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Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is Club/JO Volleyball? |
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USA Junior Olympic
(sometimes called J.O.) volleyball or club volleyball is a
nationwide, junior volleyball system comprised of individual
clubs organized by region under the parent organization, USA
Volleyball, 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.
Minnesota Select
Volleyball Club is a member of the North Country Region (NCR) of
USA Volleyball and the United States Volleyball Association (USAV). |
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Why Play Club/JO Volleyball? |
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For the younger volleyball player, important questions for both the
athlete and their parents are "Should I play *JO
Volleyball?" and "Should I play JO
Volleyball on the highest level team I can earn significant playing time
with?" For the 9th grade, B-Squad, and JV player hoping to
make varsity, the same questions are asked as well as: "Do I need to move from a more casual, low key
(and lower cost) program
to a more intense (and expensive) JO team like Minnesota Select?"
The resounding answer to all these questions is
"Yes!"
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Who can tryout for Minnesota
Select? |
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Everyone!
Tryouts for
our teams are open to everyone and athletes are placed based on athleticism,
potential, attitude and skill. |
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Why is it so expensive? |
A high level JO experience should be considered a good value - you get a
great return in training, skill, and experience for the money you spend. But
it is still a large amount of money compared to many youth sports
experiences. Some of the main reasons fees are so high include:
- Use of professional paid coaches rather than volunteer parents
- Rental of commercial practice spaces rather than free community gyms
or fields
- Inclusion of travel expenses (transportation/lodging/etc) for several
tournaments
- A season that is 5-7 months long
- A multiplicity of practice and training opportunities
Over time, we will post links to articles that can be helpful to you in
understanding this. In the meantime, please feel free to call us or email us
with your questions and we will be happy to respond. Other good sources of
information are the better players on your high school varsity team and
their parents. Chances are JO volleyball, besides being one of their most
favorite activities ever, will be credited with a huge impact on their
development as a player.
* JO Volleyball = Junior Olympic Volleyball, the youth arm of USA
Volleyball. USA Volleyball is headquartered in Colorado Spring and is the
national governing body for volleyball in the United States and is
recognized by the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) and the
United States Olympic Committee (USOC). JO Volleyball is played after the
end of the high school season until late spring and summer.
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Where do teams
practice? |
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All
Minnesota Select teams practice at
Ralia Sports Center, located at 8686 Valley Forge Lane North.
Ralia houses four new Sport Court volleyball courts. Minnesota Select
teams will also compete in many tournaments at Ralia. Having all teams
practice at one facility enhances our ability to create a sense of
community. For example, it improves our ability to communicate both within
our club structure (administrators and coaching staff) and to our
constituents (players and their parents). Also, it allows us to have our
older players serve as role models to our younger players through our
mentoring program. |
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How often do teams
practice? |
Every
Minnesota Select athlete will have 3 practices per week.
All Minnesota Select teams will have 2 team practices per week,
plus an opportunity for specific training on a third night.
Also, Minnesota
Select players will have the opportunity to receive athletic conditioning training
three times per week. |
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How long is the
season? |
All
teams’ practice schedules begin the week of Monday,
November 26th. All teams will take two weeks off for the holiday season.
All teams' competition schedule begins in January. Teams’ seasons are planned to
conclude on the following dates:
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Season Ending Events for Each Team |
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Teams |
Last
Event Date |
Last
Event Name |
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Youth Teams (YDT) |
March 15 or 16 |
Ralia Tournament |
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12-1 |
April 19-21 |
Northern Lights Qualifier |
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14-2 & 13-1 |
June 11-13 |
PrepVolleyball.com
Classic |
18s, 17s,
16s,
15s,
14-1
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End of June/early July
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PrepVolleyball.com Classic or Nationals |
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Note:
All
teams whose seasons continue into June will have an additional 3+ weeks off
between January-June. |
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Are the players
able to participate in other activities? |
Perspective about
Volleyball’s Role in Your Life:
While playing for MN Select requires hard work and commitment, we
believe our philosophies and coaching staff provide excellent support to
participants taking on multiple commitments. For instance, many
multiple sport athletes can and do participate in our program.
Participants are excused for those family-related and school-related
activities that conflict with their team’s practices or tournaments.
Participants are encouraged to make-up training time lost with their
team through practicing with a comparable Minnesota Select team. |
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What does it cost? |
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2008
Season Fees: (based on 10 players per team) |
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18-1 |
18-2 |
17-1 |
17-2 |
16-1 |
16-2 |
16-3 |
15-1 |
15-2 |
15-3 |
14-1 |
14-2 |
13-1 |
12-1 |
YDT |
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November |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
300 |
100 |
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December |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
280 |
100 |
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January |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
420 |
420 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
420 |
250 |
250 |
280 |
100 |
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February |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
420 |
420 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
420 |
250 |
250 |
280 |
100 |
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March |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
420 |
420 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
420 |
250 |
250 |
280 |
100 |
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April |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
500 |
420 |
420 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
420 |
250 |
250 |
280 |
0 |
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May |
500 |
0 |
500 |
200 |
500 |
420 |
420 |
500 |
400 |
400 |
420 |
250 |
250 |
0 |
0 |
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June |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
500* |
250 |
250 |
0 |
0 |
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TOTAL |
4000 |
3500 |
4000 |
3700 |
4000 |
3600 |
3600 |
3700 |
3300 |
3300 |
3400 |
2300 |
2300 |
1700 |
500 |
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* This June payment is $500. In
the event the team does not qualify for Nationals, this
check will be voided. |
Payment:
Families are asked to pay all season fees by check. Season
fees will be collected in monthly checks starting in November
through the last month of the team's season (5-8 months).
On the day of tryouts, monthly payments for November and
December will be collected. The remainder of the monthly
payments (post-dated checks dated the
1st
of each month) will be due by January 1, 2008 to cover entire season fee.
Please make checks payable to MN Select.
Each family will have an account on our online registration
system and be able to view their account status at anytime
throughout the season. |
Minnesota Select
and Ralia Sports center will help to provide
Fundraising Opportunities
to its players. A large portion of each participant’s fees can be
offset through fundraising efforts. |
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What do you get
for your money? |
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Minnesota Select fees are all-inclusive.
Click here to view a chart
showing the distribution of the season fees for each team.
Below is a brief explanation of how fees are distributed.
Fees include:
Facility Rental: Each team will use Ralia
Sports Center for all team practices 2 times per week.
Additionally, players will be provided with a 3rd practice
session for skill/position-specific practices.
Velocity Sports Performance, Strength & Conditioning Program: For
the duration of her season, each athlete will have 3 weekly
strength & conditioning sessions with Velocity Sports
Performance staff while at Ralia. Each athlete will
receive 90 minutes of strength, agility, power and conditioning training
each week.
Coaching Salaries: Our staff is extremely
knowledgeable about volleyball and understands how to teach and train its
fundamentals and strategies. More importantly, they will consistently model
and teach principles integral to success in life. In short, they are
dedicated to each player’s maximum growth on and off the court. Each
team has 1-3 paid adult coaches provided and some of our younger
teams have the advantage of working with a player-mentor.
Additionally, MN Select will provide paid adult coaches during
each of the additional training sessions. Each player will
receive 6 hours of volleyball instruction each week working with
multiple coaches.
USAV and NCR Registrations: Minnesota Select will
register all players with USA Volleyball and North Country
Region for the club season.
Tournament Entry Fees: All tournaments MN Select
teams participate in charge an entry fee for their event.
These fees range from $85 for a half-day event to $900 for a
multi-day event.
Travel Expenses: Minnesota Select fees cover
expenses for all team travel events. These expenses
include (when applicable) hotel rooms; team vans; gas and
parking money; coach buses; and airfare for all players and coaches.
Administrative Expenses: These include everyday
operational expenses. This includes: production and
distribution of brochures, production of handouts, administrator salary, website
hosting, etc.
Uniform Package: All Minnesota Select athletes will
receive a complete uniform package. The package includes:
Mizuno volleyball shoes, 2-3 Mizuno jerseys, 2 pair of Mizuno
bikers/shorts, Mizuno warm-up pants, Mizuno warm-up jacket and a
practice t-shirt. Additional items will be available for
purchase: bags, kneepads, socks, sweatshirts, etc. Note:
Youth Developmental Teams (YDT) will receive Mizuno volleyball
shoes, 1 Mizuno jersey, 1 t-shirt jersey, 1 pair of Mizuno
bikers/shorts, and a practice t-shirt.
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What is the payment
schedule/method for fee collection? |
Families are asked to pay all season fees by check. Season
fees will be collected in monthly checks starting in November
through the last month of the team's season (5-8 months). Minnesota Select will accept post-dated checks (dated the
1st
of each month) at time of team selection to cover entire season fee.
Please make checks payable to MN Select.
Each family will have an account on our online registration
system and be able to view their account status at anytime
throughout the season. |
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Do the fees
have to be paid up front? |
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Payment
(with post-dated checks) for entire season fees will be due by November 17th.
We ask for families to
write post-dated checks for the entire season as suggested on our fee
schedule. If
this schedule does not work for families, we are open to adjusted rates of
payment. As long as a schedule is set up to collect all fees before the
start of the following club season, we can work with the family.
Please inquire if your family is in need of an adjusted fee
schedule. |
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How do the fundraisers work? |
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Each family is
encouraged to fundraise as little or as much as they desire. We have a
number of on-going fundraisers throughout the season such as: Metrodome
concessions and Ralia concessions. We also plan to provide monthly
fundraisers organized by our fundraising coordinator such as: flower sales,
Simek’s sales, taste testing etc. (these events are based on interest and
availability).
The funds raised are directly applied toward the family’s
dues. As a family raises funds, we apply funds to your credit card or return post-dated checks starting with
the latest (i.e. June 1) check then working back.
Click here
to go to our fundraising page. |
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Will there be
call-backs or a 2nd tryout day? |
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There
were no call backs in 2007 and none are planned for 2008. With the adequate court space, it is expected tryouts
will be successfully concluded within the scheduled times. We feel badly
for the athletes who found themselves without teams at the conclusion of the
tryouts of other clubs, but it is the athletes and parents responsibility to
correctly pre-assess various club situations. Please talk to us if you are
seeking additional opinions. |
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