What's the benefit of Metro volleyball travel team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just want to get an idea, how many kids metro travel team coach will suggest them coming to the tryout after summer camp or clinics. For that coach's age group.

I will start by saying that each coach is different and their recruiting style may be different. I heard about coaches approaching very strong athletes during the tournaments and telling them "Hey, I saw that nice [swing] during the game, why don't you try out for [Metro] next season?"

During the club season if a coach approaches a player from another club and tells them they should try out for a different club next year, that is a recruiting violation and should have been reported to CHRVA. Per CHRVA:

"Competition Period: No recruiting contacts shall be made with any players who have committed to another club."
https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/10ce-3228279/2025-26_CHRVA_Open_Tryout_Dates_and_Definitions.pdf

If you see or hear about it happening, report it to CHRVA.

[Anonymous]

None. My dd played for a club other than Metro and Paramount and was still heavily recruited by D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. My dd played for a club other than Metro and Paramount and was still heavily recruited by D1.

If your goal is P4 D1 then Metro Travel is a good target to go for. There is a sweet spot though to play for them if recruiting is your focus. If you aren't playing for them at U16 and then recruited/committed in the summer, then its highly unlikely you will get a P4 offer. This is especially true in the new era of roster limits and a much more active transfer portal where getting a full D1 scholarship is getting tougher. Even if you are playing for them at U16, there are still number of players that go lower D1 and/or higher D3.

Metro travel is still very good and if you want that type of club experience is worth pursuing. But if your goal is non-P4 D1 or D3, then there are a lot of pathways to get there now. The diversity of clubs with D1 commits last year shows that players with college aspirations have more options than they have ever had. Blue Ridge, Columbia, LEVBC, Metro Travel, MD Jrs, MOCO, MVSA, Paramount, VA Elite and VA Jrs, all had D1 commits for the class of 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. My dd played for a club other than Metro and Paramount and was still heavily recruited by D1.

If your goal is P4 D1 then Metro Travel is a good target to go for. There is a sweet spot though to play for them if recruiting is your focus. If you aren't playing for them at U16 and then recruited/committed in the summer, then its highly unlikely you will get a P4 offer. This is especially true in the new era of roster limits and a much more active transfer portal where getting a full D1 scholarship is getting tougher. Even if you are playing for them at U16, there are still number of players that go lower D1 and/or higher D3.

Metro travel is still very good and if you want that type of club experience is worth pursuing. But if your goal is non-P4 D1 or D3, then there are a lot of pathways to get there now. The diversity of clubs with D1 commits last year shows that players with college aspirations have more options than they have ever had. Blue Ridge, Columbia, LEVBC, Metro Travel, MD Jrs, MOCO, MVSA, Paramount, VA Elite and VA Jrs, all had D1 commits for the class of 2025.

It is not true that you have to play for Metro to go to a P4 school. VA Jrs had two 2027 players commit to UVA. Paramount had 2027 players commit to Penn State (the defending national champions) and Vanderbilt. As far as I'm aware, VA JRS and Paramount are ahead of Metro in the P4 2027 commitment battle as Metro only has one class of 2027 committed to a P4 school (UCLA). I'm not trying to say any one of these clubs is better than the other. All I'm saying is that it's a false narrative that you have to play for Metro to go to a P4 school. That may have been the case 5-10 years ago, but it no longer is (and the fact that this is no longer the case is great for the Region, because now players don't have to ride the bench at Metro or Paramount)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. My dd played for a club other than Metro and Paramount and was still heavily recruited by D1.

If your goal is P4 D1 then Metro Travel is a good target to go for. There is a sweet spot though to play for them if recruiting is your focus. If you aren't playing for them at U16 and then recruited/committed in the summer, then its highly unlikely you will get a P4 offer. This is especially true in the new era of roster limits and a much more active transfer portal where getting a full D1 scholarship is getting tougher. Even if you are playing for them at U16, there are still number of players that go lower D1 and/or higher D3.

Metro travel is still very good and if you want that type of club experience is worth pursuing. But if your goal is non-P4 D1 or D3, then there are a lot of pathways to get there now. The diversity of clubs with D1 commits last year shows that players with college aspirations have more options than they have ever had. Blue Ridge, Columbia, LEVBC, Metro Travel, MD Jrs, MOCO, MVSA, Paramount, VA Elite and VA Jrs, all had D1 commits for the class of 2025.

It is not true that you have to play for Metro to go to a P4 school. VA Jrs had two 2027 players commit to UVA. Paramount had 2027 players commit to Penn State (the defending national champions) and Vanderbilt. As far as I'm aware, VA JRS and Paramount are ahead of Metro in the P4 2027 commitment battle as Metro only has one class of 2027 committed to a P4 school (UCLA). I'm not trying to say any one of these clubs is better than the other. All I'm saying is that it's a false narrative that you have to play for Metro to go to a P4 school. That may have been the case 5-10 years ago, but it no longer is (and the fact that this is no longer the case is great for the Region, because now players don't have to ride the bench at Metro or Paramount)

Agree with you that Metro isn't the only way to get to P4, and the point I tried to make was that the U16 group is the sweet spot for Metro P4 commits. After that Metro benefits from the U18 P4 commits tending to play on the same team, which historically has been Metro then Metro U18s. This gives Metro the ability to market constantly that Metro alumni are playing high D1. While technically true a lot of them weren't playing for Metro when they committed.

For example, on the U18 team last year there were 4 players from the class of 2025 committed to P4 schools. Only 1 of those (Purdue) played for Metro during her D1 commit year. The other three played for VA Jrs (Penn State), Paramount (VA Tech) and I think RVC (UVA).

One correction though:
Metro has two P4 2027 commits (UCLA, Oklahoma)
Paramount has two (Penn State, Vanderbilt)
VA Juniors has two (Both UVA)
So its essentially tied right now.

Couldn't agree more with your point that this is good for the region. In general, the huge jump in club diversity for college commits over the past few years is a great thing. If we want the region to be more consistently competitive we need more clubs that are getting players into college programs. The old model of 15 players a Metro travel team (and the similar model by Paramount now as well) is unquestionably terrible for the region and has actively restrained the regions competitiveness for years.

Now we can finally see a change. A separate thread on college commitments had a post that broke down where the 2025 commits played for their U15 year and it shows that there are many more routes at the younger ages than Metro:

Who did 2025 Recruits Play for During U15 (2022) Year?
Metro Travel - 10
MD JRS - 8
MOCO - 8
VA Elite - 8
BRVA - 6
Players who were at these 5 clubs in 2022 represent 40! of the 82 2025 commits.