Volleyball info
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Anonymous
| How does the club volleyball pecking order look in our region? Have a relative possibly moving here, and her daughter is a pretty decent player. |
Anonymous
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How old is she and what is she looking for? Also what part of the area is she moving to? If she wants to play in college, esp D1, there are really only a few options - Metro Travel, Virginia Elite, Virginia Jrs, and probably Paramount. Lots of other clubs though, some stronger than others, so it depends on what kind of experience she is looking for. Some girls just want to play competitively and be able to make their high school teams; some want to pick up another sport and practice close to home, etc. A lot more options outside the Beltway than inside, so it depends where your relatives are moving to and how far they are willing to drive in rush hour traffic a few nights per week. Many clubs have a few levels for each age group--not as many as travel soccer but at least 2.
A lot is still up in the air for the club season because of COVID (travel, tournaments, practice space, etc) and it will be interesting to see what happens for high schoolers in VA. Since high school volleyball is supposed to be played in the winter this year, it will conflict with club season. I have two DD's who play - one HS and one MS, and we aren't totally sure what is happening with either one of them. |
Anonymous
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Metro Travel
Small gap - VA Juniors Small gap MD Juniors Large gap Paramount Small gap VAE EC Power Everyone else |
Anonymous
Disagree. Metro at the top, yes. And the overall list, yes, except for EC Power. Ridiculous to put them in this category. They are really strong in the Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley area and even in Delaware, but they just started in the DC area last year and are not considered competitive by anyone - at least not yet. How many EC Power DC players got college commitments last year? Zero. Metro Travel, VA Juniors, VA Elite, Paramount and VA Juniors get 100% (or close) of their girls recruited to college. That's because they have really strong technical training and are the only programs, in addition to MD Juniors that recruiters even consider in CHRVA. ECP-DC isn't even close to VAE in terms of quality of training so no, I would not put them together and at the bottom of this list. More realistic order: Metro Travel VA Juniors/VA Elite -probably equal Paramount MD Juniors Big Gap Everyone else On the Everyone Else list, agree with a previous poster who said it depends what you are looking for and how old your daughter is. For girls who are good, even really good but aren't college volleyball material, there are some good options, depending on the age group. MVSA, St. James, Vienna Elite, Mojo all have strong teams with good players who make their high school teams - although Mojo seems to specialize more in the U12, U13, U14 crowd. ECP seems like it may become a real player but needs time. |
Anonymous
That ranking might have been correct 5 years ago but if you think Juniors and Elite are currently comparable, you are clearly smoking something. |
Anonymous
Who knew volleyball could have such smack talk. 
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Anonymous
Agree with the ranking being a bit dated. Metro Travel is the only club that can claim the top teams (for all age group) in this area. All other clubs is really dependent on the age group VAE is solid in U17 but other age groups are not as strong (they like height a lot.....so if you DD is tall but somewhat inexperienced, this is a great place to be) - VAE does not play many local tournaments and plays OPEN level at qualifiers (which most of their teams don't belong in open) VAJRS is solid in U18, U17 an U15 (a lot of coaching changes the last few years.......so buyers be aware) - very good teams in the past but seem to be riding their previous reputation. Paramount is solid in U17, U16, U15; U14 is not as strong but I think they are trying to start a U13 team (their U16 team actually came in 2nd at Cap Hill Classic just in front of Metro U16 Travel) Paramount took a bunch of "rejected" players from VAJRS (U15s the previous 2 years) and they ended up beating them head to head or ranked much higher than VAJRS MD Jrs is also solid U17, U16, U15 but I know they are loosing a few players from last year (very solid defense training team; parents complain about the training facility being not the most hygienic
Given the pandemic, one big question to ask clubs is training space - many of the clubs had used school gyms. So far, all public school gyms are not being rented out. VAE will lose their Madiera School Gym when Madiera goes back in person in the beginning of Oct. Many teams are squeezing into Cassel in Herndon VA. MD Jrs have their own space. The Campus in Sterling VA is opening back up. Not sure how MVSA is going to function (they have 3 teams in each age group and had always used MS or ES gyms in the past). |
Anonymous
I agree with most of this and is a good summary. The age group changes will make a drastic difference this year - particularly at 17s and 16s . A good few of Jnrs very strong 17s team from last year will repeat, so they will challenge Metro this year in that age group. Metro is the unquestioned powerehouse in the region, Jnrs and Paramount are gaining ground but VAE is not what it was. Their training is good, no question, but they are not attracting high quality players, so get completely destroyed at Open tournaments - can’t be much fun. MD Juniors have a few very good age groups - their 17s beat Metro last year, which was a surprise. |
Anonymous
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I think there is agreement about the clubs that belong in that list of top, not "Everyone Else" clubs - just disagreement about how they rank out after Metro. And that's to be expected. Agree that it really depends a lot on age group and on returning coaches for each age group. And it also depends whether you are talking about just rankings, D1 commitments, or more comprehensively about culture, player development, etc.
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Anonymous
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Important to consider the training but not easy to decipher. Metro wins a lot but many players are not home grown. They attract many good players from other clubs because of their success. Metro runs some very good intense clinics. They separate the advanced vs beginner players. So clinics are good for experienced players.
VAE has great training but as players improve, they leave to play on more competitive teams. They don’t separate players during clinics so can be frustrating for experienced players. Paramount takes scraps from other clubs and make a competitive teams. Recent teams have be on par or better with VAJrs. VAJrs has some good technical coaches but there are some turnover and new coaches are young so time will tell how the training will be. A few coaches from VAJrs are going to a relatively new club VAVA which does very good training but has not had the success on win/loss column yet |
Anonymous
I think that is a fair summary - although I wasn’t impressed with VAE coaching or training. Too repetitive, too dull and ultimately going to open tournaments and not getting close to winning a set in 3 days was demoralizing for all concerned. Comparing that to our experience moving to Metro/Jnrs//Paramount/MD Jnrs clinics/team was like night and day....and they won occasionally! |
Anonymous
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Can anyone speak to the next tier down/other tiers of clubs? OP said her relative was "a pretty decent player"-- that may not mean college-bound, top tier club player. I know there was a thread that covered some of this last year, but would be good to get some current insights. DD played for ST J last season and we are looking for something else this year. The facility was certainly impressive and some pockets of good coaching but overall not a great experience.
The season will be different this year, and even the fall clinic season is different -- harder to get to know multiple coaches or programs, given that practice space and clinics seem limited by COVID. Wonder if clubs will really take many new players or if they are essentially just practicing their rosters from last season and already have spots filled? |
Anonymous
Second tier clubs EC Power (formerly Arlington Elite) St James - great facility NVVA VAVA - new club, ex juniors coaches Metro Regional teams Vienna Elite Virginia Top Team Monument Volleyball Hope you find your best fit |
Anonymous
From what I see - Cassells clinics seem to be very busy with a lot of new faces. Vball always favors returning players.....until someone better (or with more potential) shows up |
Anonymous
| Metro is the only local travel club with national ranking. https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/rankings/Female/U18. Compared to other parts of the country, the Washington DC region is not viewed as competitive. The DI schools basically cherry pick from the top clubs in recruiting. D3 is not as picky but it’s still competitive and academics play a larger role in recruitment. |