new (confused!) volleyball parent - looking for Montgomery County (Bethesda-area+) feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Bethesda, she will be attending BCC, Whitman, or Walter Johnson. These are all good high school teams.

Next week, her high school coaches will evaluate her during tryouts.

If she makes varsity as a freshman, she should attend Metro and Paramount clinics in the fall, as she may have great potential and could make the MVSA or MOCO first teams.

If she makes JV, she may make the MVSA or MOCO second or third teams, and she should try to attend MOCO's Club Prep Sessions for example:
https://www.mocovc.org/clubprep

If she doesn't make JV, MEVC, Platform, and Academy may be her most realistic options. She should try to attend fall clinics by these clubs. I believe MEVC and Platform have 2 and 3 15U teams respectively, and Academy has 1.

This entire post is completely hilarious, especially the bolded part. You forgot to mention that she should try out for Metro if she is a starter on Varsity. You do realize that the Bethesda area is full of MVSA, MOCO, Platform, and MEVC players, right? Do you believe that a freshmen with no club experience will make the varsity team? This is the type of advice that gets people's hopes high, just to crash during tryouts.

Even the advice conditional on the acceptance in the JV team is out of whack. You can be a starter on the JV team and not be able to make MVSA or MOCO. If you make it to the JV team because they need a few bench warmers after they ran out of club players who are trying out, then you are clearly not going to make MOCO or MVSA.

By 8/8, Walter Johnson has 72 people registered for girls volleyball.
https://x.com/WJWildcats/status/1953864299887087962
The registration ends on 8/11.

Do you think the Walter Johnson JV team will "need a few bench warmers after they ran out of club players"?

Hi neighbor! Is your daughter a returning player or an incoming 9th grader? I’m only aware of about a half dozen or so incoming 9th graders that play club.

Are you saying that 08/10/2025 16:14 was correct?

No idea. I guess it sounds generally right except that i think they lost a half dozen good seniors last year so i would guess that they will take at least that many rising juniors to varsity. I agree there are probably a lot of the registered girls that didn’t play club — I think the coach did a good job with outreach encouraging kids to try out for team. My daughter wil be crushed if she doesn’t make iJV. It’s literally the only thing about HS that she is at all looking forward to. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for next few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You got a few things right and a few things wrong.
* There are two reasons not to try out for Paramount: (1) your DD will probably not make any of their U15 teams, (2) Paramount is Virginia club and you don't want to drive all the way to Manassas for practice.
* You are correct about MVSA: likely no chance to make a U15 team with no club experience.
* Trying out for MOCO is an exercise in futility. A tall, athletic player may have remote chances to make it, but it is unlikely at U15 level. Focus instead on clubs where you have more chances.
* MEVC would be a better option than MOCO, but don't get your hopes too high either.
* Platform (which you didn't mention) would be your best bet. They have a relatively strong top team (better than MEVC), but beginners make up most of their bottom teams. Aim for the top team, but you will likely be offered a spot on their bottom teams.
* Academy is one of the weaker clubs in the area, so this would be your best bet to make a top club team (especially for a tall athletic player). I think they only have one team per age group, so you should have a backup plan in case you don't make it (see Platform above).

Understand that most clubs will bring back lots of returning players - very few spots are open every year for each team. The more successful the club, the higher the return rate. Top players in mediocre clubs try to move up to better clubs and some do succeed. Focus on clubs that you have a realistic chance of making a team. Strategize your summer and fall by attending clinics at those clubs. Many of the decisions are made during these clinics, even though nobody cannot tell you anything officially until after tryouts. Coaches could watch you for a few minutes and tell you whether you have a chance in their club. But don't expect that courtesy - all coaches will invite you to the tryouts even if they know you have no chance of making any of their teams. They are trying to boost their tryout numbers, which brings bragging rights.

Not quite true about Academy. Coach Amy is building out her teams. There were 2 13's teams this year and one was quite good. I expect to see more competitive teams from Academy as the years go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Bethesda, she will be attending BCC, Whitman, or Walter Johnson. These are all good high school teams.

Next week, her high school coaches will evaluate her during tryouts.

If she makes varsity as a freshman, she should attend Metro and Paramount clinics in the fall, as she may have great potential and could make the MVSA or MOCO first teams.

If she makes JV, she may make the MVSA or MOCO second or third teams, and she should try to attend MOCO's Club Prep Sessions for example:
https://www.mocovc.org/clubprep

If she doesn't make JV, MEVC, Platform, and Academy may be her most realistic options. She should try to attend fall clinics by these clubs. I believe MEVC and Platform have 2 and 3 15U teams respectively, and Academy has 1.

This entire post is completely hilarious, especially the bolded part. You forgot to mention that she should try out for Metro if she is a starter on Varsity. You do realize that the Bethesda area is full of MVSA, MOCO, Platform, and MEVC players, right? Do you believe that a freshmen with no club experience will make the varsity team? This is the type of advice that gets people's hopes high, just to crash during tryouts.

Even the advice conditional on the acceptance in the JV team is out of whack. You can be a starter on the JV team and not be able to make MVSA or MOCO. If you make it to the JV team because they need a few bench warmers after they ran out of club players who are trying out, then you are clearly not going to make MOCO or MVSA.

By 8/8, Walter Johnson has 72 people registered for girls volleyball.
https://x.com/WJWildcats/status/1953864299887087962
The registration ends on 8/11.

Do you think the Walter Johnson JV team will "need a few bench warmers after they ran out of club players"?

I am not familiar with Walter Johnson volleyball scene, but I am willing to make some predictions. About one third (or less) of the 72 girls will try out for Varsity. Most of the incoming juniors already know they have no chance of making the varsity team, so they won't even bother. 25-50% of the rest never touched a real volleyball. They figured out that the high school offer some sports and they noticed volleyball on the list of sports available for fall. They believe they can get a ball over the net if they have to, so they signed up for the tryouts. Pretty early during the first day of tryouts (I give them about 15-30 minutes) they will start questioning whether they are in the wrong place and whether they should even show up the second and the third days of tryouts. There will be about 10-15 club players (this is where I don't know the specifics for Walter Johnson) most of whom will get on the JV roster. The coach will select a few other players with little or no volleyball experience (mostly tall and / or athletic) to fill out the rest of the JV roster (if there is any space left). Most of these and some of the club players will warm the bench during most games (they will get some court time in games against weak opponents).

This is pretty close to what happened at WJ but I'm not sure that a single person without club experience made the team. I think we are seeing the acedence of volleyball in this area reflected in high school tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You got a few things right and a few things wrong.
* There are two reasons not to try out for Paramount: (1) your DD will probably not make any of their U15 teams, (2) Paramount is Virginia club and you don't want to drive all the way to Manassas for practice.
* You are correct about MVSA: likely no chance to make a U15 team with no club experience.
* Trying out for MOCO is an exercise in futility. A tall, athletic player may have remote chances to make it, but it is unlikely at U15 level. Focus instead on clubs where you have more chances.
* MEVC would be a better option than MOCO, but don't get your hopes too high either.
* Platform (which you didn't mention) would be your best bet. They have a relatively strong top team (better than MEVC), but beginners make up most of their bottom teams. Aim for the top team, but you will likely be offered a spot on their bottom teams.
* Academy is one of the weaker clubs in the area, so this would be your best bet to make a top club team (especially for a tall athletic player). I think they only have one team per age group, so you should have a backup plan in case you don't make it (see Platform above).

Understand that most clubs will bring back lots of returning players - very few spots are open every year for each team. The more successful the club, the higher the return rate. Top players in mediocre clubs try to move up to better clubs and some do succeed. Focus on clubs that you have a realistic chance of making a team. Strategize your summer and fall by attending clinics at those clubs. Many of the decisions are made during these clinics, even though nobody cannot tell you anything officially until after tryouts. Coaches could watch you for a few minutes and tell you whether you have a chance in their club. But don't expect that courtesy - all coaches will invite you to the tryouts even if they know you have no chance of making any of their teams. They are trying to boost their tryout numbers, which brings bragging rights.

Not quite true about Academy. Coach Amy is building out her teams. There were 2 13's teams this year and one was quite good. I expect to see more competitive teams from Academy as the years go on.

I don't think that's a fair statement about the 13s teams performance for Academy last year. 13-1s team was not very competitive at all, especially compared to the clubs listed above. The 13-2s team was literally the very bottom ranked team in the region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You got a few things right and a few things wrong.
* There are two reasons not to try out for Paramount: (1) your DD will probably not make any of their U15 teams, (2) Paramount is Virginia club and you don't want to drive all the way to Manassas for practice.
* You are correct about MVSA: likely no chance to make a U15 team with no club experience.
* Trying out for MOCO is an exercise in futility. A tall, athletic player may have remote chances to make it, but it is unlikely at U15 level. Focus instead on clubs where you have more chances.
* MEVC would be a better option than MOCO, but don't get your hopes too high either.
* Platform (which you didn't mention) would be your best bet. They have a relatively strong top team (better than MEVC), but beginners make up most of their bottom teams. Aim for the top team, but you will likely be offered a spot on their bottom teams.
* Academy is one of the weaker clubs in the area, so this would be your best bet to make a top club team (especially for a tall athletic player). I think they only have one team per age group, so you should have a backup plan in case you don't make it (see Platform above).

Understand that most clubs will bring back lots of returning players - very few spots are open every year for each team. The more successful the club, the higher the return rate. Top players in mediocre clubs try to move up to better clubs and some do succeed. Focus on clubs that you have a realistic chance of making a team. Strategize your summer and fall by attending clinics at those clubs. Many of the decisions are made during these clinics, even though nobody cannot tell you anything officially until after tryouts. Coaches could watch you for a few minutes and tell you whether you have a chance in their club. But don't expect that courtesy - all coaches will invite you to the tryouts even if they know you have no chance of making any of their teams. They are trying to boost their tryout numbers, which brings bragging rights.

Not quite true about Academy. Coach Amy is building out her teams. There were 2 13's teams this year and one was quite good. I expect to see more competitive teams from Academy as the years go on.

It depends on what your definition of "quite good" is. Since the USAV rankings are no longer available, we can let the Power Rankings guide us. Out of 4872 teams, Academy 13 Silver was 4587 (the very bottom of the national pool). Academy 13 Blue was a little higher at 3680 (75% of the teams nationally were better). From that standing, it should not be a tall order to get more competitive.