Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NVVA isn't in CHRVA. They do AAU/JVA only. They revamped their club system this year, all last year's teams are now labelled as NVVA XP teams - in line wit their "rebrand."

Former players and families got the email yesterday about this rebrand and membership program. It was a shock and a big change. They seem to be focusing on less competitive tournaments now and making it more developmental. There is a need for that in the area but it was unexpected and there was no warning.

[Anonymous]

New to club parent here… anyone have insight on Virginia Volleyball Academy (VaVa)? We signed up for an upcoming online info session by their director on all things club but wanted to know if anyone has any prior experience with them?
Any Pros/Cons would be appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?

I've seen lots of comments on facilities, some drama with coaches leaving, something about 'social club vibe,' etc., but didn't see anything specifically about the level of coaching/development and general experience. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else find Paramount's instagram posts to be amusing? Instead of just celebrating their successes (of which they deserve to be very proud), they frequently frame their posts in some strained way that makes them the "Only CHRVA club..." to do X or Y. Their recent post about their teams that earned bids to Nationals is a good example.

Instead of just acknowledging the huge accomplishment of their 15s earning an open bid, they say "Only CHRVA club with an OPEN BID in the U15 age group this season. Under the modern format of GJNC, the CHRVA Region has only had a total of six U15 teams qualify in Open, one of which was our own U15 team back in the 2021 season!"

Similarly, when they were hyping up their teams attending Triple Crown, they kept saying awkward things like "Given the fact that Paramount VBC is the only CHRVA club to be invited to and accepted into the 2024 Triple Crown NIT..." While this assertion is technically true (Metro was invited but didn't accept making Paramount the only CHRVA club invited and accepted), I feel like it would be more effective to just say they are excited to go to Triple Crown or if they really believe there is a reason to put it in a CHRVA context, say they were the only CHRVA club attending.

These strangely worded posts always seem like a thinly veiled (and a little desperate) attempt to one-up Metro. Paramount has pretty firmly established themselves as a top CHRVA club - they are no longer some unknown under dog and they should just promote and celebrate their successes without worrying so much about how it stacks up against Metro, or any other club.

Haha, this is exactly what I was thinking when I read their posts. They’re already a strong club, not sure why they have to make it so dramatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?

I've seen lots of comments on facilities, some drama with coaches leaving, something about 'social club vibe,' etc., but didn't see anything specifically about the level of coaching/development and general experience. Thanks in advance.

We were there last year and our overall impression is (i) your experience will largely depend on the coaches for your team and (ii) quality varies a lot across the staff, likely because there has been a lot of turnover in recent years. Some coaches are better than others in terms of structuring practices and those teams tend to do better/develop more.

On the general experience, our DD really liked her teammates and the parents were all reasonable and pleasant to spend time with at tournaments. We liked the schedule - good mix of regional and more challenging national tournaments. The STJ admin staff were usually pretty responsive to questions or concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the reputation of MD Juniors?

Pros: many levels of teams so you have options

Cons: no recruiting help, only director-coached team (one or two) are strong, other teams (even elite blacks) are not strong or well coached. Director does some shady stuff like not giving you an offer unless you sign that day, cancelling invoice for fees if you pay in cash

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?

I've seen lots of comments on facilities, some drama with coaches leaving, something about 'social club vibe,' etc., but didn't see anything specifically about the level of coaching/development and general experience. Thanks in advance.

We were there last year and our overall impression is (i) your experience will largely depend on the coaches for your team and (ii) quality varies a lot across the staff, likely because there has been a lot of turnover in recent years. Some coaches are better than others in terms of structuring practices and those teams tend to do better/develop more.

On the general experience, our DD really liked her teammates and the parents were all reasonable and pleasant to spend time with at tournaments. We liked the schedule - good mix of regional and more challenging national tournaments. The STJ admin staff were usually pretty responsive to questions or concerns.

One more newby family looking at St James. DD trying out for U12 and the coaches are Angelica Nichols and Nikki Barbry. Any info on them in particular? DD went to a clinic and really enjoyed it. Kids broken up into smaller groups, did super fun/dynamic drills, coaches appeared to be really enjoying themselves (contrast with a Mojo skills clinic we went to last week that was a sh*tshow to say the least--so many girls of all ages thrown together onto one court with only two coaches overseeing the process, very little actual coaching happening and lots of standing around waiting for your turn to hit). Could someone explain why St James hasn't been able to recruit top talent/achieve better results when the coaches seem great and the facility is beautiful and very convenient to all DMV areas (right off Beltway)? My theory is that Nikki is only a few years in as director so maybe she is trying to rebuild a program that struggled previously but is now on the right track? Thanks for any advice in navigating this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?

I've seen lots of comments on facilities, some drama with coaches leaving, something about 'social club vibe,' etc., but didn't see anything specifically about the level of coaching/development and general experience. Thanks in advance.

We were there last year and our overall impression is (i) your experience will largely depend on the coaches for your team and (ii) quality varies a lot across the staff, likely because there has been a lot of turnover in recent years. Some coaches are better than others in terms of structuring practices and those teams tend to do better/develop more.

On the general experience, our DD really liked her teammates and the parents were all reasonable and pleasant to spend time with at tournaments. We liked the schedule - good mix of regional and more challenging national tournaments. The STJ admin staff were usually pretty responsive to questions or concerns.

One more newby family looking at St James. DD trying out for U12 and the coaches are Angelica Nichols and Nikki Barbry. Any info on them in particular? DD went to a clinic and really enjoyed it. Kids broken up into smaller groups, did super fun/dynamic drills, coaches appeared to be really enjoying themselves (contrast with a Mojo skills clinic we went to last week that was a sh*tshow to say the least--so many girls of all ages thrown together onto one court with only two coaches overseeing the process, very little actual coaching happening and lots of standing around waiting for your turn to hit). Could someone explain why St James hasn't been able to recruit top talent/achieve better results when the coaches seem great and the facility is beautiful and very convenient to all DMV areas (right off Beltway)? My theory is that Nikki is only a few years in as director so maybe she is trying to rebuild a program that struggled previously but is now on the right track? Thanks for any advice in navigating this process.

Having to get on the beltway at rush hour will turn most really good players away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?

I've seen lots of comments on facilities, some drama with coaches leaving, something about 'social club vibe,' etc., but didn't see anything specifically about the level of coaching/development and general experience. Thanks in advance.

We were there last year and our overall impression is (i) your experience will largely depend on the coaches for your team and (ii) quality varies a lot across the staff, likely because there has been a lot of turnover in recent years. Some coaches are better than others in terms of structuring practices and those teams tend to do better/develop more.

On the general experience, our DD really liked her teammates and the parents were all reasonable and pleasant to spend time with at tournaments. We liked the schedule - good mix of regional and more challenging national tournaments. The STJ admin staff were usually pretty responsive to questions or concerns.

One more newby family looking at St James. DD trying out for U12 and the coaches are Angelica Nichols and Nikki Barbry. Any info on them in particular? DD went to a clinic and really enjoyed it. Kids broken up into smaller groups, did super fun/dynamic drills, coaches appeared to be really enjoying themselves (contrast with a Mojo skills clinic we went to last week that was a sh*tshow to say the least--so many girls of all ages thrown together onto one court with only two coaches overseeing the process, very little actual coaching happening and lots of standing around waiting for your turn to hit). Could someone explain why St James hasn't been able to recruit top talent/achieve better results when the coaches seem great and the facility is beautiful and very convenient to all DMV areas (right off Beltway)? My theory is that Nikki is only a few years in as director so maybe she is trying to rebuild a program that struggled previously but is now on the right track? Thanks for any advice in navigating this process.

Nikki is an amazing coach. She has taken the last 3-4 years off from coaching to focus on her family life (babies !) . She used to typically coach u12 teams with great success in the past. If she coached my DD’s age, I would follow her but unfortunately (for us) she is coaching u12.

The issue with STJ in regards to retaining good players seems to be their high coaching staff turnover. Not sure if this has anything to do with STJ being a “corporate run” club- different goals need to be met under the “STJ” umbrella , as compared to volleyball specific clubs.

Cannot speak for the other STJ teams/coaches- but if I had a 12U child- my first choice would be with Coach Nikki. She has a reputation for being an extremely good coach- technically. She is serious but not scary and very high energy.

[Anonymous]

Op here—that is so helpful! Really appreciate it. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recent experience (like last year or so) with St James girls' club vb?


One more newby family looking at St James. DD trying out for U12 and the coaches are Angelica Nichols and Nikki Barbry. Any info on them in particular? DD went to a clinic and really enjoyed it. Kids broken up into smaller groups, did super fun/dynamic drills, coaches appeared to be really enjoying themselves (contrast with a Mojo skills clinic we went to last week that was a sh*tshow to say the least--so many girls of all ages thrown together onto one court with only two coaches overseeing the process, very little actual coaching happening and lots of standing around waiting for your turn to hit). Could someone explain why St James hasn't been able to recruit top talent/achieve better results when the coaches seem great and the facility is beautiful and very convenient to all DMV areas (right off Beltway)? My theory is that Nikki is only a few years in as director so maybe she is trying to rebuild a program that struggled previously but is now on the right track? Thanks for any advice in navigating this process.

Having to get on the beltway at rush hour will turn most really good players away.

Correction--convenient for those who can take 495 express lanes (I guess that limits it to Tysons area?) so fair point, getting there from Maryland or DC (or even Arlington) would likely be a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know white the white pieces of paper where that were handed out at the Vienna Elite clinics today?

[Anonymous]

I don't know what the white pieces of paper were either but someone suggested I read this thread and it was helpful. so perhaps it is an invite to an invite only clinic?

Read this.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1231654.page

[Anonymous]

I feel like there a Mean Girls like lot brewing between big volleyball clubs in this area. When did it become so dramatic? My daughter did one of the lesser clubs and had a horrible experience. Tried a few more clinics and then got over it. I’m glad- what a toxic sport. I think the coaches are the ones that make it so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like there a Mean Girls like lot brewing between big volleyball clubs in this area. When did it become so dramatic? My daughter did one of the lesser clubs and had a horrible experience. Tried a few more clinics and then got over it. I’m glad- what a toxic sport. I think the coaches are the ones that make it so.

If you want the Ultimate Mean Girls Volleyball Experience go to a Mojo pre-tryout clinic and then the tryout. Mean Girls and Mean Girl Coaches make for meanest girls at tournaments, right down to intentionally unsportsmanlike behaviors during matches and tournaments.