History
Virginia Beach Volleyball Academy (Virginia Beach, Virginia) was started 10 years ago by Cheryl Smith and Mike Roberts. In the club’s first year13 girls teams and 1 boys team were fielded. VBVA mainly operated out of schools and church gyms until about 6 years ago when the club moved into a newly constructed building, the Virginia Beach Field House. Shortly after, the club merged with a smaller local club and adopted that club’s name for its Juniors program, Beach Elite. Beach Elite added an office, a store and a Training Center, and also started a Sand Volleyball program, which included the addition of 8 sand courts.

Programs
Beach Elite has added different programs to help grow the interest and skill levels of players coming into volleyball. Once of the programs implemented about 2 years ago is the Futures program. This program is designed for kids 7-11 years old and is played as a 4 on 4 style volleyball with a smaller court. The objective with doing the 4 on 4 is to maximize the touch opportunities players have. Players practice for 1.5 hours once a week and then do competition Sunday for 2 hours. This is where they are split into teams of 6-7 and play each other in 4 on 4 style with players rotating each service rotation. The focus is on developing 3 touches, progression of serves from underhand to sidearm to overhead. This program runs for 8 weeks with four seasons in the year. Each season the programs fills up and individuals have to be placed on a waiting list!

Not only has Beach Elite done a great job with the Futures, but the club has continued to add value to its Juniors program. Many clubs see growth as the number of teams they can have each season, however, Beach Elite has looked at growth as a reflection of the value members get. The club implemented a Training Center that is used for Jump Training, Powercore 360 training, film review and strength/conditioning training. This came at no cost to their members. Implemented into every teams practices each week is PowerCore 360 training. Coaches were certified in this program and it has been implemented with teams each week, again, at no cost to their members.

Lastly, Beach Elite hosts weekly Specialty Sessions in which 1-2 players from each team attend and are instructed by various coaches on a specific skill set. This allows players to work with other coaches and to have time dedicated to a skill set they need to work on. This is run before practices begin and again, at no cost to the members.

Plans for the future include expansion of the Futures program, possible court expansions, further tournament hosting and growing the sand volleyball program.

Fun Facts:

  1. Facility consists of 8 indoor courts, 8 outdoor sand courts, 4 full size indoor turf fields, 2 small indoor turf fields, full concessions indoor with grill, concessions outdoors at sand courts, indoor playground, Large projections screen TVs, equipment room, Training Center, on-site athletic trainer and offices.
  2. Beach Elite Juniors consist of about 140 athletes and 32 coaches. Beach Elite Futures consist of about 28 athletes and 6 coaches.
  3. Beach Elite Juniors players practice 3x week. 13 and 14s attend Strength, Conditioning and Jump training 1x week. 15s -18s attend Strength, Conditioning and Jump Training 2x week. Strength, Conditioning and Jump Training is conducted by Bon Secours InMotion and EXOS.
  4. The club’s training center provides teams an area to do Jump and Strength training along with film review and PowerCore 360 Training
  5. Virginia Beach Volleyball Academy started 10 years ago this year. Beach Elite became the club’s Juniors program name 6 years ago. Beach Elite Futures was incorporated 3 years ago and completely fills up every season. Seasons for Beach Elite Futures run for 8 weeks. They practice 1.5 hours each week and have “Competition Sundays” for 1.5 hours each Sunday. It’s a 4 on 4 style volleyball on a short court. An emphasis on 3 touches, progressions in serving technique, and skill development in all positions is instilled.
  6. Beach Elite focuses on girls Juniors volleyball, however the Futures, Camps and Clinics train both boys and girls.
  7. Beach Elite has a recruiting coordinator on staff who assists each family in their recruiting efforts as well as communicates daily with college coaches on their needs and matching to players seeking to play at the collegiate level.
  8. At the end of each season, the club has as End of Season Party. This is when we have a DJ, bounce houses, food, activities such as corn hole, dodgeball, parent volleyball (where kids coach them) and sitting volleyball all going on. We also have our Senior Recognition during this party, where we recognize all our seniors and where they will be heading to the next year.

Beach Elite is a member club of the JVA. To learn more about a JVA membership click here. To nominate your club for JVA Club of the Month click here.