Club Volleyball - rate your club pros/cons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

In looking at this link, I finally found this link which is if I understand it correctly the top 119 regional teams in our DMV region (bigger than just the DMV)? Do I have that right? I see some teams mentioned here above are not on this list (like Spiked City?). Is this a complete list or just the top 119? Either way, this was an illuminating list to find:

https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/rankings/Female/U14

Should also have clarified that these are rankings from the 2021-2022 season.

Unlikely to be for the 22/23 season….
The rankings are for the Chesapeake region which covers VA, DC, MD and I think Delaware

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

Anyone know how much more is tagged for coach’s travel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

You want to go somewhere your kid has a chance of developing, in my experience that’s not Metro regional. Much better to go to someone like MVSA, Moco, St James, EC Power where your kid can grow and probably get noticed playing. Then, if you want, you can look to trade up a tier. Metro Travel is full of amazing players but I am unaware of anyone moving from Metro Regional to Metro Travel, that should say it all really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

You want to go somewhere your kid has a chance of developing, in my experience that’s not Metro regional. Much better to go to someone like MVSA, Moco, St James, EC Power where your kid can grow and probably get noticed playing. Then, if you want, you can look to trade up a tier. Metro Travel is full of amazing players but I am unaware of anyone moving from Metro Regional to Metro Travel, that should say it all really.

Thank you to you and everyone who's replied so far, these are really really helpful perspective. And if others have thoughts please keep sharing! But wanted to say so far this info and these views are really helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

Anyone know how much more is tagged for coach’s travel?

With uniforms, coaches travel/stipend, and the hidden "gear" fee Metro imposes, you're looking at upwards of $2,000 (for their travel teams). It's definitely not that much for their regional teams, as those teams mainly only do local tournaments that don't require air travel or hotels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

Anyone know how much more is tagged for coach’s travel?

With uniforms, coaches travel/stipend, and the hidden "gear" fee Metro imposes, you're looking at upwards of $2,000 (for their travel teams). It's definitely not that much for their regional teams, as those teams mainly only do local tournaments that don't require air travel or hotels.

Anyone know why MVSA fees are so low, am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the story with MOCO? Seems like hardly any of the posts so far have mentioned them, what's the word on them?

Also how do we find out how CHRVA teams did in the last season? I don't see any tournament results or rankings on their site - how do you know how teams REALLY performed last season?

Thanks, this is still new for our family to understand!

Moco’s a great place to start out. Good coaches, low pressure environment - perfect place to play a couple years to see if you want to try the next tier.

Guide to rankings last year (but beware, the rankings don’t take into account the level the clubs are playing in, but close enough).

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

Thank you for this!

So if you were choosing between Metro Club & MOCO Club, and your child getting better as a player and playing on a really great team as the priorities (i.e. it's less a priority to play on the team PERCEIVED to be best if she wouldn't get great skill development and get a lot out of tournament play), which club would you choose?

It depends, if you are talking about Metro Travel - yes, that’s your answer. If you are talking about Metro North/South etc etc - I would go with Moco. Metro Regions teams are just a moneymaker that subsidizes Travel. Aside from a backpack that says “Metro”, which is great till someone asks you if you know some kid who plays on Travel, cue shuffling of feet…

Yes it looks like from these rankings for U14, Metro North is the better Metro Club Team which we hadn't even heard of until trying out for Metro Central (so missed Metro North tryouts). Metro Central seems to be ranked 54th, and MOCO 55th, but there seem to be a lot more benefits to MOCO. Also we keep hearing that the price listed on Metro's page goes up really high when you add uniforms & coach travel. Whew it's all pretty confusing!

Anyone know how much more is tagged for coach’s travel?

With uniforms, coaches travel/stipend, and the hidden "gear" fee Metro imposes, you're looking at upwards of $2,000 (for their travel teams). It's definitely not that much for their regional teams, as those teams mainly only do local tournaments that don't require air travel or hotels.

Anyone know why MVSA fees are so low, am I missing something?

Nope, you're not missing anything. MVSA's coaches are all volunteers, so that is why their fees are so low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeking honest opinions on the local volleyball clubs. Which ones have over 12 players, have bad coaches or only trying to take your money. Additionally, which ones have great coaches and your daughters had positive experiences.

Tier 1
Metro Travel - If your daughter is a freak athlete, look here. Good coaches at pretty much every level, hyper-competitive atmosphere.

Tier 2
Paramount - High-level teams with almost Metro-level athletes, but coaches who scream a lot at the kids
Virginia Elite - Travel-only teams, are almost exclusively interested in height/athleticism, don't mind taking some lumps at younger ages for purposes of development, very expensive.
Virginia Juniors - High-level teams, pretty strong coaches
Maryland Juniors (travel) - Have their own facility that's pretty easily accessible if you live in Maryland, pretty deep coaching staff

Tier 3
Loudoun Elite - New-ish program, competitive but don't know a ton about them
MVSA - Good option at younger ages (their 12 & under director is the head coach of an elite HS program), not so great at older ages
ECP Chesapeake - Mostly good coaches, also better with younger age groups (14s and down), absorbed MOJO recently
St. James - Best facility hands down, expensive, okay coaches
Metro (regional) - They typically have North (Columbia/Frederick), East (PG County), Central (Montgomery/DC), and South (NOVA), depending on where you live. Good coaches, less travel and pressure.
Maryland Juniors (regional) - Same deal as the more advanced teams.
American - Good option if you live out in the NOVA suburbs.
Liberty Elite - Good option if you live in Frederick.
Vienna Elite - Some teams can be pretty good, others pretty bad.
Libero - New club, hadn't heard about the weight thing until this thread.

Tier 4
Braddock Road - Inconsistent coaching quality
Monument - Seen lots of complaints about club direction here.
No Panic - Inconsistent quality.
NVVA - Have really slipped in recent years. Used to be Tier 2 once upon a time.
X-Factor - New, good option for kids who just want to play and not have much pressure.

Everything else below that.

So where would you all put MOCO on this list? For the person who wrote it, would MOCO really be below Tier 4 to you? Our daughter got offers at Metro regional and another Tier 3 (according to this list) club, but she and we as her parents all were overwhelmingly impressed by MOCO the most. I know it's our decision and we should go where we feel is best fit all things considered, I just want to make sure we're not missing something?

[Anonymous]

So where would you all put MOCO on this list? For the person who wrote it, would MOCO really be below Tier 4 to you? Our daughter got offers at Metro regional and another Tier 3 (according to this list) club, but she and we as her parents all were overwhelmingly impressed by MOCO the most. I know it's our decision and we should go where we feel is best fit all things considered, I just want to make sure we're not missing something?

MOCO is in the lowest possible tier. Poorly managed club,

[Anonymous]

Maybe not a pros/cons question but related to this discussion -- we've heard a lot about girls getting offers before tryouts? Do only certain clubs do this and is it against the rules? And I guess the other question is why? I know the obvious reason is to lock in certain players asap but isn't there some advantage for the club to keep options open until actual tryouts? Really talented but unknown players could show up or making returning players sweat it out so they really work for their spot, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know anything about Virginia United. Looks like they are having a 12s and 15s team this year. They turned into an academy after Covid, but wondering if anyone was with them precovid.

Also interested in this. Any info on the coaches there or whether this is a worthwhile opportunity? couldn't find anything on their website about tryout day/time for 15s. Doesn't the club director coach somewhere else in the area too and if so, how would that work for tournament weekends?

[Anonymous]

if you are on a regional team, you are just on a revenue source team. Soon it will be a northwest regional to go with north south east, and west, then a midsouthern, north regional.

When they created these regional teams every ran there to be on Metro and wear their uniform but soon found out, it's just another mid level club paying for the travel budget.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:Can anyone provide a little bit of history on The St. James VB?

I understand that TSJ bought and rebranded clubs for sports like soccer and maybe lacrosse. Did they do the same thing with volleyball? If so, what was the former club name?

I believe some of the coaches are new this year. As a result, players from last year aren't necessarily guaranteed a spot this year. How likely is that to be the case? (Admittedly, that could be club-speak heard from nearly every organization in this area.)

Are families strongly encouraged to get memberships given that they'll have a kid there multiple nights a week?

St James used to be Arlington Elite and then all the coaches upped and left when EC Power was kicked off in the area. The facility is great, decent place for the kids to learn about competition and play a bit. Most kids who are good at St James go on to a bigger club. No need for a membership, as far as I am aware. Coaches mediocre.