation typically charges two things: a levy per member and an entry per team. Whether that amount sits on your bill separately or is quietly built into the membership fee differs per club — and that makes comparing clubs hard, because one bill then looks tens of euros dearer while you get exactly the same thing.
On top of that, many federations have a player licence or pass, sometimes with a photo, sometimes one-off and sometimes renewed annually. The amount, the validity and the question of whether it is compulsory differ per federation; check that on your own federation's website or ask the membership administration. Anybody who is not in on time is in principle not allowed to play — keeping an eye on that is, incidentally, a classic job for the team manager.
So the practical question is not "what does the federation cost", but: is the federation levy separate on my bill or is it inside the membership fee, and does the player licence come on top of that? Recreational groups often play outside the federation altogether. That saves money, but it also means no official league and sometimes different insurance cover.
Kit: one-off, and less than you think
Kit is the item parents dread and that in practice turns out fine. For the first few months clean indoor shoes with grip, sports clothing and a water bottle are enough; knee pads only become useful once players are genuinely going to the floor. A club strip is loaned out at many clubs. The full list with a price indication per item is in what your child needs for their first practice, including the answer to the knee pad question.
One thing that isn't there and does matter for the yearly bill: with growing children, kit is not a one-off item. Shoe size changes, and an indoor shoe that gets too small goes in the cupboard long before it wears out. So for youth players reckon on a pair of shoes every year or every two years, and put that amount into your seasonal budget in advance rather than treating it as a surprise. For adults playing once a week, a pair of indoor shoes often lasts several seasons.
The items that aren't on the fees page
This is where the bill actually mounts up in practice, and where clubs rarely start the conversation — not out of bad will, but because the money never passes the treasurer. What you can run into in an average season:
- Team kitty. A fixed amount per player for a drink after the match, a team ball, a thank-you for the coach. The team sets that amount itself, so ask the team manager and not the treasurer.
- Tournament entry. Taking part in a tournament costs an entry fee, sometimes per team and sometimes per player. What such a day involves is in planning a volleyball tournament.
- Kit fund. Some clubs ask an annual contribution for the strip you have on loan, instead of a purchase price.
- Volunteer levy or buying off a bar shift. Many clubs attach a job to the membership and charge an amount if you don't do it. Ask explicitly how that works at your club; it can be a substantial sum.
- A one-off joining fee at registration, and sometimes an administration charge for paying in instalments.
- An end-of-season event or team outing at the close of the year.
- Course or fine costs: a scoring or refereeing course the club does or does not reimburse, and at some clubs a fine for not turning up to an allocated duty.
So before you register, ask for one thing by email: an overview of all compulsory contributions besides the membership fee, for this season. A club that cannot answer that in two lines does not know either — and then you know something extra will turn up in March.
Travel costs: the item nobody adds up
Travel appears on no fees page at all, while for a league team it can be one of the bigger items. It is exactly calculable, though, and that is precisely what you should do before writing it off as small change.
Work through an example youth team. Say eleven away matches per season, an average of 25 kilometres one way, so 50 kilometres there and back: 550 kilometres. What a kilometre costs you differs enormously per country, per car and per fuel price — use your own rate. Reckon with € 0.25 per kilometre and that is roughly € 138 per season. If the team drives to a fixed rota and four parents share it, you pay about € 35. That hundred-euro difference isn't in the sport, it is in one agreement.
On top of that comes travel to practice. Twice a week, 34 weeks, six kilometres there and back is well over 400 kilometres per season — at the same rate another hundred euros and change, unless your child cycles or rides with a team-mate. For a child who can cycle, this whole item disappears; for a team in a thinly populated region with away matches fifty kilometres each way, the match item doubles.
Two things keep that item manageable. First: at the start of the season, add up the away matches and their distances in the team calendar, so you know what you are getting into. In Koach the full programme is there with the hall and the address per match, so that adding up takes five minutes. Second: fix the driving in a rota rather than arranging it week by week — then everybody drives roughly as often, see who's driving on Saturday.
From a seasonal amount to a monthly one: the sum
Now you can add it up. Two worked examples. The euro amounts come from one European country and are there to show the shape of the sum, not the level of the bill — replace every figure with your own club's.
Example 1 — a twelve-year-old, league volleyball, second season:
- Membership fee: € 240
- Federation levy and player licence, billed separately: € 25
- Kit this year (new indoor shoes; the knee pads will last another year): € 55
- Team kitty and one tournament day: € 40
- Travel, share under a shared driving rota: € 55
Total: € 415 for the season. You can express that amount per month in three ways, and those three ways feel completely different:
- Across twelve months: € 415 ÷ 12 = about € 35 per month. This is the figure that fits a household budget in which you set money aside all year round.
- Across the nine months that are actually played (roughly September to May, although the start differs per federation — see when the volleyball season starts): € 415 ÷ 9 = about € 46 per month. This is what it actually takes out of your monthly budget.
- Per session: 34 weeks × 2 practices = 68 evenings, plus 22 matches (eleven home, eleven away) = 90 times. € 415 ÷ 90 = about € 4.60 a time.
Example 2 — an adult recreational player, once a week, no league: membership fee € 150, no federation licence, team kitty € 15, and indoor shoes that last three seasons (€ 20 a year written off). Total about € 185: € 15 per month across twelve months, € 21 across the playing months, and at 32 practice evenings about € 5.80 a time.
What stands out in both examples: the monthly amount differs by more than a factor of two (€ 35 against € 15), while the price per session is close together (€ 4.60 against € 5.80). That is because a large part of the bill consists of court hours, and you pay for those every time you stand in the hall. Work that figure out for your own situation, because it is the only one with which you fairly compare volleyball against another sport, against swimming lessons or against a gym membership — what mainly differs there is how often you go, not what an hour costs.
Key point: don't divide the seasonal amount by twelve, divide it by the number of times you actually walk into the hall. A bill of € 415 across 90 practices and matches is not € 35 a month but about € 4.60 an evening — and that is the figure with which you fairly weigh up a fee increase, a second sport or cancelling altogether.
What makes it cheaper
The amount is less fixed than it looks. Six things that make the most difference in practice:
- A fund or a local-authority scheme. Many countries have a sports or youth fund that pays the membership fee, and sometimes the kit, for children from low-income families, and many local authorities run something similar. The name, the conditions and the application route differ per country and per municipality; the application usually goes through an intermediary such as the school, a community worker or the club itself. Ask your municipality or the club's membership administration — they almost always know the route. Important: the club cannot see who needs it — you have to say so yourself, and that can be done confidentially.
- Paying in instalments. Many clubs can offer instalments or a direct debit even when it isn't on the website. Asking costs nothing and takes the peak out of September.
- A family discount. Many clubs have a rate for a second and third family member. It is far from always advertised.
- The second-hand box. Shoes and knee pads that have come out of a growth spurt are often barely worn. Ask about it at the start of the season, or suggest making a swap moment of it if the club doesn't already.
- Doing the volunteer job instead of buying it off. At clubs with a buy-off fee, a bar shift or a scoring duty lowers your bill faster than any economising will.
- Recreational membership instead of league volleyball if money is tight. You play fewer matches and hardly travel, and that often halves both the membership fee and the travel item.
For young children the bill is simply smaller anyway: fewer practice hours, no league or only a short one, and hardly any travelling. From what age that starts and what it looks like is in from what age can you play volleyball.
The four questions to ask before you sign up
- What is the total amount for this season, including all compulsory contributions? Not: what is the membership fee.
- Are the federation levy and the player licence included, or do they come separately? This is the biggest source of misunderstanding when comparing two clubs.
- Which volunteer job comes with it, and what does it cost if I don't do it?
- What do I pay if my child stops in January? Ask this especially if you think it isn't going to happen.
Ask them by email, not on the sideline. Then in March you have no argument about what was said in August, and the club has an immediate reason to actually produce the overview it ought to have anyway.
Frequently asked questions
What does volleyball cost per month on average for a child?
There is no average that holds everywhere, because hall rent, coaching costs and federation levies differ per municipality, per federation and per country. Add up your own items: membership fee, federation levy, this year's kit, team kitty and travel. In the worked example above — figures from one European country — a child playing league volleyball comes to about € 415 per season, which works out at € 35 a month across twelve months or € 46 across the nine playing months.
Why do membership fees differ so much between clubs?
Because of five things: what the hall costs, whether the coach is paid, how many hours are trained, how full the teams are and whether league volleyball is played. Hall rent is usually the largest item and varies enormously from one municipality to the next. Ask about those five points before you call an amount expensive or cheap.
Is the federation levy included in the membership fee?
That differs per club: some build the levy and the player licence into the fee, others put them on the bill as a separate line. Ask explicitly, because otherwise you are comparing two clubs on a difference of tens of euros that isn't really there.
Do I have to keep paying the fee if my child stops halfway through?
At many clubs the membership runs by season and you pay the year out, because the hall rent and the team entry are already committed. The exact rule and the notice period are in your club's own rules and differ greatly; read that before you cancel and ask whether a temporary pause is possible.
Is there help available if the membership fee is too expensive?
In many countries there is a sports or youth fund, or a local-authority scheme, that pays the membership fee and sometimes the kit for children. The name and the conditions differ per municipality and per country; your club's membership administration or board knows the route and treats such a question confidentially. Do raise it yourself, because the club cannot see it from your registration.
What does volleyball cost for an adult recreational player?
Clearly less than for a league player, because match hours, league entry, officials and travel costs fall away. In the worked example above a recreational player training once a week comes to about € 185 per season, or some € 15 a month. Per practice evening the difference from a league player is far smaller than the monthly figure suggests.
