Anonymous wrote:Is it true that they're still looking for players? 14U shows 9 girls on the roster. Even at least 50 girls tried out for 14U.

The rosters are pretty fluid at this point. You should call the club and ask if you are interested: while you wait for an answer on this forum, those spots (if available) will be gone.

Is it true that they're still looking for players? 14U shows 9 girls on the roster. Even at least 50 girls tried out for 14U.

Anonymous wrote:My DD was on RVA last year and didn’t want to come back this year as some of her teammates. The team is disorganized. Some of the coaches don’t speak English, so if your DD doesn’t speak Spanish, she won’t understand. Some girls on the team were mean and some are the coach’s kids and they get more playtime than others even with better players on the team. Traveling too far is true. No bonding between the girls. Overall it was an okay experience for the first club but as I said, DD didn’t even want to go for tryouts as a safe option in case she didn’t get in another club.

We had the same experience in the pre-tryout clinics and despite receiving an offer from RVA we turned them down and opted for another team.

Anonymous wrote:Do you know if they'll travel a bunch for 14U this year? Are these comps mandatory?

I heard that RVA looks for tournaments where their boys teams can play (and there are not that many local tournaments for boys). The girls tournaments are decided based on where the boys can go. To answer the question, you are getting the whole package and you cannot pick and choose what tournaments you go to. You may decide to skip some, but that defeats the purpose of being on a team.

Do you know if they'll travel a bunch for 14U this year? Are these comps mandatory?

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I loved traveling for tournaments growing up. Tournament play can ignite so much growth, and I didn’t play for a nationally ranked club growing up but traveling 1 state over or staying in a hotel because of a teenage here made[/quote]

Good for you and don't forget to thank your parents for providing that opportunity. While you are at it, ask them how much they paid for that experience, so you can compare with what we are asked to pay today. I am not claiming that the kids don't like it, because they do. Especially if they get to spend the night together instead of being stuck in their parents' hotel rooms. You don't need to travel one state over for the tournament play to ignite growth. Volleyball is already expensive without mindless travel. 90% of these kids (if not more) have no chance of playing in college, so most teams don't need to travel that extensively. The travel is mostly to keep the coaches and club owners in a professional circle, not because the kids really need it. [/quote]

Honestly we could just cycle around the dmv. I’m good with not going to Orlando or Indianapolis. I can love with Richmond or even a trip to Philly.

My DD was on RVA last year and didn’t want to come back this year as some of her teammates. The team is disorganized. Some of the coaches don’t speak English, so if your DD doesn’t speak Spanish, she won’t understand. Some girls on the team were mean and some are the coach’s kids and they get more playtime than others even with better players on the team. Traveling too far is true. No bonding between the girls. Overall it was an okay experience for the first club but as I said, DD didn’t even want to go for tryouts as a safe option in case she didn’t get in another club.

I think we actually agree on this, as traveling just to travel doesn't make sense.

[quote=Anonymous]Not sure coaches and club owners travel for a professional circle. If you've ever been on the national circuit traveling to qualifiers the coaches often get just as tired of it. They do it because they either believe it helps the players (the true open-level teams) or because the club requires it and uses it as marketing to a certain set of parents and players that equate traveling extensively with a good team, regardless of it actually helps them. I've lost count of how many players I've heard say they are on a "national travel" team that is no where near that level of competition.[/quote]
Show me where I wrote that the coaches and club owners don't get tired. I am going to conferences to present my work and the travel + participation are tiring. But this is how I network and stay aware of what is going on in my field, so this is a net benefit when I draw the line. This is their equivalent. In terms of networking, they gain little from the local tournaments because they already know everyone in their area. How many players actually benefit from going on these trips across state lines? Probably none. The ones who will see a benefit are likely only those who need to board a plane and go to qualifiers. But that's not even 5% of the players. Everyone else travels for the sake of traveling.

Not sure coaches and club owners travel for a professional circle. If you've ever been on the national circuit traveling to qualifiers the coaches often get just as tired of it. They do it because they either believe it helps the players (the true open-level teams) or because the club requires it and uses it as marketing to a certain set of parents and players that equate traveling extensively with a good team, regardless of it actually helps them. I've lost count of how many players I've heard say they are on a "national travel" team that is no where near that level of competition.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I loved traveling for tournaments growing up. Tournament play can ignite so much growth, and I didn’t play for a nationally ranked club growing up but traveling 1 state over or staying in a hotel because of a teenage here made[/quote]

Good for you and don't forget to thank your parents for providing that opportunity. While you are at it, ask them how much they paid for that experience, so you can compare with what we are asked to pay today. I am not claiming that the kids don't like it, because they do. Especially if they get to spend the night together instead of being stuck in their parents' hotel rooms. You don't need to travel one state over for the tournament play to ignite growth. Volleyball is already expensive without mindless travel. 90% of these kids (if not more) have no chance of playing in college, so most teams don't need to travel that extensively. The travel is mostly to keep the coaches and club owners in a professional circle, not because the kids really need it. [/quote]
Not sure coaches and club owners travel for a professional circle. If you've ever been on the national circuit traveling to qualifiers the coaches often get just as tired of it. They do it because they either believe it helps the players (the true open-level teams) or because the club requires it and uses it as marketing to a certain set of parents and players that equate traveling extensively with a good team, regardless of it actually helps them. I've lost count of how many players I've heard say they are on a "national travel" team that is no where near that level of competition.

[quote=Anonymous]I loved traveling for tournaments growing up. Tournament play can ignite so much growth, and I didn’t play for a nationally ranked club growing up but traveling 1 state over or staying in a hotel because of a teenage here made[/quote]

Good for you and don't forget to thank your parents for providing that opportunity. While you are at it, ask them how much they paid for that experience, so you can compare with what we are asked to pay today. I am not claiming that the kids don't like it, because they do. Especially if they get to spend the night together instead of being stuck in their parents' hotel rooms. You don't need to travel one state over for the tournament play to ignite growth. Volleyball is already expensive without mindless travel. 90% of these kids (if not more) have no chance of playing in college, so most teams don't need to travel that extensively. The travel is mostly to keep the coaches and club owners in a professional circle, not because the kids really need it.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It looks like 2024-25 season, RVA 12U girls ranked higher than metro 12 central and east as well as several Moco teams.. I guess I’m confused about why the trash talking. Haters are gonna hate.[/quote]
Since when Metro regional and bottom Moco teams are the standards of quality volleyball? [/quote]

Since the time when petty moms on this board started referencing those clubs as some kind of gold standard, perhaps?
These are kids looking for a way to develop in a sport… get over yourself [/quote]

If all you want is to develop kids into players, you don't take them on travel all over the place and charge their parents thousands of dollars. Get them in a gym and take them to local tournaments. There is plenty of local competition that can kick RVA's behinds without the need to travel for hours and spend the night in hotel rooms. Start travelling with teams that are in the top 25% - those may need tougher competition than you can find locally. You are just wasting these people's time and money to keep the fantasy of a travel club alive. It's not hate, it's just a reaction to a poor business model. This will not help with the quality of players that you can attract.

And just to set the record straight, nobody talks about the Metro regional teams or Moco bottom teams as standards for quality volleyball. Mostly everyone is surprised by the difference in volleyball quality between Metro travel and Metro regionals. Being ranked higher than a Metro regionals or Moco bottom teams doesn't really give you bragging rights. [/quote]

I loved traveling for tournaments growing up. Tournament play can ignite so much growth, and I didn’t play for a nationally ranked club growing up but traveling 1 state over or staying in a hotel because of a teenage here made

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New pricing on website. Especially for lower ages need to consider coaching quality (excellent with RVA), and playing time at tournaments also likely more focused on player development as compared to club
stats with RVA compared to “nationally-ranked” clubs (quotation marks because… why does it matter if 10/12/14 are placing nationally… 🤷‍♀️)

I will attempt to answer the rhetorical question. A team ranks poorly when it is not competitive in the tournaments where it is placed. You can claim that the coaching is excellent, but it is hard to prove when the team keeps losing its games. That simply demonstrates that the the coaching is excellent, but for the opposing teams. Placing teams in high-level tournaments may have benefits: the players can see how the game is played at a higher level, and they are challenged to grow. However, losing game after game after game can be frustrating and demoralizing for both players and parents. On the opposite side of the spectrum, you can place the teams in easy tournaments, where every serve is an ace and you bring home the medals. This approach comes with a good feeling, but it is a complete waste of time and money because players are not being properly challenged. Ideally you would find the happy middle ground, where players are challenged at their level, they win some of their games, and they feel like they have a good experience even when they lose. A poor ranking shows either that the teams are not competitive (poor training / coaching), poor choice of tournaments (poor administrative decisions), or both.

Thank you for this response, it is actually helpful as opposed to the hens on this thread

You are welcome. I am pretty sure that you would call me a hen if you could identify all my posts, but I am happy that you found this helpful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like 2024-25 season, RVA 12U girls ranked higher than metro 12 central and east as well as several Moco teams.. I guess I’m confused about why the trash talking. Haters are gonna hate.

Since when Metro regional and bottom Moco teams are the standards of quality volleyball?

Since the time when petty moms on this board started referencing those clubs as some kind of gold standard, perhaps?
These are kids looking for a way to develop in a sport… get over yourself

If all you want is to develop kids into players, you don't take them on travel all over the place and charge their parents thousands of dollars. Get them in a gym and take them to local tournaments. There is plenty of local competition that can kick RVA's behinds without the need to travel for hours and spend the night in hotel rooms. Start travelling with teams that are in the top 25% - those may need tougher competition than you can find locally. You are just wasting these people's time and money to keep the fantasy of a travel club alive. It's not hate, it's just a reaction to a poor business model. This will not help with the quality of players that you can attract.

And just to set the record straight, nobody talks about the Metro regional teams or Moco bottom teams as standards for quality volleyball. Mostly everyone is surprised by the difference in volleyball quality between Metro travel and Metro regionals. Being ranked higher than a Metro regionals or Moco bottom teams doesn't really give you bragging rights.