EXPRESS TRAINING

9th Grade	Tryout Day - Sunday, March 11th 6:30-8:20	Practice Days are Sundays 6:30-8:20	Cost is $140
8th Grade	Tryout Day - Monday, March 12th 4:40-6:30	Practice Days are Mon and Wed 4:40-6:30 beginning March 19th You must attend the tryouts on 3/12	Cost is $260
7th Grade	Tryout Day - Monday, March 12th 4:40-6:30	Practice Days are Mon and Wed 4:40-6:30 beginning March 19th You must attend the tryouts on 3/12	Cost is $260
6th Grade	Tryout Day - Wednesday, March 14th 4:40-6:30	Practice Days are Mon and Tues 4:40-6:30 beginning March 19th You must attend the tryouts on 3/14	Cost is $260
5th Grade	Evaluation Day - Friday, March 16th 4:40-6:30	Practice Days are Fridays 4:40-6:30	Cost is $140
4th Grade	Evaluation Day - Friday, March 16th 4:40-6:30	Practice Days are Fridays 4:40-6:30	Cost is $140

Age Groups: This spring we are looking to form Training Teams in the 4th - 9th grades. This session will include 2 levels of play in most age groups. Each team will be led by an Elevation VBC lead trainer so you know that our goals will be reached. Each team will have an assistant coach as well. We do not use volunteer coaches. The 1st day of practice will be an evaluation or a tryout depending on the age group. This session we will be taking 32 players in each age group. In order to run better practices and reach our goals we will be holding tryouts in the 6th - 9th grades on the 1st day. Not all players who sign up will be able to practice with us this session if we go over 32 player registrations. In the 4th and 5th grades we will cap the activity at 32 registrations and all of those players will be evaluated and placed in a group. We will not be cutting 4th or 5th graders (1st come, 1st serve). If you are played on a public 7th or 8th grade volleyball team during the fall you must be placed on a training team with no more than 3 players from your school team. This is an OHSAA rule. Players occasionally have to be moved into other groups or dropped from the session due to the "rule of 3". We will let the evaluation dictate which players are selected. All 9th graders must follow this rule as well. Catholic school players have no restrictions because those schools are not members of the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

Format: The spring teams will meet twice a week in the upper age groups. Practices are usually 1 hour and 50 minutes long and will begin the week of March 12th. The tryout/evaluation day is your 1st practice. Most practices will be just that, team practices with drills and team concepts being taught along side drills to improve skills. "Skills days" are dedicated to a specific skill if it is identified as necessary for any of the teams. There will be no "league games" or tournaments requiring travel but there will be scrimmaging between the groups so we can work on team concepts. We want to play games but only if we can coach the girls 1st so we can have a decent result. Games for the sake of playing simply isn't our philosophy with this activity. There will also be a plyometric/conditioning component in many practices.

Goals: Each team has a set of goals for the season which will include learning either Rover, Rotation, or Perimeter defense. Since this is a shorts season we will suspend more of the warm-up and cool down periods in order to fit in more scrimmaging after the first 2 weeks. Serving, attacking, passing, blocking (where applicable), and setting will be worked on by the entire group. We will teach a 6-2 offense to most teams and we will at least introduce the group to many of the things they will see in the future. We want to focus on training at a reasonable price and time commitment. Our best coaches are committed to this endeavor. This offering is for players who wish to pursue volleyball as a high school sport. It is not a sign-up and play activity or something to get your daughter out of the house for some exercise. We want to positively impact girls who think they may pursue volleyball as their future high school sport. Teams with beginner players will be expected to compete in the same or similar drills as we push the more advanced players. Each player will get out of this what they put into it. Since wins and losses are not a factor in this activity, it does not matter that everyone is not at exactly the same level but we do have tryout/evaluations to split players into skill groups to help practices run more smoothly.

Coaches: This program is being developed and run by Elevation Volleyball Club. Current and past coaches include Barb Beckelhimer, Jeni Case, Amanda Schuler, Lisa Schaad, Rose Grafton, Katie Holly, Mike Seibert, Cheryl Korfhagen, Rusty Opper, Karen Hess, Katey Wygant, Jessica Montgomery, Erin Iceman, Amy Doran, Chris Lovett and other guest instructors. For your daughters volleyball development you're going to be hard pressed to find more knowledgeable coaches than these trainers. We are continually updating this offering to get the most out of our practice time with the girls. The goal is to give players an opportunity to learn from upper level coaches at a price that is much less than JO's. To enter 2 full sessions of Express Training (about 5 months) would cost less than $500 as opposed to a Regional JO team which costs about $1000-$1200 or a National JO team which costs about $1800-$2200. The other advantage is not having to travel and you get a National level coach who can commit to this activity because of the schedule. At the U10-U13 age groups this is a very good option. By U14's most players who are playing volleyball as their main sport will gravitate toward JO's but not all due to the schedule and costs. Having a set practice schedule, a great coach, and a facility and staff committed to volleyball ensures that any effort you give will be rewarded with better play and a better knowledge base.

Cost: The entire balance is due at your 1st evaluation. More information can be found on our FAQ's page.