Q. What is Junior Olympic Volleyball?
A. Junior Olympic girls’ volleyball or club volleyball is a nationwide junior volleyball system comprised of individual clubs organized under one of several parent organizations [USA Volleyball, AAU, JVA, etc] for the primary purpose of growing and supporting the sport. Generally, club volleyball offers participants the opportunity to continue to compete and develop skills well beyond the relatively short middle school and high school seasons.
Club volleyball programs, literally and figuratively, come in many different shapes and sizes in terms of programming, administration, benefits provided, etc. Some organizations serve a small niche (e.g., low commitment developmental, high commitment competitive, and everything in-between). Some organizations, like Cincy East, commit to providing a wide-range of opportunities for its participants.
Cincy East Volleyball Club is a member of the Ohio Valley Region (OVR) under the guidance of USAV.
Q. What is a Regional, American, or National team?
A. At most age levels, the OVR supports 3 levels of play — Regional, American, and National. Regional and American teams typically play OVR sanctioned tournaments in Ohio. In other regions around the country teams are generally classified as Regional (light to no travel) or National (high travel demands).
American teams in the OVR occasionally travel to larger tournaments that might be outside of the OVR region.
American teams may also play a few more events than a Regional squad along with an extended practice season.
Both American and Regional teams in the OVR allow student athletes with birthdays that do not exactly match up with grade level participation. The phrase typically used for this is “Grade Level” or “Age Waiver” if out of region. This is not permitted at the National level.
National teams typically play in some OVR sanctioned tournaments, but will travel to larger tournaments and/or National qualifier events that are generally outside of Ohio. National teams will also have an extended practice season as well and in some cases additional position nights during the week. National level teams are also exposed to more college showcases, combines, and high performance clinics.
National teams at Cincy East may have more than one coach on staff.
Both American and National can come with an increase in competitive cost. Tournaments as mentioned above can be larger and last a number of days. This comes with higher entry fees adding to the expense of the season along with travel cost.
We do caution parents, some events American and National teams at Cincy East participate in may interfere with school. Clubs generally place their most highly skilled experienced student athletes at these levels because of their commitment to athletics, the mental and physical ability required of them to handle an extended season, and tournament size.
Because of this philosophy National level tournaments generally are highly competitive. Cincy East does have a policy of family first, school second and then volleyball. We ask that all families stay in constant communication with our coaches or staff members if their student athlete requires extra time for family, school work, and rest.
Please, do not treat the various levels as a status symbol. The athletes at all levels work extremely hard. We are one team here at Cincy East.
Q. How do I find out my athletes correct age to tryout for?
A. Age Definition
Q. How do the coaches evaluate the student athlete’s during the tryout?
A. Our staff is looking for ATHLETICISM, GOOD ATTITUDE and a strong WORK ETHIC. Height and skill are certainly a plus but not required to make a team at Cincy East. During tryouts all student athletes will be ranked in the following skills; serving, serve receive, setting, approach, blocking, defense, communication, leadership, and hustle.
Q. How many athletes will the club select?
A. Cincy East VBC would love to take all athletes but we are limited to space and a certain number of coaches. The number of teams per age group is based on the number of athletes attending the tryout and talent pool available. Our coaches also have a role with deciding total numbers per team. Most average about 9-10 athletes.
Q. Do you guarantee all athletes to play?
A. There is never a guarantee. You are paying Cincy East VBC to train your athlete. Your athlete’s court time during tournaments is typically determined by attitude, dependability, work ethic and skill level. We are NOT a pay to play club.
Q. Does Cincy East invite athletes back for the next season?
A. Occasionally... Much goes into this decision from an organization standpoint. Honestly, its really the last thing your athlete should be concerned about. With that said, invites back to the Cincy East Volleyball Club are either in the form of "Program" or "Team Specific". These are binding contracts. If accepted then broken, athletic clubs do reserve the right to impose financial penalties.
Program invites guarantee your student athlete a position in the club. They will need to attend the tryout process and give their all. At this time it will be determined which team they will be offered a position on.
Team Specific invites are exactly what the title says. The student athlete will be placed on a specific team for the next season. They are still required to attend tryouts.
Cincy East does reserve the right to withdraw invitations due to unforeseen circumstances.
Q. How are team rules handled?
A. The club handbook covers all of our rules. Coaches are given discretion on individual team rules. An example of this would be how missing a practice is handled or a late arrival. Most importantly please keep an open line of communication with your coach. We are with your athletes 4-6 hours per week and sometimes 12 hour days for tournaments. It is only common courtesy to notify coaches of any scheduling or health issues.
Q. When are tryouts?
A. Generally tryouts begin at the end of October or the school volleyball season. High school player tryouts cannot begin until after the state championships. Usually the second week of November in Ohio.
Q. My student athlete is being recruited by a club before tryout dates. Is this allowed?
A. This is a very slippery slope. There are many rules and guidelines out there from USAV, OVR, and the OHSAA that prohibit such behavior from sports clubs. If your student athlete is caught up in something like this there can be both financial repercussions and eligibility issues.
Q. Why can’t clubs get together and schedule tryouts at different times so as not to overlap?
A. In reality it would not benefit clubs to work this out. This a very competitive market with a deep talent pool. Cincy East does make an honest effort to schedule it’s tryouts opposite other clubs when possible.
Q. What is the "Rule of 3"?
A. In Ohio the “rule of 3″ exists. This means that by the U15 age group volleyball clubs in Ohio cannot have more than 3 players from the same school on a team roster. Ohio is one of only 2 states to have this rule still in place. In middle school it only affects the public schools because it’s an OHSAA rule and private grade schools are not members at the middle school level.
Q. What happens after tryouts?
A. After tryouts volleyball clubs have a short period of time to get their tryout results posted. Here at Cincy East, our many years of experience and specific ways we collect data allow us to post almost real-time tryout results. Information is power, and the faster results are posted in our opinion the easier it is for families to make informed decisions. After teams have been posted you have a set amount of time (up to 10 days for Regional and American but only 48 hours for National) to decide whether or not they will accept. This does give the player a chance to attend other tryouts if desired. The nice thing to know is that once you are offered a spot on a team at tryouts it can not be taken back until the acceptance period has ended. You can simply weigh your options and confirm at any time within that period. Then you are bound to that club for the year. This is different than a verbal offer made before tryouts take place. In those cases the club can retract it at anytime making it a tough call for your family. The flip side is that you can also back out on your verbal agreement to play for a club anytime before the signing date in November. Both parties take a risk.
Q. How long is a season?
A. Season length is usually based on competition level and age group specific. The examples below will give you a general idea.
Regional Team: The general rule of thumb for a Regional season is 5 months, practice twice per week, and 5-6 tournaments.
American Team: American teams sometimes will participate in an additional training function, along with two practices per week, and 6-8 tournaments. Their season generally is 5-6 months.
National Team: The season for National teams will consist of two practices, one or two additional nights of training, and 8-10 tournaments. Keep in mind a National season can last 7-8 months.