Let us pick a volleyball club for you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An observation for families of players in the 15-16 year old range that are new to club volleyball. Let me start by saying you're not too late. There are lots of girls who maybe dabbled in volleyball in rec leagues or similar settings and then play on their JV or 9th grade teams and decide volleyball is something they enjoy and want to pursue more seriously. And that's great - welcome!

My advice for your first season of club tryouts is to be realistic. While it's not too late, the top tier of club teams at 15-16s are mostly made up of girls who have been playing since they were 12 or younger. It's going to take a bit to catch up to that kind of experience. Your DD might be a standout on their JV or rec league, but don't let that fool you into thinking they are ready to play on the best teams in the region. Many of the 9th graders from the top 15s club teams in the region are starters on their HS varsity teams. This thread is great because it's not focused on the top tier of CHRVA clubs, but rather trying to help find the best fit. Find the club that fits best with your DD's skill level and works for you in terms of location and hopefully price. Good luck!

This is great advice. I was one of those clueless parents who thought that my daughter was really good at volleyball and we tried out only for top clubs (because that's where she belonged for sure). We didn't only waste time and money, the experience brought a lot of disappointment and frustration. Finally, we struggled to make a good second tier club during the make outs (this was more successful). I won't have to go through this again, but my advice to parents in this situation is to focus on mid-tier or bottom-tier clubs almost exclusively (this will come with significantly less stress and disappointment).

If you are a new to club volleyball at 15-16 you should have a one or two clubs (or one or two teams if you are trying out at clubs with multiple teams) where you have a realistic chance of making a team. Then one stretch club where they might only make the team if everything goes perfect--they perform great in pre-tryout clinics, at tryouts, other players decline offers, etc. And one safety club where they should get an offer for sure. And if there is one club that you really want, as a PP said -- tell them. It won't help you much if you never had a chance of making a team in the first place, but it will help if you are on the bubble.

And the point about don't use JV or rec league to judge your players ability is very accurate. If you are playing JV, make sure you are staying to watch the V games, especially against the better teams in the region. Focus on the players on the court that play for the clubs you are interested in. If you are in one of the club rec leagues, stay and watch the most advanced groups. You'll get a better idea of what good looks like for the clubs you are considering.

For a U15 girl who made varsity but whose skills are more aligned with JV (ha, they needed her position) what would qualify as stretch, safety etc? In Maryland. Never done club. Academy? MD Juniors? MoCo? We’ve crossed MVSA off our list because she wouldn’t make it. I want to be sure that there’s at least one she could make. I am taking these cautionary tales to heart! Thank you, seriously. And, what if we didn’t do a pre-tryout clinic- should we just forget it?

Pre-tryout clinics are important for several reasons. The coaches get to see your player without the pressure of a tryout (apparently most players underperform during tryouts because of the stress). You have a better chance of making a team if the coaches already know what you are capable of. Showing up at a pre-tryout clinic also demonstrates interest in the club, but it doesn't guarantee a spot. Not showing up for pre-tryout clinics diminishes, but it doesn't eliminate the chance of making a team. If you play well during the tryout, the coaches might assume that you are just looking for a safe spot in case you lose your spot on your previous team. If you are not doing well during the tryout, the coaches cannot figure out why: is it because you suck or because you are stressed? If you didn't do any pre-tryout clinics, you should still go to the tryouts, but understand that you need some safe options. Academy would be a pretty safe option - it is unlikely that they will have a very strong team. I doubt you would make MOCO (maybe their 3rd team?). You could try the regional MD JRs teams (don't even consider their elite team).

[Anonymous]

Thanks to the folks who started this thread! Last fall, after two seasons of house/rec, our DD announced she was going to try out for club (U13). We said "sure" - let her have the experience, but questioned whether she would actually make a team. Long story short, what she lacked in skill, she made up for in height, and a regional team gave her an offer. The rest is history. She found her passion and continues to excel.

When we started last fall, I spent many hours on this forum and other sites trying to learn the world of club vb so that we could identify the right clubs for tryouts. I share this to say that if you're new to club, your DD may be as clueless as you feel. Once you dive in, things get more familiar, but it can be overwhelming at first. You may have to do the lion's share of research to identify what works for your family. There are important factors another PP mentioned that your DD may overlook in her zeal to join a club - any club:
1) practice locations (how far are you willing to drive 2-4 times a week - mostly weeknights?)
2) practice schedule (some practices run quite late - plus commute time)
3) tournament schedule (regional vs travel) (how many tournaments/month)
4) FEES/COSTS (apparently significantly more in VA compared to MD!)
5) Coaches
6) Your DD's own interest and commitment

Now that DD has had a full season and is more familiar with club, she fully participates in the decisionmaking about which clinics to attend, where to focus, where to tryout, etc. She has strong opinions, but we still factor in the above considerations.

For those in NOVA, I found the following site extremely helpful when we started this journey. It is not totally up to date (missing the newest club, Legacy), but is a solid list of boys and girls clubs in the area. Good luck!!

https://www.novavolleyballalliance.org/clubguide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are considering MOCO for our DD this year. We went to the parent meeting over the weekend and the vibe was good. I have a couple of questions for those who have been with MOCO for a while and for those who left MOCO for different reasons. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

One thing that stood out during the parent meeting was their focus on the player attitude. He suggested that they would not offer a spot to a star player with poor attitude. And that went even further to the parents attitude. The coach made the same point several times - life is too short to spend it with people you don't like. He envisions teams that are like extended families, who come together and support the players. How much of this reflects the reality inside MOCO teams? I was thinking that the perfect family doesn't exist (not even in movies) - fights often erupt even between the most pacifists amongst us. Now add a bunch of teenage girls into the mix, and that's a recipe for drama.

It was also apparent that quite a few of the coaches are parents, who tend to move up to keep coaching their kid's teams. I understand that some parents used to play volleyball and can do a good job coaching. It makes sense to use those skills in the club where your kid is playing. If it happens to coach their team, you have a good family schedule - same practices, same travel schedule. Coaching a different team would make less sense, unless the other team has exactly the same schedule (which is rarely the case). This is a question that came to mind during the meeting, but I didn't feel comfortable asking: what is the advantage of a player whose parent coaches the team? Has anyone had the experience where the coach played favorites with their kid? I am not interested in hearing that this is often the case (I am aware), my question is specific to MOCO.

Does anyone have answers to these questions? The post got buried before it got enough traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering MOCO for our DD this year. We went to the parent meeting over the weekend and the vibe was good. I have a couple of questions for those who have been with MOCO for a while and for those who left MOCO for different reasons. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

One thing that stood out during the parent meeting was their focus on the player attitude. He suggested that they would not offer a spot to a star player with poor attitude. And that went even further to the parents attitude. The coach made the same point several times - life is too short to spend it with people you don't like. He envisions teams that are like extended families, who come together and support the players. How much of this reflects the reality inside MOCO teams? I was thinking that the perfect family doesn't exist (not even in movies) - fights often erupt even between the most pacifists amongst us. Now add a bunch of teenage girls into the mix, and that's a recipe for drama.

It was also apparent that quite a few of the coaches are parents, who tend to move up to keep coaching their kid's teams. I understand that some parents used to play volleyball and can do a good job coaching. It makes sense to use those skills in the club where your kid is playing. If it happens to coach their team, you have a good family schedule - same practices, same travel schedule. Coaching a different team would make less sense, unless the other team has exactly the same schedule (which is rarely the case). This is a question that came to mind during the meeting, but I didn't feel comfortable asking: what is the advantage of a player whose parent coaches the team? Has anyone had the experience where the coach played favorites with their kid? I am not interested in hearing that this is often the case (I am aware), my question is specific to MOCO.

Does anyone have answers to these questions? The post got buried before it got enough traffic.

My DD played for MOCO for a few seasons a while back. If it was the club director (Francis) making the speech about attitude and family involvement, he's been making a version of that speech for years. While I would say MOCO is more welcoming of parental involvement than some other clubs who prefer to keep parents out of the practice gym, I wouldn't say that there is any less drama or conflict among players/parents than on other clubs we've been involved with. As you noted, a certain amount of drama/conflict is to be expected within any group and that exists at MOCO as much as at most other clubs.

In terms of parents coaching their own kids at MOCO, our observation was that it was mostly fine. There may have been times when certain parents thought their kids weren't being given the same opportunities as the coach's kid, but I don't recall any egregious examples of a coach's player being on the floor while a far superior player was on the bench. And the reality of a club that guarantees a minimum amount of playing time like MOCO, is that the best lineup can't always be in the match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tryout time overlap is problematic. It might help a lot of us to know: Which clubs are doing invite-only clinics for U14 and up?

Definitely yes: Metro Travel, Mojo, Paramount, VA Juniors. (have done invite clinics for years & continue to)

Does anyone know if these clubs are doing invite clinics this year:
Columbia, MDJrs, MVSA, MOCO, Loudon Elite, VAE, others?

TIA

My DD is also U14. She's done many clinics at Metro, Paramount, VAE, VAJrs, and Loudoun Elite. Of that list, she is only targeting the last two for tryouts and yes, both VA Juniors and Loudoun Elite have invite clinics. VAE prides itself on not holding invite clinics as they like to say they are open to all. The last VAE U14 clinic was a joke - almost 90 mins of scrimmage where coaches weren't even giving feedback or watching.

VAE have invited only clinics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tryout time overlap is problematic. It might help a lot of us to know: Which clubs are doing invite-only clinics for U14 and up?

Definitely yes: Metro Travel, Mojo, Paramount, VA Juniors. (have done invite clinics for years & continue to)

Does anyone know if these clubs are doing invite clinics this year:
Columbia, MDJrs, MVSA, MOCO, Loudon Elite, VAE, others?

TIA

My DD is also U14. She's done many clinics at Metro, Paramount, VAE, VAJrs, and Loudoun Elite. Of that list, she is only targeting the last two for tryouts and yes, both VA Juniors and Loudoun Elite have invite clinics. VAE prides itself on not holding invite clinics as they like to say they are open to all. The last VAE U14 clinic was a joke - almost 90 mins of scrimmage where coaches weren't even giving feedback or watching.

VAE have invited only clinics.

PP here. I stand corrected. It's interesting to learn that VAE has invite only clinics, as the majority of club emails over the summer clearly state: "Continuing the model begun in 2016, our Fall clinics continue to be open to all and are not by invitation."

My DD has done many clinics with VAE in the past - they provide positive and supportive training. She has since focused on other clubs (for a variety of reasons). For those - especially more beginners - looking for more training, VAE provides good clinics. For those more advanced, we have found it a mixed experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tryout time overlap is problematic. It might help a lot of us to know: Which clubs are doing invite-only clinics for U14 and up?

Definitely yes: Metro Travel, Mojo, Paramount, VA Juniors. (have done invite clinics for years & continue to)

Does anyone know if these clubs are doing invite clinics this year:
Columbia, MDJrs, MVSA, MOCO, Loudon Elite, VAE, others?

TIA

My DD is also U14. She's done many clinics at Metro, Paramount, VAE, VAJrs, and Loudoun Elite. Of that list, she is only targeting the last two for tryouts and yes, both VA Juniors and Loudoun Elite have invite clinics. VAE prides itself on not holding invite clinics as they like to say they are open to all. The last VAE U14 clinic was a joke - almost 90 mins of scrimmage where coaches weren't even giving feedback or watching.

VAE have invited only clinics.

PP here. I stand corrected. It's interesting to learn that VAE has invite only clinics, as the majority of club emails over the summer clearly state: "Continuing the model begun in 2016, our Fall clinics continue to be open to all and are not by invitation."

My DD has done many clinics with VAE in the past - they provide positive and supportive training. She has since focused on other clubs (for a variety of reasons). For those - especially more beginners - looking for more training, VAE provides good clinics. For those more advanced, we have found it a mixed experience.

I’m pretty sure the others here are talking about pre-tryout or tryout prep clinics to be invite-only. Not talking about the fall clinics or just general skills clinics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tryout time overlap is problematic. It might help a lot of us to know: Which clubs are doing invite-only clinics for U14 and up?

Definitely yes: Metro Travel, Mojo, Paramount, VA Juniors. (have done invite clinics for years & continue to)

Does anyone know if these clubs are doing invite clinics this year:
Columbia, MDJrs, MVSA, MOCO, Loudon Elite, VAE, others?

TIA

My DD is also U14. She's done many clinics at Metro, Paramount, VAE, VAJrs, and Loudoun Elite. Of that list, she is only targeting the last two for tryouts and yes, both VA Juniors and Loudoun Elite have invite clinics. VAE prides itself on not holding invite clinics as they like to say they are open to all. The last VAE U14 clinic was a joke - almost 90 mins of scrimmage where coaches weren't even giving feedback or watching.

VAE have invited only clinics.

PP here. I stand corrected. It's interesting to learn that VAE has invite only clinics, as the majority of club emails over the summer clearly state: "Continuing the model begun in 2016, our Fall clinics continue to be open to all and are not by invitation."

My DD has done many clinics with VAE in the past - they provide positive and supportive training. She has since focused on other clubs (for a variety of reasons). For those - especially more beginners - looking for more training, VAE provides good clinics. For those more advanced, we have found it a mixed experience.

Interestingly, the VAE 18s tryout is invitation only. The core group of girls from that team has been together for a few years so even if the tryout were open to all, I wouldn't expect any drastic changes, but I can't recall another CHRVA club that only had an invitation tryout for a team. I have seen clubs do an invitation tryout session for returning players and a select group of others, but that was accompanied by other sessions open to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering MOCO for our DD this year. We went to the parent meeting over the weekend and the vibe was good. I have a couple of questions for those who have been with MOCO for a while and for those who left MOCO for different reasons. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

One thing that stood out during the parent meeting was their focus on the player attitude. He suggested that they would not offer a spot to a star player with poor attitude. And that went even further to the parents attitude. The coach made the same point several times - life is too short to spend it with people you don't like. He envisions teams that are like extended families, who come together and support the players. How much of this reflects the reality inside MOCO teams? I was thinking that the perfect family doesn't exist (not even in movies) - fights often erupt even between the most pacifists amongst us. Now add a bunch of teenage girls into the mix, and that's a recipe for drama.

It was also apparent that quite a few of the coaches are parents, who tend to move up to keep coaching their kid's teams. I understand that some parents used to play volleyball and can do a good job coaching. It makes sense to use those skills in the club where your kid is playing. If it happens to coach their team, you have a good family schedule - same practices, same travel schedule. Coaching a different team would make less sense, unless the other team has exactly the same schedule (which is rarely the case). This is a question that came to mind during the meeting, but I didn't feel comfortable asking: what is the advantage of a player whose parent coaches the team? Has anyone had the experience where the coach played favorites with their kid? I am not interested in hearing that this is often the case (I am aware), my question is specific to MOCO.

Does anyone have answers to these questions? The post got buried before it got enough traffic.

My DD played for MOCO for a few seasons a while back. If it was the club director (Francis) making the speech about attitude and family involvement, he's been making a version of that speech for years. While I would say MOCO is more welcoming of parental involvement than some other clubs who prefer to keep parents out of the practice gym, I wouldn't say that there is any less drama or conflict among players/parents than on other clubs we've been involved with. As you noted, a certain amount of drama/conflict is to be expected within any group and that exists at MOCO as much as at most other clubs.

In terms of parents coaching their own kids at MOCO, our observation was that it was mostly fine. There may have been times when certain parents thought their kids weren't being given the same opportunities as the coach's kid, but I don't recall any egregious examples of a coach's player being on the floor while a far superior player was on the bench. And the reality of a club that guarantees a minimum amount of playing time like MOCO, is that the best lineup can't always be in the match.

Thank you for your feedback, really appreciated! It was Coach Paul making the speech this time, but each coach said a few words about themselves and their coaching philosophy. I saw Coach Francis talking to the players during clinics and - comparatively - he was unusually quiet during the parent meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering MOCO for our DD this year. We went to the parent meeting over the weekend and the vibe was good. I have a couple of questions for those who have been with MOCO for a while and for those who left MOCO for different reasons. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

One thing that stood out during the parent meeting was their focus on the player attitude. He suggested that they would not offer a spot to a star player with poor attitude. And that went even further to the parents attitude. The coach made the same point several times - life is too short to spend it with people you don't like. He envisions teams that are like extended families, who come together and support the players. How much of this reflects the reality inside MOCO teams? I was thinking that the perfect family doesn't exist (not even in movies) - fights often erupt even between the most pacifists amongst us. Now add a bunch of teenage girls into the mix, and that's a recipe for drama.

It was also apparent that quite a few of the coaches are parents, who tend to move up to keep coaching their kid's teams. I understand that some parents used to play volleyball and can do a good job coaching. It makes sense to use those skills in the club where your kid is playing. If it happens to coach their team, you have a good family schedule - same practices, same travel schedule. Coaching a different team would make less sense, unless the other team has exactly the same schedule (which is rarely the case). This is a question that came to mind during the meeting, but I didn't feel comfortable asking: what is the advantage of a player whose parent coaches the team? Has anyone had the experience where the coach played favorites with their kid? I am not interested in hearing that this is often the case (I am aware), my question is specific to MOCO.

Does anyone have answers to these questions? The post got buried before it got enough traffic.

My DD played for MOCO for a few seasons a while back. If it was the club director (Francis) making the speech about attitude and family involvement, he's been making a version of that speech for years. While I would say MOCO is more welcoming of parental involvement than some other clubs who prefer to keep parents out of the practice gym, I wouldn't say that there is any less drama or conflict among players/parents than on other clubs we've been involved with. As you noted, a certain amount of drama/conflict is to be expected within any group and that exists at MOCO as much as at most other clubs.

In terms of parents coaching their own kids at MOCO, our observation was that it was mostly fine. There may have been times when certain parents thought their kids weren't being given the same opportunities as the coach's kid, but I don't recall any egregious examples of a coach's player being on the floor while a far superior player was on the bench. And the reality of a club that guarantees a minimum amount of playing time like MOCO, is that the best lineup can't always be in the match.

Thank you for your feedback, really appreciated! It was Coach Paul making the speech this time, but each coach said a few words about themselves and their coaching philosophy. I saw Coach Francis talking to the players during clinics and - comparatively - he was unusually quiet during the parent meeting.

I love Coach Francis - he truly cares about the players, but remember that his speeches to potential players and parents sometimes went a little too far and turned people off. Sounds like they wised up and have Paul deliver that speech which is probably for the best.

[Anonymous]

DD recently attended a clinic at another club and it was completely different experience from her entire season - the coaches were actually forcing the girls to work hard, showing them what to do with demos, had them getting on the floor to pass and jump up, created a serving box with rope over the net for the girls to hit the sweet spot for serves, specifically training them on top spin serving, float serves, etc, timing the speed of their serves with a speed gun. It was a totally different experience rather than “let’s see who can reliably get their serve over the net.” Make sense?

Would love to know where this was so that I can give them all my money

[Anonymous]

Still waiting for an offer from a top tier club, which looks increasingly unlikely to come before 10 pm (fingers crossed though - listed as alternate). At this point, the options are the top teams at Platform and MEVC (never played for any in the past). We have to make a decision and accept one offer a few minutes before 10 pm in case the top club offer doesn't materialize. I do understand that mentioning the age might result in more useful/targeted advice, but I am concerned about the clubs being able to identify the player based on the outstanding offers. Any guidance / feedback on the two clubs would be appreciated. Any opinion counts if you were on the other side of their nets, but especially interested in the opinions of club parents/players. Atmosphere, coach attitudes, parent attitudes, etc.

[Anonymous]

The Platform 15 Black coaches are top notch if that helps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering MOCO for our DD this year. We went to the parent meeting over the weekend and the vibe was good. I have a couple of questions for those who have been with MOCO for a while and for those who left MOCO for different reasons. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

One thing that stood out during the parent meeting was their focus on the player attitude. He suggested that they would not offer a spot to a star player with poor attitude. And that went even further to the parents attitude. The coach made the same point several times - life is too short to spend it with people you don't like. He envisions teams that are like extended families, who come together and support the players. How much of this reflects the reality inside MOCO teams? I was thinking that the perfect family doesn't exist (not even in movies) - fights often erupt even between the most pacifists amongst us. Now add a bunch of teenage girls into the mix, and that's a recipe for drama.

It was also apparent that quite a few of the coaches are parents, who tend to move up to keep coaching their kid's teams. I understand that some parents used to play volleyball and can do a good job coaching. It makes sense to use those skills in the club where your kid is playing. If it happens to coach their team, you have a good family schedule - same practices, same travel schedule. Coaching a different team would make less sense, unless the other team has exactly the same schedule (which is rarely the case). This is a question that came to mind during the meeting, but I didn't feel comfortable asking: what is the advantage of a player whose parent coaches the team? Has anyone had the experience where the coach played favorites with their kid? I am not interested in hearing that this is often the case (I am aware), my question is specific to MOCO.

Does anyone have answers to these questions? The post got buried before it got enough traffic.

Your MOCO experience really depends on who your coach is for that season. Our family has had 3 seasons of MOCO between 2 DDs and we encountered good vibes and coaches modeling good attitude, and our girls also encountered some awful coach attitudes, like seriously toxic. We stopped trying out there and we're good with that decision, even though it could have been a good 4th tryout within our travel radius with a higher liklihood of getting a spot. But neither girl tried out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Platform 15 Black coaches are top notch if that helps

Can you summarize your experience?