Volleyball Action

[Anonymous]

MOCO announced summer clinics on Facebook (they promised the registration would open at the end of February). They have no such page on their website yet. Given my previous experience with the club, I won't pour money into their clinics anymore. Way more expensive than average without delivering more than average results. And I still didn't forget how they treated my DD during the tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Triangle's top teams are always really good so I don't know that it's a huge surprise that they beat a Metro Travel team. Triangle 17 Black beat Metro 17 Travel at City of Oaks on MLK weekend. That particular EC Power team is also really good - they also beat Metro last year at Charm City when both teams were 16s. Seems like the Paramount 16s are really good this year - as 15s that team qualified for GJNC in the Open division so it shouldn't be a huge surprise. It'll be interesting to see how they do at Triple Crown and into qualifiers against higher level competition.

[FPYCparent]

Former Paramount parent (from last year's 15 Open bid team, perhaps )

With the CHRVA-relevant events that have been completed to this point (Volley by the James, City of Oaks, MAPL-Hampton, Charm City, National Harbor ... which may not have the caliber of the other events I've listed), I think it is only fair to acknowledge that both Metro Travel and Paramount 1s have both done well in their outings. I didn't check all results, but I didn't see that any CHRVA 18s teams earned a USAV bid while in Ohio. I think Metro won the silver bracket, but that does not translate to a bid.

Other than the one-day Bid Regionals, most of the top CHRVA teams won't face each other outside of a qualifier. Are there any other clubs/teams that are putting themselves in a position to do well in their respective age groups? I haven't seen BRVA 17s (at least one win over Metro 17s). I have seen a few Premier EDGE teams that simply didn't make mistakes and found ways to win. I'm just not sure if that will translate to success against the top two. I still don't know how Virginia Juniors will do ... and I think they have only one team competing in Open in events after Cap Hill. Hopefully, the club do will in USA division play. It does seem that some of the Maryland clubs (MDJRS, MVSA) are losing talent to the behemoths in the older age groups. In potentially good news, CHRVA seems to be first in line for a reallocated American division bid for most age groups (14s - 17s, at least).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MOCO announced summer clinics on Facebook (they promised the registration would open at the end of February). They have no such page on their website yet. Given my previous experience with the club, I won't pour money into their clinics anymore. Way more expensive than average without delivering more than average results. And I still didn't forget how they treated my DD during the tryouts.

Thanks for the heads up. MOCO's clinics are very good. I agree that their sessions aren't cheap, but my DD improved a lot from previous ones. Not sure about your DD's experience, but IMO, my little one learned a lot from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOCO announced summer clinics on Facebook (they promised the registration would open at the end of February). They have no such page on their website yet. Given my previous experience with the club, I won't pour money into their clinics anymore. Way more expensive than average without delivering more than average results. And I still didn't forget how they treated my DD during the tryouts.

Thanks for the heads up. MOCO's clinics are very good. I agree that their sessions aren't cheap, but my DD improved a lot from previous ones. Not sure about your DD's experience, but IMO, my little one learned a lot from them.

My DD's first year at MOCO clinics was not very useful. She was always on the bottom court doing what bottom court does. She was hoping that one day she would be on the top court. The next year she was on the top court, but not because of what she learned in MOCO. She can trace back skills she learned / perfected from MVSA and MEVC clinics, but nothing in particular from MOCO. My bank account remembers the hefty bills associated with MOCO clinics though.

[Anonymous]

Summer camp:
https://marylandsportsacademy.com/volleyball/
July 14-17 & July 21-24 from 9am-3pm each day
Free camp t-shirt if you register before May 1
Valentine's day promo code VDAY25 for $25 off (valid 2/13-2/17)

This was the first volleyball camp my DD went to (two years in a row while she was playing rec). Apparently, they have more advanced teams, but my DD was always in the beginner teams.

[Anonymous]

Montgomery County Rec leagues and clinics start at the end of April. Registration starts tomorrow (2/19) for the following:
10-11s at Wheaton Community Center, Sundays 10:30 - 2:30 pm
12-13s at Wheaton Community Center, Sundays 10:30 - 2:30 pm
12-13s at East County Community Center, Saturdays 5:30 - 9:30 pm
14-17s Girls at Plum Gar Community Center, Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm
14-17s Co-Ed at Midcounty Community Center, Sundays 10 am - 6 pm

They are good if you want to see if your kids like the sport (not the same quality as the club leagues/clinics, but way cheaper).

[Anonymous]

I received this a few days ago and for got to post here: American University Volleyball camps https://www.americanvolleyballcamp.com/ - multiple camps, specialized positions, lots of money.

[Anonymous]

Academy started advertising their summer camps: https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/680094839

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Academy started advertising their summer camps: https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/680094839

How are Academy's summer camps? Any experience?

[Anonymous]

Metro's summer camps:
https://www.metrovbc.com/camps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Metro's summer camps:
https://www.metrovbc.com/camps

For those who have gone in the past, have they found them to be helpful for tryouts? Are they looking at the girls this early for Nov tryouts? My DD is considering the elite positional session during the last week of July but doesn’t know if this will be a waste of time and if she should focus on fall clinics instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro's summer camps:
https://www.metrovbc.com/camps

For those who have gone in the past, have they found them to be helpful for tryouts? Are they looking at the girls this early for Nov tryouts? My DD is considering the elite positional session during the last week of July but doesn’t know if this will be a waste of time and if she should focus on fall clinics instead.

Most camps / clinics / leagues are money grabs: most clubs charge fees that have little to do with their actual costs to run the camps. The costs are spiraling out of control because many people in this area can afford to throw money at the sport. You can go relatively cheaper with camps / clinics organized by the county / city, but the quality is not there (most coaches have little experience).

Let's say you have the money and you are willing to throw it away. Most clubs offer these opportunities to advertise and recruit. You learn what they do at practice and you meet club players. You evaluate whether the club is a good fit. Some activities are better than others. You will gain the most if you match the level of the camp with the level of your player. If you are not sure where your player stands, you should sign up for beginner activities (most likely that's where you are). Let's say your child played one year of rec volleyball and you believe them to be an intermediate player. You are most likely wrong: sign them up for beginner activity. If you sign them up for an activity where they are out of their league, they will end up on the second court. The real action happens on the top court, where players really benefit from being present.

We figured out pretty quickly that the Metro camps we signed up for were not a good fit. They were teaching skills designed for their top players, which were too advanced for our DD's level. I am not blaming Metro: they did what they had to do to challenge their players. I was the one signing up my DD for the wrong activity. MOCO was almost the same, except that the level was lower than Metro (but even more expensive). For us, activities organized by MVSA, MEVC, and Platform worked much better. Especially MVSA - they try really hard to place players at the level where they belong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro's summer camps:
https://www.metrovbc.com/camps

For those who have gone in the past, have they found them to be helpful for tryouts? Are they looking at the girls this early for Nov tryouts? My DD is considering the elite positional session during the last week of July but doesn’t know if this will be a waste of time and if she should focus on fall clinics instead.

Most camps / clinics / leagues are money grabs: most clubs charge fees that have little to do with their actual costs to run the camps. The costs are spiraling out of control because many people in this area can afford to throw money at the sport. You can go relatively cheaper with camps / clinics organized by the county / city, but the quality is not there (most coaches have little experience).

Let's say you have the money and you are willing to throw it away. Most clubs offer these opportunities to advertise and recruit. You learn what they do at practice and you meet club players. You evaluate whether the club is a good fit. Some activities are better than others. You will gain the most if you match the level of the camp with the level of your player. If you are not sure where your player stands, you should sign up for beginner activities (most likely that's where you are). Let's say your child played one year of rec volleyball and you believe them to be an intermediate player. You are most likely wrong: sign them up for beginner activity. If you sign them up for an activity where they are out of their league, they will end up on the second court. The real action happens on the top court, where players really benefit from being present.

We figured out pretty quickly that the Metro camps we signed up for were not a good fit. They were teaching skills designed for their top players, which were too advanced for our DD's level. I am not blaming Metro: they did what they had to do to challenge their players. I was the one signing up my DD for the wrong activity. MOCO was almost the same, except that the level was lower than Metro (but even more expensive). For us, activities organized by MVSA, MEVC, and Platform worked much better. Especially MVSA - they try really hard to place players at the level where they belong.

This is a helpful post for me- Ty!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro's summer camps:
https://www.metrovbc.com/camps

For those who have gone in the past, have they found them to be helpful for tryouts? Are they looking at the girls this early for Nov tryouts? My DD is considering the elite positional session during the last week of July but doesn’t know if this will be a waste of time and if she should focus on fall clinics instead.

Most camps / clinics / leagues are money grabs: most clubs charge fees that have little to do with their actual costs to run the camps. The costs are spiraling out of control because many people in this area can afford to throw money at the sport. You can go relatively cheaper with camps / clinics organized by the county / city, but the quality is not there (most coaches have little experience).

Let's say you have the money and you are willing to throw it away. Most clubs offer these opportunities to advertise and recruit. You learn what they do at practice and you meet club players. You evaluate whether the club is a good fit. Some activities are better than others. You will gain the most if you match the level of the camp with the level of your player. If you are not sure where your player stands, you should sign up for beginner activities (most likely that's where you are). Let's say your child played one year of rec volleyball and you believe them to be an intermediate player. You are most likely wrong: sign them up for beginner activity. If you sign them up for an activity where they are out of their league, they will end up on the second court. The real action happens on the top court, where players really benefit from being present.

We figured out pretty quickly that the Metro camps we signed up for were not a good fit. They were teaching skills designed for their top players, which were too advanced for our DD's level. I am not blaming Metro: they did what they had to do to challenge their players. I was the one signing up my DD for the wrong activity. MOCO was almost the same, except that the level was lower than Metro (but even more expensive). For us, activities organized by MVSA, MEVC, and Platform worked much better. Especially MVSA - they try really hard to place players at the level where they belong.

This is a helpful post for me- Ty!

It was- I’m not pp but 2nd what they said. Metro has their teams figure out already so if your dd isn’t 12, 13 or maybe 14 you need to find another club.