Moco thoughts

[Anonymous]

Is the clinic for beginners registration not working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Based on our experience, not doing the fall training with MOCO reduces your chances of making a team. Participation in the fall training might show some sort of commitment to the club. But that's not all: they get to know the players during the fall training program and they give the participants additional rope. We know one player who was offered a spot on a MOCO team, even though she could not show up at the tryouts (because of an injury). The offer was based entirely on her participation at the fall training.

That's just not fair.

Not sure if the injured player had played for MOCO in a prior season, but picking teams is a difficult balancing act for the clubs. Most clubs generally have some loyalty to players who played for them in the prior season and that makes sense. Starting the season with a core group that has played together before is definitely an advantage. But it’s also a good idea to add new players to the team, hopefully to help the overall team improve. But that can lead to situations where players who played for a club for one or more seasons don’t get offers which is a difficult thing to do.

The important thing for parents and prospective players to know that every season is not empty roster that is picked solely on how a player performs at tryouts. Returners, players a club has gotten to know through clinics or high school volleyball, and other factors are all as important (if not more) than what happens at tryouts. So have a few options for potential clubs and make an effort to have your DD get to know those clubs (and vice versa) before tryouts.

The thing the bolded part of your statement leaves out that is probably the MOST determinative of who ends up on the team after tryouts is that if girls who the coaches have never laid eyes on ever in their lives show up at tryouts and slay the tryouts - like truly stand out as really good or great - there are very few teams that will say no to those players just to keep familiar alumni players on the team. MOCO is one of many clubs who, if you go back through the last couple of years of post-tryout reports/complaints from parents, you'll see several posts of parents having been told their girl was definitely going to be put on X team, but then tryouts come and go and they get no offer, or they get an offer for a lower tier team in the club like a Rec team. You show up super well at tryouts, most clubs will fill the roster with whoever they think shined brightest and usually only really hold spots for their tried and true superstars.

While it is true that a player completely unknown to a club can sometimes show up to a tryout and impress so much that they get an offer, I think it is a stretch to suggest that this is frequent or the norm, at least for age groups above 14 or so. Club volleyball is a pretty small world and many coaches/clubs have a pretty good sense of who the talented players are in each age group. For younger players, the scenario described is probably more likely since the players have not been seen as much (or at all if they are totally new).

While I would not go so far as to say that teams are already selected prior to tryouts, our experience has been that most coaches know who they are going to make offers to for 75% or more of the roster spots on a given team by tryouts. Of course players have options too and every player a coach thinks is going to be on their team won't accept the offer which does lead to some shuffling during the tryout period.

I think it would be a risky strategy to just show up at tryouts thinking that your DD will be so impressive that they will get an offer. It might happen, but I don't think it should be Plan A.

I totally agree that no way should showing up unknown and thinking you'll wow them and get an offer be "Plan A" - I never said anything like that. You missed my main point which is that for those unknown or playing for the first time, the advice of only going to one tryout a day is terrible because your ODDS of getting any offer at all (as distant as those odds may already be) your odds get worse right away when you show up somewhere else on Day 2. It's not impossible - you may be good for someone a team thought they'd definitely get and then they accept somewhere else so they're down a ______________ position player and you look pretty decent for it. That does happen.

But everyone trying out has their best shot on the first day a particular club has tryouts. Again, my 3 daughters got almost all of their offers (and some to quality teams with the most competition) on Day 1, so I don't suggest anyone wait if possible and do you're 2-3 most desired teams on Day 1 of tryouts. (And we know people who've done 4 in one day, but that really is too much for most of us.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Based on our experience, not doing the fall training with MOCO reduces your chances of making a team. Participation in the fall training might show some sort of commitment to the club. But that's not all: they get to know the players during the fall training program and they give the participants additional rope. We know one player who was offered a spot on a MOCO team, even though she could not show up at the tryouts (because of an injury). The offer was based entirely on her participation at the fall training.

That's just not fair.

Not sure if the injured player had played for MOCO in a prior season, but picking teams is a difficult balancing act for the clubs. Most clubs generally have some loyalty to players who played for them in the prior season and that makes sense. Starting the season with a core group that has played together before is definitely an advantage. But it’s also a good idea to add new players to the team, hopefully to help the overall team improve. But that can lead to situations where players who played for a club for one or more seasons don’t get offers which is a difficult thing to do.

The important thing for parents and prospective players to know that every season is not empty roster that is picked solely on how a player performs at tryouts. Returners, players a club has gotten to know through clinics or high school volleyball, and other factors are all as important (if not more) than what happens at tryouts. So have a few options for potential clubs and make an effort to have your DD get to know those clubs (and vice versa) before tryouts.

The thing the bolded part of your statement leaves out that is probably the MOST determinative of who ends up on the team after tryouts is that if girls who the coaches have never laid eyes on ever in their lives show up at tryouts and slay the tryouts - like truly stand out as really good or great - there are very few teams that will say no to those players just to keep familiar alumni players on the team. MOCO is one of many clubs who, if you go back through the last couple of years of post-tryout reports/complaints from parents, you'll see several posts of parents having been told their girl was definitely going to be put on X team, but then tryouts come and go and they get no offer, or they get an offer for a lower tier team in the club like a Rec team. You show up super well at tryouts, most clubs will fill the roster with whoever they think shined brightest and usually only really hold spots for their tried and true superstars.

While it is true that a player completely unknown to a club can sometimes show up to a tryout and impress so much that they get an offer, I think it is a stretch to suggest that this is frequent or the norm, at least for age groups above 14 or so. Club volleyball is a pretty small world and many coaches/clubs have a pretty good sense of who the talented players are in each age group. For younger players, the scenario described is probably more likely since the players have not been seen as much (or at all if they are totally new).

While I would not go so far as to say that teams are already selected prior to tryouts, our experience has been that most coaches know who they are going to make offers to for 75% or more of the roster spots on a given team by tryouts. Of course players have options too and every player a coach thinks is going to be on their team won't accept the offer which does lead to some shuffling during the tryout period.

I think it would be a risky strategy to just show up at tryouts thinking that your DD will be so impressive that they will get an offer. It might happen, but I don't think it should be Plan A.

I totally agree that no way should showing up unknown and thinking you'll wow them and get an offer be "Plan A" - I never said anything like that. You missed my main point which is that for those unknown or playing for the first time, the advice of only going to one tryout a day is terrible because your ODDS of getting any offer at all (as distant as those odds may already be) your odds get worse right away when you show up somewhere else on Day 2. It's not impossible - you may be good for someone a team thought they'd definitely get and then they accept somewhere else so they're down a ______________ position player and you look pretty decent for it. That does happen.

But everyone trying out has their best shot on the first day a particular club has tryouts. Again, my 3 daughters got almost all of their offers (and some to quality teams with the most competition) on Day 1, so I don't suggest anyone wait if possible and do you're 2-3 most desired teams on Day 1 of tryouts. (And we know people who've done 4 in one day, but that really is too much for most of us.)

That was not our experience. My DD prioritized her reach clubs early during the tryouts and that never worked. She got offers from the more desperate clubs during the last days of tryouts. When she figured out that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tryouts were not very successful, she showed up at make-up tryouts of less competitive clubs and she got multiple offers (both on Monday and on Tuesday). But I agree that trying out at a mediocre club in the first day of tryouts will likely result in an offer. I just offered a different experience to show that going around and offering advice as if your experience is the most representative of them all is not ideal. People can experience life differently than you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Based on our experience, not doing the fall training with MOCO reduces your chances of making a team. Participation in the fall training might show some sort of commitment to the club. But that's not all: they get to know the players during the fall training program and they give the participants additional rope. We know one player who was offered a spot on a MOCO team, even though she could not show up at the tryouts (because of an injury). The offer was based entirely on her participation at the fall training.

That's just not fair.

Not sure if the injured player had played for MOCO in a prior season, but picking teams is a difficult balancing act for the clubs. Most clubs generally have some loyalty to players who played for them in the prior season and that makes sense. Starting the season with a core group that has played together before is definitely an advantage. But it’s also a good idea to add new players to the team, hopefully to help the overall team improve. But that can lead to situations where players who played for a club for one or more seasons don’t get offers which is a difficult thing to do.

The important thing for parents and prospective players to know that every season is not empty roster that is picked solely on how a player performs at tryouts. Returners, players a club has gotten to know through clinics or high school volleyball, and other factors are all as important (if not more) than what happens at tryouts. So have a few options for potential clubs and make an effort to have your DD get to know those clubs (and vice versa) before tryouts.

The thing the bolded part of your statement leaves out that is probably the MOST determinative of who ends up on the team after tryouts is that if girls who the coaches have never laid eyes on ever in their lives show up at tryouts and slay the tryouts - like truly stand out as really good or great - there are very few teams that will say no to those players just to keep familiar alumni players on the team. MOCO is one of many clubs who, if you go back through the last couple of years of post-tryout reports/complaints from parents, you'll see several posts of parents having been told their girl was definitely going to be put on X team, but then tryouts come and go and they get no offer, or they get an offer for a lower tier team in the club like a Rec team. You show up super well at tryouts, most clubs will fill the roster with whoever they think shined brightest and usually only really hold spots for their tried and true superstars.

While it is true that a player completely unknown to a club can sometimes show up to a tryout and impress so much that they get an offer, I think it is a stretch to suggest that this is frequent or the norm, at least for age groups above 14 or so. Club volleyball is a pretty small world and many coaches/clubs have a pretty good sense of who the talented players are in each age group. For younger players, the scenario described is probably more likely since the players have not been seen as much (or at all if they are totally new).

While I would not go so far as to say that teams are already selected prior to tryouts, our experience has been that most coaches know who they are going to make offers to for 75% or more of the roster spots on a given team by tryouts. Of course players have options too and every player a coach thinks is going to be on their team won't accept the offer which does lead to some shuffling during the tryout period.

I think it would be a risky strategy to just show up at tryouts thinking that your DD will be so impressive that they will get an offer. It might happen, but I don't think it should be Plan A.

I totally agree that no way should showing up unknown and thinking you'll wow them and get an offer be "Plan A" - I never said anything like that. You missed my main point which is that for those unknown or playing for the first time, the advice of only going to one tryout a day is terrible because your ODDS of getting any offer at all (as distant as those odds may already be) your odds get worse right away when you show up somewhere else on Day 2. It's not impossible - you may be good for someone a team thought they'd definitely get and then they accept somewhere else so they're down a ______________ position player and you look pretty decent for it. That does happen.

But everyone trying out has their best shot on the first day a particular club has tryouts. Again, my 3 daughters got almost all of their offers (and some to quality teams with the most competition) on Day 1, so I don't suggest anyone wait if possible and do you're 2-3 most desired teams on Day 1 of tryouts. (And we know people who've done 4 in one day, but that really is too much for most of us.)

That was not our experience. My DD prioritized her reach clubs early during the tryouts and that never worked. She got offers from the more desperate clubs during the last days of tryouts. When she figured out that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tryouts were not very successful, she showed up at make-up tryouts of less competitive clubs and she got multiple offers (both on Monday and on Tuesday). But I agree that trying out at a mediocre club in the first day of tryouts will likely result in an offer. I just offered a different experience to show that going around and offering advice as if your experience is the most representative of them all is not ideal. People can experience life differently than you do.

One thing to consider is that the better clubs tend to hold their tryouts early in the tryout period. Metro Travel, Paramount, VA Elite, VA Juniors, MOCO, MD Jrs, etc. all start their tryouts on Friday nights. MVSA is one of the few exceptions to this. Then on Saturday those clubs are usually finished with their tryouts, and the next tier clubs start their tryouts on Saturday and go into Sunday. So its really important to have a realistic view on if you have a chance to make one of those reach clubs. If you prioritize reaches on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday then what's left on Monday and beyond might be below your level of play.

We always thought about 4 tryouts types: 1 "reach", 2 "probable", 1 "guarantee" (as much as you can actually have that!). If you over commit to trying out at reach clubs you run the risk of missing a tryout at a club you have a better chance at. If your reach club only has 1 team like VAE, VA Jrs, etc. that makes it even more important to make sure you are trying out in other places on Saturday. We tried to make Friday our "reach" day, Saturday a mix of 1 guarantee and 1 probable and then Sunday another probable club plus planning on callbacks at our reach club.