Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

[Anonymous]

MEVC was not even looking at the girls at u15 tryout who were not from their teams last year. Almost all were on a separate court, and the coaches were crowded around only the court with last year’s MEVC players.

[Anonymous]

DD got a U15 offer Tuesday am, and another tonight after 10 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think there will be additional rounds of tryouts after tonight’s 10pm acceptance deadline.

I agree. For those that are new to club volleyball in the CHRVA region, tryouts used to be spread out over the first 2 weekends in November with the younger age groups happening the first weekend and the older age groups the second. I'm guessing clubs are struggling to manage filling all of their teams at one time and will probably still be looking to finalize rosters for several days and probably even into the weekend.

Regarding getting later offers meaning your DD will be a "roster filler", that might be true at a few clubs (usually the more competitive ones), but I don't think that is universal. Some clubs make an effort to get players into every match (e.g., MVSA) and if a team is on the less competitive side with less experienced players, it's not at all uncommon for starting lineups to shift throughout the season as players improve at different rates.

NP here. Your post is misleading. In prior years, any certain age group had one weekend, it wasn’t spread out for all age groups over 2 weekends. So last year we were U15 and those tryouts were over the same weekend from Friday to Sunday. There weren’t tryouts for U15 spread out over 2 weekends.

My DD is now U16 and that year just seems to be on steroids with 100+ girls showing up for a club that only has 1-2 teams in U16. And you’re not necessarily seeing the same group at different club tryouts, meaning there are just SO many girls in the DMV in U16 that want to play club. I find it just impossible that any club can’t find 12-15 girls to fill a roster with the insane number of girls that were trying out.

How is it misleading? The post said "tryouts used to be spread out over the first 2 weekends in November with the younger age groups happening the first weekend and the older age groups the second." I think you're right that the dividing line was 12, 13, and 14 were the first weekend and 15, 16, 17, and 18 were the second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We'll see what numbers of offers are made within the next few days. After 3 tryouts days and thousands of dollars being raked in. Clubs could provide more upfront informative information as to what positions they're recruiting for, the experience expected at each age group, and how many legit open positions are available per team.

I don’t think clubs actually know any of that. Players switch clubs all the time, so every tryout period, all positions are essentially open.

[Anonymous]

Some clubs def seem disingenuous, are all about making $. But the extreme popularity of volleyball and the hard limit on practice facilities (and coaches are somewhat limited) is the real problem. A lot of coaches hate this process.

It’s heartbreaking. So many girls playing their hearts out, so much talent, and so many tears.

Also it takes a few years for parents to get up to speed on how it all really works, how limited offers are as the kids get older. That their great young front row player is never going to be tall enough in high school for the same position and should’ve been specializing in a position they’d be tall enough for. That relationships with clubs really matter bc with so many kids trying out even the well meaning clubs cannot evaluate hundreds of kids in 2 hours. But they’re required to hold open tryouts. That playing rec for too many years before club can develop bad habits. Etc

[Anonymous]

Do players have to do this circus every year, even after they’ve made a club one year and are happy? In other words, do they have to fight hard to retain their spot from the prior year or are clubs loyal to returning players? I realize she will always have to tryout but is her spot safe with the same club, assuming no issues? This was our first year of tryouts, and DD got offers from 4 of her 5 teams from tryouts. But it was stressful and we put so much time and money into clinics at each place. I know she will have to tryout again but I’m hoping the stress is not like this every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there is no club offer, is it a good option to be a practice player? Or what else is out there if DD just wants to play and improve? U16

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do players have to do this circus every year, even after they’ve made a club one year and are happy? In other words, do they have to fight hard to retain their spot from the prior year or are clubs loyal to returning players? I realize she will always have to tryout but is her spot safe with the same club, assuming no issues? This was our first year of tryouts, and DD got offers from 4 of her 5 teams from tryouts. But it was stressful and we put so much time and money into clinics at each place. I know she will have to tryout again but I’m hoping the stress is not like this every year.

Probably, just to be safe

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been to the new Paramount practice facility?

The address matches that of a Bed, Bath, and Beyond location ... which I'm guessing has closed. I don't frequent Manassas, so I haven't been out that way since summer.

I wonder if Paramount parents/families will pick up whatever rewards program the "adjacent" movie theater has. Might as well get current with the current/upcoming slate of movies while you are out there! Google/Bing Maps seems to suggest that there's Wendy's, Uno's, and Golden Corral in the parking lot with a Cracker Barrel on the other side of Sudley.

Given this move to Manassas and Metro Travel seemingly not crossing the Potomac for practices, I wonder how long it will take for the teams to become "almost" exclusively Virginia for Paramount and "almost" exclusively DC/Maryland for Metro Travel. I'm sure current players will stick with their chosen club, but the newest/youngest players and families may eventually opt for the club that's closest to home.

Several of the girls on my DD 1s team at Paramount will be coming in from Md. if the club is the right fit, and parents are able, plenty of girls will put in the miles. Ofc, not all families can do that. Don’t know how we will do it, haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So these teams have not filled their rosters with two tryouts with the amount of girls that were trying out this weekend? I find that highly unlikely you are going into a 3rd round of tryouts because you could not find enough players. I think for some like Metro, Mojo it’s a money grab

Definitely not a “money grab.” Both those teams had spots to fill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:I understand that Paramount made at least one offer to a player after an "evaluation" of sorts on Saturday. As far as I know, their official tryouts were all on Friday. Granted, the Saturday eval could have been pre-arranged (that player was not at the tryout on Friday). It would have been good to know that the club ... and maybe others ... make that kind of arrangement available given that tryouts for all age groups were on one weekend.

Paramount (and other clubs) will definitely make offers to players that didn't actually physically come to tryouts. It's allowable under the CHRVA rules as long as the player has paid the tryout fee (no special incentives or gifts are allowed) and the offer is not made until the after the start of the open tryout period.

That is insane! Pretty much a scam if their continuing to have "open tryouts" and the roster is already full as other have stated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So these teams have not filled their rosters with two tryouts with the amount of girls that were trying out this weekend? I find that highly unlikely you are going into a 3rd round of tryouts because you could not find enough players. I think for some like Metro, Mojo it’s a money grab

It is not a money grab- at least not for most clubs. The way it works is clubs can only give out up to 15 offers per team (I believe that’s the max number of players allowed). So imagine that after this happens, they cannot give more offers until people say no to the offers given out. However, some people don’t decide for days, sometimes until the deadline. This is how mid level teams end up looking for “real” not filler players late in the game. Their first choice player finally got off the wait list for THEIR first choice higher club on say day2 or 3- and they finally give up their spot…. Etc

Wouldn't it make more sense to evaluate every player first over say a two week try out period so that you don't have 100 players on a court simultaneously. Then make your roster selections and send out offer letters to those players at a set date/time? Fill in options would come after a player accepts or declines. As it stands now you have players trying out for teams that rosters are already full depending on age.

Unfortunately, that is not permit by CHRVA rules. Clubs can’t do anything about that, and are all in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MEVC was not even looking at the girls at u15 tryout who were not from their teams last year. Almost all were on a separate court, and the coaches were crowded around only the court with last year’s MEVC players.

So they were collecting money for tryouts even though the roster was set. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing that is making this tryout process even more crazy and hectic than usual is that the CHRVA Region moved tryouts for ALL age groups to the same weekend. Previously, U10-U14 tryouts were all the first Friday in November, and U15-U18 tryouts were all the following weekend. Let’s say that hypothetically all clubs only had 1 team per age group (many have several). So, typically in year’s past a club would only have to form 5 teams the first weekend, and 4 teams the following weekend. Now, the clubs are out in a position to have to form 9 teams all in one weekend, which is doubling the amount of the typical work. This makes it an administrative nightmare for clubs, and it makes the process even more stressful for everybody.

We are new to Volleyball and this process was a nightmare. I don't think kids are getting a fair shake and I feel like I got fleeced out of $250.

The clubs had no choice but to follow the CHRVA rules, which certainly made things chaotic. Hopefully, CHRVA will return to next year to the 2 weekend period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD got a U15 offer Tuesday am, and another tonight after 10 pm.

Congratulations and good luck! This process isn't easy.