Academy Volleyball

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with Academy Volleyball, especially at the 12/13U level? We were unable to do any summer camps and would like to know if instructors provide a solid foundation. We do not see any pricing or practice info on the Sports Engine link. CHRVA defaults to a FB page. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Is this what you are looking for?
https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/clubinnfo

[Anonymous]

This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

If she's a new player and you live in MD -- you've got a lot of options. For the clubs you mentioned all of them run 3 teams (MD Juniors usually runs 4-6) for U15.

Other clubs you might want to consider: MEVC, DMV Elite, Platform.

DMV Elite is the most expensive. MDJrs is next. MEVC and Platform are usually a bit higher cost than MOCO and MVSA is the lowest cost. As for intensity, that's a personal preference. There are definitely more intense clubs in the region, plus intensity varies by team level -- if you are playing with a lot of new players you can't run practices or clinics at the same speed as you can when everyone knows how to play well already.

An easier way to understand all of this is to look at teams by the level of competition. For example, MDJrs has three general levels: Elite = travel, Open=some travel, some regional, Regional=mostly local. They call their top team in each group Black, and their next team yellow. If there are multiple divisions in a tournament, then Black will play higher than yellow in most cases. For MEVC they call their top team National and their second team travel.

If you need more info, please start a new thread. You definitely aren't the only one with these questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

It's funny, but with all the information you provided, I believe our players are on the same JV team. If I am correct, you should tell C to talk to V (the setter, not the OH) and exchange parents phone numbers. It is easier to chat about options than on an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

If she's a new player and you live in MD -- you've got a lot of options. For the clubs you mentioned all of them run 3 teams (MD Juniors usually runs 4-6) for U15.

Other clubs you might want to consider: MEVC, DMV Elite, Platform.

DMV Elite is the most expensive. MDJrs is next. MEVC and Platform are usually a bit higher cost than MOCO and MVSA is the lowest cost. As for intensity, that's a personal preference. There are definitely more intense clubs in the region, plus intensity varies by team level -- if you are playing with a lot of new players you can't run practices or clinics at the same speed as you can when everyone knows how to play well already.

An easier way to understand all of this is to look at teams by the level of competition. For example, MDJrs has three general levels: Elite = travel, Open=some travel, some regional, Regional=mostly local. They call their top team in each group Black, and their next team yellow. If there are multiple divisions in a tournament, then Black will play higher than yellow in most cases. For MEVC they call their top team National and their second team travel.

If you need more info, please start a new thread. You definitely aren't the only one with these questions.

Last season I compared the prices for MEVC, Platform, and MOCO and I was under the impression that MOCO was the more expensive among them, with MEVS and Platform charging about the same. I might be wrong though because each club may include some costs and hide others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Last season I compared the prices for MEVC, Platform, and MOCO and I was under the impression that MOCO was the more expensive among them, with MEVS and Platform charging about the same. I might be wrong though because each club may include some costs and hide others.

Yes, you are wrong. You can check the fees here: https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/page/show/8732649-club-fees and here: https://mocovc.sportngin.com/clubfees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

It's funny, but with all the information you provided, I believe our players are on the same JV team. If I am correct, you should tell C to talk to V (the setter, not the OH) and exchange parents phone numbers. It is easier to chat about options than on an anonymous forum.

No I guess there just be more than one of us, haha!

Thank you so much, PP, for laying out options. I’m going to ping the team parents (and coaches) as well, but like I said the girls seem to have played at a lot of different clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so overwhelming as a new vb parent.

There are SO MANY clubs and SO MANY LEVELS of teams at the clubs!

How am I going to figure out which one my freshman kid should try out for?

She's never played club before. I have no aspirations for college/D1 - more just to enjoy playing and keep improving.

I tell her to ask the teammates on her school team which club to look at and they are all over the board - different clubs every year, etc.

She did a clinic of MoCo, I think, and one of Academy (we're in Maryland).

She made the varsity team at her school, but mostly I think because they needed a middle. She's not super tall either - maybe 5'8"? She's learning a lot and loves it so much, but I feel kind of lost trying to think about the club tryouts. The rec director said to look at MVSA and Maryland Juniors, but from what I hear on this forum, MVSA is too competitive. And MoCo sounds intense and spendy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. THanks!

It's funny, but with all the information you provided, I believe our players are on the same JV team. If I am correct, you should tell C to talk to V (the setter, not the OH) and exchange parents phone numbers. It is easier to chat about options than on an anonymous forum.

No I guess there just be more than one of us, haha!

Thank you so much, PP, for laying out options. I’m going to ping the team parents (and coaches) as well, but like I said the girls seem to have played at a lot of different clubs.

Just imagine for a second that I was right. Wouldn't that be impressive? Now I just look silly

Standing at 5'8", she is still pretty tall. If she is athletic, she might have a chance even in a good club (she would definitely not make a top team, but she might be considered for one of the bottom teams). It all depends who shows up at the tryouts and what options each player has after the tryouts. The competition for the top clubs is pretty fierce: a lot of their players return and they have a strong advantage over players from other clubs. More so for the top teams than for their lower level teams. Some players may not come back for tryouts or decide to accept an offer from a different club. They will be easily replaced by a player who moves one team up or by a strong / athletic player from a different club. There is another thing to consider: the coaches know which players work hard and which players simply exist (and the latter might not get an offer).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Last season I compared the prices for MEVC, Platform, and MOCO and I was under the impression that MOCO was the more expensive among them, with MEVS and Platform charging about the same. I might be wrong though because each club may include some costs and hide others.

Yes, you are wrong. You can check the fees here: https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/page/show/8732649-club-fees and here: https://mocovc.sportngin.com/clubfees

I wrote the prices down last year when I was comparing clubs at 13 level. MEVC was $2300 (Hustlers) and $2000 (Force). MOCO was $2950 (Motion) and $2600 (Majestics and Mustangs). Platform was $2800 (Black) and $2300 (Purple).

[Anonymous]

I have a daughter on the 13 team. There are a lot of girls that came from rec. I think the instruction has been pretty good, and my kid appreciates that the coaching is not mean, like she's experienced at some of the camps/clinics she's done with other teams (and has heard about from her friends on other teams). I agree their win record was not great this year, but I don't think the girls found it crushing, as a PP suggested. Mine has become very excited about the sport since joining the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter on the 13 team. There are a lot of girls that came from rec. I think the instruction has been pretty good, and my kid appreciates that the coaching is not mean, like she's experienced at some of the camps/clinics she's done with other teams (and has heard about from her friends on other teams). I agree their win record was not great this year, but I don't think the girls found it crushing, as a PP suggested. Mine has become very excited about the sport since joining the team.

It might depend on what you expected when you joined the club. My daughter knows one player who turned down an offer from a different club to join Academy 13. She regretted her decision the whole season. She may have not used the word "crushing", but she was very firm that she would not try out for Academy again. Academy might be good for players with little rec experience, but once you reach the point where you know how to get to the ball, it gets frustrating to see the balls falling right next to the other players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I learned that Coach Amy took her MOCO team to her new club and that explained why Academy 16 did pretty well last season. The only other team they had was at the 13 level and they didn't do that well. I saw them playing in tournaments twice and they were almost at rec level. You can't always blame coaching, especially when you work with 13yo beginners. You have to understand that the coaches had to work with what was left over after the better clubs got their picks. On the other hand, it is hard to believe that they didn't make any progress after one season of club. But the experience must have been crushing for those who had a bit of prior experience and / or talent.

Is the coach’s daughter on this team?

I think the club director had a daughter on both of the teams the club had last season. Looks like they are trying to have more teams this year.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t see a 16U for Academy. Anyone know why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t see a 16U for Academy. Anyone know why?

It is not clear what you mean by not seeing a 16U for Academy. Their 16U team was ranked 16 in the CHRVA region according to the SE power rankings: https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/rankings/Female/U16/aes