Volleyball Action

[Anonymous]

Last year U14 we didn’t get final word until 9:45 pm on Tuesday. It was a no. It is a long long hard weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re out there reading this and have multiple u15-u17 offers you’re sitting on, pleaseeeeee make a decision. There are many confused and heartbroken girls out there tonight who hustled hard for three days and are still waiting to hear from clubs. Put yourself in their shoes and let the offers go,
Please!

Ideally, each player should hold on to only one offer until they hear from their #1 club. Figure out which offer would work best in case your #1 choice doesn't send an offer and let all the other offers go. You help both the clubs (who will fill their rosters faster) and the players (who start receiving offers that you decline).

[Anonymous]

Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened.

[Anonymous]

I think there's going to be a lot of movement late today (Monday), Tuesday and the second half of this week. We went to four different tryouts over the weekend (mid and lower tier teams) and there was significant overlap among the girls who tried out for each.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's going to be a lot of movement late today (Monday), Tuesday and the second half of this week. We went to four different tryouts over the weekend (mid and lower tier teams) and there was significant overlap among the girls who tried out for each.

I hope so. I have a u16 player who is freaking out with no offers on the table right now. Two years of club experience including top serving stats and first string player last year. Last year she had 4 offers right away plus a 5th that came in late (yes we did the right thing and declined as backup club offers came in) and this year she has zero offers on Monday. How can these girls who are solid players with club experience have no offers after three days? Is soul crushing when they work so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened.

I keep telling my DD that it doesn't really matter what you do at practice, what really matters is what you do outside practice. These words of wisdom are not mine: I heard them one way or another from the mouths of experienced coaches. Club experience is irrelevant if all you do is show up at practice and tournaments. There are many players who work hard during practice, then go home and work even harder. The extra hours will eventually pay off because it will show in the way you move on the court. These are the players who really want to play volleyball and they will squeeze out those who simply show up for the social aspect (have fun with friends). All the players who are now left hanging need to understand that it will be even harder to make a team during the next season. My DD seems to have finally realized that this is the case, but I am still not sure if she is willing to put in the effort.

[Anonymous]

So I do think there are players holding onto offers. I overheard a mom very audibly saying yesterday at a backup tryout for a NoVA club that her DD has “multiple offers” but is now negotiating “scholarships” with multiple clubs to see which club will reduce club fees enough so they don’t have to pay. This was eye opening for me as a parent who just ponies up the $6k or whatever for a club and doesn’t consider that - my DD is just happy to get an offer. Meanwhile this family from Maryland was literally shopping club offers in MD and VA to see which club they could get for the least money. Does this happen often?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened.

I keep telling my DD that it doesn't really matter what you do at practice, what really matters is what you do outside practice. These words of wisdom are not mine: I heard them one way or another from the mouths of experienced coaches. Club experience is irrelevant if all you do is show up at practice and tournaments. There are many players who work hard during practice, then go home and work even harder. The extra hours will eventually pay off because it will show in the way you move on the court. These are the players who really want to play volleyball and they will squeeze out those who simply show up for the social aspect (have fun with friends). All the players who are now left hanging need to understand that it will be even harder to make a team during the next season. My DD seems to have finally realized that this is the case, but I am still not sure if she is willing to put in the effort.

DP and of this is true but my daughter is one that does put in countless hours outside of practice and private lessons because she loves it. What became glaringly obvious this year was that her height will always be a barrier. She can go to as many clinics as possible but the tallest girls will get picked. There are too many trying out and too many that are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened.

I keep telling my DD that it doesn't really matter what you do at practice, what really matters is what you do outside practice. These words of wisdom are not mine: I heard them one way or another from the mouths of experienced coaches. Club experience is irrelevant if all you do is show up at practice and tournaments. There are many players who work hard during practice, then go home and work even harder. The extra hours will eventually pay off because it will show in the way you move on the court. These are the players who really want to play volleyball and they will squeeze out those who simply show up for the social aspect (have fun with friends). All the players who are now left hanging need to understand that it will be even harder to make a team during the next season. My DD seems to have finally realized that this is the case, but I am still not sure if she is willing to put in the effort.

Too soon, PP. While there is merit
to what you say, just give us a moment to have a collective stress session over this stressful time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I do think there are players holding onto offers. I overheard a mom very audibly saying yesterday at a backup tryout for a NoVA club that her DD has “multiple offers” but is now negotiating “scholarships” with multiple clubs to see which club will reduce club fees enough so they don’t have to pay. This was eye opening for me as a parent who just ponies up the $6k or whatever for a club and doesn’t consider that - my DD is just happy to get an offer. Meanwhile this family from Maryland was literally shopping club offers in MD and VA to see which club they could get for the least money. Does this happen often?

No it doesn’t. Clubs have enough good talent trying out that they really don’t need to. There are enough people willing to pay. Plus it’s not allowed - at least by chrva.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I do think there are players holding onto offers. I overheard a mom very audibly saying yesterday at a backup tryout for a NoVA club that her DD has “multiple offers” but is now negotiating “scholarships” with multiple clubs to see which club will reduce club fees enough so they don’t have to pay. This was eye opening for me as a parent who just ponies up the $6k or whatever for a club and doesn’t consider that - my DD is just happy to get an offer. Meanwhile this family from Maryland was literally shopping club offers in MD and VA to see which club they could get for the least money. Does this happen often?

What you were saying might be true as parent assumption (Negotiating club fee), but it is against CHRVA rule that a club provides scholarship as a mean to recruit volleyball talents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What became glaringly obvious this year was that her height will always be a barrier. She can go to as many clinics as possible but the tallest girls will get picked. There are too many trying out and too many that are good.

This is true. No, CHRVA is not D1 college ball, but you have to understand that after around U14 your 5’7 daughter needs to rethink her front row aspirations. When I graduated high school last century, 6’ girls were an oddity. They are now *everywhere* (Thanks improved nutrition?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I do think there are players holding onto offers. I overheard a mom very audibly saying yesterday at a backup tryout for a NoVA club that her DD has “multiple offers” but is now negotiating “scholarships” with multiple clubs to see which club will reduce club fees enough so they don’t have to pay. This was eye opening for me as a parent who just ponies up the $6k or whatever for a club and doesn’t consider that - my DD is just happy to get an offer. Meanwhile this family from Maryland was literally shopping club offers in MD and VA to see which club they could get for the least money. Does this happen often?

I don't believe this happens often. Clubs are not allowed to give incentives, discounts, or "scholarships" as a recruiting tool. https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/0058/7505/CHRVA_Recruiting_Policy_FAQ_1_.pdf. They can offer need based scholarships or reduced fees but it's never been clear to me exactly how this works. Is there documentation required? Can a parent just state they can't pay the full amount and the club will offer a discount if the club wants the player badly enough?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened.

I keep telling my DD that it doesn't really matter what you do at practice, what really matters is what you do outside practice. These words of wisdom are not mine: I heard them one way or another from the mouths of experienced coaches. Club experience is irrelevant if all you do is show up at practice and tournaments. There are many players who work hard during practice, then go home and work even harder. The extra hours will eventually pay off because it will show in the way you move on the court. These are the players who really want to play volleyball and they will squeeze out those who simply show up for the social aspect (have fun with friends). All the players who are now left hanging need to understand that it will be even harder to make a team during the next season. My DD seems to have finally realized that this is the case, but I am still not sure if she is willing to put in the effort.

That's the long game for sure but if your DD is still looking for a club as of this morning, there are things that she can do at whatever tryouts she might still have to increase her chances.

Communication, effort, and attitude are all within the player's control and they can choose to change those things now. Does she call for the ball, tell the hitters how many blockers are up or what shot to take? Does she let a ball land on the floor between her and the player next to her without even taking a step for the ball? Does she give up on a ball that is going off the court because successfully bringing it back in play is unlikely or does she run and dive after it anyway? Does she give high fives to other girls that she might not know during drills or competition? Is she attentive and engaged when coaches are giving instruction? What's her body language and facial expression like when she or the girl next to her makes a mistake? Does she shag her ball when it's part of the drill or go shag balls when she's off the court waiting for her turn to go? Does she ask questions or engage in a positive way when she get feedback from a coach?

I coached club for 3 seasons and I can tell you with 100% certainty, that for girls on the bubble skill wise, these are the kinds of things that puts them into the "maybe gets an offer" column instead of the "no offer" column.

[Anonymous]

I saw movement on my kids u15 team from midnight to 8 am - 3 more accepted - so hopefully more during the day. Makeups tonight.
Hang in there. We get it after an awful year last year.