What is Club Volleyball?

Where is Outbreak?

Also known as Juniors or Travel volleyball, Club volleyball is a nationwide highly competitive sport dedicated to giving student athletes across the country the ability to participate and excel in volleyball against other players their same age, both regionally and nationally.  Club volleyball offers the most advanced and competitive youth volleyball experience in Tidewater.

Many girls on high school and middle school teams play club volleyball.  Club teams are available for both girls and boys starting with Elementary School (U11, U12) going through Middle School (U13, U14) and High School (U15, U16, U17, U18).

 
There are three governing bodies in the Tidewater Area which under their jurisdiction most clubs operate: the Old Dominion Region (ODR) of USA Volleyball (USAV), the American Athletics Union (AAU) Volleyball, and the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA).

Outbreak is in the process of finalizing plans for their official “home”, until those plans are complete, for the 2021/22 travel season they will be splitting practices between three locations. Calvary Assembly of God Gym, Cape Henry Colligate, and Kempsville HS (Sundays)

Tryouts for Travel Volleyball typically takes place a few days during the last few weeks of July, before high school practices start. There are also makeup tryouts scheduled after the initial tryouts as needed.

As soon as the tryout date and times have been determined, they will be posted on the website and our social media.

When tryout dates and times are finally posted and you will be out of town / unavailable, email outbreakvbc@gmail.com to make arrangements for a pre-tryout or makeup tryout.

It is our goal to field 1 team per age group starting with U13. If there is a desire to field a second team at an age and there are enough players to have a team, we will entertain adding that team.

Since Outbreak is a club which puts our focus on the players, we strive to give every player a place to play. With that said, in the past we fielded teams with not enough players, with players who did not have the skills to play travel volleyball resulting in the experience being bad for those players. With this lesson learned we will always try to field teams, but we will not “throw” a team together just to add another team to the Outbreak roster –qualified players, coaches, practice facilities are a MUST to field a team.

The governing bodies for travel volleyball, USAV – AAU – JVA have determined the eligibility dates. Depending on the age of the student athlete on July 1 of the current year determines the age group they can play with. If you are 15 on July 1 you may play any age group from U15 and up. If you are 16 on July 1, you may not play any age group younger than U16.

At Outbreak we are required to follow these guidelines, if you are “U15s” eligible you can only play for teams U15 and older.  

Outbreak’s coaches are a group of leaders who put the players before themselves. At Outbreak we want coaches who want their players to be as successful off the court as they are on. We strive to make them the best players they can become along with setting an example of how to be a “good person” so they can go on and be a positive member of society. 

 
Our coaches have coached in College, High School, Middle School and Club for years. And we work together as a team sharing our collective knowledge, education, and volleyball IQ ensuring the players get the best coaching they can from Outbreak. 

To learn more about our coaches, visit our Coaches page.

The fees for the 2021/22 season will be $2300. As soon as a player accepts a spot on a roster and signs their Participation Agreement, they can begin making payments. When the Agreement is signed, a 10% deposit is collected and then we allow for you to make payments once per month till May. (Usually 9 payments + the deposit)

We offer a 5% discount if a family chooses to pay in full when they sign the Participation Agreement. 

Our membership fees cover: tournament registrations, coaches' expenses (pay, travel, memberships, training), court space, equipment, insurance, and operational costs required to run the club. Fees do not cover the player’s required Outbreak gear, player membership fees (USAV, AAU), and travel expenses.

Each player is required to purchase an Outbreak Gear package (between $300 & $350), When you join Outbreak and purchase your Outbreak Gear package you will receive 3 uniforms, 2 tee-shirts, a backpack, a warm-up jacket, running shorts, and a volleyball. Once you have each of these items you will not be required to purchase them again unless you outgrow them, or we change them. This package can vary from year to year, however, Outbreak does it is best to use the same gear for a few years thus reducing the annual costs for a family. Gear is NOT included in the membership fees.

Outbreak does not require players to all wear the same brand of shoes / spandex / kneepads / socks.  Some coaches are permitted to ask the team to all match their color of these items, but there is not a brand requirement. We do offer UA spandex for purchase when you get your Outbreak Gear.

After tryouts in July, typically our first practices are the first week of December.  Occasionally, some teams will start in the last week or so in November. Also, some teams will have some open gyms and team bonding over the summer leading up to the start of the season. 

  
Most teams finish with the last tournament over Memorial Day (last weekend in May). However, if a team is good enough and wants to play at Nationals, the season can be extended. If a team wants to play at USAV nationals, they will need to qualify. If they want to attend AAU nationals they just need to register (qualifying is not required). If any team want to attend Nationals, the costs to attend are not included in a team’s budget and funds will need raised or paid by the parents. 

Each team will practice 3 times per week (practice sessions generally last 2 hours. The exact days and times will be determined when the team is fielded. 

At the beginning of each season, all players will be given a tentative schedule (pending acceptance) that indicates the dates and locations of each tournament. Depending on the team, a player may have three or four travel tournaments, with the remaining events being local.  

This depends on the team and their coach. Traditionally each team will compete in 7-10 events. 3 to 5 multi-day tournaments with approximately 3 requiring travel. The season will then be filled with local Virginia tournaments, traveling no further than Richmond. At Outbreak, we try to keep local tournaments within a 1 1/2 to 2 hour distance, but sometimes it can be a little more.  We will also travel out of town for 2 to 3 day tournaments, typically 3 per season. Generally, we do not travel further than 3-4 hours distance from Va Beach, but depending on the team we can sometimes travel further. Tournament schedules will not be decided until the season starts, and the teams are assembled and assessed.  

Tournaments are where practice time is rewarded. The “real” work of travel volleyball takes place during the practices. Throughout the season you will have MANY more practices than you do tournaments. Tournament play is only an addition to participating in travel volleyball.

At Outbreak, we like to schedule club wide skill sessions at least once a month. Because of COVID restrictions during the 2020/21 season we were not able to hold these sessions. During the 2021/22 season, we will be offering club wide sessions and specific skills sessions (schedule will be released after practices start). There will be no cost for Outbreak players.

Can I play multiple sports?