Lesson FAQ’s

I am attempting to register for a lesson outside of club season (mid-June through late October).  There is nothing in your system when I look for availability.  Are you not offering lessons?

Outside of club season, our lessons can be very hit and miss.  This is due to several factors:  (1) volleyball nationals and our staff/coaches being out of town in June and early July, (2) camps, clinic and skill sessions occupy much of our court space and coaches’ time in July, (3) high school volleyball takes place in the fall and many of our coaches not only coach high school volleyball, but want to go watch their formers players as they compete.  Keep checking as our lesson availability is released month-to-month, but those limited spots go quickly.

How do I request a lesson with a specific coach on a specific date at a specific time?

Our lesson timeslots are first come/first served.  Each lesson coach gives us their availability each month and we publish those openings to our registration system.  You cannot request a specific coach or date or time.  What we have in our registration system is what is available at the present time.

I went to the registration system and there is nothing showing in the pulldown box for the week I want.  What am I doing wrong?

If nothing appears in the pulldown box when you go look for lessons it either means that no lessons were given to us by the lesson coaches or that all of their available lessons have already been taken by other players.  When lessons are taken, they are no longer visible to other people.

My daughter wants a lesson with a specific coach but I am not seeing that coach on the pulldown menu.  What am I doing wrong?

In addition to that coaches’ lessons already being full for that week or month, not every coach gives lessons all of the time.  Some of our coaches give lessons regularly while others may give them only at certain times of the year.  Coaches may also opt to take a short break during the busiest times of the year.

Is there a deadline to register for a lesson?

Our lessons will remain open to registration until midnight the day before.  For example, if there is an open timeslot in our registration system for 3:00PM on Friday the 23rd, it will close to all registrations  at 12:00AM on Thursday the 22nd.  This is approximately 1.5 days ahead of when the lesson is scheduled to take place.

We are from out of town and my daughter will be in your area in two months.  How do I reserve a lesson for her?

Our lesson timeslots are published one month at a time.  For example, lessons for the month of February will go live in mid-January.  To reserve a lesson for a future month means that you will need to wait until that month goes live in our system.

During club season (November – June), you mostly have lesson timeslots on weekdays between 3-5pm.  This doesn’t work for my daughter.  Why are there no lessons in the evenings or weekends?

During club season we have no court time available after 5:30pm on weeknights due to our club teams using our courts to practice.  Our facility (Midwest Volleyball Warehouse) is full with tournaments and leagues from 7am – 9pm most weekends.  The only time we have available for lessons is after school lets out on weekdays and before our team practices begin.

My daughter is 12 years old and I want her to take a lesson with a coach who has an age range of 13-18.  Can I sign her up?

Our coaches are able to set the age ranges for their lessons.  Please do not sign up for lessons unless you meet the age guidelines that they have set.  The age ranges are actual ages and not age groups (i.e 13U, 14U, etc.) unless specifically written that way.

Why are there hardly any lessons in the summer and fall?

Summer is camp, clinic and skill session season at Northern Lights.  Most of our daily court space is reserved daily from 9am through 8-9pm with our programs.  Not only is our court space tied up, but most of our lesson coaches work our camp, clinic and skill sessions so do not have the bandwidth to add lessons at that time.

The Fall is high school volleyball season in Minnesota so many of our lesson coaches are either coaching high school teams or are traveling around the Metro area watching their club players compete.

I want my daughter to take a group lesson with you.  You stated that lessons can be for 1-3 people.  How do I sign her up for that?  

All Northern Lights lessons are for one player only.  The lesson belongs to the player who is registered for in www.signuptoplay.com.  That player is open to bringing up to 2 additional players.  Often a hitter will bring a setter with her to set her in the lesson.  Or, two sisters of similar skill level both want to work together in the same lesson.  If two parents both want to go half-way in on a lesson, then either they should both register for every other lesson or one parent can register for the lesson and the other parent can pay her back independently of Northern Lights.

I read your lesson cancellation policy.  My daughter is sick and there are only 8 hours until the lesson.  What can I do not to lose all my money?  Can I reschedule?

The reason for our no refund policy if a lesson is cancelled within 24 hours is that there is no easy way to backfill that coaches’ time with another player with that little time left.  Our lesson timeslots are generally full each week.  By taking a lesson and cancelling it (or trying to reschedule it) within 24 hours no matter what the reason, you have just cost the lesson coach their pay for the lesson if we give you your money back or offer a reschedule.

We recommend that you actively find someone else to take the lesson.  Call a friend or teammate and offer the lesson to them for full or reduced price.  Or, if you know another player who regularly takes lessons, try to switch with them.  Simply email the Northern Lights office to let us know who is coming in your place.  Please do make sure the substitute meets all age requirements set forth by the coach.

Why did my daughter’s lesson disappear from her www.signuptoplay.com account?

All Northern Lights lessons must be paid for at the time of registration.  No exceptions.  Often we will send a friendly reminder that you have not paid for a lesson yet and give you a few hours to pay for it before removing a player’s name.  However, that is a courtesy only; we do reserve the right to remove any lesson registration that is unpaid.

If you have a credit to apply to a lesson, please email the office immediately after you have registered requesting the credit be applied so we do not delete your “unpaid” lesson.

Can I call the Northern Lights office to register for or pay for a lesson?  Can I give you my credit card over the phone?

No.  The entire process is online through www.signuptoplay.com.  If you call us, we will simply tell you to register using our registration system.

My son plays volleyball and wants to take a lesson at Northern Lights.  Is he allowed?

Northern Lights is primarily a girls volleyball club.  As such, the great majority of our coaches opt only to provide lessons to junior girls (ages 10-18).  We do have a handful of coaches who are open to coaching boys and their lessons are set as such in our registration system.  When you go to register, if no lessons are showing up, it is because those coaches have already had their lessons taken by other players and you will need to wait until the next month’s lessons go live.

My daughter wants to work on serving and defense during the lesson.  How do we inform the coach?

Northern Lights coaches have years of experience playing and coaching volleyball.  Many are full-time employees at Northern Lights and volleyball is their full-time job.  They already have a repertoire of drills that they can pull from no matter what it is that your daughter wants to work on.  Simply have your daughter discuss her goals for the lesson with the lesson coach at the beginning of the lesson and the coach will proceed to help meet those goals.

How do we know which coach to pick?  We are new.

All of our coaches can effectively coach all of the volleyball skills.  We encourage you to read their published bios.  Beyond that, if you plan on registering for lessons in the future, please do not hesitate to “try out” different coaches to see which ones you feel are the best match for your daughter.  Many of the players who come for lessons at Northern Lights like to pick one coach to work with and many others are open to just about any of our coaches so long as they get their reps in.