Volleyball tryouts in real time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

this is very well said for not only volleyball but multiple sports and hey private schools, colleges etc....at the end of the day the price is set to market

The price is not set to market, the price is set to the point where suckers are still willing to pay. If the market would dictate prices, MVSA would be the most expensive club in Maryland (instead, it is the cheapest). The next most expensive would be MOCO, MEVC, and Platform. They all pay their coaches and they all have decent fees. Interestingly, DMV is one of the weakest clubs in the area and charges some of the most outrageous fees. I would agree that clubs like DMV are turning volleyball into a country club - you need a lot of money to continue playing if you don't have the skills to make a good team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

Is DMV Academy the same as Academy? I’m getting confused with all the names.

No, they are different clubs. DMV Academy (https://www.dmvsportsmanagement.com/page/show/7274206-dmv-volleyball-academy-club-season-) practices in Rockville and Academy (https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/home mostly at North Chevy Chase Elementary School. DMV Elite seems to be owned by the same group as DMV Academy, although it has never been clear to me why they are treated as two separate clubs.

DMV Elite is owned by Vienna Elite. I guess it is one of strategies whereby the club wants to expand their business by getting more teams per age, but it looks bad if you have more than 2 teams per age so they would create subsidiary division which now can recruit more team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

I am one of the posters who considers the cost when advice is requested about any club. The statement I bolded is absolutely disingenuous. Everyone knows that MVSA can offer those prices because all the coaches volunteer their time and expertise. It would be great if all coaches / all clubs would follow the model, but even I understand this ideal to be too idealistic. All coaches understand that their expertise is in demand and some will try to monetize it. There is nothing wrong about being paid to coach and seek opportunities in clubs that offer a coaching stipend.

In terms of expenses, clubs that pay their coaches will definitely spend more money. There was a pretty good discussion (on a different thread) about how much extra a club needs to spend to offer a player experience similar to that in MVSA, including some profit. There are just a few clubs in the DMV area that charge fees in line with the analysis on that thread (kudos to those clubs for being reasonable). Most of the clubs (especially in VA) charge thousands more in club fees that cannot be justified any other way than greed (something that you like to call "market" or "demand"). You are free to pay them as much as they ask for, I am also free to question their fee structure.

You are absolutely correct that you can question clubs' fee structures and let your money do the talking by choosing a club that you believe is priced fairly (or choosing not to participate at all). I disagree that a club that sets their fees higher than I prefer is greedy. I can't afford VAE club/travel fees so we've never considered VAE for my DD, but I don't think of them as greedy. They consistently have plenty of interested players at their tryouts so it must be priced in a way that works for other people. I don't begrudge the club or think the folks who run VAE are bad people because they seemingly make a good profit from their small business. I just take my business elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

I am one of the posters who considers the cost when advice is requested about any club. The statement I bolded is absolutely disingenuous. Everyone knows that MVSA can offer those prices because all the coaches volunteer their time and expertise. It would be great if all coaches / all clubs would follow the model, but even I understand this ideal to be too idealistic. All coaches understand that their expertise is in demand and some will try to monetize it. There is nothing wrong about being paid to coach and seek opportunities in clubs that offer a coaching stipend.

In terms of expenses, clubs that pay their coaches will definitely spend more money. There was a pretty good discussion (on a different thread) about how much extra a club needs to spend to offer a player experience similar to that in MVSA, including some profit. There are just a few clubs in the DMV area that charge fees in line with the analysis on that thread (kudos to those clubs for being reasonable). Most of the clubs (especially in VA) charge thousands more in club fees that cannot be justified any other way than greed (something that you like to call "market" or "demand"). You are free to pay them as much as they ask for, I am also free to question their fee structure.

You are absolutely correct that you can question clubs' fee structures and let your money do the talking by choosing a club that you believe is priced fairly (or choosing not to participate at all). I disagree that a club that sets their fees higher than I prefer is greedy. I can't afford VAE club/travel fees so we've never considered VAE for my DD, but I don't think of them as greedy. They consistently have plenty of interested players at their tryouts so it must be priced in a way that works for other people. I don't begrudge the club or think the folks who run VAE are bad people because they seemingly make a good profit from their small business. I just take my business elsewhere.

I cannot argue about you simply taking your business elsewhere if that's how you want to approach the issue. I am too polite to call them greedy in their faces, but I can do it on anonymous forums. That's how they know that we know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

I am one of the posters who considers the cost when advice is requested about any club. The statement I bolded is absolutely disingenuous. Everyone knows that MVSA can offer those prices because all the coaches volunteer their time and expertise. It would be great if all coaches / all clubs would follow the model, but even I understand this ideal to be too idealistic. All coaches understand that their expertise is in demand and some will try to monetize it. There is nothing wrong about being paid to coach and seek opportunities in clubs that offer a coaching stipend.

In terms of expenses, clubs that pay their coaches will definitely spend more money. There was a pretty good discussion (on a different thread) about how much extra a club needs to spend to offer a player experience similar to that in MVSA, including some profit. There are just a few clubs in the DMV area that charge fees in line with the analysis on that thread (kudos to those clubs for being reasonable). Most of the clubs (especially in VA) charge thousands more in club fees that cannot be justified any other way than greed (something that you like to call "market" or "demand"). You are free to pay them as much as they ask for, I am also free to question their fee structure.

You are absolutely correct that you can question clubs' fee structures and let your money do the talking by choosing a club that you believe is priced fairly (or choosing not to participate at all). I disagree that a club that sets their fees higher than I prefer is greedy. I can't afford VAE club/travel fees so we've never considered VAE for my DD, but I don't think of them as greedy. They consistently have plenty of interested players at their tryouts so it must be priced in a way that works for other people. I don't begrudge the club or think the folks who run VAE are bad people because they seemingly make a good profit from their small business. I just take my business elsewhere.

I cannot argue about you simply taking your business elsewhere if that's how you want to approach the issue. I am too polite to call them greedy in their faces, but I can do it on anonymous forums. That's how they know that we know.

They're probably too busy counting their stacks of cash in their mansions in Great Falls to be keeping up on the latest DCUM volleyball gossip though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

Is DMV Academy the same as Academy? I’m getting confused with all the names.

No, they are different clubs. DMV Academy (https://www.dmvsportsmanagement.com/page/show/7274206-dmv-volleyball-academy-club-season-) practices in Rockville and Academy (https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/home mostly at North Chevy Chase Elementary School. DMV Elite seems to be owned by the same group as DMV Academy, although it has never been clear to me why they are treated as two separate clubs.

DMV Elite is owned by Vienna Elite. I guess it is one of strategies whereby the club wants to expand their business by getting more teams per age, but it looks bad if you have more than 2 teams per age so they would create subsidiary division which now can recruit more team.

DMV Elite is the premiere open level club offshoot from Vienna Elite. They practice in NoVA and are a decent team (we saw them win over Virginia Elite). They are extremely expensive but travel a lot and go to qualifiers.

DMV in Maryland is not the same club and I don’t know if they are affiliated with the other two. But they are less competitive and ranked below DMV Elite and Vienna Elite.

[Anonymous]

Offers are good until tomorrow at 10pm correct? DD received one yesterday but is waiting to see if she gets onto a different one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Offers are good until tomorrow at 10pm correct? DD received one yesterday but is waiting to see if she gets onto a different one

I feel like I just answered this on a different thread: According to the CHRVA rules, the offer is valid until Tuesday at 10 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

this is very well said for not only volleyball but multiple sports and hey private schools, colleges etc....at the end of the day the price is set to market

The price is not set to market, the price is set to the point where suckers are still willing to pay. If the market would dictate prices, MVSA would be the most expensive club in Maryland (instead, it is the cheapest). The next most expensive would be MOCO, MEVC, and Platform. They all pay their coaches and they all have decent fees. Interestingly, DMV is one of the weakest clubs in the area and charges some of the most outrageous fees. I would agree that clubs like DMV are turning volleyball into a country club - you need a lot of money to continue playing if you don't have the skills to make a good team.

I don't think you understand how markets work, but putting that aside, what's the reasoning behind your hypothesis that MVSA would be the most expensive club in Maryland? On W-L record for their teams? Success on the regional or national level? Numbers of players that go on to successful collegiate careers? Something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

DC is just getting into volleyball and to be fair, I am getting a bit of sticker shock.

There just doesn't seem to be much price competition. I don't see this as much in basketball or soccer. Is volleyball a "country club" sport or a niche sport for rich kids?

I don't think it's accurate to call volleyball a "niche" sport. In terms of number of girls participating in HS, it's the team sport with the most girls participating (other than track and field which tends to be no cut at many school), ahead of soccer, basketball, softball, etc. https://www.nfhs.org/media/7213111/2023-24-nfhs-participation-survey-full.pdf. The number of girls playing club seems to be increasing every year too - my DD is going into her 8th season of club and there seems to be more and more interest every year. Collegiate women's volleyball is getting tons more TV time every year and there have been 3 new pro leagues formed in the US in the past few years.

I think the cost is an unfortunate side effect of the increase in popularity. Clubs have an incredible demand for spots on their teams so there is no incentive to keep costs low. Also, in the not so distant past, only top teams tended to travel to a lot of tournaments that required flights and multiple night hotel stays, but there is a clear trend for more, less competitive teams to be traveling. I've heard various opinions as to why this is. Some say that it's coaches or club directors wanting the prestige of playing at large, well known tournaments in addition to getting the nice perk of an all expense paid weekend. Others think the increase in travel is because that is what players and parents want, and clubs are just working to meet that demand. I suspect that it's a bit of both.

Hopefully there will be more clubs (or teams at existing clubs) that are geared more towards players who want to play a more local schedule without a big focus on going to the national championship tournament or getting recruited to play in college, but for now there seems to be not enough clubs to meet that need.

[Anonymous]

To the PP there are several clubs that have regional teams in addition to their open level national travel teams: BRYC American, Vienna Elite White, St. James White, Mojo pink and white(?), American Red, NVVA white, and all the Metro regional teams N, E, Central, South FX, South PW, all are teams that play in the DMV area and don’t require expensive air travel or long rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP there are several clubs that have regional teams in addition to their open level national travel teams: BRYC American, Vienna Elite White, St. James White, Mojo pink and white(?), American Red, NVVA white, and all the Metro regional teams N, E, Central, South FX, South PW, all are teams that play in the DMV area and don’t require expensive air travel or long rides.

I agree - in addition, the 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) teams at MVSA, MOCO, and the regional teams at MDJRs also fit the bill of teams that travel less and tend to have lower fees. But if the discussion on these forums are any indication, there is a need for more lower priced options which usually means teams that travel less and are more concerned with developing players and less worried about competing at the highest levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

Is DMV Academy the same as Academy? I’m getting confused with all the names.

No, they are different clubs. DMV Academy (https://www.dmvsportsmanagement.com/page/show/7274206-dmv-volleyball-academy-club-season-) practices in Rockville and Academy (https://academy-volleyball.sportngin.com/home mostly at North Chevy Chase Elementary School. DMV Elite seems to be owned by the same group as DMV Academy, although it has never been clear to me why they are treated as two separate clubs.

DMV Elite is owned by Vienna Elite. I guess it is one of strategies whereby the club wants to expand their business by getting more teams per age, but it looks bad if you have more than 2 teams per age so they would create subsidiary division which now can recruit more team.

DMV Elite is the premiere open level club offshoot from Vienna Elite. They practice in NoVA and are a decent team (we saw them win over Virginia Elite). They are extremely expensive but travel a lot and go to qualifiers.

DMV in Maryland is not the same club and I don’t know if they are affiliated with the other two. But they are less competitive and ranked below DMV Elite and Vienna Elite.

Not sure where you see DMV ELite beats VA Elite. AES result (National Ranking) from last year:
15U: DMV Elite :2675 ; VAElite :1475
16U: DMV Elite: 2238 ; VAElite: 838
17U: DMV Elite 1871; VAElite:138
18U: DMV Elite: 1536; VAElite: 269

AES National ranking is the most accurate measurement of Club/Team performance. The top 5 NOVA clubs usually rank in top 500s nationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DMV Volleyball Academy offers are out for 14U.

My daughter received and offer. The reviews on other threads aren’t very positive 😬

I know DMV is pricey, and it’s not as intense as some of the other clubs, but we are looking for something a bit more low key for our daughter. Other than the expense, what is so bad about DMV?

That's exactly what they want: parents who are willing to pay a lot of money for a low-key experience for their daughter. You fit their ideal parent profile, so you should go ahead and shovel the green their way.

Super helpful comment. Go back to Dance Moms.

I knew that you would appreciate it. It's nothing really, I am just praising clubs like DMV for giving people the chance to waste their money. Let me know where the Dance Moms meet and I will try to make it.

How is it wasting money if your kid is doing something they enjoy and getting the chance to get better for the following season? Not being snarky w that question, truly just asking what the negative is if there’s not another option.

There are some posters on these forums who weigh in on almost every volleyball thread with their perspective that volleyball clubs are price gouging and that club owners are greedy and taking advantage of families. Inevitably, they will point to MVSA (whose prices are far below the rest of the "market") as the model for what all clubs should cost. They often point out that Virginia clubs trend more expensive than Maryland clubs and seem to suggest some kind of conspiracy or other shady dealings. When someone counters that this seems like a situation where a small business sets their prices according to what the market will support, they then shift the blame to the parents who are willing to pay for these clubs as part of the "problem".

I'm of the opinion that all of us need to make the decision that is best for our own family and circumstances. If your DD wants to play club volleyball and you are able to afford the team from which they received an offer, then that sounds like the right choice to me. Of course it would be nice if this was all less expensive, but you don't need to be a PhD economist to understand that with the explosion in popularity of volleyball, the demand for clubs far exceeds the supply, and that is resulting in higher prices.

this is very well said for not only volleyball but multiple sports and hey private schools, colleges etc....at the end of the day the price is set to market

The price is not set to market, the price is set to the point where suckers are still willing to pay. If the market would dictate prices, MVSA would be the most expensive club in Maryland (instead, it is the cheapest). The next most expensive would be MOCO, MEVC, and Platform. They all pay their coaches and they all have decent fees. Interestingly, DMV is one of the weakest clubs in the area and charges some of the most outrageous fees. I would agree that clubs like DMV are turning volleyball into a country club - you need a lot of money to continue playing if you don't have the skills to make a good team.

I don't think you understand how markets work, but putting that aside, what's the reasoning behind your hypothesis that MVSA would be the most expensive club in Maryland? On W-L record for their teams? Success on the regional or national level? Numbers of players that go on to successful collegiate careers? Something else?

They provide the best "product". They could charge a lot more and players would still flock to their teams. But they are decent humans who want to keep the sport affordable for everyone who makes their teams. Unfortunately we didn't make any of their teams, but we still took advantage of their other activities (summer program and rec league). I feel like MVSA is the main reason why the MD clubs cannot be as shameless as the clubs in VA.

[Anonymous]

I received an email saying that my daughter is an alternate- when can we expect to find out? We are new to this...