Isn’t it $13k when you include the travel costs which no other club does? It’s somewhat disingenuous to compare that total cost to what other clubs charge which is in the $7k range. Some of whom go to less tournaments than VAE offers. What isn’t clear is how much and what type of travel is included. And yes if the base fee goes up a lot it is a big deal. But I hear you saying that only affluent people with the privilege of a lot of money can afford playing there.

Anonymous wrote:It does matter to some. Times are tight. Fed workers are furloughed. Jobs are scarce. An extra $500-1000 on top of a lot, is a lot.

I get that and obviously the price matters. But you are talking about a team that is going to cost over 13k at the U15 and up levels and you know that. If money is tight and jobs are scarce you shouldn’t consider VAE at all. No other team anywhere will be close to that.

It does matter to some. Times are tight. Fed workers are furloughed. Jobs are scarce. An extra $500-1000 on top of a lot, is a lot.

Does it matter? We know it will be a lot. Expect it to be more than last year and much more than any other club. Any of us willing to pay that are prepared, which is the sad reality.

Anyone know when elite is going to post their fees for the year? It’s kind of late.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA Elite does do invite clinics. They're usually on a Sunday afternoon.

I think they are actually open gyms….but only prospects are told about them

Have they been going on this year? I wish clubs were open about this. It’s harder since some directly list the invite clinics on their site and others don’t.

Anonymous wrote:VA Elite does do invite clinics. They're usually on a Sunday afternoon.

I think they are actually open gyms….but only prospects are told about them

Anonymous wrote:VA Elite does do invite clinics. They're usually on a Sunday afternoon.

So are they lying on their site? See under program description. Cool if they do them but what not just say that. I assume they don’t do invite only bc of this and an email about their clinics.

https://www.vaelite.com/fall-prep-sessions

VA Elite does do invite clinics. They're usually on a Sunday afternoon.

They say they don’t do invite only clinics; all are open. I’m not sure I buy these players will all just show up to tryouts only.

Our first experience with them so trying to get a feel for the club.

I didn’t notice they hadn’t posted costs yet. If they go up anymore… yikes. The local economy is tough already.

Do they have a good retention rate? Not sure what it’s like there.

Is VAE having invite clinics? My DD has gone to some of their clinics but hasn’t received any so that would be good to know so she can be realistic about her chances going into tryouts. This could explain OP’s observation at their open to everyone clinics.

Hardly any of VAE’s players are at those clinics - most are immersed in High School season and will be showing up in invite only clinics or once the HS season is over.

I would not judge a club by who shows up at their clinics. In our experience, the only club clinics where the club players were present were MVSA and Metro. The club players were mostly absent in all the other club clinics where we participated. When we were still doing club clinics, we were specifically targeting other clubs to experience different drills and coaching styles. There is rarely any individual attention and / or guidance with these clinics. We spent too much money on them and we have almost no success story to tell. We decided that club activities are not worth the money they charge (with the exception of MVSA, which are very reasonably priced for what you get). We are now doing open gyms - they don't have the structure of a clinic, but my DD can still practice with random players. Some might say that they are not as effective as clinics, but the clinics were not that effective for us either. We are pretty much done pouring money into volleyball, except for what it takes to participate in the club season.

Just a guess, but ithey haven’t released their practice times or fees yet. They are so expensive already and some might be waiting to see how much higher they go this year. DD mentioned the same but I still think tryouts will be competitive.

Been doing some clinics at a few clubs and were initially considering va elite for their solid coaching based on clinics. But compared to other club clinics we’ve been to, the competitive level of players seems really low at elite. Including what seem like players new to VB in the u15 group. Thought that might get better when it was just u15 but it’s just a lot more not very competitive players. Will they all show up for tryouts at the last second? They seem be getting better players at other club’s already, so they are out there.

It’s really expensive but if they had a top ranking or top tier team we could make it happen.

What are people seeing at other clinics? What do you know about Va elite - any insider tips or info or just good guesses? They seemed to have a good reputation for college recruiting which was also a big draw. But is that slipping also?