VOLLEYBALL CLUBS CHECK IN: How's your spring season going with your kid's club?
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Anonymous
Disagree with PP regarding National being equivalent to HS ball at least for people in the CHRVA region unless you are referring to those teams that go to Regionals and State in HS. National will be hodgepodge depending on the regions represented at USAV Girls Jr Nationals. You can only get National level by winning the top spot in your region (or however other regions decide how to allocate their bids). For CHRVA, it is a one and done tournament - top 16 go in, top 3 come out with a bid at National, American and Freedom in that order. Open bids can only be received by going to a national qualifier and winning first or second (or for some tournaments if enough teams playing a 3rd Open bid). USAV also has a few at large that they will give out to some teams each year to go to USAV Nationals. It is true Open is the top level in the country. However, some regions have really really strong clubs and they may not have won an Open bid at a national qualifier but will be in the National division at Nationals. For weak/weaker regions, top in that region may equate to other regions' HS ball. Strong regions with a team in National division represent Open/near Open level of play in the National division and will overrun those weaker regions at nationals in the first day. There is a BIG drop between National level and American level in USAV. For the CHRVA region, I would say American is a broad spectrum and is your average HS ball, maybe not the top 6A HS ball top team play but depends on age group and which HS team. The 2nd place regional teams that got American bids typically go to a national qualifier to get a higher division bid like Open, USA and Liberty which are all higher than American. Metro 15s came in 2nd at CHRVA tournament and got the American bid but then just got an Open bid at NEQs. The upper American teams and lower National teams depending on region are closer to HS range of ball. Freedom division teams will also be hodge podge and HS ball but not your strong HS upperclassmen ball. I would say for CHRVA, the teams that have gotten Freedom bids and those receiving trickle down Freedom bids (where they didn't finish top 3) are quite strong. The 13 other teams of the 16 teams that go to the CHRVA regional tournament but didn't get bids are still much better than rec league any day. There are 120+ teams in CHRVA depending on the age group. Yes, there are many in that group that are similar to rec/beginner level. That doesn't mean all else other than top 3 are below rec level. |
Anonymous
| Anyone know anything about PrepDig recruiting website? Our coach a few weeks ago pointed out their "scout" watching our match. Looks like they rank 125 players in Virginia in each high school class There is no way they can feasibly rank 125 players in order with a straight face. Maybe 5. Read some articles and think this is not something college coaches would use. |
Anonymous
Nobody takes it seriously. The scouts watch a lot of their own players (HS and club coach) and coincidentally a lot of their HS and Club players are on the list. I watch a lot of vball and the rankings are bizarre in some places, and the anomalies are always kids from the same clubs and HS teams….go figure what’s going on. |
Anonymous
We view it more as a feel good kudos and just nice to be mentioned in their news articles when they call out some players and skills. We were beyond tickled when our player got mentioned for nothing other than 'xyz also is the other xx position on the team' as a follow up to a kudos to the other player on her team in the same position. For her, it was just the bees knees to be mentioned and nice little confidence boost.  You do notice a trend after reading articles that language often gets recycled for the same positions on some players. Many call outs of some players likely to encourage families to pay for the subscription but we/they still do. I think there was a caveat somewhere (or a portion in an article somewhere) with the writer directly saying what tournament divisions he will watch or will go and catch some match if a parent direct contacts him to come watch.
The rankings are near laughable as you start going further down the list considering the large volume of players in the area. No idea if there are lobbies of emails to submit to get 'ranked.' Most of the Virginia articles are from the (Vienna Elite/Bishop O'Connell) coach, so some are likely based on who he has seen or knows from coaching them or being in same club/school while others are write ins, maybe. There was a similar question on FB Volleyball Moms forums a while ago. Parents from other regions said it varied depending whether they even had PrepDig 'writers' in the area. We are lucky to have one/some to just get the warm fuzzies vs other regions have no one to comment one way or the other. We wouldn't rely on this for recruiting. |
Anonymous
Yes, lots of Vienna Elite players on the list…..and O’Connell. Say no more. |
Anonymous
| Coach is a good guy and certainly loves volleyball, but no one can rank that many girls and he should not be doing that. He saw our high school team early in season and did not put in his top 10, but ended up winning state championship. He is not a great judge of talent beyond a few obvious top players. |
Anonymous
He also seems to dislike VAE, rather amusingly. He consistently ranks their players quite low and mostly below his Vienna kids….which given it’s supposed to be rankings for college readiness, is quite entertaining, given the respective recruiting lists. |
FPYCparent
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The PrepDig comments reminded me to ask a question ...
Is there a spreadsheet or some document out there that matches area high school coaches with some of the travel clubs (i.e., the varsity coach at XYZ High is also the 16s coach at ABC club)? DD is only a year into her club VB adventure, but I think I've picked up a few "relationships." Do I have these right? Are there others? Bishop O'Connell (private) ==> Vienna Elite Flint Hill (private) ==> Arrington Elite (not a club, but ...) and Metro (is it "just" Arrington that's affiliated)? Colgan (PWCPS) ==> American |
Anonymous
Prepdig VA is not to be taken too seriously . The writer is far from objective! His ranking system is based on his personal preference and completely biased! He always favors certain players he’s connected with. Half of the girls he’s never seen play but he’s ranked them. The girls do seem to enjoy it though, it makes them feel good to be mentioned but if you’ve been around the volleyball scene long enough and familiar with teams and players you will quickly find out his ranking system is immensely flawed. |
Anonymous
BOC is Virginia Elite. Those 3 schools all recruit, although PWCPS has stopped allowing transfers except for the music program loophole. |
Anonymous
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FPYCparent
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If I'm reading the coaches pages correctly on the club websites, there are BOC coaches at Virginia Elite and Vienna Elite.
Bishop O'Connell (private) ==> Virginia Elite and Vienna Elite Flint Hill (private) ==> Arrington Elite (not a club, but ...) and Metro (is it "just" Arrington that's affiliated)? Colgan (PWCPS) ==> American, 540 VB Academy There may be one coach from SEED DC who has a team at The St. James, but I cannot yet independently confirm. |
Anonymous
| The main prepdig scout is Vienna Elite and BOC, and is heavily biased accordingly. The head coach at BOC did rankings last year, and they were a little more objective - don’t think he’s as involved this year. I’ve seen quite a few of the ‘top 30’ play and some of the rankings are comical. Flint Hill is metro, metro and metro. |
Anonymous
| Re: PrepDig. Yes it verges on comical. Girls who quit VB are still ranked this year. Some others who are pretty terrible players are ranked in top 25 for their grad year. Still others who I've seen tearing it up on the court for club and I go to look them up and they aren't even ranked. A few ranked near the bottom for some classes are starters at top tier clubs. Make it make sense |
Anonymous
| Paramount 18s finished 5th place overall in the 18 Open Division of USAV GJNC (Nationals), which apparently is the best overall finish in CHRVA history for an 18s team in the Open Division of USAV GJNC (per PrepDig article). Virtually unheard of for a CHRVA team to finish as a top 5 team in the nation. |