Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

[Anonymous]

The VAE brand has been 100% college commitment for a very long time. That’s not a strawman — it’s quite literally been their brand,
Current as of today:

VAE instagram bio: “ Excellence Leadership Initiative Teamwork Enjoyment (ELITE)
• 100% athlete commitment rate 💯
#WeAreElite 🏐💙”

With roster limits and the portal, 100% college commitment is likely not a reasonable goal for any club in this region except Metro. But it would be dishonest to pretend that VAE wasn’t marketing 100% commitment (no caveats) as recently as last year.

[Anonymous]

I think this discussion should go on a thread dedicated to Vienna Elite. Everything discussed on this thread will soon be buried and difficult to find.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Va Elite does not graduate with 100% recruitment. Check the number of players against the final list of recruits. Class of 2023 should not include one player that was rostered with a different club that year. There were 12 players and only 8 recruits including the player who was not on their 18s team. Math counts.

Has anyone claimed 100% recruitment, or you just enjoy punching straw men?

Not the PP, but here is the exact marketing from VA Elite's website:

"Why Virginia Elite?....The Recruiting. Virginia Elite is committed to developing the best volleyball athletes in the DMV area and preparing them to play at the collegiate level. As your athlete prepares for the recruiting process, we become each athlete’s advocate and will support her decision to play at the next level. At Virginia Elite we have a dedicated recruiting staff whose primary objective is to help athletes and families navigate through this difficult and often times stressful process. Over the 17 years of our club's existence, we maintain a 100% placement rate, for all those that choose to play at the next level."

Yes, there is a caveat--"choose to play", but they definitely claim 100%, it is not a straw man. It’s a big part of their marketing and their direct conversations with players they are trying to recruit from other clubs. Its also not unheard of for them not to take players on the 18s team because they know they don't want to play in college or aren't being recruited by the types of schools they prefer.

100% of VA Elite players who go on to play in college were recruited to play in college!

I have also heard tales of VA Elite not taking girls for their 18s season because they decide they don’t want to play in college. On the flip side, I heard of a player that was recruited to a D1 program while a VA Elite 17 and their future college coach encouraged them to play at a more competitive club for their 18s year so they’d be better prepared when they got to college (and she ended up making and playing for Metro 18 Travel).

On the topic of VA Elite recruiting, there is always a lot of talk about high academic D3. Folks need to understand that these are still highly qualified students who had a legit shot of getting into that school anyway. In D3, they aren’t admitting students not capable of succeeding at the school because they want them for sports. Obviously, at a school with a 5% or 10% acceptance rate, they turn away many highly qualified applicants and being a recruited athlete can help a qualified student get into the “yes” pile, but don’t think that volleyball is going to get a player with a 3.3 GPA and 1050 SAT score into Hopkins, MIT, or Carnegie Mellon.

[b]

Spot on. There is little to no relief in Academic standards for kids looking to play D3 on UAA and NESCAC teams. But if you have the academics a 99% chance for Williams or WashU is a pretty nice prize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Va Elite does not graduate with 100% recruitment. Check the number of players against the final list of recruits. Class of 2023 should not include one player that was rostered with a different club that year. There were 12 players and only 8 recruits including the player who was not on their 18s team. Math counts.

Has anyone claimed 100% recruitment, or you just enjoy punching straw men?

Not the PP, but here is the exact marketing from VA Elite's website:

"Why Virginia Elite?....The Recruiting. Virginia Elite is committed to developing the best volleyball athletes in the DMV area and preparing them to play at the collegiate level. As your athlete prepares for the recruiting process, we become each athlete’s advocate and will support her decision to play at the next level. At Virginia Elite we have a dedicated recruiting staff whose primary objective is to help athletes and families navigate through this difficult and often times stressful process. Over the 17 years of our club's existence, we maintain a 100% placement rate, for all those that choose to play at the next level."

Yes, there is a caveat--"choose to play", but they definitely claim 100%, it is not a straw man. It’s a big part of their marketing and their direct conversations with players they are trying to recruit from other clubs. Its also not unheard of for them not to take players on the 18s team because they know they don't want to play in college or aren't being recruited by the types of schools they prefer.

100% of VA Elite players who go on to play in college were recruited to play in college!

I have also heard tales of VA Elite not taking girls for their 18s season because they decide they don’t want to play in college. On the flip side, I heard of a player that was recruited to a D1 program while a VA Elite 17 and their future college coach encouraged them to play at a more competitive club for their 18s year so they’d be better prepared when they got to college (and she ended up making and playing for Metro 18 Travel).

On the topic of VA Elite recruiting, there is always a lot of talk about high academic D3. Folks need to understand that these are still highly qualified students who had a legit shot of getting into that school anyway. In D3, they aren’t admitting students not capable of succeeding at the school because they want them for sports. Obviously, at a school with a 5% or 10% acceptance rate, they turn away many highly qualified applicants and being a recruited athlete can help a qualified student get into the “yes” pile, but don’t think that volleyball is going to get a player with a 3.3 GPA and 1050 SAT score into Hopkins, MIT, or Carnegie Mellon.

[b]

Spot on. There is little to no relief in Academic standards for kids looking to play D3 on UAA and NESCAC teams. But if you have the academics a 99% chance for Williams or WashU is a pretty nice prize.

.

Completely agree, these places have sub 10% admission percentages - Volleyball can help jump the queue, as long as you have the minimum academic qualifications. The more the coach wants your kid, the more flexible they are about academics (as long as the bare minimum is there)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I recall - some of that team didn’t want to play at college. I think their claim is “100% recruiting for those that want to play in college”.

Unrelated but I can’t get over their costs. They are so expensive. With their mandatory travel package, they are by far the most expensive at over 13k.

At least I am not the only one complaining about the cost of club volleyball. VA Elite is in a class of their own in terms of pricing, but the rest of the VA clubs are not far behind. If you add up all the travel, hotels, and food, you easily get above 10k for clubs that don't travel as much as VA Elite. At least VA Elite has something to show for all that investment - look at the other clubs who charge almost the same and show nothing in terms of college recruitment.