Fees cover coaches’ salaries and travel expenses (lodging, airfare, and parking), rental space at the Big House, tournament entry fees for athletes and coaches, player uniform packages, training equipment, AAU and USAV memberships, insurance, and administrative and office expenses.

Fees don’t cover additional athlete equipment (spandex, knee pads, shoes, socks).  Also, our fees don’t cover athlete travel and lodging, or any spectator fees like travel, lodging, or entry into tournaments.

We require all our athletes to have black spandex.  The color of knee pads will be determined by the coach.  However, most of the time, athletes prefer to wear white knee pads

We believe that all athletes are unique in their bodies, and the same should hold for shoes.  Not everyone likes the same brand of shoe.  Therefore, we do not require athletes to wear the same brand of shoes.  We do recommend the shoes be comfortable, athletic, and supportive, especially around the ankles.  Low-cut athletic shoes are NOT recommended due to the lack of ankle support.

Ankle injuries are among the most common injuries among volleyball athletes.  If your athlete is going to play in the front row, especially as they get older, they should probably wear some ankle supports.  We recommend that they wear these ONLY during matches and leave them off during practice so that the athlete can work on ankle strength.

Our practices combine athletic conditioning, individual skill development, positional play, and team development.  The concept is that we want to develop our players into more well-rounded athletes with higher-level volleyball IQ, and be able to compete at a higher level.

Our white level teams practice for 1.5 hours per session.  Our blue and black level teams practice for 2 hours per session.

Practices are closed to spectators, except for the first practice of each month, which is open to spectators.

Yes, we will observe most national holidays.  We will have a week off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Lake County schools’ spring break.  We will also follow any national holidays as it relates to any specific days that correspond with practice.  All of this will be communicated on the BAND app.

All our communication is done through the BAND app.  If you are not on BAND, please reach out to your coach or the Director, Tom Wagenhauser.

We will get estimated wave times (either AM or PM waves) approximately 30 – 90 days before the tournament.  This is for informational purposes only and may be subject to change.  Schedules for actual play times are not released until the week of the tournament, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday evening.  All of this information will be posted on BAND as soon as it is available.

Teams will start practices in November.

White teams will have their first tournament in January and will have 2-3 tournaments a month, ending in late April.  Tournaments will range from 1-day to 2-day tournaments.

Blue teams will have their first tournament in December and will have 2-3 tournaments a month, ending in early May.  Tournaments will typically be 2-day events, with occasional 1-day tournaments.  Blue teams will have the option to extend their season to include AAU Nationals for an additional cost.  This is not required for all athletes to attend, but it is highly recommended.

Black teams will have their first tournament in December and will have 1-2 tournaments a month, ending in June with AAU and/or USAV Nationals.  Tournaments will be 2- to 3-day events, and several will be USAV qualifiers.

Not all teams will have AAU Nationals included in the season.  Black teams do have AAU Nationals included.  Blue teams are an optional extension to the season with an additional cost.  White teams do not have the option to go to AAU Nationals, but athletes can try out for open spots on the Blue teams.

The reason we don’t include AAU Nationals is that not all athletes want their season to run into June, and sometimes parents want to enjoy their summer.  We typically find that most of the team commits to AAU Nationals, which opens up a few spots for others to try out for the Nationals team.

For the additional cost, athletes will receive further training from May to June, one extra “Nationals” jersey, a bonus pre-nationals tournament, and the AAU Junior Nationals 4-day tournament at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.