Eek. If my mother brought this up to me I’d be mortified. It would definitely make me feel like a freak.
I am sorry you had to see Trunk’s website, too, though.
Long time volleyball mom checking in here. The daughters started in fifth grade and they’re still going strong, including club. I don’t like those spandex shorts any more than you do, but it’s one of those things you learn to live with. I do second Harriet’s suggestion about checking into shorts the next size up. Maybe these really are a bit too small. On the other hand, wait until she decides to wear a thong under that spandex. Or nothing under at all. :eek:
Give yourself a little time to get used to all of it, and pretty soon it won’t be a big deal. You’ll be so busy watching her great passes and serves that you’ll forget all about the shorts. Does she have a pair of sports pants (probably flannel) to wear over them for in between? Standard equipment around here.
It dawned on me one day at a tournament that those had to be a bunch of totally unselfconscious kids out there on that court. They get out there in those pants that couldn’t possible cover any flaws at all, then the first thing they do is turn their backs to the spectators and bend over. Always gives me a bit of a chuckle.
Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to get her the T-shirt that says, “Practice Safe Sets”. 
And I don’t care what anybody says, I don’t buy the idea that the spandex is necessary for range of movement. Have you checked out what the men’s teams wear? They don’t seem to have any trouble moving. 
I knew something was messing up my vertical. Hehe, you have a point there but have you ever seen a guy in spandex? Trust me, even when I wear the most restrictive underwear possible, everyone gets a full view of what I am working with.
Thanks everyone for your replies and your SDMB-style advice. It does seem like y’all don’t quite take me seriously on this.
A size or two higher on the bunhuggers may be worth a try so that they don’t reveal every last little contour.
And as for the guys taking pictures I plan to approach one of them at the next home game. Amazingly there are volleyball opportunities yearround in this area. I really want to see what they’re up to. For some reason, I generally have a sixth sense about who’s a parent and who’s not. We’ll see and I’ll report back.
Well she already does wear a thong (we had to buy a couple special for this) under the shorts since it seems the one thing she IS concerned about is pantylines. So that goes to show that she does have at least some sense of self-image. I absolutely can’t imagine that anyone would wear nothing at all underneath. They’re already pretty revealing with just the little bit of panty fabric in between the material and skin. I’d have to imagine that without it it’d be positively X-rated. Your daughter didn’t really do this did she?!?
Mine does. But then, she’s perfectly comfortable at a nude beach.
Remember, context is everything. Nobody has an “X-rated” body! The more energy we expend trying to cover up “the naughty bits” the more tantalizing they become. In the Middle East, people (men and women alike) get similarly worked up at the sight of exposed ankles.
In our culture, as with the OP, my daughter gets pressure from older women to cover her body. Her fifth grade teacher advised her to start wearing a bra because her nipples were protruding. Her grandmother did the same later on. Talk about giving her a complex.
With regards to the photographers, it’s been my experience that light in gyms is usually pretty crappy for taking good photographs using standard camera equipment. By good I mean clear, focused, and well lit. To get the kind of shot that seems to be creeping you out, the photographer would need an extremely large and fast telephoto lens - - a lens so large that it gets the tripod, rather than the camera, as the lens weighs more.
If the photographers are in the stands using regular 35mm style cameras, the odds are very very high that the most detail they can get is a full body shot. There’s not much gross-web-site worthy in a full body shot. If, however, they have a lens as long as their arm with a 6" or larger front diameter, then you might have a reason to be worried. If they are leaving the stands, getting about 5’ away from the players, squatting down, and aiming… well, then you might have a reason to be worried.
As a father of four with a blossoming 12 year old daughter, I can understand where you’re coming from on this. However, there are just so many other things to be worried about when parenting that I hope you’ll be able to make peace with this. My parents made a big deal over my sports uniforms and clothes in general, to the point of making me stand out among my peers. It’s just mortifying to be THAT kid. It took years for me to realize that for the most part, nobody is paying the least whit of attention to me or to what I wear, particularly if lots of other people are wearing practically the same thing that I am.
If I were you I’d let the shorts issue alone for a month and then give her a new pair the next larger size to replace the old and worn ones. Don’t mention the photographers or your concerns about any bulging. YMMV, and all that, of course. Other standard disclaimers apply.
**Ellephant ** - I don’t see that most of us aren’t taking your concerns seriously. I see it as most of us are trying to give you a different perspective.
Sorry, I missed how old your daughter is?
I think she deserves your congratulations and respect for trying something that maybe she isn’t very good at (the volleyball, not wearing the shorts ), and she also deserves to feel good about her body.
You are acting as if her body is something to be ashamed of, and to hide. That could do damage to her self-esteem and lead to other wardrobe issues.
Just my $0.02.
I do not want you to think that I failed to seriously consider your concerns. I offered my experience with track in a joking manner because now I look at the situation as entirely ridiculous. My main hope is for you to try to look at this from a different perspective; specifically that of your daughter. She has found a sport that she is passionate about and this may be one of her top interests for years to come. The last thing that you need, as a parent, is for her to get the idea that you do not fully support her interests. If you address your concerns about her uniform in a manner that fails to fully consider her feelings you risk turning something she loves into something she dreads. Additionally, it could lead to an entire host of issues between you and your daughter concerning her body. Athletics gives young girls a place where they can be judged on their performance and dedication instead of on their appearance. Unnecessarily sexualizing her interest in volleyball is only going to lead to problems. Please do not punish your daughter because there are perverts in the world. She will not thank you for it later.
That said, you seem like a reasonable person. I would recommend that if you do decide to confront the “men with cameras” that you do so in a discreet manner that does not risk embarrassment to your daughter. I wish both you and your daughter the best of luck.
Look at this from a Male volleyball coaches perspective:
Your intuition is spot on. Google high school volleyball coaches that have been arrested or fired for taking advantage of their players. The list is long! There is no reason at all that junior high and high school volleyball players need to wear lingerie for performance reasons. Those shorts are there for a reason and it sure isn’t because longer shorts can get caught up in the net!
Not a bad addition but remember this is a very old and aged thread and various references to “zombies” may occur. Like “I’m against zombies playing volleyball no matter what they wear”. Don’t take it wrong and please stick around. Once you get in the swing of things here the usual form would be to maybe start a new thread and give a link to the old one; your addition could very well rate being a stand-alone thread.
Keep in mind that if you search long enough you can find anything on the internet - I’m sure there’s guys out there that get off on no socks in sneakers or whatever. That guy on Reddit, if real, needs to be far away from any kids. Or people, for that matter.
Jeez, missed the op date. Now I’m curious, Minor Threat, exactly what were you googling to get you to this thread and compelled you to sign up to share that link?
Were yoga pants a thing in 2006 when this thread originally appeared? Since then I’ve seen long discussions, here and elsewhere, over the appropriateness of women wearing yoga pants or leggings as pants in public. Are volleyball shorts at the same level of (im)modesty?
Volleyball shorts are basically the “boy shorts” version of yoga pants.
Google your favorite university and volleyball - like “Texas A&M Volleyball” and you’ll see what the thread’s about.
Two things that happened through my brain when I spotted the thread (and before I saw the original date)
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If the volleyball uniforms seem sexualized just be glad she didn’t get into gymnastics or dance. A cousins daughter was really big (and successful – scored a partial scholarship) in volleyball back in the mid-2000s and and I never thought of the shorts/uniforms as provocative in the way of say its beach counterpart. Heck – I remember seeing teens almost back to my day wearing less and/or more revealing just going to the mall.
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I find it interesting that the thread was started by a newbie and also revived by a newbie. Don’t know why but that helped it catch my interest enough to read through it.
Yoga pants are pretty much standard work attire at the shipping center where I work for a lot of the girls under 30. When I first started it caught my attention and I sometimes wondered if it was “work-place appropriate”. After 4 years I don’t know that I’ve even noticed enough to say “X usually wears “tights” and Y almost never does” – it just totally fell off my radar.