How can I join the Junior Olympics for Summer 2009 for Indoor Volleyball? 14/f?

Question

By Summer 2009 I'll be 15 years old though. I live in New Jersey too.. how the heck do I get to like Michagan for Junior Olympics? And I dont get how it works. You sign up as a team, or as an individual player? There are tryouts right? Anybody know where it will be in 2009, by the way? People say I'm really good and hopefully I get better if I make JV this year so I can get better. I really think I have a shot at something like that cause like I'm determined about the game til the score's 25, whether my team wins or not. I could say blah blah blah about what I can do, but I really want to know the information. and I'm trying not to say it in a cocky way, I just think something like that would be cool to do, and I deff would want to commit to doing it if its possible?

Answer 1

ask your coach if he or she is willing to start a team, and if you get good enough they cud sign you all up for east coast championships and the possibly junior olympics, but you have to have all great players

Answer 2

If you go to the USA Volleyball web site at usavolleyball.org, then the WannaPlay link, then the USA Volleyball regions, then the RVA link, and then the New Jersey link.  I went on the Garden Empire region link and then found the list of junior clubs.  I have included it below.

Find a club in your area and contact them.  And contact them now.  Many clubs in the Houston area have already had their tryouts.  

Answer 3

Here's how it works:

You have to be on a club team (a school team would work, but only if no one on the team played club, and the coach was willing to sign up for some club tournaments), first thing.

SInce you'll be 15, you'll have to try out for a 15 year old team, or else you wouldn't be allowed to play in JOs.  

Now, there are multiple divisions of Junior Olympics, which are as follows:

1. Open- the best division.  In order to play in JOs open, your team must finish high enough (within the amount of bids given) in a USAV (United States Volleyball Association) recognized qualifier.  This allows you to play in the open division.  The other way to qualify is to receive an "at-large" bid, which are bids received by a team that already has a bid, that was not given to another team.  Simply, if a team has already qualified for Open, and they earn another bid at a qualifier, the bid will usually be given to the highest team that didn't receive a bid, but if it isn't, it becomes "at-large".  These bids are awarded to teams that the USAV feel are the best teams in the country that haven't received bids.

It splits here.  For boys like me, the next division is club, but for girls (I'm assuming you're a girl), the divisions are:

2. American and National- Neither require a qualification.  Your team pays to go, and you go.  These teams don't get recognized as much as Open teams, but still win medals for finishing top 4, and get the same experience as everyone else.

So long story short, you need to join a club team, and it'll come along.  If your team is good enough, you have a chance at open.  If your team is pretty good, and you think that against other teams that didn't qualify for open you have a chance, you'll play a different division.  There's always the chance you won't go to JOs at all because the team isn't competitive enough, but if you're a truly good player, you'll be able to play for a good club.  The fees to go to JOs are almost always factored into the money you pay the club to play for them.  Some 24-32 teams qualify for open division each year, and about 60-80 others play in the other divisions (all varies by year).  Not every team goes, but teams that are slightly competitive will go, if not just for the good time (which I guarantee you, is some of the most fun you can have).

Unfortunately for you, I guess, you're a girl player, and there are many more girl's teams than boy's, and it's much harder to qualify for open.  For example, at the tournament that awards the most bids, the SCVA Invitational (where my boy's team gets bids), you can finish top ten or eight (depending on year) to receive a bid for boy's, but for girl's, you need to finish in the top 4 or so, among 200 teams, in comparison to our 60 teams.  They can only allow so many teams into the other divisions, so there's no 100% guarantee of going to Junior Olympics.  It's very likely if you join a club with a reputation, or an arising talented club, and less likely if you join a team that hasn't proved very good.  But if you don't play JOs first year, don't get down, you'll just have to keep playing, and eventually you'll get on a team good enough for open.  And if you barely miss open, your club will send you to another division, which is also fun.

Good luck!  It's not too hard if you can afford a good club team and have the skills to play on it.  Start searching for clubs.  I don't know where in New Jersey you live, but I looked up some NJ clubs, and Allegro seems like a good club on the girls side.  There 16 team was pretty good, and played in open.