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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Last fall, somebody suggested the following for a good mid-level regional girls vb club:

Monument
X factor
NVVA (many levels and leagues)
St James (white team)
Alexandria titans
BRYC (American team, as opposed to National)

With another season down, any different thoughts?  Looking for a club for my HS JV sophomore.[/quote]

I could contribute to that list if you are looking for a club in MD, but - based on the list you provided - I assume that you are looking for a club in Northern Virginia. [/quote]

I would love your suggestions for Maryland, PP! I have a 14 yo who started playing rec about a year ago and just made her HS team and wants to keep playing and learning this winter. Do kids mostly try out for club teams? Or should we just have her do a bunch of clinics? TIA[/quote]

The top club in MD is MVSA, but it is very unlikely that a player with rec experience only would make any of their 14 teams. The next would be MOCO, where you may get on their lower tier teams with the JV experience. You have a better chance to make a higher level team in MEVC and Platform. The lower level clubs would be RVA and Experience. I recently learned about ECE, but I am not sure how competitive they are.[/quote]

Thank you. This is helpful- I’ll look at these clubs.  The director of the rec program also recommended MD Juniors. Do you know much about them? Do you think there’s value to playing for a team? It would one-off club clinics/teaching serve a newish player just as well? My DD LOVES it so much- just trying to help her keep learning. [/quote]
I think a lot will depend on what's logistically possible depending on where you are in Maryland.  In many age groups, Maryland Juniors is arguably the top club in MD over MVSA and is certainly stronger than MOCO.  Liberty Elite has good reputation if Hagerstown is workable. Metro North and Metro East also practice in Maryland and are club level teams. DMV Elite, Platform, CEVA, and Columbia are other MD clubs that might be worth considering. [/quote]

Thank you! There are so many clubs!! The drive from close-in Silver Spring to Jessup for summer workouts was pretty terrible. But a good carpool can make a long drive less terrible. Hagerstown, no.

Thanks for all the club suggestions- so, so many! I am going to see where they all practice to help figure out where to have her tryout.

Is playing on a club team (regional- it sounds like the high levels aren’t going to be an option- and that’s okay for us!) better than just doing clinics here and there? I think more time = more improvement , but I read some other stuff on here where people say that the lower level teams are just money grabs with just so-so coaching.

It’s all new to me- thanks for sharing, PPs![/quote]

Playing on a regional club team can be a great experience and will result in a lot more improvement than than just clinics or rec leagues. The number of touches a players gets practicing several times per week plus playing in many more tournaments on a club team is tough to compare to what you can get from clinics. I think narrowing by what is logistically practical is a good starting point, especially if your goals are fun and improvement and not trying to be recruited to play Division I.  For close in Silver Spring, I'd probably prioritize MVSA, MOCO, Metro Central, possibly Metro North (although they practice in Frederick county which might be pretty far for you), and MEVC.  MVSA is one of the better values in all of local club volleyball. Even their 2nd and 3rd teams are usually pretty solid, club fees are low, and they only take 10 players per team so everyone gets to play in tournaments. With that being the case, making even an MVSA 3rd team can be challenging, but it's worth trying out for sure. MOCO and Metro Central are probably the closest for you in terms of practice locations and they are usually pretty solid with experienced coaches. I've heard pretty good things about MEVC as well. DMV Elite is probably convenient for you, but I've heard they are on the expensive side and I don't know much about their program. They are the MD expansion of Vienna Elite, which is a club in NoVa that's been around for a long time.

On the issue of whether a particular club or team is a "money grab", perhaps I am overly optimistic, but I'd like to think that most clubs are formed with the intention of providing a good experience for its players and their families. My perception that there are some clubs probably charging too much for what they can offer, but with the demand for club volleyball increasing every year, they are still able to attract many players to their tryouts and fill up all their teams. So while it might not always be a great value, your DD can hopefully get a decent level of instruction and have some fun at most clubs. As has been discussed in numerous DCUM threads about volleyball, go to clinics in September and October at clubs you are considering and get a sense of what the club and people are like. [/quote]

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