New parents what has your experience been like this weekend? How would you describe it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

Omg I could have written this post. U16 DD. Solid player. Two years of club, did all the things, attended clinics, got feedback and applied. It’s Sunday evening and NO offers after going to 5 club try outs since Friday, including her former club. What is going on? Are certain girls just collecting offers and not declining? My DD has no idea what to do. Is there no loyalty at all?!?

You might be right about some players collecting offers and being slow to decide, so maybe there will be some movement tomorrow and Tuesday.

Keep watching club social media accounts - I saw MDJRs was still trying to fill spots on their younger teams that tried out last weekend as of a couple days ago.

As far as loyalty, I understand it can be frustrating to not get an offer from the club your DD played for last year, but the same as many players look to move clubs for a variety of reasons, clubs look to switch things up for a variety of reasons too.

Good luck!

It’s quiet over here to with DD U16. Tried out for 3 clubs, got on callback and had that today, and then we added one more club to try out tomorrow in case everything falls apart. But the silence and wait today is excruciating. Maybe Sports Engine crashed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

Omg I could have written this post. U16 DD. Solid player. Two years of club, did all the things, attended clinics, got feedback and applied. It’s Sunday evening and NO offers after going to 5 club try outs since Friday, including her former club. What is going on? Are certain girls just collecting offers and not declining? My DD has no idea what to do. Is there no loyalty at all?!?

Read other prior posts. NO loyalty in volleyball

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

Omg I could have written this post. U16 DD. Solid player. Two years of club, did all the things, attended clinics, got feedback and applied. It’s Sunday evening and NO offers after going to 5 club try outs since Friday, including her former club. What is going on? Are certain girls just collecting offers and not declining? My DD has no idea what to do. Is there no loyalty at all?!?

For those still waiting for offers, make sure you reach out the to the club your daughter is most likely to make and tell them she is very interested and if needed, is willing to play different positions. Find out the status of her being an alternate.

For older girls, coach might ask the team to elect team captain(s) . That’s where girl can develop leadership skills. Team captain may or may not be the floor captain when they are on the court. Team captain(s) helps coach with communication, logistics and it is the main voice between the players and coaches.

Anonymous wrote:Question from a noob parent of DD who got started late in this game of thrones...

Do the club vb teams generally have team captains?

DD got an offer from a lower tier team (typically ranked at the bottom in AES). Good news and we like the coach, but with a small turnout for tryouts, it was apparent that the girls she'd play with are somewhere in the seam between rec and club level (there are setters who can't set, and DS' who can't serve return). In other words, she'll get to play a lot, but tournaments will be brutal after a while.

Just trying to see if there are other positives, like an opportunity to lead, etc., in this type situation. We have no college ball aspirations, just trying to keep up with touches so that she can have a better shot at making varsity HS next year.

It depends on the coach. Our coach rotated the captain position to make all players feel important every once in a while. I agree that the tournaments will be brutal starting day one (not after a while). Our team was relatively decent (solid middle), but we had brutal awakenings every once in a while, especially at bigger tournaments (teams outside CHRVA tend to be more competitive).

Question from a noob parent of DD who got started late in this game of thrones...

Do the club vb teams generally have team captains?

DD got an offer from a lower tier team (typically ranked at the bottom in AES). Good news and we like the coach, but with a small turnout for tryouts, it was apparent that the girls she'd play with are somewhere in the seam between rec and club level (there are setters who can't set, and DS' who can't serve return). In other words, she'll get to play a lot, but tournaments will be brutal after a while.

Just trying to see if there are other positives, like an opportunity to lead, etc., in this type situation. We have no college ball aspirations, just trying to keep up with touches so that she can have a better shot at making varsity HS next year.

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

This was my daughter last weekend. Same level of experience and same situation but for U14. After today’s tryouts, if you don’t immediately get the feeling it is going to work out, email clubs to see if they have a need for her position. We got several replies from clubs asking her to come to make up tryouts Monday and Tuesday last week. Others told us they had filled those already. She only wanted to be a libero. She found a team.

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

Last season my DD was clubless for a few days with little chance of getting any offer. We had to step back and re-evaluate our tryout strategy. We found a couple of lower level clubs who organized makeups and we got offers from both. After all the tryout dust was settled, we were on the top team in one of those clubs and we had an amazing coach. We ended up consistently winning against the bottom team of one of the clubs that ignored my DD. If you don't have a top player, the top team of a low tier club might be a better fit than the third team of a top level club. Each clubs assign their best coaches to their top teams, while the bottom teams are often coached by parent volunteers with less coaching experience.

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

My DD went through the same experience a couple years ago during U16 tryouts. It was totally brutal! She had been playing club since 13. No offers going into Sunday. We tried out for another club that wasn't on our radar at a makeup. She got on that club as a filler for the roster. Limited playing time, but she was around volleyball. There were so many girls at tryouts around 15-16s age groups everywhere we went. We heard from a parent that one club had moved up a 15 to a U16 team, because that player was tall and really good. So that was one less roster spot. My DD stopped club volleyball after that season.

Anonymous wrote:U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's experience. That sounds really rough. I know some coaches do make relatively early offers because they have an exact idea of who they want though it may still be reserved for a select few while they want to know who else can fill other roles or gaps for their team. Do keep in mind that not all clubs make initial offers so early though and may wait until Sunday night to send out emails.

It seems, from my perspective (daughter is also U16), that the popularity of v'ball has really exploded in recent years and there are only so many club teams and spots. Plus, v'ball is probably the most popular from the U14-U16 years. All I can suggest is that you encourage your daughter try her best for the "backup" club tomorrow. From a negative experience in the previous year, I tried to tell my daughter to do her best but prepare for the worst.

Another possibility to consider is for you to contact the specific coaches of the U16 teams and ask for some honest feedback and what areas need improvement. If a certain club is a 'favorite', in the event no initial offer is made by Monday morning, perhaps you can ask if there is any room for alternate or practice players.

U16 player - has played two years of club, HS, been to multiple club clinics with good feedback. She tried out for four clubs between Friday and Saturday (including her former club) and doesn’t have any offers. She’s confused and upset going into Sundays tryouts for her final “backup” clubs. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or success stories? I don’t know how to stay positive for her bc She’s been working so hard all Fall and this process is causing so much stress. It seems like there is no loyalty in clubs whatsoever and in the mob of 100+ girls she just can’t stand out.

Anonymous wrote:Are there tryouts not in real time?

Without you around, this glaring mistake would have confused many generations. Praised be your ancestors for the wisdom they brought upon planet Earth. Let us know, oh wise one, if there is another thread title that does not raise to the standards of this anonymous forum.