Volleyball tryouts in real time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St James 14U coach brought in his Flint Hill high school team and displaced a lot of St James families. Avoid, as his focus will be training and playing his high school players.

I’m not sure what is meant by “brought in”? Was he running a practice while tryouts were being held? Were the Flint Hill players participating with the girls trying out? What was the issue?

As far as there being a conflict between training HS players and club season, HS season ends in a few weeks and I assume there won’t be anymore HS practices and I assume most of the FH players will start training with whatever club they’ll play for.

I’m not defending what might have happened at the St James with this coach and the Flint Hill HS team, but HS teams won’t be training anymore in a few weeks so the idea that there will be some continued focus on HS to the detriment of their club team doesn’t make sense.

The U14 St James coach is the coach for flint hill’s middle school and high school team. If he takes flint hill girls on the St James team it’s to his advantage to train them to be better for flint hill. Basically it’s just favoritism and unfair to the girls who were with St James before but didn’t make the team this year.

I assume you mean middle school players from FH since only a small number of 9th graders would be eligible to play 14s? Sure maybe, but it’s super common for HS coaches who also coach club to have overlap. If you think this is a problem there are way worse offenders. The overlap between MVSA and MCPS coaches and players is crazy. And there are many other examples at other clubs including VA Elite, Metro, and many, many more. The reality there aren’t enough volleyball coaches for HS and club to have completely separate pools of coaches. It would be nice if there could be more separation, but you’re going to really narrow your DD’s options if you limit her club choices to ones where the coaches don’t also coach HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St James 14U coach brought in his Flint Hill high school team and displaced a lot of St James families. Avoid, as his focus will be training and playing his high school players.

I’m not sure what is meant by “brought in”? Was he running a practice while tryouts were being held? Were the Flint Hill players participating with the girls trying out? What was the issue?

As far as there being a conflict between training HS players and club season, HS season ends in a few weeks and I assume there won’t be anymore HS practices and I assume most of the FH players will start training with whatever club they’ll play for.

I’m not defending what might have happened at the St James with this coach and the Flint Hill HS team, but HS teams won’t be training anymore in a few weeks so the idea that there will be some continued focus on HS to the detriment of their club team doesn’t make sense.

The U14 St James coach is the coach for flint hill’s middle school and high school team. If he takes flint hill girls on the St James team it’s to his advantage to train them to be better for flint hill. Basically it’s just favoritism and unfair to the girls who were with St James before but didn’t make the team this year.

All of us have been telling you forever, there is no loyalty either way in every club. This isn’t just for St. James and can happen anywhere. Any girl can get cut any year. Never think there is an advantage since you played there the year before. There are always girls lined up to take the spot, which is why clinics are so important.

My daughter learned this hard lesson in U14 too when most of her team got cut from their club when they offers would be a sure thing for returning players. It wasn’t personal. It isn’t for your DD either. And it’s not necessarily unfair. This coach wanted someone else.

[Anonymous]

Any parents of tall girls, how many offers are you getting? My daughter is 5’10.5 and I would say somewhere in the middle skill wise, but she has 3 offers in top teams. Wondering at which age level this will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any parents of tall girls, how many offers are you getting? My daughter is 5’10.5 and I would say somewhere in the middle skill wise, but she has 3 offers in top teams. Wondering at which age level this will change.

If she's 5'10.5" and reasonably athletic, that could carry through all the way through 18s, assuming she's a nice kid, a hard worker, and her parents aren't high maintenance At younger ages, the allure of the tall girl is both what she can contribute this season and perhaps even more importantly, what she might be in the future. If she continues to improve, being tall is one of the data points that is always important in volleyball. And if she's truly 5'10.5" in her bare feet, then she's probably already taller than a lot of the college players who list themselves as 6'1". The amount of exaggeration of heights on rosters is pretty comical, particular for girls in the 5'9"-5'11" range.

You didn't say how old she is, but if she's on the younger side be careful about her being trained only as a middle blocker. Lots of girls in that 5'10" range are the tallest on their teams at 12 and 13 so they are made middle blockers. Depending on how much more they grow and how athletic, by 15s or 16s, if she's still on a high level team and still in that 5'10" range, she might be better suited as an outside hitter, but it can be tough to train up on serve receive and defense which tends not be a focus for middle blockers. So even if she ends up playing middle for this season, she should insist on getting reps at other positions.

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks for the nice answer! She just turned 14 and is truly 5’10.5 barefoot. This will be her second year playing club. You’re absolutely right regarding the middle position - that is what she is mostly wanted for. What is funny though is that middle has always been her favorite position. I’ve been trying to encourage her to consider outside positions, but she has her heart set on middle. I do to really mind if this is what makes her happy.

[Anonymous]

*don’t really

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, you can't make a team of 12 Liberos. Team are filled up by position. So out of 50 people. 20 outsides, 20 setters, 5 DSs, and 5 middles, people from each category will be chosen. The ratio of outsides and setters to DSs and Middles is significant in this scenario. So for this case it's best to be a DS or middle.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree, with one caveat. The coaches might think your DD is better in a different position than what she wants to play. Obviously, if your DD has experience, she will know her skillset for positions. My DD started as a middle, worked hard to earn outside, and then coach moved her to right side. Also, some coaches will not even consider shorter players for front row, so if she listed OH/MB/OPP, those positions might not even be a possibility (even if she's a decent hitter), depending on the club.

+1

[Anonymous]

So I was the PP (from a few weeks ago) with the 12 yr old coming out of rec in MD. After helpful posts here and attending a bunch of clinics and practice events, we narrowed down our try outs to three clubs, 4 teams total.

She ended up getting an offer for 13U at a club where she attended camp this summer and the coach asked her to come back. She got waitlisted at another and shut out completely at the other.

So thank you everyone who gave really good advice on targeting realistic clubs for a rec kid. Some of her friends are really upset right now bc they are still waiting on offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was the PP (from a few weeks ago) with the 12 yr old coming out of rec in MD. After helpful posts here and attending a bunch of clinics and practice events, we narrowed down our try outs to three clubs, 4 teams total.

She ended up getting an offer for 13U at a club where she attended camp this summer and the coach asked her to come back. She got waitlisted at another and shut out completely at the other.

So thank you everyone who gave really good advice on targeting realistic clubs for a rec kid. Some of her friends are really upset right now bc they are still waiting on offers.

Congratulations to your DD for making a club team! I hope she has a great club season! It is nice to hear success stories from families new to volleyball. And I am happy that the advice worked in your case. Do you mind sharing the names of the clubs where you tried out and your result with each? Knowing more details regarding your experience would help us help others in similar situations.

[Anonymous]

MEVC just added make-tryouts for tomorrow. https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/register/form/984069882

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I was the PP (from a few weeks ago) with the 12 yr old coming out of rec in MD. After helpful posts here and attending a bunch of clinics and practice events, we narrowed down our try outs to three clubs, 4 teams total.

She ended up getting an offer for 13U at a club where she attended camp this summer and the coach asked her to come back. She got waitlisted at another and shut out completely at the other.

So thank you everyone who gave really good advice on targeting realistic clubs for a rec kid. Some of her friends are really upset right now bc they are still waiting on offers.

Congratulations to your DD for making a club team! I hope she has a great club season! It is nice to hear success stories from families new to volleyball. And I am happy that the advice worked in your case. Do you mind sharing the names of the clubs where you tried out and your result with each? Knowing more details regarding your experience would help us help others in similar situations.

I’ll try to share as much as I can without identifying her.

MD JRS- regional, no offer
Strive- waitlisted
Stars- offer and acceptance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I was the PP (from a few weeks ago) with the 12 yr old coming out of rec in MD. After helpful posts here and attending a bunch of clinics and practice events, we narrowed down our try outs to three clubs, 4 teams total.

She ended up getting an offer for 13U at a club where she attended camp this summer and the coach asked her to come back. She got waitlisted at another and shut out completely at the other.

So thank you everyone who gave really good advice on targeting realistic clubs for a rec kid. Some of her friends are really upset right now bc they are still waiting on offers.

Congratulations to your DD for making a club team! I hope she has a great club season! It is nice to hear success stories from families new to volleyball. And I am happy that the advice worked in your case. Do you mind sharing the names of the clubs where you tried out and your result with each? Knowing more details regarding your experience would help us help others in similar situations.

I’ll try to share as much as I can without identifying her.

MD JRS- regional, no offer
Strive- waitlisted
Stars- offer and acceptance

You should wait to see what happens with Strive before you accept the Stars offer. Unless you are sure that Stars is what you want and an offer from Strive would make no difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MEVC just added make-tryouts for tomorrow. https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/register/form/984069882

These were not just added - they were available for a while. Multiple clubs are organizing make-up tryouts as they try to fill up their rosters. Many of these make-up tryouts were announced at the same time with the regular tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, thanks for the nice answer! She just turned 14 and is truly 5’10.5 barefoot. This will be her second year playing club. You’re absolutely right regarding the middle position - that is what she is mostly wanted for. What is funny though is that middle has always been her favorite position. I’ve been trying to encourage her to consider outside positions, but she has her heart set on middle. I do to really mind if this is what makes her happy.

There is nothing wrong with being a middle at all, so you're right if that's what makes her happy, then by all means be a middle. I think where getting trained in other positions can be a benefit is if she decides she wants to play in college. At her height (assuming she doesn't grow much more) she could be considered on the smaller side for a collegiate middle, although if she's a big jumper or really skilled that may not matter so much.

Also, being more versatile is always a good thing. Beach volleyball is growing in popularity and if she ever decided to try that, being an all around player is critical to success.