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. |
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. |
[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) |
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. |
DD wants to try out there but it will be a tough team to make. I’m sure parents still attend and watch, so you will still be paying more for travel! Yes, we paid around 10k last year with travel. I purposely don’t want to add it all up. |
VA Elite is easier to make than some of the other travel teams. Tell your DD to go for it! |
Easier than Metro and Paramount and that’s probably it. The cost is eye watering though. |
Generally, their performance doesn't match their price. They had one team in U12-U17 in the top 10 in the region per AES, which is based on their direct results against other CHRVA teams. The only other team in the top 10 was their U18 team. Age: Regional Rank - National Rank U12: 10, 751 U13: 38, 1963 U14: 38, 1089 U15: 15, 742 U16: 31, 1061 U17: 22, 527 U18: 5, 226 |
In terms of competitiveness, the performance definitely doesn’t match the price. If you look back a few posts in this thread, it was a discussion about CHRVA teams at USAV Nationals that sparked this VAE conversation. Even though their teams don’t tend to be particularly competitive, they tend to have pretty good recruiting results. If you’re someone who isn’t bothered by the cost whose DD wants to play in college, then VAE might be a good option. |
No, we aren’t concerned with college. The most attractive thing about VAE is their practice location at Madeira. DD went to Mojo last year and the teams seemed preselected. All of the other clubs are so far. She ended up on a low level club with a long commute. She’s looking at VAE because it’s decent and close. Nothing else is in the immediate area. But it is so expensive. |
It is only slightly more expensive if you have to do your own travel, and assume parents have to travel as there is no team travel. We did a few years there, the facility is nice, the coaching is decent and there were times we didn’t travel, watched it on stream and went about our business at home. I genuinely think it was a wash all things considered (especially if parents don’t go to every tournament). |
What age group? In general, if you aren't concerned with college then VAE is likely not the right fit. If your DD is in HS (or even U14 in some cases) and they know that she isn't interested in college, they aren't likely to be interested in her. As a result, VAE has some of the highest turnover of all clubs between U15-U17, typically having only 3-4 players who stay with them across those three years. |