Volleyball Action

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New volleyball parent and although we have played other travel sports with other kids this our first volleyball experience. Can you help me understand:

Open - highest level
Travel - next highest
Club - third highest

Next at each club you might have

1s teams that although at the particular club may be the highest level they may not necessarily compete with other "open" level 1s teams and play in Travel level brackets

2s teams

Now in the Montgomery County area please clarify the hierarchy of clubs

Metro - most competitive
MVSA
Paramount
MoCo
Platform
MEVC

is this order right? Who am I missing? Anyone from Montgomery County play for clubs not listed above in Virginia or DC?

Paramount is a VA-based club and it is typically ranked better than MVSA. Metro Travel is based in DC, but plays in tournaments all over the DC area. If you eliminate the two from your list, you got the correct order, even though Platform and MEVC position can change depending on the age level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP and also a new club VB family. My DD was at the MD Jrs tournament last weekend and she was wondering the same thing: why was the Mojo Black (travel/open) team playing against her Metro regional team? It did seem a little odd. They had a seeding round first and then bracket play. Of course the travel teams there (Mojo, Legacy, etc) made it to the gold bracket rounds. DD did watch several games and saw the 2s teams (Paramount) or Metro regional teams win sets against those Mojo and Legacy travel teams. But it was definitely odd to see Mojo Black there when they also have a Mojo Pink regional level team that should have been there instead.

I assume Legacy as a new club is entering below their supposed division level so they can pump up their social media with medal brag photos against lower division teams. Frankly the Legacy team wasn’t that great considering all the hype on social (strong defense but weaker on offense). Same for Mojo black - opposite issue, strong hitters but weaker back row. Both are def going to get killed at the bid tournaments when they have to face other true open level teams. I guess it’s the optics.

They just all happened to sign up for the same tournament.

Teams want to play in tournaments to get ready for the bigger tournaments.

How is this so hard to understand?

No one, NO ONE is confused about what you just said. It's not that simple. This specific occurrence is different from what people are used to at this particular facility. When change happens, and when that change seems a bit like an unfair setup for the teams that have to play against a travel team when other teams are not, it's natural to ask why.

How is that so hard to understand?

Our first team tournament was at MD Jrs in a mixed division. Both Paramount and Metro Travel ended up in our pool and crushed us. They ended up playing the tournament final among themselves as we were licking our wounds in the silver bracket. We met other travel teams in various other tournaments (Paramount again, MdJrs) other tournaments and our only goal was to make it into the double digits. So it is not unusual to meet travel teams in mixed divisions when they have no better tournament to go to. Every once in a while we ended up winning the gold bracket when the strong teams had better options.

[Anonymous]

What happened to St. James volleyball? A couple of years ago they were fairly competitive (they had a 16s team the beat Paramount and went 3 with Blue Ridge). None of those girls are on the 18s that I saw in Richmond this weekend, who did not win one set. All the age groups look to have struggled, perhaps this is not an "open" type of club anymore. Maybe MOJO a better option in the area.

[FPYCparent]

My kid's first club volleyball experience was with The St. James two years ago. Loved the facility (aside from parking, of course!). My kid's coaches were great, but were not retained for the next year, so most of that team left, as I think only one player went back for another year. They seem to be going through coaches like crazy. If anything, I wonder if The St. James mostly focuses on their boys' program ... to the detriment of the girls' teams.

...

I apologize to PP, but I have a different tangent to explore. What is the consensus on nearby regions? I think we all know the CHRVA is relatively weak nationally, especially outside of Metro and Paramount. Can the same be said for Old Dominion, Carolina, Garden Empire, Keystone? Are there similar clubs that tend to be the behemoths of their particular regions? For example, are Triangle and RVC the go-to clubs in North Carolina and the rest of Virginia, respectively?

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:My kid's first club volleyball experience was with The St. James two years ago. Loved the facility (aside from parking, of course!). My kid's coaches were great, but were not retained for the next year, so most of that team left, as I think only one player went back for another year. They seem to be going through coaches like crazy. If anything, I wonder if The St. James mostly focuses on their boys' program ... to the detriment of the girls' teams.

...

I apologize to PP, but I have a different tangent to explore. What is the consensus on nearby regions? I think we all know the CHRVA is relatively weak nationally, especially outside of Metro and Paramount. Can the same be said for Old Dominion, Carolina, Garden Empire, Keystone? Are there similar clubs that tend to be the behemoths of their particular regions? For example, are Triangle and RVC the go-to clubs in North Carolina and the rest of Virginia, respectively?

Pretty much every region north of Florida and east of Ohio is weaker than the top regions, which tend to be in Texas, Florida, California, Chicago and some hot spots in the midwest. Of course there are some great clubs outside of those areas (e.g., A5 in Georgia, Triangle in NC, AZ Storm) but generally the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and New England tend to not have as many strong clubs. The ranking of the top clubs in the country (used for determining who gets invited to Triple Crown) includes the state where the club is located and notably there are no clubs from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, or any other state in New England.
https://tcspub.blob.core.windows.net/usclubrankings/vb/2024%205%20Year%20Rankings.pdf

So, yes, it's fair to say that the neighboring regions are similar to CHRVA in the competitiveness of clubs compared to the best clubs nationally. There are of course good clubs in these states - just similar to CHRVA in that they are not quite at the level to be competitive with the open level teams from the top clubs nationally.

And similar to the examples you cited, there are some bigger clubs in these regions that tend to be better. Using the Keystone Region as an example, the bigger clubs are EC Power and Synergy which both have numerous teams at every age group (and EC Power in many different cities).

[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.

Clubs choose which division they register for when signing up for tournaments and for the most part, tournament directors do not do any evaluation to see if a team is registered in the most appropriate division. For local tournaments, (particularly early in the season) it's not at all unusual to see regional, club level teams having to play a Metro Travel or Paramount team if they registered to play in an open division. As others have noted, there is a minimum number of CHRVA tournaments that a team must play in to qualify for bid regionals (and at least one of those tournaments has to be in a open division), so the stronger teams will enter these tournaments to make sure they are eligible for bid regionals. Teams from other clubs also might be trying to get into bid regionals - in the past few years CHRVA has ended up giving out 6+ bids after bid regionals once the reallocation process starts, so teams that don't finish that high at bid regionals can end with a bid.

Metro Travel and Paramount want to hold open the option of going to bid regionals in case they don't get an open bid from a qualifier. The division immediately below open at the USAV National Championships is the National Division and that is given to the top team from bid regionals (and sometimes 2nd place will get a reallocated National bid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. James volleyball? A couple of years ago they were fairly competitive (they had a 16s team the beat Paramount and went 3 with Blue Ridge). None of those girls are on the 18s that I saw in Richmond this weekend, who did not win one set. All the age groups look to have struggled, perhaps this is not an "open" type of club anymore. Maybe MOJO a better option in the area.

We played the St James team at the Volley by The James Tournament last weekend and the 16s were not particularly strong. The other club that performed particularly badly was Vienna Elite and their related club (DMV Elite). St James won maybe one match and lost most sets. One of the Vienna teams was completely shut out the whole weekend, and the other Vienna team won maybe one match the whole weekend. We saw decent play from Mojo Black, Virginia Elite, the new Legacy team, American and Paramount. But yikes to the parents paying $7k to vienna elite!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. James volleyball? A couple of years ago they were fairly competitive (they had a 16s team the beat Paramount and went 3 with Blue Ridge). None of those girls are on the 18s that I saw in Richmond this weekend, who did not win one set. All the age groups look to have struggled, perhaps this is not an "open" type of club anymore. Maybe MOJO a better option in the area.

We played the St James team at the Volley by The James Tournament last weekend and the 16s were not particularly strong. The other club that performed particularly badly was Vienna Elite and their related club (DMV Elite). St James won maybe one match and lost most sets. One of the Vienna teams was completely shut out the whole weekend, and the other Vienna team won maybe one match the whole weekend. We saw decent play from Mojo Black, Virginia Elite, the new Legacy team, American and Paramount. But yikes to the parents paying $7k to vienna elite!

Yes, I would say TSJ and Vienna are charging open fees and playing at club level. With TSJ my observation is they just don’t have any coaching stability or a coherent philosophy on what style of play and type of athlete they want. They had some good 16s for 2 years in a row, coaches changed, girls scattered. Early in season so hopefully improvement coming and keep good coaches for next year. I’m not as familiar with the Vienna program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to St. James volleyball? A couple of years ago they were fairly competitive (they had a 16s team the beat Paramount and went 3 with Blue Ridge). None of those girls are on the 18s that I saw in Richmond this weekend, who did not win one set. All the age groups look to have struggled, perhaps this is not an "open" type of club anymore. Maybe MOJO a better option in the area.

We played the St James team at the Volley by The James Tournament last weekend and the 16s were not particularly strong. The other club that performed particularly badly was Vienna Elite and their related club (DMV Elite). St James won maybe one match and lost most sets. One of the Vienna teams was completely shut out the whole weekend, and the other Vienna team won maybe one match the whole weekend. We saw decent play from Mojo Black, Virginia Elite, the new Legacy team, American and Paramount. But yikes to the parents paying $7k to vienna elite!

It is surprising to see Legacy doing better than more established clubs - they are really gutsy playing open. I was one of the posters who was snarky about the new Legacy club and I still believe that taking those girls to qualifiers is not the best strategy, but we are at the beginning of the season and we'll see how it works out for them.

[Anonymous]

We watched a couple of sets between the Legacy team and Metro Regional teams at MD Jrs Mixed tournament. Pretty close skills wise with Legacy maybe a slight advantage. I think Legacy lost to Paramount 2s and Mojo Black 1s and maybe tied with Metro South PW. The Metro Regional teams were surprisingly strong (South PW, Central and North all looked solid from what we saw). Why don’t the Metro regional teams play more tournaments like Volley By The James? I think they would probably sweep clubs like St. James and Vienna Elite. They get a lot of crap on these boards, but I was surprised when I saw how strong they actually were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We watched a couple of sets between the Legacy team and Metro Regional teams at MD Jrs Mixed tournament. Pretty close skills wise with Legacy maybe a slight advantage. I think Legacy lost to Paramount 2s and Mojo Black 1s and maybe tied with Metro South PW. The Metro Regional teams were surprisingly strong (South PW, Central and North all looked solid from what we saw). Why don’t the Metro regional teams play more tournaments like Volley By The James? I think they would probably sweep clubs like St. James and Vienna Elite. They get a lot of crap on these boards, but I was surprised when I saw how strong they actually were.

Many of the Metro regional teams are pretty good. I assume the primary reason Metro regional teams don’t go to more bigger tournaments is cost. The regional teams other than North go to 2 tournaments requiring hotel - AAU Grand Prix Virginia Beach and the South Atlantic Championships in Richmond. North teams add NEQ. Some Metro Regional teams will elect to attend AAU Nationals in Orlando in June or USAV Nationals in the Patriot division.

[FPYCparent]

This isn't for club volleyball, but I'm passing this along. Although I am not affiliated, my DD started with FPYC VB while in middle school as things started to return to normal after COVID.

Good evening, FPYC Families

The wait is over and the relaunch of volleyball starts this spring. Thank you for the feedback, comments, and volunteer interest from our recent survey. We had a high volume of responses, and your continued involvement and engagement can be submitted to [e-mail].

In order to create a fun, safe, and enjoyable space where volleyball athletes can learn and grow, the FPYC Volleyball Program will include short and long term goals. The short-term goal for this season is to start with clinics to improve or refine all facets of players development in a positive, progressive, and fun environment. The long-term goal for future seasons is to establish a league/teams volleyball structure with competitive opportunities within FPYC and/or other venues.

Program Details:

• Spring season starts March 21 through May 16, excluding the week of spring break. We may add or extend one or two make-up sessions to plan accordingly.
• Location and times: KJMS Gym (that's Katherine Johnson Middle not too far from Fair Oaks Mall), 6:00pm - 7:00pm or 7:00pm to 8:30pm based on the age of the player, and level of skills. Further information during the registration process.
• Clinics are for players interested in learning and improving their volleyball skills. From basics such as, proper passing, serving, and setting techniques, to improvement of coordination and court movement.
• Space is limited and registration will close as we reach our maximum capacity.

Volunteering to coach or assist is both rewarding and fun! If interested, it is not too late to sign up when registering your player.

To learn more about FPYC, visit https://www.fpycsports.com/about and stay tuned for the relaunch of the volleyball homepage.

Registration is available Online ONLY
Online Registration for Spring 2025 Volleyball is open. Please be sure to enter your player's information as a member before starting the actual registration. This will make the registration process go smoother. https://fpycsports.demosphere-secure.com/_registration

Cost: $80.00

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
FPYC is a completely volunteer based organization.

We are in need of Volunteers to help Coach and run Volleyball, please consider volunteering. If interested, sign up when registering your player or reach out to the Director of Volleyball at [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:My kid's first club volleyball experience was with The St. James two years ago. Loved the facility (aside from parking, of course!). My kid's coaches were great, but were not retained for the next year, so most of that team left, as I think only one player went back for another year. They seem to be going through coaches like crazy. If anything, I wonder if The St. James mostly focuses on their boys' program ... to the detriment of the girls' teams.

...

I apologize to PP, but I have a different tangent to explore. What is the consensus on nearby regions? I think we all know the CHRVA is relatively weak nationally, especially outside of Metro and Paramount. Can the same be said for Old Dominion, Carolina, Garden Empire, Keystone? Are there similar clubs that tend to be the behemoths of their particular regions? For example, are Triangle and RVC the go-to clubs in North Carolina and the rest of Virginia, respectively?

Pretty much every region north of Florida and east of Ohio is weaker than the top regions, which tend to be in Texas, Florida, California, Chicago and some hot spots in the midwest. Of course there are some great clubs outside of those areas (e.g., A5 in Georgia, Triangle in NC, AZ Storm) but generally the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and New England tend to not have as many strong clubs. The ranking of the top clubs in the country (used for determining who gets invited to Triple Crown) includes the state where the club is located and notably there are no clubs from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, or any other state in New England.
https://tcspub.blob.core.windows.net/usclubrankings/vb/2024%205%20Year%20Rankings.pdf

So, yes, it's fair to say that the neighboring regions are similar to CHRVA in the competitiveness of clubs compared to the best clubs nationally. There are of course good clubs in these states - just similar to CHRVA in that they are not quite at the level to be competitive with the open level teams from the top clubs nationally.

And similar to the examples you cited, there are some bigger clubs in these regions that tend to be better. Using the Keystone Region as an example, the bigger clubs are EC Power and Synergy which both have numerous teams at every age group (and EC Power in many different cities).

Last weekend in Baltimore, Metro 15 Travel lost to Triangle in 2 sets, and Metro 17 Travel lost to EC Power in 3.

[Anonymous]

Got an email saying that Metro still has spots in their North league (Central and East are sold out).
https://www.metrovbc.com/rec-mini

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:My kid's first club volleyball experience was with The St. James two years ago. Loved the facility (aside from parking, of course!). My kid's coaches were great, but were not retained for the next year, so most of that team left, as I think only one player went back for another year. They seem to be going through coaches like crazy. If anything, I wonder if The St. James mostly focuses on their boys' program ... to the detriment of the girls' teams.

...

I apologize to PP, but I have a different tangent to explore. What is the consensus on nearby regions? I think we all know the CHRVA is relatively weak nationally, especially outside of Metro and Paramount. Can the same be said for Old Dominion, Carolina, Garden Empire, Keystone? Are there similar clubs that tend to be the behemoths of their particular regions? For example, are Triangle and RVC the go-to clubs in North Carolina and the rest of Virginia, respectively?

Pretty much every region north of Florida and east of Ohio is weaker than the top regions, which tend to be in Texas, Florida, California, Chicago and some hot spots in the midwest. Of course there are some great clubs outside of those areas (e.g., A5 in Georgia, Triangle in NC, AZ Storm) but generally the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and New England tend to not have as many strong clubs. The ranking of the top clubs in the country (used for determining who gets invited to Triple Crown) includes the state where the club is located and notably there are no clubs from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, or any other state in New England.
https://tcspub.blob.core.windows.net/usclubrankings/vb/2024%205%20Year%20Rankings.pdf

So, yes, it's fair to say that the neighboring regions are similar to CHRVA in the competitiveness of clubs compared to the best clubs nationally. There are of course good clubs in these states - just similar to CHRVA in that they are not quite at the level to be competitive with the open level teams from the top clubs nationally.

And similar to the examples you cited, there are some bigger clubs in these regions that tend to be better. Using the Keystone Region as an example, the bigger clubs are EC Power and Synergy which both have numerous teams at every age group (and EC Power in many different cities).

Last weekend in Baltimore, Metro 15 Travel lost to Triangle in 2 sets, and Metro 17 Travel lost to EC Power in 3.

Two weeks ago in MAPL. Metro 16 travel lost to Paramount 16 and Metro 17 travel lost to Paramount 16 in both pool and bracket. CHRVA finally get some good teams now.