Volleyball tryouts in real time

[Anonymous]

Is there a universal deadline to accept for CHVRA clubs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a universal deadline to accept for CHVRA clubs?

There is no deadline for a player to accept, but clubs are only required to hold offers open until the end of the “Open Tryout Period” which for girls teams 14 and under is from 11 a.m. on the last Friday of October through 10 p.m. on the following Tuesday.

So clubs don’t have to honor offers as of 10pm last night. They might still, but most have probably moved on to making offers to players further down their lists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MOCO did not prioritize returning players.

Big time. Lots of upheaval. Lots of discussion about how competitive the tryouts were and that MOCO's focus is to remain competitive in a growingly tough region.

[Anonymous]

14u was a big surprise for me, lots of movement in most clubs and some unexpected surprises, good and bad. DD is not happy, she was courted in the 1s court and was personally spoken to by the coach only not to get an offer. She is fine though, she got an offer on her second choice, which ranked higher last year than her first choice anyways. This was a tough weekend, I’m sure many parents had to console their daughters. But chin up and let’s have a great season! Congrats to everyone who got offers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a universal deadline to accept for CHVRA clubs?

There is no deadline for a player to accept, but clubs are only required to hold offers open until the end of the “Open Tryout Period” which for girls teams 14 and under is from 11 a.m. on the last Friday of October through 10 p.m. on the following Tuesday.

So clubs don’t have to honor offers as of 10pm last night. They might still, but most have probably moved on to making offers to players further down their lists.

When you say don’t have to honor offers, do they have to honor the offer if we submitted an acceptance and paid the acceptance fee but have not yet signed a contract? Or does the contract also need to be submitted?

[Anonymous]

It really is true that things are still shaking out. If you were on a waitlist reach out and see about movement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a universal deadline to accept for CHVRA clubs?

There is no deadline for a player to accept, but clubs are only required to hold offers open until the end of the “Open Tryout Period” which for girls teams 14 and under is from 11 a.m. on the last Friday of October through 10 p.m. on the following Tuesday.

So clubs don’t have to honor offers as of 10pm last night. They might still, but most have probably moved on to making offers to players further down their lists.

When you say don’t have to honor offers, do they have to honor the offer if we submitted an acceptance and paid the acceptance fee but have not yet signed a contract? Or does the contract also need to be submitted?

The rules aren’t that specific, but I would think if the acceptance was in writing (email is fine) and you paid the fee that you should be fine, assuming all that was done prior to 10pm last night. All the clubs my DDs played for over the years allowed a little time for the various details like contracts and associating with the team in SportsEngine to be completed. In fact, many clubs have an initial meeting to handle logistical details like contracts, collecting checks for payments, trying on gear for sizes, etc.

Is a club trying to take back an offer after you communicated that it was accepted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a universal deadline to accept for CHVRA clubs?

There is no deadline for a player to accept, but clubs are only required to hold offers open until the end of the “Open Tryout Period” which for girls teams 14 and under is from 11 a.m. on the last Friday of October through 10 p.m. on the following Tuesday.

So clubs don’t have to honor offers as of 10pm last night. They might still, but most have probably moved on to making offers to players further down their lists.

When you say don’t have to honor offers, do they have to honor the offer if we submitted an acceptance and paid the acceptance fee but have not yet signed a contract? Or does the contract also need to be submitted?

The rules aren’t that specific, but I would think if the acceptance was in writing (email is fine) and you paid the fee that you should be fine, assuming all that was done prior to 10pm last night. All the clubs my DDs played for over the years allowed a little time for the various details like contracts and associating with the team in SportsEngine to be completed. In fact, many clubs have an initial meeting to handle logistical details like contracts, collecting checks for payments, trying on gear for sizes, etc.

Is a club trying to take back an offer after you communicated that it was accepted?

No, they are not! I was just curious about how the process usually works out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14u was a big surprise for me, lots of movement in most clubs and some unexpected surprises, good and bad. DD is not happy, she was courted in the 1s court and was personally spoken to by the coach only not to get an offer. She is fine though, she got an offer on her second choice, which ranked higher last year than her first choice anyways. This was a tough weekend, I’m sure many parents had to console their daughters. But chin up and let’s have a great season! Congrats to everyone who got offers!

I'm sure someone will do a roster evaluation across the clubs at some point. Based on what we know from our tryouts, there was lots of movement up and down teams at the larger clubs this year. Our DD walked out of the gym from a upper club tryout and said that it was way harder than she expected. She was on the top court but she knew she wasn't the top player in her position or even the 3rd or 4th best. Some of those players above her, played on lower teams than her last year.

As a parent it is hard. But at the same time we did clinics and rec leagues at other clubs too. We tried out for 4 different clubs and for 1 of those we knew ahead of time if we got an offer we would move clubs. It's hard to reconcile that approach for our DD while simultaneously getting upset at clubs for not prioritizing returning players.

Of course, if you thought you were safe at your current club and then didn't get the offer you wanted then it stings a lot. Its never for easy for young players to deal with the impact of playing on a 1s team and getting a 2s offer the next year or having to move to a different club. Its especially hard if you really improved only to find out that players in the same club improved even faster and ended up taking your spot on the team.

This is our second DD through this process and the first time through we felt clubs weren't loyal or prioritizing their returning players. Then we looked at rosters for the prior year for the 1s and 2s teams at the upper clubs in MD and discovered 60-80% of players returning to a club is really good loyalty. MVSA averages about 75-80% retention on their U14+ teams, but if you account for player movement between teams that number drops to ~60%. That means 4 out of 10 players don't play on the same team they did last year or for the same club. And that's at a club everyone considers one of the most loyal to its players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have thoughts on DC Academy's chances of growing into a competitive club? Coach Amy, who founded the club, was successful at MoCo. This will be her third year running her own club. My daughter played for them in years one and two, and they were not very competitive. I think the coaching staff is great, but I have a kid who loves playing there but would like to win some games. She has improved a ton and was easily one of the better kids on her jv team.

It seems like there is a focus on recruitment and they've been running a ton of clinics so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Thoughts?

I think I know you and your daughter is in fact a great player and works so hard. Would say this in person but feels too awkward to say “hey I think I saw your dcum post!”

[Anonymous]

My DD has a teammate from Academy on her JV team. Her mom was telling us that she likes Academy so much that she won't try out anywhere else. I didn't have the heart to tell her that this would be a big mistake. She will likely grow, but not at the same rate as the players in more competitive clubs: that's simply because her teammates will not be very competitive and that will slow her development. Volleyball-wise, we are in a very competitive high school and she will likely not make the Varsity team next year (she won't have the chance to play JV again because she will be a junior).

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any insight into Md Strive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any insight into Md Strive?

We went to some pre-tryout practices and clinics. My DD really liked it but was not chosen for the team she wanted. I was impressed with the coaches and value. I know other players who play for Strive and they seem happy. The coaches also seem to prioritize player development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MOCO did not prioritize returning players.

MOCO rarely does. Each tryout seasons is a new beginning the way they do it, and they basically make offers to the best players they see at tryouts, then figure out who else to invite (still based on tryouts but also sometimes previous MOCO membership) if their top offers don't accept. No one in any club should assume loyalty to returning players, although a few clubs definitely have good reps of keeping promises if they tell a returning player they've got a spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has a teammate from Academy on her JV team. Her mom was telling us that she likes Academy so much that she won't try out anywhere else. I didn't have the heart to tell her that this would be a big mistake. She will likely grow, but not at the same rate as the players in more competitive clubs: that's simply because her teammates will not be very competitive and that will slow her development. Volleyball-wise, we are in a very competitive high school and she will likely not make the Varsity team next year (she won't have the chance to play JV again because she will be a junior).

This is not necessarily true and depends on the kid. I have a kid on a "lower" club who also loves her team. She eats, sleeps, and breathes volleyball. She played all summer, every fall clinic, private lessons, etc. that she could find, practices at home, and has improved exponentially.