Volleyball Action

[Anonymous]

Hi! We are new to volleyball club. Can anyone help me understand the club culture? I heard coaches drink with parents during tournament. Parents paid hundreds. Is this normal? What happens if I don’t join the party? Does it raise the risk of being benched?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! We are new to volleyball club. Can anyone help me understand the club culture? I heard coaches drink with parents during tournament. Parents paid hundreds. Is this normal? What happens if I don’t join the party? Does it raise the risk of being benched?

There are a lot of travel tournaments. A lot of teams go out for team dinners together. Sometimes coaches come. Sometimes they don’t.

I am not sure what you mean by parents paid hundreds?

With the coaches we have had, this has absolutely nothing to do with play time. It’s just a nice social activity.

I would say that your daughter probably wants to join the team dinners. It builds bonds and they typically play better as a team if they spend time together getting to know each other.

It is also nice as a parent to join in and it makes for a better travel ball experience.

But no one is going to bat an eye if you don’t make a team dinner. You will probably feel a bit disconnected from the group if you miss all the team dinners.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they mean that we are already paying hundreds and on top of that do the families have to pay for the coaches’ drinks and meals when the parents don’t even drink? Maybe I’m reading too much into the question. We’re (hopefully, assuming DD makes a club) new to club too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they mean that we are already paying hundreds and on top of that do the families have to pay for the coaches’ drinks and meals when the parents don’t even drink? Maybe I’m reading too much into the question. We’re (hopefully, assuming DD makes a club) new to club too.

For dinners there are variations by club on how coaches meals are covered. If a club pays their coaches, they likely also cover travel and meals. If coaches are volunteers sometimes parents offer to cover their meals.

Also remember that all of this really only applies to travel tournaments. Honestly, you aren't going out to dinner all that much even on a heavy travel team unless you end up in AM wave every time. If you are in PM wave for a travel tournament, the team is probably getting food brought back to the hotel for the entire team (pizza & pasta again anyone?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! We are new to volleyball club. Can anyone help me understand the club culture? I heard coaches drink with parents during tournament. Parents paid hundreds. Is this normal? What happens if I don’t join the party? Does it raise the risk of being benched?

Hasn't been our experience in many years of club volleyball. As others have noted, it's pretty common to arrange for a team dinner or two when at a travel tournament but these are mostly for the players and parents. I think many teams will invite the coaches to these team dinners and sometimes they come and maybe have a drink, but I have never gotten the impression that playing time was impacted by a parent choosing not to participate in a team social event. Also, as has been pointed out travel expenses for coaches are paid when they are at a tournament so there shouldn't be an expectation that parents will pay for the coaches' meals or drinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi! We are new to volleyball club. Can anyone help me understand the club culture? I heard coaches drink with parents during tournament. Parents paid hundreds. Is this normal? What happens if I don’t join the party? Does it raise the risk of being benched?

Hasn't been our experience in many years of club volleyball. As others have noted, it's pretty common to arrange for a team dinner or two when at a travel tournament but these are mostly for the players and parents. I think many teams will invite the coaches to these team dinners and sometimes they come and maybe have a drink, but I have never gotten the impression that playing time was impacted by a parent choosing not to participate in a team social event. Also, as has been pointed out travel expenses for coaches are paid when they are at a tournament so there shouldn't be an expectation that parents will pay for the coaches' meals or drinks.

This, 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! We are new to volleyball club. Can anyone help me understand the club culture? I heard coaches drink with parents during tournament. Parents paid hundreds. Is this normal? What happens if I don’t join the party? Does it raise the risk of being benched?

Most coaches are former athletes and they know they are role models for players. I haven't heard about any coach getting hammered (with or without the parents): that would raise a lot of red flags with that particular coach. Not sure who told you these stories, but they don't match my experience at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do I get my daughter on Coach Mehdi’s club team?

I love an old-school coach like him. Calling a 15y/o volunteer linesman a “f$&@ing blind bi$&h” in 2024 while coaching for DJO at SJC.

A modern coach would suspend himself and a modern school would suspend him for the season. But not this guy and not this school!

Worst thing to happen to Oconnell volleyball. He recruits from club and has teams already formed before tryouts in the fall.

But they have been winning under that system so the school won't question it. Similarly, GDS and Bullis have made a pretty rapid rise toward the top of the ISL based on being able to attract higher caliber players. For years it was SJC and Flint Hill that attracted the best players but that seems to have shifted. To be clear, I'm not accusing any team of breaking any recruiting rules, but far too many high level players are choosing certain private schools for it to be a coincidence.

The funniest part is that HS volleyball is almost meaningless in terms of player development and college recruiting. Sure it's fun to win lots of matches and play in front of a home crowd, but the level of volleyball played at even the top local high schools is far below high level club volleyball (although the Flint Hill team from a few years ago was pretty incredible).

[Anonymous]

Maryland Exclusive offers a few Club Prep clinics Sunday through Wednesday:
https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/register/form/520010875

[Anonymous]

This might come late, but here is a Platform pre-tryout clinic (just learned about it):

[Anonymous]

If you don't have a team by now, you should look for clubs that have make-up tryouts. The top clubs are likely to fill up their rosters with players who show up during the regular tryouts and don't bother to organize make-ups. Some players only try out for top clubs, then get desperate when they see no offer coming. The mid to low-tier clubs are feeding on these players and offer them a second chance. Here is one option for Monday: MEVC 6-7 pm, Boyds Sportsplex.

[Anonymous]

Here is another option for those who didn't make a team yet: East Coast Elite organizes some make-up tryouts today and tomorrow.
https://ecevbc.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I am not trying to start any big drama but I have a genuine question from a new to volleyball parent. My daughter is playing rec for MVSA and plans to tryout for the three clubs below.

Is the order of competitiveness as I have it listed? For Metro do we specify which team we are trying out for? Do the other two clubs have an A team and a B team? If she does not make a team at any of these clubs what is my next option if we want to stay near Montgomery County?

Metro Travel
MVSA
Metro Regional
MoCo Volleyball

Thanks!

No drama, it’s not a bad question. It’s also not a “all teams at one club are better than all teams at another answer.” We’ve had two daughters who between them played for every club listed except Metro Travel.

At the 1s level (top team), the order is generally Metro Travel, then MVSA then MOCO then Metro Regional. Metro North, which practices way to the north in MD and MVSA and MOCO 1s are usually pretty close to each other. All 4 clubs had teams in the top 10 in the region (based on national ranks—ignore local ranks they are meaningless at this level) at a lot of age groups. All 4 clubs had teams across most age groups that qualified to a least compete for the regional USAV bids. None of the other Metro Regional teams are consistently at the same competitive level.

Most MVSA and MOCO 1s teams will beat the others 2s teams. And while they may occasionally lose to a metro regional, it’s not a regular occurrence and more of a “sometimes young players just have an off game” issue.

At the 2s and 3s level, things get much more complex. Metro travel doesn’t have those team levels at all. MVSA and MOCO are generally pretty close, with maybe a slight edge to MVSA in terms of win-loss record, but MOCO 2s and 3s tend to play in more multi-day and travel tournaments while MVSA tends to play more regional 1 day tournaments, which makes comparison harder.

The other Metro regionals are more comparable to this 2s and 3s level.

We are biased based on experience, but the level of player development at MVSA and MOCO especially for the younger ages was way better than what we experienced with Metro regional. They have much better rec and clinic systems for newer players, and they both have missions that focus on player development that they generally deliver on.

If you can’t make one of those, the suggestion of Platform or MEVC is also a good one, and we’d probably look at those next.

I just wanted to thank you all on this thread for this advice way back when....my 13U daughter tried out for a bunch that in hindsight were definitely a waste of time for me but for her she actually enjoyed them from a clinic perspective. In the end she landed a spot on MEVC and I think it will be a perfect fit for her as a first time club player. Thank you all for your guidance here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I promise I am not trying to start any big drama but I have a genuine question from a new to volleyball parent. My daughter is playing rec for MVSA and plans to tryout for the three clubs below.

Is the order of competitiveness as I have it listed? For Metro do we specify which team we are trying out for? Do the other two clubs have an A team and a B team? If she does not make a team at any of these clubs what is my next option if we want to stay near Montgomery County?

Metro Travel
MVSA
Metro Regional
MoCo Volleyball

Thanks!

No drama, it’s not a bad question. It’s also not a “all teams at one club are better than all teams at another answer.” We’ve had two daughters who between them played for every club listed except Metro Travel.

At the 1s level (top team), the order is generally Metro Travel, then MVSA then MOCO then Metro Regional. Metro North, which practices way to the north in MD and MVSA and MOCO 1s are usually pretty close to each other. All 4 clubs had teams in the top 10 in the region (based on national ranks—ignore local ranks they are meaningless at this level) at a lot of age groups. All 4 clubs had teams across most age groups that qualified to a least compete for the regional USAV bids. None of the other Metro Regional teams are consistently at the same competitive level.

Most MVSA and MOCO 1s teams will beat the others 2s teams. And while they may occasionally lose to a metro regional, it’s not a regular occurrence and more of a “sometimes young players just have an off game” issue.

At the 2s and 3s level, things get much more complex. Metro travel doesn’t have those team levels at all. MVSA and MOCO are generally pretty close, with maybe a slight edge to MVSA in terms of win-loss record, but MOCO 2s and 3s tend to play in more multi-day and travel tournaments while MVSA tends to play more regional 1 day tournaments, which makes comparison harder.

The other Metro regionals are more comparable to this 2s and 3s level.

We are biased based on experience, but the level of player development at MVSA and MOCO especially for the younger ages was way better than what we experienced with Metro regional. They have much better rec and clinic systems for newer players, and they both have missions that focus on player development that they generally deliver on.

If you can’t make one of those, the suggestion of Platform or MEVC is also a good one, and we’d probably look at those next.

I just wanted to thank you all on this thread for this advice way back when....my 13U daughter tried out for a bunch that in hindsight were definitely a waste of time for me but for her she actually enjoyed them from a clinic perspective. In the end she landed a spot on MEVC and I think it will be a perfect fit for her as a first time club player. Thank you all for your guidance here!

Glad to hear that you found the advice useful. Congratulations for landing a spot in MEVC! Let us know how you enjoy the club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is another option for those who didn't make a team yet: East Coast Elite organizes some make-up tryouts today and tomorrow.
https://ecevbc.org/

Does anyone know anything about this club or Maryland Stars?