Freshman beginner

[Anonymous]

Hi, my DD who is a travel soccer player is showing interest in trying volleyball. We are in close-in NoVa and I’m looking for where to start. I have no familiarity with volleyball, I’ve been a soccer parent for a long time (she’s our youngest and the older ones all played soccer and basketball). There doesn’t seem to be as many opportunities for beginners in high school. She would be U15 this year. Thank you for any info! She is 5’6”.

[Anonymous]

Has she ever played at all before? If she hasn’t, start with a rec league. Go to the closest one to your house. Many will offer HS rec in the spring and start there. She if she likes it and don’t jump into club or more if she hasn’t tried it yet.

Don’t listen to any crazy advice telling you otherwise.

I do not advise going to clinics for a new player. They will be overwhelming and she needs to learn the basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has she ever played at all before? If she hasn’t, start with a rec league. Go to the closest one to your house. Many will offer HS rec in the spring and start there. She if she likes it and don’t jump into club or more if she hasn’t tried it yet.

Don’t listen to any crazy advice telling you otherwise.

I do not advise going to clinics for a new player. They will be overwhelming and she needs to learn the basics.

I agree with the PP. Find a volleyball league as soon as possible and sign up. If she likes it, you still have time to sign up for club tryouts. If you miss the club tryouts this year, your next chance to go the club route is one year from now. Playing rec for an entire year will be more and more frustrating. The sooner you make the move to club the better. But you need to know whether she likes it enough to invest in the club fees (not cheap in this area, but in Virginia especially).

[FPYCparent]

My 5-6/5-7 player had roughly six years of travel/NCSL/ECNL-R soccer experience (3rd grade through 8th) when she tried out for HS volleyball entering ninth grade. I continue to credit her soccer years for building the "athletic" foundation that has kept her strong, agile, and injury-free now that she is a senior ... and in her third year of varsity VB (made JV as a freshman). She's also sitting on two NCAA D3 volleyball offers for continuing her playing career.

Prior to the start of her freshman year, her volleyball "exposure" can through a co-ed team at her FCPS MS and maybe one season of rec VB thereafter.

If your player is not currently active in any school sport, I'd try to check out a few pre-tryout clinics over the next month. Yes, these clinics are meant to lead to the club tryouts at the end of October and the club season. I wouldn't be too concerned about trying out and playing club at this point. Just use these clinics to test the waters of what your player may like ... without too much of a financial commitment.

Find out what clubs are running clinics within a reasonable drive from home. I'm going to guess that most clinics are on the weekends through the end of October. I'm not going to claim to be intimately familiar with all nearby clubs, but The St. James, BRYC, Monument, maybe Mojo are possibly within a bearable distance.

Also, go and check out some freshman, JV, and varsity matches at school. The regular HS season runs until the end of October. Talk to some of the players/parents (as you may already know some) to see what those kids did ... if anything ... prior to earning a spot on the school's teams. Some schools even host or participate in weekend tournaments. I can never find the best info online, but Flint Hill has one such tournament coming up on Sept. 27th. I think Hayfield has one on the following weekend (?October 4th?). I don't know if Alexandria City has had their tournament yet.

If you player truly catches "the bug," you can set a target for trying out for next year's HS teams and the subsequent club season in 2026.