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[quote=Anonymous][quote=FPYCparent]Thanks for the historical perspective offered in this thread.  I've learned quite a bit.

So, what can CHRVA do to raise its profile (and the profile of its member clubs) at a national level?  (I think there may be some agreement that CHRVA's national profile is ... lacking.)

[list]It seems that Metro and Paramount are capable of representing CHRVA well in most cases, but does either club stand to gain anything if CHRVA wants to have a more prominent presence?  Could the two even agree to collaborate to push the region forward?[/list]

[list]I think I understand that teams have to compete in two "local" tournaments to qualify for CHRVA Bid Regionals.  Capital Hill counts as one ... and Metro seems to be tied to the hip of that one.  Do any of the other large-[i]ish[/i] events also count like the one at National Harbor and Charm City?  Do other regions have similar requirements for competing in "local" tournaments?  What if clubs could earn a "local event credit" for competing in an out-of-region event that fields Open level pools of 40 or 50+ teams (e.g., Volley by the James) or one of the M-APLs?  I'm thinking that CHRVA teams at those events are extending the reach of the region and could be deserving of something like a local event credit to CHRVA Bid Regionals.

I wonder if these one-day tourneys hosted by MVSA/MDJRS/Vienna Elite/etc. are really doing a service for the region as a whole (at the Open level, at least).  On the other hand, would these one-days go away if that "local" event requirement is loosened ... and would the host clubs ultimately lose out on a significant income generator?[/list][/quote]

I think both Metro and Paramount would benefit from CHRVA being more competitive. The more difficult matches that can be played locally, the better prepared teams will be when they get to Open level qualifiers and nationals. That said, a lot of clubs have set out to build a program to compete at the open level nationally but have not succeeded. I understand that was EC Power's intent when they established the Chesapeake program a few years ago, but they were not very successful and that ultimately fell apart. VA Elite has been pretty consistently entering the open division at national qualifiers without much success - they generally end up going to AAU Nationals and playing in open which does not require earning a bid. I think the real challenge is in recruiting the players needed to compete at that level. There are many CHRVA clubs that do a great job of training volleyball and helping their teams get better, but to compete at the highest levels you need tall and/or exceptionally athletic girls and those players seem to mostly end up at Metro or Paramount. I assume that is because those are the clubs that have the most demonstrated success, both in the performance of the club at a national level and in helping girls to get recruited for college.

That said, as the popularity of volleyball continues to grow it seems like there will be too many talented players in an area as large as the DMV for Metro and Paramount to have all the best players. Paramount has added second teams at some age groups as well as started teams at younger age groups which may help them keep some players that used to switch to Metro Travel at a certain age. Beyond that, it isn't clear who the next club will be to rise to the top tier. VA Elite has some of the infrastructure in place, but it is really expensive and with 13s being the youngest team relies on recruiting players who started playing elsewhere. VA Juniors has some good teams but there seems to be a lot of drama there that leads to players moving to other clubs. MDJRs also has some good teams but their location isn't great for attracting players from all over the region. MVSA has a reputation for being really great at training younger players, but most of the really talented ones leave to go to other clubs between 13s and 15s. MOCO, Columbia, MOJO, etc have some teams that are pretty good but not truly open level teams at the national level.

I am not really sure what CHRVA can do to help advance the level of local clubs. The two tournament rule applies for teams wanting to play in bid regionals. As noted, Capitol Hill does count as one of those meaning most teams only have to go to one local tournament to fulfill that requirement. The National Harbor tournament does count as a CHRVA open tournament, but Charm City does not because it is a JVA tournament. The National Harbor tournament as well as the 2-day St Patricks Day tournament at the St James and and the 2-day tournaments that MVSA hosts later in the spring were started coming out of the pandemic to create an opportunity for CHRVA teams to compete in larger tournaments in a multi-day format without having to travel ([url]https://www.chrva.org/page/show/6330580-chesapeake-power-league[/url]). I think these have been somewhat successful and some of the better regional teams do attend these tournaments.

Looking at the AES rankings, there are around 130 CHRVA teams in each of the 14s, 15s, and 16s age groups. That is a whole lot of girls playing volleyball. I would think supply and demand would result in there being more local teams that can compete nationally at a high level. That said, despite all of the complaining about club volleyball being a money grab, starting or growing a club is hard. Finding gym time, qualified coaches, and coordinating everything is a huge task. Figuring out the secret sauce needed to compete with Metro Travel or Paramount is even harder.[/quote]

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