While I’m sure these build in profit to their club fees, in speaking with multiple club owners/directors over the 8+ years we’ve been involved with club volleyball, a consistent thing that I have heard is they make much more money from clinics, rec leagues, and summer camps than from club season. And it makes sense - at a clinic or rec league, they can have many more players on a court with a small number of coaches. There are no expensive uniforms or backpacks, no tournament fees, no travel for the coaches, etc.

I think the bigger question is why clubs like Loudoun Elite, Libero, RVA, and others who are not known for having super competitive teams or getting athletes recruited to play in college are going to so many more national qualifiers and other multiple day tournaments requiring flights and significant travel costs. In the past, only a handful of CHRVA clubs attended qualifiers other than NEQ in Philly. Now it seems like there are tons of CHRVA teams at almost every qualifier. It’s probably good for the level of play within CHRVA for more clubs to be seeing stronger teams from around the country and maybe people want these experiences for their kids, even if they are not planning to play in college, but that seems to be a big factor in why club fees have gone up so much.

Perhaps the DCUM posters who complain so much about cost are just a vocal minority, but it sure seems like there is a lot of demand for lower cost club volleyball options and it’s surprising that clubs aren’t creating teams to meet that need.

Paramount posted their tryouts (all taking place at The Virginia Volleyball Factory):
10/25 6-8 pm (10 & 11 & 13), 8-10 (12 &14)
11/1 6-8 pm (16 & 18), 8-10 (15 &17)
https://www.paramountvbc.com/page/show/6705059-tryouts

Fees for the new season are not posted, but - based on last year fees - you can expect to pay north of $6k with a few exception in the younger age group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Their pricing is also ridiculous!!

Prices in Virginia are simply ridiculous. I am not sure how they justify charging that much, except greed. Those of us in Maryland feel lucky because our clubs are more decent (MVSA puts a pressure down on the prices). The Virginia club prices try to sneak in though: DMV started here with almost $4k / season, but they don't seem to attract good players yet (good players have much better AND cheaper options).

I’ve lost my mind here in VA because I clicked on that link to see their new pricing and didn’t see anything that crazy, because they are all so expensive here now and we are desensitized. I am hoping DD makes a team where the cost before travel is under 6k. It is expensive in VA but they are all that much. (Yes I know about VV but we don’t know which teams they are going to have yet).

I think VV is the only hope for VA if they manage to work out a club similar to MVSA. Unfortunately, without dedicated coaches who are willing to volunteer their time, VV is not feasible except for a few ages (probably the age range where the current volunteer coaches have daughters / relatives). And the rest of the clubs will continue to collect huge profit margins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Their pricing is also ridiculous!!

Prices in Virginia are simply ridiculous. I am not sure how they justify charging that much, except greed. Those of us in Maryland feel lucky because our clubs are more decent (MVSA puts a pressure down on the prices). The Virginia club prices try to sneak in though: DMV started here with almost $4k / season, but they don't seem to attract good players yet (good players have much better AND cheaper options).

I’ve lost my mind here in VA because I clicked on that link to see their new pricing and didn’t see anything that crazy, because they are all so expensive here now and we are desensitized. I am hoping DD makes a team where the cost before travel is under 6k. It is expensive in VA but they are all that much. (Yes I know about VV but we don’t know which teams they are going to have yet).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Their pricing is also ridiculous!!

Prices in Virginia are simply ridiculous. I am not sure how they justify charging that much, except greed. Those of us in Maryland feel lucky because our clubs are more decent (MVSA puts a pressure down on the prices). The Virginia club prices try to sneak in though: DMV started here with almost $4k / season, but they don't seem to attract good players yet (good players have much better AND cheaper options).

It is much more the general structure and goals of the clubs on the MD side vs the VA side especially in Montgomery County. MVSA, MD Juniors, MOCO all run a lot of teams (all of them run at least three teams up to U15). They also all have have club approaches that combine those teams with good development options open for newer players. For example, MVSA and MOCO also run very large fall programs at low prices for 7-8 weeks of multiple practices and they sell out almost immediately. Given their comparative competitive level vs. some of the clubs on the VA side that charge as much as 3-5X more, its clearly working. MVSA, MDJrs and MOCO all had teams in the top 10 in national rankings in CHRVA for most age groups.

All of these clubs could charge more but they choose not to. Good for them.

Some of the newer clubs on the MD side seem to be following the same approach (MEVC) while others (DMV and Columbia) seem to be going the opposite direction on prices though -- with team fees up to $4,800 now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Their pricing is also ridiculous!!

Prices in Virginia are simply ridiculous. I am not sure how they justify charging that much, except greed. Those of us in Maryland feel lucky because our clubs are more decent (MVSA puts a pressure down on the prices). The Virginia club prices try to sneak in though: DMV started here with almost $4k / season, but they don't seem to attract good players yet (good players have much better AND cheaper options).

Anonymous wrote:Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Their pricing is also ridiculous!!

RVA posted their tryout dates with absolutely no details:
https://www.rockvillevolleyball.com/tryouts

What hit me was how much they plan to charge their players: $3600 for every age group. RVA is pretty ambitious in terms of travel, but I am not sure the players that decide to join RVA are really ready for that travel schedule and the level of competition they go through. RVA seems to be travelling for the sake of travelling instead of joining local tournaments and saving money for their families.

Libero posted their tryout information (too much info to copy/paste here):
https://liberovirginia.com/volleyball/

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else have experience with Platform? My daughter played with them last year but I’m a little reluctant to try out for them again. I spent thousands of dollars for club dues and travel. The team won maybe 20% of their games (might be less than that). I didn’t see a lot of improvement with her nor her teammates. Did anyone else have this experience with Platform?

Platform is interesting - definitely not a top tier club: somewhere in the middle. If you are in their top teams (black), you may be competitive when you play against the middle teams of the top clubs, but you cannot really compete against their top teams. You likely make more progress than the players in the purple or white teams because you get better coaches and you practice with more skilled players. This is likely the case in any club though.

If you make one of their bottom teams, you are clearly starting a few steps behind along with other players who start a few steps behind. My guess is that you didn't have many options when you chose Platform after the tryouts. Coaching in these teams may be a hit or miss. You are likely starting below the level of the bottom teams in top clubs. In these conditions, progress is slower and it is harder to win games. Even if you make progress, relatively speaking you are still in the same place because players from other clubs make progress as well. If you are honest with yourself, you probably saw more improvement than you are willing to admit. Just compare your DD's skills with other players who didn't play club - I am sure you will see significant differences.

My DD was luckier in Platform, but we are also wondering how to move forward. In some tournaments we were clearly placed in divisions well beyond our level. In other tournaments we did relatively well. Our major beef with Platform was that the practices were overcrowded. It is hard to make progress as a team when you rarely practice as a team (and the teams you practice with are at a different level).

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else have experience with Platform? My daughter played with them last year but I’m a little reluctant to try out for them again. I spent thousands of dollars for club dues and travel. The team won maybe 20% of their games (might be less than that). I didn’t see a lot of improvement with her nor her teammates. Did anyone else have this experience with Platform?

What age group?

Does anyone else have experience with Platform? My daughter played with them last year but I’m a little reluctant to try out for them again. I spent thousands of dollars for club dues and travel. The team won maybe 20% of their games (might be less than that). I didn’t see a lot of improvement with her nor her teammates. Did anyone else have this experience with Platform?

Platform posted their tryout dates. Easier to link to photos than write down the information:

Maryland Exclusive posted their fall clinics:
https://maryland-exclusive-volleyball-club.sportngin.com/page/show/8106471-fall-camps-clinics
The clinics are for
* elementary school kids (K-5) $120 Fridays 9/20 - 10/11
* middle school kids (6-8) $180 M+W 9/16 - 10/2

Never done a fall clinic with MEVC, but my DD made progress toward her jump serve in their summer clinic. Really convenient location for those who live in Rockville.

Anonymous wrote:USA Volleyball started a program called "Try Volleyball" where they partner with local clubs to offer free volleyball clinics to kids in grades 1-8. Here is a link where you can find a map showing the few local clubs that participate in the program (more might be added in the future):
https://usavolleyball.org/try-volleyball/

I recognized a few club names (MOCO, Libero, Platform) and there is another that I haven't heard of (Volleyball MD).

Here are the links to the 4 local Try Volleyball clinics, along with the dates/ages. Great to see these clubs trying to improve access for everyone. As mentioned above, the clinics are free.

VA:
Libero Volleyball Club: 9/14. 4th-8th Grades. 20051 Riverside Cmns Plz SUITE 100. https://usav-try-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/445227314

MD:
MOCO Volleyball Club: 9/13. 4th-8th Grades. 9101 Rockville Pike. https://usav-try-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/492310001
Platform Volleyball Club: 9/15 & 9/22. 1st-8th Grades. 14131 Seneca Rd https://usav-try-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/146227690
Volleyball MD: 9/13. 6th-8th Grades. 5939 Muncaster Mill Road. https://usav-try-volleyball.sportngin.com/register/form/066701744