The latest news and articles from JVA
Scroll to see blog articles by topic or filter & search using the bar below.
Recently Added
Top Males Volleyball Athletes Nominated for the 2024 JVA Watch List powered by Fivestar
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) The JVA is pleased to announce the top male volleyball athletes in the country nominated for the [...]
Blog Categories
Business Solutions: 3 Effective Ways to Budget for Refund Requests
In the dynamic world of volleyball, unpredictability is part of the game. From sudden injuries to personal circumstances, clubs often face refund requests that can pose significant financial challenges. To navigate these uncertainties, clubs [...]
Recruiting Solutions: 4 Things to Know Heading Into the Contact and Evaluation Period
Two months ago, we were preparing for the club season to start, the holiday break hit us, and boom, it’s mid-February when the Evaluation Period and Contact Period begin. UPPERCLASSMEN (juniors and seniors in [...]
TeamLVC Wins JVA Club of the Month
TeamLVC is committed to growing the sport of volleyball not only at the juniors club level, but also at the top and bottom of the volleyball spectrum. In 2004 TeamLVC formed as a [...]
News
JVA Proudly Announces the Recipients of the 2023 JVA Junior Club Service Award
"Coaching is releasing a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them." ~Unknown The JVA is pleased to announce the 28 individuals honored with the [...]
JVA Welcomes Cat Dailey Minyard to the JVA Board of Directors
The JVA is pleased to announce the addition of Cat Dailey Minyard to the JVA Board of Directors. She will begin a three year term on the Board in January 2024. Cat is the Founder [...]
JVA Partners With SportsRecruits To Power College Recruiting Efforts
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - November 2nd, 2023 – The Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) is thrilled to announce its collaboration with SportsRecruits, the leading college recruiting network, to enhance the college recruiting efforts for its member organizations. [...]
Club Directors
Burnout in Volleyball Leaders: 3 Mindset Shifts to Help
I have a tremendous affinity for youth and junior volleyball club directors. I will interchange the term “leader” for “club director” often for, to me, I believe you are one and the same. I [...]
Business Solutions: 3 Ways to Collect Feedback from Club Parents and Coaches
In the dynamic realm of youth volleyball, fostering a thriving community involves not only the growth of aspiring athletes but also the active engagement of parents. Recognizing the pivotal role parents play in the [...]
Risk Management Solutions: Volleyball Leaders and the Crucial Responsibility of Supervision and Emergency Planning
*Information provided in this article is not to be considered a substitute for legal advice. Readers are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of a licensed attorney familiar with youth sport laws and regulations within [...]
Coaches
Coaching Mental Performance: TARGET Culture and Intrinsically Motivated Athletes
One of the most prominent issues I hear from coaches is that their team needs to be more “mentally tough” or “resilient.” They will say, “my team just can’t win long rallies,” or “they just [...]
Recruiting Solutions: Keeping Momentum Going During the Fall
The Fall High School Season can be a busy time of year for a lot of high school volleyball players. Many players have limited communication with their club coaches and club recruiting staff. It’s also [...]
Coaching Mental Performance: Team Identity and Value Systems
Despite a club’s best intentions to make sure all coaches are maintaining consistent verbiage across age groups and skill levels, and keeping the expectations of the training environment relatively consistent, it often devolves into coaches [...]
Boys
Northeast Point Series Creates a New Power League to Advance Boys Volleyball in the Northeast
The Northeast Point Series is entering its inaugural season with the creation of a boys power league hosted by its four founding clubs (1) Niagara Frontier Volleyball (Buffalo, NY), (2) A-10 Volleyball (Pittsburgh, PA), (3) [...]
The Western Boys Power League Develops Solutions for the Growth of Boys Volleyball
Absolute Zero Volleyball Club started out as a girls program that arose from the need to provide training for fundamentals and mechanics in a fun environment. The club is based on the “Science of Volleyball” [...]
Appalachian Boys Power League Launches in 2023
Growing boys volleyball in Tennessee has been a most rewarding challenge. In 2012 K2 Volleyball Coach Cory Felts started a boys team that included his son and his son's friends, some other coaches' sons, and [...]
Girls
Recruiting Solutions: April Qualifiers Bring May Maintenance
May is a great month to assess and maintain the recruiting process. Many clubs have limited weekends of play in May and will train more in the gym to prepare for June championships. It is [...]
The 2023 JVA Girls Watch List powered by Fivestar is Released
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) The JVA is pleased to release the 2023 JVA Watch List powered by Fivestar featuring over 3,600 girls indoor junior volleyball athletes from 200 JVA member clubs across the country. The players nominated [...]
5 Benefits of Yoga for Volleyball Athletes
Yoga designed for volleyball athletes is not “athletic” or “powerful” yoga – it is a method of recovery used to balance out the physical demands, repetitive actions, and mental stress of the gym/court/field. When practiced [...]
Beach
Optimum Beach Wins JVA Club of the Month
Optimum Beach was established in 2014 as a high level beach volleyball training program with an international approach. Director Pri Piantadosi-Lima recognized early on that there was a need for a more dynamic approach to [...]
Beach Solutions: Partner Pairing for Doubles Competition and Club Dual Events
Beach partner pairing can be a challenging part of playing beach volleyball. It is the #1 most intimidating task that new players must learn to do for themselves. “Can you help find a partner for [...]
Beach Solutions: Cohesion and Flexibility with Indoor Leads to Success
Madsand Beach started in 2017 with less than 10 athletes training with Founder Will Buchanan. At the time, Buchanan was coaching indoor for Madfrog Volleyball Club, one of the top indoor clubs in the region, [...]
Culture
From the JVA Office: JVA Club Training Curriculum
Maintaining a positive and competitive culture is critical to a club's success and longevity. The challenge lies in the ability to identify, train and retain the coaching staff essential to teaching the physical, mental and [...]
Maintain a Competitive Gym Environment with these 3 Drills
Most clubs strive to have as competitive of an environment as possible in their gym. However, sometimes you're missing players, or are training with multiple teams on one court. Here are 3 drills you [...]
3 Ways to Cultivate a Culture of Belonging
Team building is a critical element to any successful volleyball team, however melding a roster of individuals into a team is no easy task. There is a subtle, yet critical difference between a team culture [...]
Events
An Official’s Impact: Affecting the Younger Generation in a Positive Way
"When both teams have enjoyed the match win or lose and basically you’ve been invisible, you know that you’ve done a good job." Mark Eckart's volleyball life started as a player in elementary school in [...]
JVA Proudly Announces the 2023-2024 JVA Challenge Series powered by i6
The JVA is pleased to announce the 25 events named to the 2023-2024 JVA Challenge Series presented by i6. These events are aligned in their commitment to providing an elite, safe and high quality competition [...]
JVA Raises $20,000 for the Side-Out Foundation at the JVA World Challenge
The JVA is a proud supporter of the Side-Out Foundation and the Dig Pink® Program. Every year the JVA commits to raising funds for the Side-Out Foundation in order to support research specifically for patients [...]
Awards
2023 JVA Best in Beach powered by Fivestar
(July 10, 2023. Milwaukee, Wisconsin) The JVA is pleased to announce the 2023 JVA Best in Beach powered by Fivestar that recognizes the nation’s top female JVA beach athletes for outstanding achievement during the [...]
2023 JVA Beach Watch List powered by Fivestar
(July 3, 2023. Milwaukee, Wisconsin) The JVA is pleased to announce the 2023 JVA Beach Watch List presented by Fivestar that recognizes the top female beach athletes from JVA member clubs this season. Over 260 [...]
JVA Presents the 2023 JVA Boys All-National Team powered by Fivestar
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN (June 28, 2023) The JVA is pleased to announce the 49 student athletes selected to the 2023 JVA Boys All-National Team powered by Fivestar, which recognizes the top male indoor volleyball players competing [...]
Training
Coaching Mental Performance: Reinforcement and Punishment
After the season I always find it appropriate to challenge coaches to reflect on how their teams formed and performed throughout the season. Often with these reflections we get coaches that feel as if [...]
Coaching Mental Performance: Termination Conversations
The season is coming to a close and the last tune-up tournaments are taking place before the big National events. It's the perfect time to prepare your team for the end of season. In the [...]
Coaching Mental Performance: Self-Care for Coaches and Athletes
Whereas the curriculum was the meat and potatoes of my education at Adler University, the broth was this concept of “self-care”; for without it all of my hard work, knowledge, and intention would leave my [...]
Parents
Fundraising 101: It Doesn’t Have to be Painful!
For time-starved volleyball parents, fundraising for the season can sometimes be overwhelming. When factoring in tournament fees, travel, food, and other expenses, some parents in the United States could spend around $700- $1,000 a month [...]
Technology Solutions: Growing Competition Leads to New Solutions
Youth sports have taken over the weekends of parents across the country. Travel, new equipment, and club fees makes those weekends anything but cheap. While some see the rising cost of youth sports as a [...]
3 Ways Volleyball Athletes Can Overcome the Social Media Timelines
“The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you somebody else” - E.E Cummings “Should I post the picture at 3:00pm right when everyone gets out of [...]
Recruiting
Recruiting Solutions: Early Season Meeting with Your Club Athletes and Parents
The recruiting process can be very overwhelming to the athletes and parents. Clear, open and honest communication is key to a successful process that helps your athletes achieve their goal of playing in college. Here [...]
Technology Solutions: Using Video and Stats to Take Charge of Athlete Development
Oregon Juniors Volleyball Academy (OJVA) club director and master coach Steve Suttich says that OJVA players are committed to using video and data not only for recruiting, but to develop skills and improve their volleyball [...]
Recruiting Solutions: Staying Pro-active in the Recruiting Process Outside of the Club Season
The recruiting process in general is currently slow to develop for athletes and colleges. Many schools are navigating rosters due to COVID waivers and adjustments in budgets. The transfer portal is also having an impact [...]
Travel
The Truth Behind Tournament Refunds
As tournaments and leagues around the country continue to cancel, the questions on many of our minds revolve around refunds. Will I be refunded? Will it be a full refund? Why won’t I be refunded [...]
Virus Precautions and Recommendations
May 15, 2020 Update We are all closely following the evolution of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and based on the most recent updates, the Junior Volleyball Association is recommending that all JVA member clubs and tournament [...]
From the JVA Office: JVA Hosts First Boys Summit in Chicago
One of the resources that JVA brings to our members is advocacy. A conversation that is continually brought up by our Boys Club Directors and coaches is a dissatisfaction with the current split season for [...]