Anonymous wrote:I used to think like you, and to some extent I still do (re: Metro does not improve the CHRVA region). However, if players want to play D1, especially in a power 4 league, a lot of these other clubs just don’t have the college recruitment infrastructure. You may say it’s because of the poaching but some don’t even have a point person that families can strategize with about recruitment. If you are interested in playing in college and you visit a clubs website and go to the college commitment page and you start comparing Metro sells itself, it doesn’t even have to poach players. Anybody who is playing on Metro travel 16 and older want to get recruited.

I have noticed that some players get recruited when they are with other clubs but for their 18U year they play with Metro. I’ve wondered if Metro have some kind of arrangement to provide training and conditioning before some players arrive on campus.

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FPYCparent wrote:I see many mentions here that Metro has been best club in CHRVA. I don't want to disagree with what appears to be common knowledge, but what is that based on? Most bids to USAV Nationals over time? Most wins overall? Most wins head-to-head against other clubs near the top? Most collegiate recruits? Best coaches?

I'm only in club season #2 with my player, so I don't have a full sense of the region's history. With SportsEngine buying/rebranding AES, I don't know how much I can trust the data from previous years (which "only" goes back to 2020-2021 now). On its website, Paramount proudly touts a top 5 USAV National Open division finish for one team ... some time in the past ... as the best CHRVA finish ever at USAV Nationals. Metro makes other claims on its website (like CHRVA club with the most teams to qualify for USAV Nationals for a given year, etc.) Is there anything objective that distinguishes Metro from Paramount from VA Juniors from Blue Ridge from MD Juniors ... on and on?

There are a couple of data points that would suggest Metro is still the top CHRVA club, although Paramount has definitely been closing the gap. The first would be the number of teams that qualify for USAV Girls Junior Nationals in the Open division in any given year. I think in most years Metro will have 3-4 Travel teams earn open bids to Nationals - last year 18 Travel, 17 Travel, and 15 Travel got Open bids. My recollection is that last year only Paramount 18s got an Open bid and before that the 2021 Paramount 15s team earned an Open bid.

A second thing to consider is college commitments. Almost every year the entire Metro 18 Travel team will go on to play collegiate volleyball, most in Division 1. The current Metro 18 Travel team has a pretty impressive list of commitments, including Penn State, Georgia Tech, Duke, UVA, Navy, Colorado State, Vanderbilt, and many more.

Another place to look is the rankings done by the various volleyball media outlets. The rankings system used to determine who is invited to the prestigious Triple Crown tournament which was last weekend is at https://www.tcvolleyballnit.com/top-100-rankings.html. You can see they have Metro ranked 19th and Paramount ranked 95th. PrepVolleyball and PrepDig are other outlets that publish rankings of teams/clubs.

In terms of the accolades the clubs post on social media, I think you have to read those carefully and take them with a grain of salt. For example, the Paramount Instagram account has several posts touting how they are the only CHRVA club invited and who accepted to go to the Triple Crown tournament. While this is technically true, the reason Metro doesn't send teams to Triple Crown is because they choose to play in the Capitol Hill Classic, which was started by the late Barry Goldberg (long time coach at American University) and who was also the founder of the predecessor club to Metro (Metro American) so Capitol Hill is sort of a home tournament for Metro. Similarly, the Paramount 18s 5th place finish at in 18 Open at USAV Nationals last year is the highest finish for a CHRVA team in 18 Open, but not the highest for a CHRVA team in an Open division across other age groups. Even last year, Metro 17 Travel finished 5th in 17 Open at Nationals. I think a few years back a Metro Travel team finished on the podium in an open division.

At the end of the day, you should really only be considering Metro Travel or Paramount if your DD wants to play volleyball in college. The expense, travel, and commitment are probably too much if they don't aspire to play at the next level. In terms of other clubs for girls who want to play in college, VA Elite is probably the next best option, and then VA Juniors, Blue Ridge, and MDJRs. But if your DD doesn't play for one of those clubs, that doesn't mean they can't or won't be recruited to play in college. For example, there are 3 players on the current Columbia 18s team committed to play D1 volleyball. If your DD doesn't play for a top team, they will need to take the initiative to be more proactive and reach out to college coaches to get them to come watch them play at tournaments or even to attend a club practice.

FPYCparent wrote:I see many mentions here that Metro has been best club in CHRVA. I don't want to disagree with what appears to be common knowledge, but what is that based on? Most bids to USAV Nationals over time? Most wins overall? Most wins head-to-head against other clubs near the top? Most collegiate recruits? Best coaches?

I'm only in club season #2 with my player, so I don't have a full sense of the region's history. With SportsEngine buying/rebranding AES, I don't know how much I can trust the data from previous years (which "only" goes back to 2020-2021 now). On its website, Paramount proudly touts a top 5 USAV National Open division finish for one team ... some time in the past ... as the best CHRVA finish ever at USAV Nationals. Metro makes other claims on its website (like CHRVA club with the most teams to qualify for USAV Nationals for a given year, etc.) Is there anything objective that distinguishes Metro from Paramount from VA Juniors from Blue Ridge from MD Juniors ... on and on?

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Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.

I feel that a few unhappy parents keep the smoke going to make others believe that there is fire. They pretend to have moved on, but they cannot help themselves from trashing the coach. Looks like there was some really bad blood there. Every time I read one of their new posts, I am rolling my eyes and think "Here we go again."

Agree completely. Coach nick from paramount throws huge temper tantrums during games, yells constantly at the girls but the "avoid coach jharred at all costs" poster is pervasive on this thread and brings up the same situation over and over. Let it go hun.

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Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.

I feel that a few unhappy parents keep the smoke going to make others believe that there is fire. They pretend to have moved on, but they cannot help themselves from trashing the coach. Looks like there was some really bad blood there. Every time I read one of their new posts, I am rolling my eyes and think "Here we go again."

Agree completely. Coach nick from paramount throws huge temper tantrums during games, yells constantly at the girls but the "avoid coach jharred at all costs" poster is pervasive on this thread and brings up the same situation over and over. Let it go hun.

Didn’t an entire VA Juniors team quit because of him? That’s pretty bad.

Here we go again.

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Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.

I feel that a few unhappy parents keep the smoke going to make others believe that there is fire. They pretend to have moved on, but they cannot help themselves from trashing the coach. Looks like there was some really bad blood there. Every time I read one of their new posts, I am rolling my eyes and think "Here we go again."

Agree completely. Coach nick from paramount throws huge temper tantrums during games, yells constantly at the girls but the "avoid coach jharred at all costs" poster is pervasive on this thread and brings up the same situation over and over. Let it go hun.

Didn’t an entire VA Juniors team quit because of him? That’s pretty bad.

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Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.

I feel that a few unhappy parents keep the smoke going to make others believe that there is fire. They pretend to have moved on, but they cannot help themselves from trashing the coach. Looks like there was some really bad blood there. Every time I read one of their new posts, I am rolling my eyes and think "Here we go again."

Agree completely. Coach nick from paramount throws huge temper tantrums during games, yells constantly at the girls but the "avoid coach jharred at all costs" poster is pervasive on this thread and brings up the same situation over and over. Let it go hun.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.

I feel that a few unhappy parents keep the smoke going to make others believe that there is fire. They pretend to have moved on, but they cannot help themselves from trashing the coach. Looks like there was some really bad blood there. Every time I read one of their new posts, I am rolling my eyes and think "Here we go again."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid targeted Paramount and VA Juniors (prestigious clubs?) ... among others ... during the November tryouts. I don't want to flat out say that the pre-tryout clinics were a moneygrab, but we tried to be a bit more strategic going into this season, which would be the second club season for my player. We really didn't "know" any clubs going into her first club year, so we only went with some word-of-mouth suggestions from fellow high school players. Our intent with the most recent tryouts was to be ensure that clubs had seen our kid at least once before the tryout weekend. Before anyone screams, we did not seriously look at Metro as its practices would not work for us logistically. My kid decided to go to make-up tryout there at the last minute "for fun." Their rosters were likely set before that make-up, but one coach said something like "We wish we had seen her sooner."

As far as any player movement between clubs, here's what I've observed. Paramount simply added this year's rosters to their website while keeping last year's rosters online. As a quick check, it looks like 9 players from the 17s moved up to the 18s (4 ?new? players) while seven players from the 16s moved up to 17s (7 ?new?). I didn't look too hard to see if some of the "new" players moved up more than one age group. (My kid is not playing 17s/18s.) If you can get the VA Juniors website to work, you will see that they haven't posted this year's rosters, but last year's teams were still there. I haven't seen VA Juniors play this season, so I couldn't begin to discern if any players are new or returning. My kid's club from last year hasn't posted this year's rosters, but we've only seen one or two familiar faces from last year. Most of my kid's team landed at different clubs (apparently two or more ended up at Paramount).

Juniors is a bit of a sad story - they used to be a top 2/3 club in the region until they became totally toxic (mainly due to some dire coaches who had no idea how to coach young girls). They are now a feeder club to Paramount who are a clear number 2 in the region and snapping on the heels of Metro.

It's unfortunate this story is continuing ^^^. Juniors is still a very strong club and yes, I'd still consider them third with Paramount being number 2. Metro is the historic #1 in CHRVA but Paramount is coming for them and has amazing players. The problem with paramount and what holds them back is the coaches YELL at the kids in a very toxic manner and they over stack the roster so girls just sit around and watch. Metro teams aren't very close, the girls operate as individuals instead of a team. The girls are highly athletic and the teams do well, however the team dynamics are challenging. VA Jrs got the message that they need to recruit and are doing a better job doing so. The envionrment is overall more positive than Paramount and just works better for some of the top talent in the region.

Overall, there are many clubs with different options for every player. I advise parents to choose clubs that work best for their daughter, and ignore what is considered "the best" b/c "the best" club may not be so for the development and dynamics for your DD.

Juniors are a disaster and are in no way 3rd in the region. They are decent at the younger age groups and then all their best players leave to go to Metro or Paramount. They were totally ruined by one Coach in particular who made it a very toxic environment and completely played favorites. One age group he coached pretty much quit as a team.

I feel like this got personal. Is there anything you need to get off your chest?

Anyone who’s been on a Juniors team in the past 5 years, knows exactly who this refers to, and it’s been bad.

I am willing to bet that most of this forum's readers have no clue what you are talking about. The idea that there are people out there who know what you are talking about is simply not useful to this thread. It simply looks like you have some personal beef with MD Juniors and try to spread rumors.

I don’t think the Juniors in question is MD. It’s probably VA Juniors. They’ve had multiple teams implode over the past few years

The club name doesn't really matter much. It is the type of information shared mysteriously on an anonymous website. "There is a select group of us who can read these messages and nod in agreement. The rest of the earthlings can only wonder how we obtained the wisdom that we spread around." The fact that I had trouble identifying the club just proves my point. Quit beating around the bush and share the information in a way that is helpful.

Speak for yourself. In the way-too-many-years that I've been on DCUM, I have found a very high % of the "mysterious info" true when it's been something my family is involved in (whether it's schools, sports, or many other areas). If VA Jrs is a hot mess, as long as people are clear about which club it is (I was following along understanding it was VA Jrs so it must've been said early on), then it's useful. Everything on DCUM needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but there is a ton of truth here too. You don't find it interesting, cool, you can ignore it. But don't make mistake thinking no one else finds it useful.

I do speak for myself. I read other volleyball threads on this site and there's always someone who brings up coach J, most of the time out of the blue. It always starts with how much Jrs declined, then the blame is squarely placed on this coach. I don't know the coach, and my daughter has little chance to play for JRs (we live in MD), but I can tell that some parents took something very personally and are out for blood. Some pretend that they moved on and just want to warn others, but it sounds like they are attempting a character assassination.

Maybe he gets brought up for a reason? I don’t see anything like as much about any other Coach in the DMV. Maybe Paramount get a bad rap occasionally, but nobody else comes close to what I have seen about this individual. Volleyball is a small world, there’s no way there is this much smoke without fire.