Central Pennsylvania Volleyball Club (CPVBC) was created in 2010. The club is focused on growing the sport in the Central and Eastern parts of Pennsylvania. We are not in this as a business. We operate with the philosophy that all money collected is put back into the players and equipment for the club. We want to build the players’ skills and their love of the game while providing them with an opportunity to play in competitive tournaments.
We are members of the USAV, KRVA, and AAU volleyball associations. Our home base is in the Lancaster area.
Our coaches have experience playing and coaching at the High School, USA and NCAA levels. We’ll only field as many teams as we have good coaches. We do NOT use unqualified/untested collegiate players in a head coaching position. We typically have at least one team at each age group, sometimes more. We’re here to make the players better so they can excel in their high school programs and again at the collegiate level if that’s their goal.
CPVBC teams typically compete in both multi day and local tournaments. The U15 and above teams will usually attend at least two multi day tournaments that require overnight accommodations.
This page is for general information. We have a club wide meeting after teams have been formed to give specific season information to players and parents. There will be a club handbook given at the club wide meeting giving more detailed information.
Season
The length of the season goes from tryouts until East Coast Championships at the end of May. There are typically 8-10 events each team will participate in during the season. Some are single day events and some are multi-day events. If we field a U18 team, they typically only compete until the end of April to allow them more free time at the end of their senior year.
Tryouts
Tryouts will be held over multiple days. The starting dates are set by the KRVA region (end of October for U13 and U14, mid-November for U15-U18). While not required, we highly recommend attending each try out session to show your full potential. This will give the coaches more time to evaluate players. Tryouts are grouped by age. If a player is trying out for multiple age groups, please register in the “true” age group, then notify the check-in table that your daughter will be trying out for multiple age groups. Tryouts are a combination of skill assessment, drills, and game play.
Training
Each team will practice 2 nights per week, 2-3 hours a night. There are times that a practice will be canceled due to a three day weekend tournament. Parents are welcomed to watch practices.
Multiple Sport Athletes
We know we’ll have kids that are multiple sport athletes. Sometimes this makes logistics challenging. We work with other sports coaches to make sure the player can participate in multiple sports. In-season high school sports should be the athlete’s top priority. We ask that players and parents make us aware of this during tryouts or when you accept an offer to play so we can properly build the team to accommodate if/when a player must miss an event.
Events
There are three typical event types that we attend:
- Single Day Regional Event (No overnight accommodations required, usually in a 2-hour radius to Lancaster).
- Multi-Day Event (may or may not require accommodations, depends on location)
- Qualifier Event (a Multi-day event that requires accommodations – locations vary by team).
Teams Fielded
We try to create teams at the U13 through U18 levels. We will only create as many teams as we have good coaches. Depending on players, we may combine age groups to form a team. When that happens, the team must play at the level of the oldest players. There are also seasons when we field multiple teams at an age group.
Team Selection
Offers to the player may happen at any time during the tryout process. Per region rules (www.KRVA.org), offers must be made to the parents via email and all responses (offer acceptance/decline) must include the region director as well (this information will be provided in the offer e-mail). The player has 96 hours from the timestamp of the offer to accept or decline. CPVBC is not permitted to change/revoke an offer to the player, with the following exceptions:
- A player gets a new offer for a higher level within the same club: (example: Player Amy is offered a spot on the 16 Grey team, but later a spot opens up on the 16 Blue National team, a new offer will go out for the 16 Blue team).
- A team folds or merges with another team. Sometimes there are not enough players to field the original offer team, so a team is either merged with another team or canceled. If we have to cancel an age group, we will give information to the players about other clubs we know has that age group and is looking for additional players.
We realize that this process is very stressful and we do our best to inform players and parents. Please make sure you address any concerns or questions with the coach making the offer before you accept. Once a player accepts via e-mail, they are bound to that club for the season, unless the club and the region approve a release. Please review all the details in the offer email and the players/parents Bill of Rights attached to your tryout registration e-mail.
We understand that a lot of players and parents prefer to be on the number one or best team for an age group if multiple teams exist. While it is not possible for every player to get an offer to play on the top team, our goal is to make all players better. Our second teams are usually extremely competitive at events and sometimes beat out other clubs’ number one team.
Season Cost
The cost of the entire season varies by team. We budget and plan expenses based on 10 players per team. Having fewer or additional players will affect the overall costs. We budget for 8-10 events; some will include an overnight stay (see Travel Events/ Hotels section below)
Season dues include the following:
- Training sessions
- Uniforms (typical 3 jerseys, 2 shorts, warm up suit, backpack)
- Coaches pay and travel expenses
- Limited positional training (dates, times, length vary per season)
Payment Options
Because our philosophy is to put any extra monies back into the program, the club does not have a large enough cash reserve to pay tournament entry fees before collecting club dues. We make every effort to accommodate payments and have the following options:
- One-time payment in full collected at the all club meeting at the beginning of the season
- 2 Payment Plan
- Half of dues collected at the all club meeting at the beginning of the season
- Half on or before January 15th
- 3 Payment Plan
- Half of dues collected at the all club meeting at the beginning of the season
- ¼ of dues on or before January 3rd
- ¼ of dues on or before February 1st
If you wish to use Paypal or credit card, we will have to charge a 3% fee to cover the charges we incur from those services.
We will go to great lengths to help our players and parents out. We ask that payment issues are communicated to the coach and club director so we can work together to find a suitable solution.
Travel Events / Hotels
Some events that we play in are called “Stay to Play” events. These events require the teams to stay in hotels approved (and sometimes assigned) by the event. We have very little control over these accommodations. CPVBC requires that players room with their families. We have found this to be the most cost effective way for families. It makes sense to us to let your daughter stay with you, and not have to pay for another room. If a parent/guardian is unable to travel, we encourage staying with a teammate and their family if at all possible. If for some reason a player has no one else to stay with, the parents and coaches will determine the most appropriate arrangement for that event.
Many times the club will book a bank of rooms for the teams. It is up to the parent/guardian to log on to a website and confirm the room with the hotel or booking agency and pay for their room. If teams fail to meet the required room amount, they may be removed from event. The hotels for “Stay to Play” usually are required to meet certain criteria to be used by an event, so they are typically the major hotel chains you would normally book with (Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.). Hotel accommodations are not included in the season dues, and are paid directly to the hotel via the parent/guardian.
Coaches
All head coaches are certified USA Volleyball coaches. Most have significant coaching experience at various levels including club, high school and college. All coaches are required to have background screenings (required by USA volleyball) as well as the screenings required by the state of Pennsylvania.