Reply to What's the benefit of Metro volleyball travel team?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can a metro parent explain how the coach travel fees are calculated? I see they are a separate fee but there’s no info or estimate of the cost over the club season. [/quote]
They divide the actual cost of coach travel by the number of players on the team - this includes the coaches' transportation to and from the tournament (mileage or flight, transportation from hotel to venue), lodging, and a per diem. For my DD's team this past season the total for the year was just over $2k per player for 8 tournaments requiring travel (including 4 3-day qualifiers and 4-days at GJNC). They bill you at the beginning of each month where there are tournaments requiring travel so it's higher for a month with more travel tournaments - usually March and April have most of the qualifiers but there isn't much travel in February or May. So around $250 per player, per tournament. They don't charge travel fees for Cap Hill, Charm City, regionals, or anything local.[/quote]

I think your estimate about it only coming out to $250 per tournament is low (just based on what I've heard), but let's just stick with that number for now. If you play for Metro Travel, you're also going to have to pay for the uniforms and gear, (especially if you're a new player) which is going to run you an additional $700-$1,000. Metro's base fee before all these additional expenses is typically around $4,400 for their travel teams. $4,400 (base dues)+$2,000 (coaches fees)+ $1,000= $7,400. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that number is higher than any other CHRVA club besides VA Elite. I normally wouldn't complain about this, but I think Metro acts slyly by trying to convey that they are cheaper than other clubs when in reality they are arguably the most expensive besides VAE. Plus, there aren't any other perks that are included in their fees (e.g., HUDL, additional training sessions, etc.). In fact, I've heard that if you really want to get playing time on one of Metro's Travel teams, you have to commit to doing weekly lessons with their club director (which aren't cheap). [/quote]
PP here. The travel fees were calculated from what we actually paid - the exact total was $2,068.25 for 8 tournaments so a few dollars more than $250 per tournament.  Tournaments that don't require flights (or that have cheaper flights like Orlando) were less while some of the further or more expensive cities to fly to were more. You are correct about the uniforms - they are updated on a 3 year cycle so if you play for multiple seasons you don't have that expense every year, but they just finished a cycle so everyone will need to buy uniforms and gear this season. The last time we paid for uniforms it was around $750. They do have other merch for sale when you order the uniforms so it would be easy to spend a few hundred more if you're not careful. Last year the club dues for the older teams were $4250 - they haven't posted this season's fees but it won't be surprising if they go up a little bit.

It's true there are optional weekly lessons with the club director for travel players but the cost is very reasonable compared to what we've paid for lessons elsewhere. It's definitely not true that if you don't go to lessons that you can't be a starter. In fact, from what I have seen a majority of the starters don't go. For players that aren't getting as much playing time as they'd like, going to lessons can be a way to both get more touches and demonstrate they are working hard to get better which might help in getting on the court more, but in general, our experience over the past few years is the optional lessons have little bearing on playing time. Hudl is not included but the parents on a few teams did work with the club to get it separately and it ended up being about $70 per player for the whole season. Metro doesn't have a separate recruiting coordinator, but the club director and individual coaches do provide recruiting advice and support.

Your estimate of over $7k in a year in which you have to pay for uniforms is accurate, although that does include all costs through nationals which a lot of clubs don't include in their fees. Paramount's fees from last year are still posted and the top teams from 15s, 16s, and 17s were $6850. VA Juniors fees for the upcoming season are posted and they top out at $6790. Both Paramount and VA Juniors do not include coaching stipend, practice space, and other expenses through Nationals. Perhaps someone knows how much the extra month of practice and other fees actually costs.

My sense is that the overall cost for Metro Travel, Paramount, and VA Juniors is pretty similar. I agree it would be nice if it were easier to compare prices between different clubs.

VA Elite markets their all-inclusive pricing as equivalent to other clubs, but it doesn't really seem like it to me. VA Elite's base fees from last year ranged from $6,025-$7,490, but they have a unique model which requires you to pay for a mandatory player travel package directly to the club (over $4k for teams older than 14) that includes shared hotel rooms for players, group flights, ground transportation, costs for chaperone lodging/transportation, buses to some closer tournaments, etc. While obviously if you play at a club that doesn't include player travel you will have to pay separately for travel expenses, it's hard to do an apples to apples comparison because most parents go to tournaments anyway, so a lot of those costs that would be shared in the parents' travel end up being extra with VA Elite's model. Having players stay and travel together is probably fun for them so I assume that many VA Elite families think the extra cost is worth it. [/quote]

What age group was this estimate of Metro's total fees for? Trying to see how it varies from the younger age groups to the older age groups.[/quote]

Any answer to this? Very curious[/quote]

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