Anonymous wrote:DYS too. House, local travel, and club. I suspect all of the other locations nearby have this too, like they do basketball too. So this non profit wouldn't really have a gap to close then, if that is the middle area between rec and Metro oe Paramount.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First things first, what’s the actual market for something like this? You need data beyond dcum and a few people around town.

I could start a team tomorrow if I had the legal framework. DD has a bunch of friends who are staying in rec because club is either too demanding, too far, or too expensive. They would want something above rec, closer to home, less demanding and cheaper than club.

Many players feel pressured to join a club to keep alive their hope of making a high school team. They fall in love with volleyball, but - after a couple of seasons - they realize that they are far behind the varsity players and will never catch up. They become disillusioned with club volleyball, especially if they end up on bottom teams, spending a ton of money on with poor coaching and meaningless travel. By the time they turn 16 and cannot make their varsity team, they cannot justify wasting more of their time and money. Some of them might be willing to take it slower if they had an option that better fits their schedule and family budget. Some families who are more realistic about their kids abilities would turn to this option before their kid turns 16. This option may not guarantee much better coaching, but at least would be more affordable.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but SYA has this. They have “travel” teams which you do need to tryout for, it’s way more experienced parent coaching, and the travel is all local (centreville, Fairfax, Chantilly, Vienna, etc). It’s the same cost as rec, and my 13yo DD really thrived on it. We decided not to do club bc of the price and commitment (although SYA also started a new club team this year that is more affordable), and will tryout for Travel again in the spring and do winter clinics. Might be worth reaching out to SYA or some of the other travel teams to see how they got setup! I love this idea, and absolutely see the need. Club is far too expensive for kids who just want to play competitively, but are not trying to get scholarships. If they don’t make the HS team, it would be nice if they could have something like this to fall back on. Good luck and I hope you can make it happen! It would benefit a lot of kids!

Baseball is different because NVTBL provides a lot of infrastructure for local "travel" play. SYA is a unicorn within a unicorn because they have a little league running alongside their "travel"team which is eerily similar to their little league all star team.

I posted this and I was referring to volleyball, not baseball. We're also in the SYA LL program (that's another story for a different forum), and yes the LL runs differently. However the volleyball program has House (rec), Travel (local), and Club (CHVRA) available at a much more affordable cost. On top of that, they hold clinics in the summer and winter for beginner and advanced. It's a great program, and we appreciate it.

SYA was mentioned on this thread before. Great program but only available to those who live in reasonable driving distance (unfortunately).

I think BRYC has something like this too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First things first, what’s the actual market for something like this? You need data beyond dcum and a few people around town.

I could start a team tomorrow if I had the legal framework. DD has a bunch of friends who are staying in rec because club is either too demanding, too far, or too expensive. They would want something above rec, closer to home, less demanding and cheaper than club.

Many players feel pressured to join a club to keep alive their hope of making a high school team. They fall in love with volleyball, but - after a couple of seasons - they realize that they are far behind the varsity players and will never catch up. They become disillusioned with club volleyball, especially if they end up on bottom teams, spending a ton of money on with poor coaching and meaningless travel. By the time they turn 16 and cannot make their varsity team, they cannot justify wasting more of their time and money. Some of them might be willing to take it slower if they had an option that better fits their schedule and family budget. Some families who are more realistic about their kids abilities would turn to this option before their kid turns 16. This option may not guarantee much better coaching, but at least would be more affordable.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but SYA has this. They have “travel” teams which you do need to tryout for, it’s way more experienced parent coaching, and the travel is all local (centreville, Fairfax, Chantilly, Vienna, etc). It’s the same cost as rec, and my 13yo DD really thrived on it. We decided not to do club bc of the price and commitment (although SYA also started a new club team this year that is more affordable), and will tryout for Travel again in the spring and do winter clinics. Might be worth reaching out to SYA or some of the other travel teams to see how they got setup! I love this idea, and absolutely see the need. Club is far too expensive for kids who just want to play competitively, but are not trying to get scholarships. If they don’t make the HS team, it would be nice if they could have something like this to fall back on. Good luck and I hope you can make it happen! It would benefit a lot of kids!

Baseball is different because NVTBL provides a lot of infrastructure for local "travel" play. SYA is a unicorn within a unicorn because they have a little league running alongside their "travel"team which is eerily similar to their little league all star team.

I posted this and I was referring to volleyball, not baseball. We're also in the SYA LL program (that's another story for a different forum), and yes the LL runs differently. However the volleyball program has House (rec), Travel (local), and Club (CHVRA) available at a much more affordable cost. On top of that, they hold clinics in the summer and winter for beginner and advanced. It's a great program, and we appreciate it.

SYA was mentioned on this thread before. Great program but only available to those who live in reasonable driving distance (unfortunately).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First things first, what’s the actual market for something like this? You need data beyond dcum and a few people around town.

I could start a team tomorrow if I had the legal framework. DD has a bunch of friends who are staying in rec because club is either too demanding, too far, or too expensive. They would want something above rec, closer to home, less demanding and cheaper than club.

Many players feel pressured to join a club to keep alive their hope of making a high school team. They fall in love with volleyball, but - after a couple of seasons - they realize that they are far behind the varsity players and will never catch up. They become disillusioned with club volleyball, especially if they end up on bottom teams, spending a ton of money on with poor coaching and meaningless travel. By the time they turn 16 and cannot make their varsity team, they cannot justify wasting more of their time and money. Some of them might be willing to take it slower if they had an option that better fits their schedule and family budget. Some families who are more realistic about their kids abilities would turn to this option before their kid turns 16. This option may not guarantee much better coaching, but at least would be more affordable.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but SYA has this. They have “travel” teams which you do need to tryout for, it’s way more experienced parent coaching, and the travel is all local (centreville, Fairfax, Chantilly, Vienna, etc). It’s the same cost as rec, and my 13yo DD really thrived on it. We decided not to do club bc of the price and commitment (although SYA also started a new club team this year that is more affordable), and will tryout for Travel again in the spring and do winter clinics. Might be worth reaching out to SYA or some of the other travel teams to see how they got setup! I love this idea, and absolutely see the need. Club is far too expensive for kids who just want to play competitively, but are not trying to get scholarships. If they don’t make the HS team, it would be nice if they could have something like this to fall back on. Good luck and I hope you can make it happen! It would benefit a lot of kids!

Baseball is different because NVTBL provides a lot of infrastructure for local "travel" play. SYA is a unicorn within a unicorn because they have a little league running alongside their "travel"team which is eerily similar to their little league all star team.

I posted this and I was referring to volleyball, not baseball. We're also in the SYA LL program (that's another story for a different forum), and yes the LL runs differently. However the volleyball program has House (rec), Travel (local), and Club (CHVRA) available at a much more affordable cost. On top of that, they hold clinics in the summer and winter for beginner and advanced. It's a great program, and we appreciate it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First things first, what’s the actual market for something like this? You need data beyond dcum and a few people around town.

I could start a team tomorrow if I had the legal framework. DD has a bunch of friends who are staying in rec because club is either too demanding, too far, or too expensive. They would want something above rec, closer to home, less demanding and cheaper than club.

Many players feel pressured to join a club to keep alive their hope of making a high school team. They fall in love with volleyball, but - after a couple of seasons - they realize that they are far behind the varsity players and will never catch up. They become disillusioned with club volleyball, especially if they end up on bottom teams, spending a ton of money on with poor coaching and meaningless travel. By the time they turn 16 and cannot make their varsity team, they cannot justify wasting more of their time and money. Some of them might be willing to take it slower if they had an option that better fits their schedule and family budget. Some families who are more realistic about their kids abilities would turn to this option before their kid turns 16. This option may not guarantee much better coaching, but at least would be more affordable.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but SYA has this. They have “travel” teams which you do need to tryout for, it’s way more experienced parent coaching, and the travel is all local (centreville, Fairfax, Chantilly, Vienna, etc). It’s the same cost as rec, and my 13yo DD really thrived on it. We decided not to do club bc of the price and commitment (although SYA also started a new club team this year that is more affordable), and will tryout for Travel again in the spring and do winter clinics. Might be worth reaching out to SYA or some of the other travel teams to see how they got setup! I love this idea, and absolutely see the need. Club is far too expensive for kids who just want to play competitively, but are not trying to get scholarships. If they don’t make the HS team, it would be nice if they could have something like this to fall back on. Good luck and I hope you can make it happen! It would benefit a lot of kids!

Baseball is different because NVTBL provides a lot of infrastructure for local "travel" play. SYA is a unicorn within a unicorn because they have a little league running alongside their "travel"team which is eerily similar to their little league all star team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"something that exists but cheaper" is everyone's business idea. Expensive stuff is expensive for a reason.

You may have missed that the subject talks about a non-profit. This is not a business idea.

I’m not the PP you are responding to, but even non profits need a business market to exist. I think the issue here is yes volleyball is expensive. Gyms cost $$, coaches cost $$, uniforms cost $$, referees cost $$, infrastructure (registration system, web, communications, marketing) all cost $$.

A non profit idea is nice, but it won’t meet the needs of why most kids are playing club which is to be at the highest level of competition. The best players will stay in USAV travel teams that can compete and go to bigger national tournaments.

I’d like to be wrong but doubt this ever gets enough momentum and especially as a non profit to lift off.

I agree that many players start volleyball with the hope of playing at the highest level of competition. Probably that's what parents also hope for. Then you meet Metro or Paramount on the court and you realize that playing at the highest level is just a dream for most. You have the few who are highly motivated and athletic to pursue that dream, but most have to be delusional to keep hoping after a few of years of club. There are still reasons to keep going (making the varsity in high school and / or for the social aspect). The writing is on the wall when most players don't make their varsity teams and that's when you see them quitting club volleyball. I am sure many players would continue if the time and financial commitments were more reasonable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also sounds a bit like VolleyViet: https://www.volleyviet.com/ although their teams do travel a bit.

VolleyViet is a perfect example that you can make volleyball affordable even in Virginia.

There is literally only one of them and there are only a handful of teams and you see like 100 kids show up for what are realistically only 8 open spots.

There just aren't enough good volunteer coaches.

Let’s be real, does VV ever have 8 open spots? Everyone knows they take their returning players. We made the mistake of only going to their tryouts once and even that year we were warned not to bother.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"something that exists but cheaper" is everyone's business idea. Expensive stuff is expensive for a reason.

You may have missed that the subject talks about a non-profit. This is not a business idea.

I’m not the PP you are responding to, but even non profits need a business market to exist. I think the issue here is yes volleyball is expensive. Gyms cost $$, coaches cost $$, uniforms cost $$, referees cost $$, infrastructure (registration system, web, communications, marketing) all cost $$.

A non profit idea is nice, but it won’t meet the needs of why most kids are playing club which is to be at the highest level of competition. The best players will stay in USAV travel teams that can compete and go to bigger national tournaments.

I’d like to be wrong but doubt this ever gets enough momentum and especially as a non profit to lift off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"something that exists but cheaper" is everyone's business idea. Expensive stuff is expensive for a reason.

You may have missed that the subject talks about a non-profit. This is not a business idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also sounds a bit like VolleyViet: https://www.volleyviet.com/ although their teams do travel a bit.

VolleyViet is a perfect example that you can make volleyball affordable even in Virginia.

There is literally only one of them and there are only a handful of teams and you see like 100 kids show up for what are realistically only 8 open spots.

There just aren't enough good volunteer coaches.