Volleyball Action

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate to bump this unnecessarily, but it's certainly not worth a new thread...

Did Paramount ditch Sunshine? Some of their teams are now playing in qualifiers on back-to-back-to-back weekends. The 17s are competing five weekends in a row (four qualifiers + Bid Regionals).

Not here to say whether that's a good or bad thing. Just wow.

Could be they are trying to focus on qualifiers where it's a little "easier" to get an open bid. Sunshine is usually one of the first qualifiers so nobody has a bid yet so teams generally have to come in top 3 to earn a bid. Also, Sunshine tends to attract a really strong field which further contributes to being a tough tournament to get a bid.

[FPYCparent]

As best I can tell, only one Paramount teams was scheduled to go to the qualifier in Reno prior to tryouts. Based on the posted schedule, three teams are going now ... with those two additional teams not going to Orlando as originally proposed. I fully understand that club schedules are subject to change, but having to plan for a trip to Reno instead of Orlando from the East Coast can be an unexpected jolt to families (financially and otherwise) after committing to the club. Sure, some will state that this is the kind of thing you sign up for when you go to a club like PVC.

When it comes to the availability of bids, one thing I learned last year is that the number of teams in a division at a qualifier impacts how many bids can be earned there. So, if only 8 or 12 teams go to the Reno qualifier in the Open division, for example, then only one Open bid can be earned. 36+ Open teams = 3 bids. (I know, my numbers may not be exact, but I hopefully am getting the point across.) If that qualifier isn't well attended (or if teams drop this event later in the season), then potential incentive of picking up a bid may not be there when the event arrives.

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[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:As best I can tell, only one Paramount teams was scheduled to go to the qualifier in Reno prior to tryouts. Based on the posted schedule, three teams are going now ... with those two additional teams not going to Orlando as originally proposed. I fully understand that club schedules are subject to change, but having to plan for a trip to Reno instead of Orlando from the East Coast can be an unexpected jolt to families (financially and otherwise) after committing to the club. Sure, some will state that this is the kind of thing you sign up for when you go to a club like PVC.

When it comes to the availability of bids, one thing I learned last year is that the number of teams in a division at a qualifier impacts how many bids can be earned there. So, if only 8 or 12 teams go to the Reno qualifier in the Open division, for example, then only one Open bid can be earned. 36+ Open teams = 3 bids. (I know, my numbers may not be exact, but I hopefully am getting the point across.) If that qualifier isn't well attended (or if teams drop this event later in the season), then potential incentive of picking up a bid may not be there when the event arrives.

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The Reno qualifier has historically been the last one so teams would add it late if they hadn't gotten a bid elsewhere - I agree traveling to Reno from the east coast seems like a much bigger thing than Orlando.

You're correct that the number of bids available depends on how many teams are in a division. Here's the breakdown for open for this year:

18’s OPEN:
< 8 teams = no bids
8-11 teams = 1 bid
12-15 teams = 2 bids
16-48 teams = 3 bids

14’s – 17’s OPEN:
< 8 teams = no bids
8-15 teams = 1 bid
16-23 teams = 2 bids
24-48 teams = 3 bids

13’s OPEN:
< 6 teams = no bids
6-11 teams = 1 bid
12-48 teams = 2 bids

https://usavolleyball.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2025-Girls-Championship-Manual-FINAL.pdf

Interestingly, qualifiers are starting earlier in the season this year (other than 18s which have always been early). For the past few years, the first ones were in early March, but I see Northern Lights at the end of January and the first 2 weekends of Sunshine in February. https://usavolleyball.org/events/?state=&type=77

I wonder if they moved up qualifiers to align with the NCAA recruiting calendar? NCAA moved the start of the contact period up to January 17 meaning college coaches can be recruiting at tournaments earlier than in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Platform announced winter clinics and it is easier to include a link to the picture than to copy the dates and times. Here you go:

[Anonymous]

Just got an email announcing the Metro Minis (in case you have a 4-7 yo athlete who wants to learn volleyball): https://www.metrovbc.com/minis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email announcing the Metro Minis (in case you have a 4-7 yo athlete who wants to learn volleyball): https://www.metrovbc.com/minis

If your athlete hasn't already been doing privates by 3, it's too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email announcing the Metro Minis (in case you have a 4-7 yo athlete who wants to learn volleyball): https://www.metrovbc.com/minis

Only if you need baby sitter otherwise don't waste your money.

[Anonymous]

Any info on volleyball camps at St Johns College High School this summer (on Military road)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any info on volleyball camps at St Johns College High School this summer (on Military road)?

St. John's is good for younger kids... like elementary school age. The head coach, Bill Pribac, is present, but he has his high school players run the camp. The "campers" seem to like working with the older players. If your kid is beginner/early mid-level, this camp is perfect. Anything beyond that, I'd look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

re SJC Volleyball Camp: While the largest number of campers are probably elementary/early middle school. it can also be very helpful if the player is an incoming 9th grader or s rising 8th grader who is considering SJC for High School. This smaller/more advanced group is placed together sometimes in the smaller of the two gyms.

My DD attended the camp as a rising 8th and then 9th grader. She met/made a lot of friends and really enjoyed working with the HS counselors. SJC VB camp positively influenced her decision to attend and she now plays VB there. Some of the friends she met/got to know better at SJC camp ended up at the school (playing freshman, JV, a few Varsity) while others are at different WCAC/Independent schools.

As with anything, individual mileage will vary.

[Anonymous]

Saw social media posts that the Mojo travel open-level 1s teams and Legacy VB open-level 1s teams were playing and winning medals at the MD Jrs *regional* tourney last weekend. I’m confused - Shouldn’t both those teams be playing against other open level 1s teams? Like the Metro Travel and Paramount 1s teams? Instead they were bragging about placing over the Paramount 2s team and Metro regional teams. Just wondering what the protocol was there. FWIW, we heard those 2s and regional teams almost beat them in single digit sets. Just wondering what the strategy for that was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw social media posts that the Mojo travel open-level 1s teams and Legacy VB open-level 1s teams were playing and winning medals at the MD Jrs *regional* tourney last weekend. I’m confused - Shouldn’t both those teams be playing against other open level 1s teams? Like the Metro Travel and Paramount 1s teams? Instead they were bragging about placing over the Paramount 2s team and Metro regional teams. Just wondering what the protocol was there. FWIW, we heard those 2s and regional teams almost beat them in single digit sets. Just wondering what the strategy for that was.

optics and marketing. The devil is in the details, you know that. Many people will see that and think wow... but not take the time look into the details.

[FPYCparent]

For better or for worse, there are local CHRVA events nearly every weekend starting in January. Not every team at every club will participate in every event. If there are 75+ CHRVA teams in nearly every age group, there are going to be plenty of local events (Open or otherwise) where teams will compete and win. As I understand things, CHRVA "only" requires that teams compete in two local events to qualify for Bid Regionals in March ... and they only need to compete in one event at the Open level. So, you may not see supposedly higher-tier clubs teams playing at tons of local events.

While my kid was at Paramount last season, I learned that Paramount (1s) and Metro Travel tend to avoid each other at these local tournaments. (I have no idea if that is intentional on both sides ... or just on one). As best I can tell, a club like VA Juniors doesn't participate in many local one-day tournaments, seemingly relying on Cap Hill and ?National Harbor? to fulfill the CHRVA Bid Regional requirements. And then you have Blue Ridge which seems to meet requirements for competing at Bid Regionals, but will then decline to accept any bids their teams earn.

So, clubs have plenty of opportunities to put their teams in events where they can win. They just need to go out and do it on the court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw social media posts that the Mojo travel open-level 1s teams and Legacy VB open-level 1s teams were playing and winning medals at the MD Jrs *regional* tourney last weekend. I’m confused - Shouldn’t both those teams be playing against other open level 1s teams? Like the Metro Travel and Paramount 1s teams? Instead they were bragging about placing over the Paramount 2s team and Metro regional teams. Just wondering what the protocol was there. FWIW, we heard those 2s and regional teams almost beat them in single digit sets. Just wondering what the strategy for that was.

NP - But why did MD Jrs allow that? We've been to Regional Club/Level 2 tournaments there for 3 years now, never heard of playing against 1s in a regional club tourney. Is that just greed on MD Jrs part or is that a "thing" now? From what I saw on social media, Mojo Travel weren't the only Travel/1s team there, also at least 2 others.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:For better or for worse, there are local CHRVA events nearly every weekend starting in January. Not every team at every club will participate in every event. If there are 75+ CHRVA teams in nearly every age group, there are going to be plenty of local events (Open or otherwise) where teams will compete and win. As I understand things, CHRVA "only" requires that teams compete in two local events to qualify for Bid Regionals in March ... and they only need to compete in one event at the Open level. So, you may not see supposedly higher-tier clubs teams playing at tons of local events.

While my kid was at Paramount last season, I learned that Paramount (1s) and Metro Travel tend to avoid each other at these local tournaments. (I have no idea if that is intentional on both sides ... or just on one). As best I can tell, a club like VA Juniors doesn't participate in many local one-day tournaments, seemingly relying on Cap Hill and ?National Harbor? to fulfill the CHRVA Bid Regional requirements. And then you have Blue Ridge which seems to meet requirements for competing at Bid Regionals, but will then decline to accept any bids their teams earn.

So, clubs have plenty of opportunities to put their teams in events where they can win. They just need to go out and do it on the court.

No. The only way to get a CHRVA bid to USAV nationals is at Regionals. CapClassic and National Harbor aren't qualifiers for nationals. I'm not aware of any local qualifiers but please correct me if I'm wrong. There are tournaments just for tournaments sake- the teams that want to go to qualify for USAV go to the qualifiers to do that.