Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is this because they are bleeding the top players to Metro and Paramount? Or this is just part of it?

In our experience they keep the kids they think have the potential to play at college. If a 6’3 kid walks in, some other kid is walking out. They lose a player or two to Metro/Paramount but not that many as, to be frank, their players may have potential and are good athletes but most are not good enough to start at Metro or Paramount, and don’t want to risk it mostly. If you start at VAE, you’re only going to Metro if your future college coach tells you to.

Agreed, there's a big component of players developing at other clubs and then coming into VAE for recruiting and less movement of players switching to Paramount or Metro.

Another factor is the recruiting focus. In order for VAE to keep its 100% recruiting commitment, it has to keep the players that will be recruited to the types of schools they can market. Our experience was the players know this and some of them will take advantage of it. Cliques form, players get excluded from the team social structure, players sometimes behave in inappropriate ways to their teammates, etc.

I think this discussion about VAE is pretty revealing about recruiting for collegiate volleyball. Even if the 100% stat is some creative math and strategic wording, there's no question that VAE is sending a lot of players to college programs every year. The fact that most VAE teams are not particularly successful in terms of wins and losses, bids for nationals, etc. suggests that they don't consistently have the strongest players/best coaching and really emphasizes the fact that understanding and knowing how to manage the college recruiting process is potentially more important than how good a player is at volleyball, particularly for D3. So if you can afford VAE and your DD wants to play in college but isn't a superstar, maybe VAE is a good option.

As a parent who’s DD went through the process, college coaches don’t just look at wins and losses, the level they are playing at is important. VAE play in Open, which is where the most college coaches watch. Now, they may not be winning tournaments but they re playing the best of the best. They’re generally in the flights after the first day, but their kids get a lot of college coaches eyes on them in Day 1. They also have very tall teams, and coaches are looking at raw goods that they can mold. I would say this is particularly attractive for strong D3 programs, and Lo and behold, who’s recruited VAE kids lately at the D3 level? Tufts, Colby, Carnegie Mellon, John’s Hopkins, Williams, NYU, Emory, Bates, Caltech, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Hamilton. Pretty good selection

Yeah, but D3 schools don't give out athletic scholarships. You are are paying $80-90K per year to play volleyball and keeping up with your studies. If you have the money, then go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is this because they are bleeding the top players to Metro and Paramount? Or this is just part of it?

In our experience they keep the kids they think have the potential to play at college. If a 6’3 kid walks in, some other kid is walking out. They lose a player or two to Metro/Paramount but not that many as, to be frank, their players may have potential and are good athletes but most are not good enough to start at Metro or Paramount, and don’t want to risk it mostly. If you start at VAE, you’re only going to Metro if your future college coach tells you to.

Agreed, there's a big component of players developing at other clubs and then coming into VAE for recruiting and less movement of players switching to Paramount or Metro.

Another factor is the recruiting focus. In order for VAE to keep its 100% recruiting commitment, it has to keep the players that will be recruited to the types of schools they can market. Our experience was the players know this and some of them will take advantage of it. Cliques form, players get excluded from the team social structure, players sometimes behave in inappropriate ways to their teammates, etc.

I think this discussion about VAE is pretty revealing about recruiting for collegiate volleyball. Even if the 100% stat is some creative math and strategic wording, there's no question that VAE is sending a lot of players to college programs every year. The fact that most VAE teams are not particularly successful in terms of wins and losses, bids for nationals, etc. suggests that they don't consistently have the strongest players/best coaching and really emphasizes the fact that understanding and knowing how to manage the college recruiting process is potentially more important than how good a player is at volleyball, particularly for D3. So if you can afford VAE and your DD wants to play in college but isn't a superstar, maybe VAE is a good option.

As a parent who’s DD went through the process, college coaches don’t just look at wins and losses, the level they are playing at is important. VAE play in Open, which is where the most college coaches watch. Now, they may not be winning tournaments but they re playing the best of the best. They’re generally in the flights after the first day, but their kids get a lot of college coaches eyes on them in Day 1. They also have very tall teams, and coaches are looking at raw goods that they can mold. I would say this is particularly attractive for strong D3 programs, and Lo and behold, who’s recruited VAE kids lately at the D3 level? Tufts, Colby, Carnegie Mellon, John’s Hopkins, Williams, NYU, Emory, Bates, Caltech, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Hamilton. Pretty good selection

Yeah, but D3 schools don't give out athletic scholarships. You are are paying $80-90K per year to play volleyball and keeping up with your studies. If you have the money, then go for it.

I’m not sure my daughter has a shot at college volleyball, even D3, even though she’d love it. But for those of us willing to spend over 13k for a youth sport, we are full pay for any college and are expecting to pay full tuition. Volleyball or no volleyball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is this because they are bleeding the top players to Metro and Paramount? Or this is just part of it?

In our experience they keep the kids they think have the potential to play at college. If a 6’3 kid walks in, some other kid is walking out. They lose a player or two to Metro/Paramount but not that many as, to be frank, their players may have potential and are good athletes but most are not good enough to start at Metro or Paramount, and don’t want to risk it mostly. If you start at VAE, you’re only going to Metro if your future college coach tells you to.

Agreed, there's a big component of players developing at other clubs and then coming into VAE for recruiting and less movement of players switching to Paramount or Metro.

Another factor is the recruiting focus. In order for VAE to keep its 100% recruiting commitment, it has to keep the players that will be recruited to the types of schools they can market. Our experience was the players know this and some of them will take advantage of it. Cliques form, players get excluded from the team social structure, players sometimes behave in inappropriate ways to their teammates, etc.

I think this discussion about VAE is pretty revealing about recruiting for collegiate volleyball. Even if the 100% stat is some creative math and strategic wording, there's no question that VAE is sending a lot of players to college programs every year. The fact that most VAE teams are not particularly successful in terms of wins and losses, bids for nationals, etc. suggests that they don't consistently have the strongest players/best coaching and really emphasizes the fact that understanding and knowing how to manage the college recruiting process is potentially more important than how good a player is at volleyball, particularly for D3. So if you can afford VAE and your DD wants to play in college but isn't a superstar, maybe VAE is a good option.

As a parent who’s DD went through the process, college coaches don’t just look at wins and losses, the level they are playing at is important. VAE play in Open, which is where the most college coaches watch. Now, they may not be winning tournaments but they re playing the best of the best. They’re generally in the flights after the first day, but their kids get a lot of college coaches eyes on them in Day 1. They also have very tall teams, and coaches are looking at raw goods that they can mold. I would say this is particularly attractive for strong D3 programs, and Lo and behold, who’s recruited VAE kids lately at the D3 level? Tufts, Colby, Carnegie Mellon, John’s Hopkins, Williams, NYU, Emory, Bates, Caltech, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Hamilton. Pretty good selection

Several very good points here. Playing open will screw up your standing because you may lose more than you win. VAE may look worse than a regional team that wipes the floor with all the regional competitors. However, they are looking at the big picture (college recruitment) instead of focusing on the instant gratification (bringing home easy medals). They may have found the recipe for success in their niche market (rich families with tall players). If you cannot afford the VAE club fee, you better be really good to make Metro or Paramount (which are not really cheap either).

Agree that playing in Open can mess with standings due to playing against the best-of-the-best. However, this is not the cause for VAE's low rankings. If you take a look at local tournament results you will see that many of their teams aren't even super competitive amongst regional competition. Several of VAE's teams did not even gain admittance into CHRVA Bid Regionals (which is usually reserved for the top 12 teams in the region). Paramount's 2nd teams are routinely beating VAE, and clubs like Blue Ridge, VAJRS and MVSA are clearly more competitive from top-to-bottom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is this because they are bleeding the top players to Metro and Paramount? Or this is just part of it?

In our experience they keep the kids they think have the potential to play at college. If a 6’3 kid walks in, some other kid is walking out. They lose a player or two to Metro/Paramount but not that many as, to be frank, their players may have potential and are good athletes but most are not good enough to start at Metro or Paramount, and don’t want to risk it mostly. If you start at VAE, you’re only going to Metro if your future college coach tells you to.

Agreed, there's a big component of players developing at other clubs and then coming into VAE for recruiting and less movement of players switching to Paramount or Metro.

Another factor is the recruiting focus. In order for VAE to keep its 100% recruiting commitment, it has to keep the players that will be recruited to the types of schools they can market. Our experience was the players know this and some of them will take advantage of it. Cliques form, players get excluded from the team social structure, players sometimes behave in inappropriate ways to their teammates, etc.

I think this discussion about VAE is pretty revealing about recruiting for collegiate volleyball. Even if the 100% stat is some creative math and strategic wording, there's no question that VAE is sending a lot of players to college programs every year. The fact that most VAE teams are not particularly successful in terms of wins and losses, bids for nationals, etc. suggests that they don't consistently have the strongest players/best coaching and really emphasizes the fact that understanding and knowing how to manage the college recruiting process is potentially more important than how good a player is at volleyball, particularly for D3. So if you can afford VAE and your DD wants to play in college but isn't a superstar, maybe VAE is a good option.

As a parent who’s DD went through the process, college coaches don’t just look at wins and losses, the level they are playing at is important. VAE play in Open, which is where the most college coaches watch. Now, they may not be winning tournaments but they re playing the best of the best. They’re generally in the flights after the first day, but their kids get a lot of college coaches eyes on them in Day 1. They also have very tall teams, and coaches are looking at raw goods that they can mold. I would say this is particularly attractive for strong D3 programs, and Lo and behold, who’s recruited VAE kids lately at the D3 level? Tufts, Colby, Carnegie Mellon, John’s Hopkins, Williams, NYU, Emory, Bates, Caltech, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Hamilton. Pretty good selection

Yeah, but D3 schools don't give out athletic scholarships. You are are paying $80-90K per year to play volleyball and keeping up with your studies. If you have the money, then go for it.

Many D1 schools don’t give much for volleyball either….