Club Volleyball - question about playing time in tournaments
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Anonymous
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don't play for a club with more than 2 teams per age group. They are just taking money at that point and then you are probably funding the high level travel team vs the regional teams.
unless you are paying in the top tournaments and top brackets in those tournaments week after week, you are basically playing rec volleyball at club prices and the clubs know people will always pay. Metro created their "regional" teams a few years back and market their alumni as if everyone will get to play in college. They don't tell you that none of their regional players never play in college and their top players go play in college but not on scholarships. Va Elite is another like Metro. Volleyball is great fun and just manage your expectations |
Anonymous
How is VA Elite like Metro in that way? We are considering them and as I understand they have only one team per age group and no regional teams |
Anonymous
Pay on the installment plan if they'll let you. If your kid doesn't play, it's easy to just stop the payments |
Anonymous
VAE is nothing like metro - they only have one team, and while some kids play more than others, almost all the kids that get retained go on to play at college. (mostly D1 or high academic D3). |
Anonymous
DD played at VAE for 13s a few years ago. Will not go back. It's a good place if you are tall and play front row or tallish but may eventually move to back row. If you want to be a defensive player and agile, they aren't very good at teaching past the basics and rely on a tall front row... My DD did actually play a lot there but there were others who didn't play so much and the addl cost for VAE at younger age groups really doesn't make up for the difference compared to other clubs around here because you still pay for your own travel. Take this to mean that many/most that are on 13s and maybe 14s are not the same players that play thru to the end of HS at VAE. This may be fine for some but don't go in with expectation to stay year in and year out. VAE is very big on their bragging rights for all their girls graduate and go on to college. That means if your DD decides maybe school is a focus and they may not want to focus on college recruitment, they may weed you out so you don't mess with the 100% (happened to former VAE teammates older sister as she was moving up to 17s). They will also weed you out as they try to recruit in more taller players and if your DD is midsize, look to see if there is an available spot for backrow or plan to sit on the edge and see if they get to you if the tall recruits fall through. It's helpful for tall, brand new players who are athletic because they will train you in the basics. Not so great for those that are skilled and mid-size and looking for more advanced tactics as you get older. DD left on her own because she saw her skills actually drop in defense and peers get better by the end of the season in her position elsewhere. Ever since, all her specialized training actually trains against most of what is taught for the standard at VAE (works for tall front row but not the full time backrow). She did get to go to setting clinics as a DS so her setting improved at 13s and she learned more rotations but was ready to move on as was. We have friends who stayed or swapped in or others going back but they have their eyes open and constantly watching and assessing. The club has seemed to struggle to evolve as the vball terrain around this area has grown and there are more competitive clubs in town so they can't just rely on old reputation. They say they only want to ever play open for all levels and it is not about winning. That is their excuse for not playing other clubs in this region at tournaments in this area. They say it is about seeing what other of the best competition is out there. However, there is a lot of vball talent around this area at multiple clubs and good competition can be had here in addition to traveling (need both IMO). If the VAE younger teams are newer and less experienced players and we are a weaker region in vball in the country to begin with, they get slaughtered with this philosophy. Let them play against peers in the same region and have a fighting and more frequent chance to play before walking into the true 'open' level tournaments. Instead, they pay money to travel out of town and play open/top level teams from other regions and lose sets 25-5. They maybe can't even get through a full rotation meaning sometimes even the regular players can't even rotate onto the court as well if the team gets dropped from bracket play early, the whole team does not get 'playing' time to improve if you lose and exit early... Yeah - that year sucked and we weren't all about winning... |
Anonymous
| Very true on the 13s and 14s point - I think their are only 2/3 kids max who go from 13-18s, and they’re always the huge ones |
Anonymous
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X1000 My "midsize" DD played VAE for a few years - this poster is completely right. I wish I had known this before we spent so much time and $$$. At the end of the day, defense wins games. VAE has dismal, losing records across all their age groups, year after year (see AES for details). Now that DD has played HS and for another club, I cold. VAE hyperfocuses on technique (reps) and offense (strategy) -- no real defensive training and very little gameplay in practice (drills upon drills). The end result is teams with woefully ineffective defense who can't get the first passes needed to implement the offensive skills/strategy. There are plenty of local clubs at different with solid defensive training and thus winning records -- from VAVA and MVSA to Paramount and Metro.
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Anonymous
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X1000 My "midsize" DD played VAE for a few years - this poster is completely right. I wish I had known this before we spent so much time and $$$. At the end of the day, defense wins games. VAE has dismal, losing records across all their age groups, year after year (see AES for details). Now that DD has played HS and for another club, I can see why. VAE hyperfocuses on technique (reps) and offense (strategy) -- no real defensive training and very little gameplay in practice (drills upon drills). The end result is teams with woefully ineffective defense who can't get the first passes needed to implement the offensive skills/strategy. There are plenty of local clubs at different with solid defensive training and thus winning records -- from VAVA, MVSA and American to VA Juniors, Paramount and Metro.
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Anonymous
| To be fair - VAE is a college recruiting factory, and in my experience, they are quite open about that. They focus on technique so their kids have the best chance to actually play from the start at college - a lot of their players play as freshman at college, because they are better technically than their peers (who just play and play in practice, and spend two years getting their technical flaws corrected at college). They play in open so their players get as much exposure to college coaches as possible, as Open is where the most interest is. They have some good age groups (mostly the 17s and 18s), but most of those players haven’t come through from 13s/14s - and by then most of their players on the college track. If your kid wants to play at college, it’s a good option, but be aware, colleges are heightist - a midsized player needs to be unbelievably talented to even play D3. Our DD played there, as well as a couple other clubs mentioned, and went on to successfully play at college - but she’s tall and athletic. They worked for us but it’s an expensive option at the younger age groups, particularly if your daughter is midsized. You have to understand the landscape and what the merits are of all the different clubs and marry that up with what your kid wants to do/is capable of. |