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[quote=Anonymous]I’ll bite.

Parent of Metro Travel alum here .

I suppose we should start at the beginning.  The frequent DCUM Paramount poster who seems really offended by the Est. 2015 that Metro has on their uniform sleeves often refers to Metro as having been started in 1999 and that’s not accurate.  My understanding of Metro history from people who played for Metro in the early days (and a few other sources) is as follows.

The original Metro Volleyball Club was founded in 1990 by Fran Duvall and two partners (Fran Duvall would later go on to found Platform Volleyball Club). That iteration of Metro existed until 2002 when it merged with Barry Goldberg’s American Volleyball Club (he was the legendary head coach at American University who passed away a few years ago) to become the Metro American Volleyball Club. Metro American existed from 2002 until 2015 when Silvia Johnson, the current owner/club director, acquired the club. Silvia played at AU for her last two seasons of collegiate volleyball, was an assistant coach at AU for a few years, and was involved with Metro American for 9 years prior to taking the club over..

I think it’s fair to say that Metro had a big head start in 2015 when the current iteration of the club was established. The club already had a good reputation and was attracting top players and had coaches and infrastructure in place. That said, Silivia has not simply been skating by on the good reputation of the predecessor clubs for the past 10+ years. First of all, she was the head coach of 18 Travel at Metro American for 9 years and was in charge of the coaching staff and training so she was a big reason for the good reputation of Metro American prior to her becoming club director. Second, SIlvia has continued to improve the level of play at the club and expanded the regional programs and numbers of travel teams creating a club with hundreds of players every year. Metro recently announced they are adding 3 new “National” teams plus 11 Travel next year. This could be in response to Paramount and other clubs starting to add younger teams and second teams that are still designed to be competing for bids, but why not leverage the experience and expertise that exists at the club to give opportunities to more players?

While Metro Travel isn’t perfect, our experience has been overwhelmingly positive. My DD has had some great coaches and gotten to play with many remarkable athletes. She has improved dramatically in her years with the club. Despite what you might read on these boards, they do have solid training and do a great job of preparing players for collegiate volleyball. Silvia and coaches were very supportive and helpful during the recruiting process. While it is up to the players (and parents) to take the lead on a player’s recruiting journey, the club was there to provide guidance and advice (you do have to ask) and anytime my DD reached out to Silvia looking for help she was remarkably responsive.

Another positive thing about Metro is the strength of the alumni network. At certain times of year (Christmas break, after colleges are done in May) many alumni will come back to workout with Travel teams. It is a great experience for the travel players to get to be on the court with current collegiate or even professional players. It’s been fun for my DD to see players she has met and played with on top collegiate and professional teams on TV.

One of the downsides of Metro would be the roster size of the older Travel teams - because these teams are generally regarded as the top teams in CHRVA, the number of players trying out to be on these teams is high and Metro tends to take the max allowed by USAV which is 15. For the past few years there have been 15 players on the rosters of 16, 17, and 18 Travel.  With that many players, there are a lot of talented players standing on the sidelines who would likely be starters at almost any other club in CHRVA. The goals and expectations of Travel teams are made clear every year - they are looking to get Open bids and place highly at Nationals and also prepare players to succeed in college. I think most players understand what they are signing up for - playing time is not guaranteed and with 15 players, it’s not unusual for a player to only see the court for a few points at a 3-day tournament. Obviously this can be frustrating for both players and parents and it has been a reason that some players have left the club. Perhaps the new Metro National teams will allow them to accommodate more players on competitive teams and not have so many players on the Travel rosters.

Another downside is that since expectations are high and winning is a priority, there is a lot of pressure and coaches can be intense. For the most part, the coaches do a reasonable job of being supportive while also holding players accountable, but there are undoubtedly times when certain coaches cross the line to being too negative.

Overall, in my mind the positives far outweigh the negatives. Our experience with Metro Travel was great and I know my DD looks back at her time with the club as some of the fondest memories of her teenage years.

Let's go Metro!

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