Volleyball tryouts in real time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Clearly the lack of coaches and available court space is due to the unexpected rise in popularity of Teqvoly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7owf4Kkeo

(The first time I saw this, I thought I was getting punked.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes, it really is that difficult to get court time. Club volleyball competes directly with basketball in the winter, and the popularity of both makes court time very difficult to get, especially on weekdays. Also, as another poster said -- good coaches are very hard to find. Volleyball is a very technical sport that requires a lot of knowledge to teach well. Since volleyball's popularity in the east didn't really start until the late 90s/early 2000s, there also aren't that many adults in the area who grew up playing volleyball, which further limits the coaching pool.

Finally, you can't just form a club volleyball team with any player of any ability level. Volleyball is "linked" sport where success depends on all the players on the team being able to perform at or above a certain skill level for the team to have any chance to compete. Most popular youth sports are unlinked sports where one player can learn a skill well and play the game OK. Baseball/softball, soccer and basketball can all be played in an unlinked manner, where the game may not be pretty but you can still play it successfully. But in volleyball if any part of the chain of bump/set/hit (or just bump/bump/bump) can't perform the action, the entire team fails. There are a lot of players who come into the sport thinking they can just start playing the game, only to quickly learn that they need to start with clinics to build up the basic skills required to play on a team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes - court time is hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes - court time is hard to come by.

I really like the insight and the depth of analysis that went into this post. Now I have a much better understanding of the issue at hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes - court time is hard to come by.

I really like the insight and the depth of analysis that went into this post. Now I have a much better understanding of the issue at hand.

As described above, club volleyball season conflicts with basketball season making competition for court time high. Schools are obviously going to prioritize their own teams over any outside groups renting. Also, many elementary schools/church gyms/community centers either have no volleyball net system, or a low quality one that isn’t really usable for a club team. At non school gyms (health clubs, facilities like Rockville Sports arena, Fairfax Sportsplex, Hoops Plus,etc) the number of groups vying for time between 5 and 10pm on weekdays is high. These courts are mostly already locked down these times months in advance, and groups often have long term relationships with these facilities that gives them priority over new groups who are also interested in renting courts. It’s not impossible to find court time, but it is a real challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes - court time is hard to come by.

I really like the insight and the depth of analysis that went into this post. Now I have a much better understanding of the issue at hand.

As described above, club volleyball season conflicts with basketball season making competition for court time high. Schools are obviously going to prioritize their own teams over any outside groups renting. Also, many elementary schools/church gyms/community centers either have no volleyball net system, or a low quality one that isn’t really usable for a club team. At non school gyms (health clubs, facilities like Rockville Sports arena, Fairfax Sportsplex, Hoops Plus,etc) the number of groups vying for time between 5 and 10pm on weekdays is high. These courts are mostly already locked down these times months in advance, and groups often have long term relationships with these facilities that gives them priority over new groups who are also interested in renting courts. It’s not impossible to find court time, but it is a real challenge.

That was a sarcastic comment. I read the comment that went more in depth, but then came the really useless post, so I made fun of it. Thank you for putting the extra effort to explain what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes, it really is that difficult to get court time. Club volleyball competes directly with basketball in the winter, and the popularity of both makes court time very difficult to get, especially on weekdays. Also, as another poster said -- good coaches are very hard to find. Volleyball is a very technical sport that requires a lot of knowledge to teach well. Since volleyball's popularity in the east didn't really start until the late 90s/early 2000s, there also aren't that many adults in the area who grew up playing volleyball, which further limits the coaching pool.

Finally, you can't just form a club volleyball team with any player of any ability level. Volleyball is "linked" sport where success depends on all the players on the team being able to perform at or above a certain skill level for the team to have any chance to compete. Most popular youth sports are unlinked sports where one player can learn a skill well and play the game OK. Baseball/softball, soccer and basketball can all be played in an unlinked manner, where the game may not be pretty but you can still play it successfully. But in volleyball if any part of the chain of bump/set/hit (or just bump/bump/bump) can't perform the action, the entire team fails. There are a lot of players who come into the sport thinking they can just start playing the game, only to quickly learn that they need to start with clinics to build up the basic skills required to play on a team.

My friend runs a rec basketball team and he seems to think there are elementary school gyms open all the time. I don't know if they are set up with volleyball systems.

Good coaching is always hard to find but there are probably hundreds of former college volleyball players that could do as reasonable job.

Baseball is a pretty linked sport. Most team sports are. But I agree, volleyball is a bit tougher than most where pretty much every hit is like running a double play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I agree it's insane. And for a girl that gets a stomach flu or something similar the day before -- she's basically out for the season. It all seems particularly inhumane given that we are talking about 10-13 year old children, not HS kids.
And also clubs should be upfront about the concept that clinics are basically a pre-tryout -- that was NOT at all clear to me as a new parent.

I think some clubs do try to make this clear, but if you're new you might not understand that is the case until it's too late. If you don't know hear that you should be attending clinics in September until mid-October then it's already too late.

I agree that it is a harsh system. The unfortunate reality for volleyball is that more than about 12 players on a roster makes it really challenging to get everyone some playing time so there is an upper limit to how many girls a club can take on a team. Couple that with the explosion of popularity in volleyball making demand for spots being so high, and it becomes really hard for a new player to make a team. If you haven't found a club for your DD yet, my suggestion would be to reach out to as many mid and lower tier clubs that might be practical for you. There are likely still some roster spots out there unfilled.

And for parents of older girls for which tryouts start tomorrow, if you're new to volleyball and don't have a solid lead on a club go to as many tryouts as you can. It will hopefully increase the odds of getting at least one offer, and if you get multiple, that's a good problem to have.

Is court time really THAT hard to come by?

Why aren't there more teams?

Yes, it really is that difficult to get court time. Club volleyball competes directly with basketball in the winter, and the popularity of both makes court time very difficult to get, especially on weekdays. Also, as another poster said -- good coaches are very hard to find. Volleyball is a very technical sport that requires a lot of knowledge to teach well. Since volleyball's popularity in the east didn't really start until the late 90s/early 2000s, there also aren't that many adults in the area who grew up playing volleyball, which further limits the coaching pool.

Finally, you can't just form a club volleyball team with any player of any ability level. Volleyball is "linked" sport where success depends on all the players on the team being able to perform at or above a certain skill level for the team to have any chance to compete. Most popular youth sports are unlinked sports where one player can learn a skill well and play the game OK. Baseball/softball, soccer and basketball can all be played in an unlinked manner, where the game may not be pretty but you can still play it successfully. But in volleyball if any part of the chain of bump/set/hit (or just bump/bump/bump) can't perform the action, the entire team fails. There are a lot of players who come into the sport thinking they can just start playing the game, only to quickly learn that they need to start with clinics to build up the basic skills required to play on a team.

My friend runs a rec basketball team and he seems to think there are elementary school gyms open all the time. I don't know if they are set up with volleyball systems.

Good coaching is always hard to find but there are probably hundreds of former college volleyball players that could do as reasonable job.

Baseball is a pretty linked sport. Most team sports are. But I agree, volleyball is a bit tougher than most where pretty much every hit is like running a double play.

From a numbers perspective, you're probably correct that there are enough volleyball knowledgable people in the DMV which are an untapped pool of potential club coaches, but the reality is that becoming a coach is something people choose to do because they want to do it. Even for clubs that pay a decent coaching stipend, it works out to far less than minimum wage on an hourly basis and it's a ton of time on nights and weekends for about half the year (longer for more competitive clubs). In addition to being a poor financial and free time proposition, club coaches also have to deal with parents and teenagers which is often not that fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I don’t understand what the “simple” part is in your ideal description. Don’t you realize that clubs would just send out their offer emails to the same 12 girls? Then what?…they get 48 hours to decide while your DD has no offers and waits until the next round of offers? And then does round 2 get 48 hours to decide as well?
What if a player accepts an offer when it comes in the second round but then in round three, she finally gets an offer from a club she really wants that still has a spot? Can she change her mind?
The system they have is imperfect, but your proposal is a nightmare.

+1. That proposal would be awful. My DD and her friends went to 5-9 tryouts over that weekend. They were all trying for open level or national teams. It was a terrible weekend and we knew it would be. Stretching it out over a longer period of time would have these girls going to even more tryouts, out of fear that they wouldn’t have a spot anywhere. Even with 5-9 tryouts in that short amount of time, everyone we know can away with 0-2 options. So don’t say they went to too many. Every girl went to some lower level clubs too. I wouldn’t want to stretch this out over two weeks.

Like one parent said the clinics are basically pre vetting 100% correct. And the try outs aren't really try outs they throw 100 girls on a court at time. You can't truly evaluate players in that short amount of time and especially with overcrowding. It's like having 200 guys on the basketball court and saying go for it, let me see what you got. Some girls don't know positions or understand rotations. Stretching the time period out would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation. That's the point I'm trying to make. Having them wait two weeks vs two days is reasonable. New parents after your first tryout experience this weekend. Come back and post here, provide your honest thoughts on what you think of the evaluation process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I don’t understand what the “simple” part is in your ideal description. Don’t you realize that clubs would just send out their offer emails to the same 12 girls? Then what?…they get 48 hours to decide while your DD has no offers and waits until the next round of offers? And then does round 2 get 48 hours to decide as well?
What if a player accepts an offer when it comes in the second round but then in round three, she finally gets an offer from a club she really wants that still has a spot? Can she change her mind?
The system they have is imperfect, but your proposal is a nightmare.

+1. That proposal would be awful. My DD and her friends went to 5-9 tryouts over that weekend. They were all trying for open level or national teams. It was a terrible weekend and we knew it would be. Stretching it out over a longer period of time would have these girls going to even more tryouts, out of fear that they wouldn’t have a spot anywhere. Even with 5-9 tryouts in that short amount of time, everyone we know can away with 0-2 options. So don’t say they went to too many. Every girl went to some lower level clubs too. I wouldn’t want to stretch this out over two weeks.

Like one parent said the clinics are basically pre vetting 100% correct. And the try outs aren't really try outs they throw 100 girls on a court at time. You can't truly evaluate players in that short amount of time and especially with overcrowding. It's like having 200 guys on the basketball court and saying go for it, let me see what you got. Some girls don't know positions or understand rotations. Stretching the time period out would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation. That's the point I'm trying to make. Having them wait two weeks vs two days is reasonable. New parents after your first tryout experience this weekend. Come back and post here, provide your honest thoughts on what you think of the evaluation process.

I wish the coaches would provide honest feedback during / after the pre-tryout clinics. We've never had honest feedback even though we always tried to figure out whether my DD has any chance of making a team at various clubs. All the answers we received were sugar coated and ended with something along the line "you will never know unless you try out." This happens even at the top clubs, where the coaches watch you for five minutes and can tell that you have no chance whatsoever to make any of their teams. We saw exactly the same approach every single year since my DD started playing volleyball. The coaches encourage everyone to sign up for tryouts no matter how many left hands you have. Then they end up at the tryout with a bunch of players with rec-level skill, which they discard on the bottom court and they pay no attention to. I feel like this is extremely unethical and they do it just to brag about how many players show up at the tryouts. I watched the coaches during pre-tryout clinics collecting a lot of data on each player and I think they use that data to make their lives easier during tryouts, when they already know who has a chance and who doesn't. Unfortunately, players and parents are not offered any insight into that data - they simply learn during the tryouts that they had no chance to begin with.

I wish I could better read this sugar-coated language that the coaches use. Many posts here suggest that coaches use more positive / warmer feedback, in line with "I would really want you to play on one of our teams" for players they would get on their teams. That might be code for "you have no problem receiving and offer after the tryouts." We've never heard that from any coach, which might speak volumes why we didn't have successful tryouts at top clubs. It is not clear what language the coaches use for players who are almost there, but not quite. I wish they could use some more quantitative measures to tell you "The bottom player who made one of our teams last season was at 70%, comparatively your DD is at 30%." Parents could decide to show up for tryouts if their DD is at 60%, but not even bother at 50% or lower. I agree that it would be a little more work for the coaches: they would have to get all the data aggregated (probably an Excel sheet would do it), but it would make everyone's life so much better. I would be willing to pay for this data rather than pay a lot more for the tryout and waste time showing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I don’t understand what the “simple” part is in your ideal description. Don’t you realize that clubs would just send out their offer emails to the same 12 girls? Then what?…they get 48 hours to decide while your DD has no offers and waits until the next round of offers? And then does round 2 get 48 hours to decide as well?
What if a player accepts an offer when it comes in the second round but then in round three, she finally gets an offer from a club she really wants that still has a spot? Can she change her mind?
The system they have is imperfect, but your proposal is a nightmare.

+1. That proposal would be awful. My DD and her friends went to 5-9 tryouts over that weekend. They were all trying for open level or national teams. It was a terrible weekend and we knew it would be. Stretching it out over a longer period of time would have these girls going to even more tryouts, out of fear that they wouldn’t have a spot anywhere. Even with 5-9 tryouts in that short amount of time, everyone we know can away with 0-2 options. So don’t say they went to too many. Every girl went to some lower level clubs too. I wouldn’t want to stretch this out over two weeks.

Like one parent said the clinics are basically pre vetting 100% correct. And the try outs aren't really try outs they throw 100 girls on a court at time. You can't truly evaluate players in that short amount of time and especially with overcrowding. It's like having 200 guys on the basketball court and saying go for it, let me see what you got. Some girls don't know positions or understand rotations. Stretching the time period out would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation. That's the point I'm trying to make. Having them wait two weeks vs two days is reasonable. New parents after your first tryout experience this weekend. Come back and post here, provide your honest thoughts on what you think of the evaluation process.

I don’t think there are any solutions here. I posted about my daughter’s 8 tryouts and yes, she did attend the clinics. She regularly went to the ones for 4 of the 8 clubs over the past 2 months and got to know the coaches. She did not end up at any of those clubs. It was a surprise and a very frustrating experience. Somehow, she ended up at a club where she didn’t go to a single clinic. They need to be seen at the right time by a coach who needs their position and finds out a player isn’t coming back. It all comes down to that.

[Anonymous]

My DD did 4 seasons of club (this year opting out) and it is my impression that tryouts are prevetted via private invite only pre-tryout clinics. Often these are for girls who played in previous years and those the club has seen during camps and sign up clinics. If you aren’t invited to the private clinics, your chances of making the team via the try out are slim unless you’re DD is 6ft.

My DD had many volleyball friends from other teams and often they would post on social media of them at the invite only preseason clinics. Clubs don’t usually post about these but individual teens will.

There is also no loyalty in volleyball year to year. That goes both for the club and for the players. Never trust a coach who says “I want you on my team”. Get it in writing, even if a text. Or a coach who says: “you’re my first alternate/ top spot on my wait list and as long as one player declines an offer you’re my first call”.

I hate that adult coaches do this stuff because my teen DD ALWAYS believed that was an offer and wouldn’t listen to me, no matter what, that it wasn’t an offer unless in writing and that we needed to keep trying out for other clubs. She always, ALWAYS thought the coaches meant she had an offer and just refused to budge. And it cost her every time and it was so hard as a parent to watch this happen and not have your child trust and listen to you.

Last year she got caught up in the ECP debacle (ECP announced 1 week before try outs they were leaving/closing their DMV clubs and just focusing on Delaware/PA leaving so many girls many girls without a returning club. This was after hosting camps, clinics and invite only clinics (all which are $$$). Her previous coach contacted a bunch of former players, asking them to follow him to his new club and to come to those try outs. At those try outs he literally said to my kid: “i’d love to have you on my team. I’m so excited to see you play again this year.” And other stuff. She thought she was on the team again just at another club. I told her it wasn’t an offer until we got an email but she wouldn’t listen and said she didn’t want to go to anymore try outs. She did not get an offer. So many tears. And anger (from me) that an adult would say this stuff to a kid knowing how it would be received.

Good luck out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They also make it pretty clear that if you don’t go to both days of tryouts that it reduces the likelihood of making a team."

How the heck can folks fit in tryouts for more than one team with that requirement?

The whole process doesn't make any sense. Its especially confusing for new parents. A better process would be to stretch out tryouts over a week or two time frame giving clubs and players an opportunity to evaluate and see who's a good fit. All clubs send out offer emails the following day after tryout week. Monday morning 8am etc... Give parents and player 48 hours to decide. Boom, done, simple. The tryout rules are governed by CHRVA not the clubs. It's my 3rd year of this madness. This weekend will be brutal for girls who have their hopes up to make a specific team or make a team at all. Good Luck!

I don’t understand what the “simple” part is in your ideal description. Don’t you realize that clubs would just send out their offer emails to the same 12 girls? Then what?…they get 48 hours to decide while your DD has no offers and waits until the next round of offers? And then does round 2 get 48 hours to decide as well?
What if a player accepts an offer when it comes in the second round but then in round three, she finally gets an offer from a club she really wants that still has a spot? Can she change her mind?
The system they have is imperfect, but your proposal is a nightmare.

What you all may not know that, for U15s and up, its a small world in terms of club recruiting. Top clubs coaches are doing more than just evaluating players at the tryout sessions. Beside watching kids at their pre-tryout clinic, they do their research on the registered players from High School teams. They even come to the High School matches to watch the potential players. There are websites such as NHFSnetwork or Hudl have video of VB matches that show skills, metric and performance of VB Players.

+1. That proposal would be awful. My DD and her friends went to 5-9 tryouts over that weekend. They were all trying for open level or national teams. It was a terrible weekend and we knew it would be. Stretching it out over a longer period of time would have these girls going to even more tryouts, out of fear that they wouldn’t have a spot anywhere. Even with 5-9 tryouts in that short amount of time, everyone we know can away with 0-2 options. So don’t say they went to too many. Every girl went to some lower level clubs too. I wouldn’t want to stretch this out over two weeks.

Like one parent said the clinics are basically pre vetting 100% correct. And the try outs aren't really try outs they throw 100 girls on a court at time. You can't truly evaluate players in that short amount of time and especially with overcrowding. It's like having 200 guys on the basketball court and saying go for it, let me see what you got. Some girls don't know positions or understand rotations. Stretching the time period out would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation. That's the point I'm trying to make. Having them wait two weeks vs two days is reasonable. New parents after your first tryout experience this weekend. Come back and post here, provide your honest thoughts on what you think of the evaluation process.

I don’t think there are any solutions here. I posted about my daughter’s 8 tryouts and yes, she did attend the clinics. She regularly went to the ones for 4 of the 8 clubs over the past 2 months and got to know the coaches. She did not end up at any of those clubs. It was a surprise and a very frustrating experience. Somehow, she ended up at a club where she didn’t go to a single clinic. They need to be seen at the right time by a coach who needs their position and finds out a player isn’t coming back. It all comes down to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD did 4 seasons of club (this year opting out) and it is my impression that tryouts are prevetted via private invite only pre-tryout clinics. Often these are for girls who played in previous years and those the club has seen during camps and sign up clinics. If you aren’t invited to the private clinics, your chances of making the team via the try out are slim unless you’re DD is 6ft.

My DD had many volleyball friends from other teams and often they would post on social media of them at the invite only preseason clinics. Clubs don’t usually post about these but individual teens will.

There is also no loyalty in volleyball year to year. That goes both for the club and for the players. Never trust a coach who says “I want you on my team”. Get it in writing, even if a text. Or a coach who says: “you’re my first alternate/ top spot on my wait list and as long as one player declines an offer you’re my first call”.

I hate that adult coaches do this stuff because my teen DD ALWAYS believed that was an offer and wouldn’t listen to me, no matter what, that it wasn’t an offer unless in writing and that we needed to keep trying out for other clubs. She always, ALWAYS thought the coaches meant she had an offer and just refused to budge. And it cost her every time and it was so hard as a parent to watch this happen and not have your child trust and listen to you.

Last year she got caught up in the ECP debacle (ECP announced 1 week before try outs they were leaving/closing their DMV clubs and just focusing on Delaware/PA leaving so many girls many girls without a returning club. This was after hosting camps, clinics and invite only clinics (all which are $$$). Her previous coach contacted a bunch of former players, asking them to follow him to his new club and to come to those try outs. At those try outs he literally said to my kid: “i’d love to have you on my team. I’m so excited to see you play again this year.” And other stuff. She thought she was on the team again just at another club. I told her it wasn’t an offer until we got an email but she wouldn’t listen and said she didn’t want to go to anymore try outs. She did not get an offer. So many tears. And anger (from me) that an adult would say this stuff to a kid knowing how it would be received.

Good luck out there.

That’s really awful. It would have been just as easy for the coach to say “you played well today, I will let you know if there’s a spot on the team for you once all the tryouts are finished.”

I have 2 DDs at different ends of the volleyball skill spectrum, and the tryout experiences were vastly different. While the more skilled DD got multiple offers every season and eventually settled onto a top team where she’s been for a few years, the other DD struggled every year to get even one offer, including from the club she played for in prior years. We knew the clinic game and she is a nice kid that coaches like, but similar to the stories above, she would get lots of positive feedback and be encouraged to try out, but the offers didn’t follow.

Fortunately, she always found a team but I remember one year it was Thursday or Friday after tryouts before the club confirmed she had an offer and the team was going to happen.

Good lucks to the older girls this weekend! It’s rough out there.

[Anonymous]

The weekend we’ve been dreading is finally here…and we are poorer for it (clinics that now I feel like don’t mean anything because they weren’t invite-only and tryout fees).

Sending good vibes. Our gal so needs to get out of her situation. But it’s really competitive, obv.