Volleyball club- recap and thoughts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Chesapeake director of ECP, Chris Smith, (both DC and DE chapters) has left ECP and is forming a new club in both areas. It will be a branch of Renaissance VBC, based in Pittsburgh. This club will be up and running for this coming season- 2023-2024! Details regarding clinics/teams/tryouts should be posted over the next few days!

http://www.renaissancechesapeake.com/

Thank you for the important piece of info. as we were left in the dark taking pre-tryout clinics drastically changed from 20+ girls to 8!

Former ECP Chesapeake and Renaissance parent here: If anyone has ANY friends/family/club players in PA, Chris Smith has now been hired by ECP in PA. Tell ALL your volleyball people from PA to stay FAR away from this man. The lies, gaslighting and shortchanging of families and coaches is truly indescribable. I hope ECP PA sees the light before next club season begins, in the meantime save anyone you know in Philly/King of Prussia/Downingtown/Bucks/Lehigh Valley/Berks from a horrible experience if ECP does not fire him before the Fall.

It's too late. These poor players and families had Roberta last season. She is wonderful. A woman of faith and family, such a great lady! Now they have Chris. Hopefully ECP will see how incapable he is and fire him before many more girls suffer.

Columbia Volleyball Academy even forgot to submit team roster by deadline and none of the club teams been able to compete in CHRVA bid regionals . What a bad club management.

[Anonymous]

Are families unhappy at Columbia Volleyball academy?

Or if the CHRVA bid roster thing a fluke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are families unhappy at Columbia Volleyball academy?

Or if the CHRVA bid roster thing a fluke?

Bump because I would also love to know!

[Anonymous]

Any insight into the Columbia Volleyball Academy? My DD would love to try out.

[Anonymous]

Re: MoCo Volleyball.

I would avoid the 16u Club (well, more accurately anything coached by a particular coach whose name rhymes with “Whitney Go Back!”) This coach of the spring 2024 Moco Mania team was very weak in terms of being able to create forward momentum.

When my daughter played, the coach led the team to a 12-59 record. That’s a win % of .203 for a "club-level" team.

Some reasons:

1. The Coach is a weirdly sensitive and doesn't like it (can’t accept it) when people don't like her. So, she won't push people out of their Comfort Zone to get better. Obv, no one wants to leave the Comfort Zone. But that's the only way athletes get better. So, any improvement is at a glacial pace and the Coach lets the players dictate their level of comfort/pace when instead the head Coach should be dictating pace of improvement to keep up with the other local teams.

2. About 1/3 of each practice goes wasted (either because the first drill starts 15 minutes into the practice session) or the exercises don't really prepare the teammates for in-game / tourney scenarios. An example is that there is a common drill focused on speed serving. But in an in-game scenario, refs do not rush players to serve.

3. The Coach only set up scrimmages with statistically inferior teams which does not help the team improve (you can only get better when you scrimmage up).

4. The Coach has a one-size-fits-all mentality when it was clear that players of varying levels of ability needed customized training, which they never received. The coach did ask all players to suggest one area where she could help each player. My daughter made a suggestion but the coach never bothered to honor her promise of helping her develop that skill.

So, lack of intensity; inability to bring out the best in the player; inconsistent/one-size-fits-all player development; poor preparation for tournament-level pace; and a lowly season winning percentage of .203% are all objective reasons why I would "not recommend”.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! This is such helpful insight on the coach and seems like a waste of almost $3000 to win so few matches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: MoCo Volleyball.

I would avoid the 16u Club (well, more accurately anything coached by a particular coach whose name rhymes with “Whitney Go Back!”) This coach of the spring 2024 Moco Mania team was very weak in terms of being able to create forward momentum.

When my daughter played, the coach led the team to a 12-59 record. That’s a win % of .203 for a "club-level" team.

Some reasons:

1. The Coach is a weirdly sensitive and doesn't like it (can’t accept it) when people don't like her. So, she won't push people out of their Comfort Zone to get better. Obv, no one wants to leave the Comfort Zone. But that's the only way athletes get better. So, any improvement is at a glacial pace and the Coach lets the players dictate their level of comfort/pace when instead the head Coach should be dictating pace of improvement to keep up with the other local teams.

2. About 1/3 of each practice goes wasted (either because the first drill starts 15 minutes into the practice session) or the exercises don't really prepare the teammates for in-game / tourney scenarios. An example is that there is a common drill focused on speed serving. But in an in-game scenario, refs do not rush players to serve.

3. The Coach only set up scrimmages with statistically inferior teams which does not help the team improve (you can only get better when you scrimmage up).

4. The Coach has a one-size-fits-all mentality when it was clear that players of varying levels of ability needed customized training, which they never received. The coach did ask all players to suggest one area where she could help each player. My daughter made a suggestion but the coach never bothered to honor her promise of helping her develop that skill.

So, lack of intensity; inability to bring out the best in the player; inconsistent/one-size-fits-all player development; poor preparation for tournament-level pace; and a lowly season winning percentage of .203% are all objective reasons why I would "not recommend”.

Any insight into the younger teams at the club—13s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are families unhappy at Columbia Volleyball academy?

Or if the CHRVA bid roster thing a fluke?

Bump because I would also love to know!

Many families this year unhappy about the messy management. But seems they may not be able to get a GJNC bid even they registered properly.

[Anonymous]

Re: Columbia - watched their 15U team this year and talked to their coach who mentioned the CHRVA bid mishap this year (side-eye/eye roll). Their top 15U team probably would have made GJNC this year had they entered the regional tournament, as 7 teams ended up going from the Chesapeake Region. Good team, certainly better than most - probably top 5 to 15 out of 140 in CHRVA in any given week. Can't speak to any internal organization or team dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have information about Legacy Volleyball Academy a new club just formed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have information about Legacy Volleyball Academy a new club just formed?

Where is it based? MD or VA? Is there a website?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: MoCo Volleyball.

I would avoid the 16u Club (well, more accurately anything coached by a particular coach whose name rhymes with “Whitney Go Back!”) This coach of the spring 2024 Moco Mania team was very weak in terms of being able to create forward momentum.

When my daughter played, the coach led the team to a 12-59 record. That’s a win % of .203 for a "club-level" team.

Some reasons:

1. The Coach is a weirdly sensitive and doesn't like it (can’t accept it) when people don't like her. So, she won't push people out of their Comfort Zone to get better. Obv, no one wants to leave the Comfort Zone. But that's the only way athletes get better. So, any improvement is at a glacial pace and the Coach lets the players dictate their level of comfort/pace when instead the head Coach should be dictating pace of improvement to keep up with the other local teams.

2. About 1/3 of each practice goes wasted (either because the first drill starts 15 minutes into the practice session) or the exercises don't really prepare the teammates for in-game / tourney scenarios. An example is that there is a common drill focused on speed serving. But in an in-game scenario, refs do not rush players to serve.

3. The Coach only set up scrimmages with statistically inferior teams which does not help the team improve (you can only get better when you scrimmage up).

4. The Coach has a one-size-fits-all mentality when it was clear that players of varying levels of ability needed customized training, which they never received. The coach did ask all players to suggest one area where she could help each player. My daughter made a suggestion but the coach never bothered to honor her promise of helping her develop that skill.

So, lack of intensity; inability to bring out the best in the player; inconsistent/one-size-fits-all player development; poor preparation for tournament-level pace; and a lowly season winning percentage of .203% are all objective reasons why I would "not recommend”.

MoCo actually had a 16U team? Amy leaving and starting her own club affected 16U.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: Columbia - watched their 15U team this year and talked to their coach who mentioned the CHRVA bid mishap this year (side-eye/eye roll). Their top 15U team probably would have made GJNC this year had they entered the regional tournament, as 7 teams ended up going from the Chesapeake Region. Good team, certainly better than most - probably top 5 to 15 out of 140 in CHRVA in any given week. Can't speak to any internal organization or team dynamics.

While I like the coaches' confidence, no way the u15 can be ahead of metro 15, Paramount 15, VA jrs 15, Blue Ridge 15, mdjrs 15, mvsa 15. And some of other teams (which may be 50-50). I heard many families will stay away from Not knowing what management mishap will happen in 2025. Also heard they fired the whole 14u coaching team mid of season and no dedicated coaches for that team half of the season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: Columbia - watched their 15U team this year and talked to their coach who mentioned the CHRVA bid mishap this year (side-eye/eye roll). Their top 15U team probably would have made GJNC this year had they entered the regional tournament, as 7 teams ended up going from the Chesapeake Region. Good team, certainly better than most - probably top 5 to 15 out of 140 in CHRVA in any given week. Can't speak to any internal organization or team dynamics.

While I like the coaches' confidence, no way the u15 can be ahead of metro 15, Paramount 15, VA jrs 15, Blue Ridge 15, mdjrs 15, mvsa 15. And some of other teams (which may be 50-50). I heard many families will stay away from Not knowing what management mishap will happen in 2025. Also heard they fired the whole 14u coaching team mid of season and no dedicated coaches for that team half of the season.

Thank you for the insight. We’ll stay away especially considering the high end fees.

[Anonymous]

I was the PP regarding Columbia - no doubt their 15U team is not as good as metro 15, Paramount 15, VA jrs 15, Blue Ridge 15, mdjrs 15. MVSA - the same. As I said, top 5 down to 15 in any given week. After that they are as good as anyone else in CHRVA. That was my analysis, not the coach's.