In my previous post about preparing for Club tryouts, I promised to give my view on the best DFW clubs for the coming 14U and 15U tryouts.   It is a complicated answer to a simple question.  Here are my thoughts…

Well in advance of tryouts, you need to decide whether you want to play on a non-travel team in local tournaments, or on a travel team attempting to qualify for Nationals.   For purposes of this post on tryouts, I am assuming a travel team.   However, quality coaching can be found for non-travel teams at several clubs, especially both Skyline SPV and TAV.

From an overall club perspective, TAV and Skyline are clearly the best clubs in the DFW Metroplex.  They are ranked 1 and 2 respectively in Texas by Lonestarvolleyball.com.  They are also both ranked in the top 10 in the country, with TAV being ranked the top overall volleyball club in the USA.   These two clubs typically qualify at least 1 team in every age group for Junior Olympic Nationals.

However, there are tons of good coaches and clubs at every age group which can improve an athlete’s skills.   The keys are to get comfortable with the quality of the head coach as a teacher, determine to the best of your ability if your daughter will be able to earn playing time based on who else was offered a contract, and lastly look at the chemistry of the girls and parents (yes parents, as they often exert their influence if things don’t go the way they want – especially if they are from the more competitive communities in the Metroplex).   Club is an expensive proposition and you want it to be a fun season for all.

Looking at history is a good, but not always a great predictor of the quality of the teams for the next year.  Coaches and players change from year to year by choice or because better players tryout.  However, often teams will have several returners from the prior year unless there were chemistry issues.   In 2008-2009, the top 8 teams for this year’s 14U tryouts were:

1. Mad Frogs – JO National Champions for 2009
2. Skyline
3. Victory
4. Texas Advantage (TAV)
5. Texas Titans
6. Excel
7. Tejas
8. Premier

In 2008-2009, the top 8 teams for this year’s 15U tryouts were:

1. Texas Advantage (TAV) – JO National Champions for 2009
2. Skyline
3. Excel
4. Premier
5. Victory
6. Southlake (SVA)
7. Mad Frogs
8. Instinct

As you can see, the names of some clubs are always somewhere in the top list each year.   Make sure to go to their websites and check out their history, 2009-2010 tryout information, dues, and coaching bios/information.

Not everyone will make the very top team of one of the top clubs.   Try not to be discouraged at this.  It is a hard decision for the coaches to make with a limited look at lots of players.  However, if you get offered to play for the 2^nd team of one of the top eight clubs, you should think hard before going to play on the top team of a mediocre club (unless the coach makes sense).   The 2^nd teams on the top clubs are very good, generally have good coaching, and sometimes qualify for Nationals.   I firmly believe that the better the competition both in practice and tournaments, the better your daughter will develop as a volleyball player.   So check out the coach for your age group and get happy with that teacher.   Remember, some of the best players in the world are horrible coaches, so don't worry to much about their personal playing resume.  It is important to know the game, but make sure you check out their disposition with the kids and their coaching history (often on the club website).  If all else fails, ask some of the other parents at clinics and tryouts.  They are a great source of information and it's a good way to get to meet your new friends.

Best of luck to all!