Hope you are doing well and get a few days off from your 2021-22 club season before starting your 2022-23 club season. Yes, I said a few days! Hate even saying that, but this is the volleyball world we live in today. We have been the last club to announce our tryout dates, because we had hoped other clubs who published pledges last year to do what was best for the athletes would have continued that and we were looking forward to giving our players AND coaches time off the rest. But, that didn’t happen, in fact they went even earlier than previous clubs the year before so now everyone is being forced to have tryouts in July. Well, it is what it is so we have announced our tryout dates for National Teams to be held at the end of July along with most other clubs. You can see our specific times on our website and social media.
This being said we will not have any mandatory practices until after the high school season. We will have some open gyms, but nothing mandatory. We want our players and coaches to rest and enjoy some time off. Our Elite / Regional / Zonal Teams wont tryout until late October. More info on specific times will be up on our website soon along with registration.
I am very proud of our teams and coaches over the years as our national teams overall have outperformed the other clubs in the Triad area on a consistent basis. We may not be the biggest club, probably never will be, but we want to ensure we have solid coaches at each level and our training is quality.
I have attempted to meet with the other Directors of the larger clubs in the area in the past to discuss coming together to form a true “national team” that could compete in Open Level events and against larger cities, but for various reasons they chose not to. I truly believe that is the only way our area will be able to compete at the Open Level and against bigger cities clubs, and I have been willing to set aside monetary (which greed can play into) or pride/ego (wanting to take credit solely or have a certain name on the jerseys) to make It happen. Instead if this happening we are going in the opposite direction here locally with more and more pop up clubs happening, which just does nothing but weaken volleyball as a whole and makes everyone a starter on a sub par team that happens to have the word “national” attached to it.
Hopefully one day more of us can come together, but until then we will continue to do what we have been doing and offering great training and striving to provide a good experience for everyone who is apart of our club. We also strive to make it more of a family environment and not just players being a number.
Wherever you play club indoor at we hope you have a good experience and don’t just grow in the sport of volleyball, but grow in life through the process and as a person. Best wishes to everyone wherever you may tryout and play this season.
– Scott Castevens