Overview of Nationals

USA Volleyball offers the ultimate competition in the form of an annual Nationals tournament (http://www.usavolleyball.org/events?tag_id=3189) usually held in late June or early July.  This is where the top junior teams from each of USA Volleyball’s 40 Regional Volleyball Associations or Regions (http://usavolleyball.org/pages/420) compete for the honor to be called the best team in their respective age group.  Each age group is comprised of three divisions, from highest to lowest: Open, National, and American.  Placement into a division is determined by a team’s performance at its Regional Qualifier or one of the National Qualifiers.

We put this short document together to give our Club Players and their Parents the information they need to understand Nationals and what it takes for a Club Team to get there.

Note: USA Volleyball's 2010 Girls Junior Nationals will be held in Reno, NV from June 24 through July 3 (http://usavolleyball.org/news/2009/10/11/reno-hosts-2010-usav-girls-junior-nationals/28218).

Regional Qualifiers

For a Club to partake in any tournament sanctioned by USA Volleyball, the Club has to be a member of its local Region.  Velocity VBC belongs to the Great Lakes (GL) Region of USA Volleyball (http://www.greatlakesvolleyball.org).  Each Region invites teams to its Regional Qualifier tournament.  The invitation usually comes around the end of February and is given to teams based on their overall tournament play.  A team may only play in its local Region’s Qualifier, hence the Regional Qualifier classification, and may only participate if invited.  Once the invite is accepted, the team must play in the tournament and if the team takes one of the Top 2-3 spots in its age division, then it must attend the Nationals tournament (otherwise sanctions and penalties are imposed on the Club).

Results from the previous season for the GL Regional Qualifier can be found at:

http://www.greatlakesvolleyball.org/USAV/Redesign/juniorinfo.cfm?view=qualifiers

National Qualifiers

USA Volleyball hosts about 10 various National Qualifier tournaments located in different cities across the US.  The current list can be found at USA Volleyball’s website (http://usavolleyball.org/pages/4536).  National Qualifiers are open to any team.  Formal invites by a Region or USA Volleyball are not needed.  Any USA Volleyball registered club team can enter a National Qualifier.  Only the Top 2 teams from each age division win bids to the Nationals tournament.

Traditionally, many college recruiters attend National Qualifiers for scouting purposes.  It’s our understanding that recruiters look at players as young as 15U or 16U and keep a watchful eye on them over the next few seasons.  That said, many Clubs attend at least 1 National Qualifier each season to get their older 17U and 18U players exposure to college recruiters.

Results from the previous season for each of the National Qualifiers can be found at:

http://usavolleyball.org/pages/4536

Conclusion

In order for a Velocity VBC team to go to Nationals, at least 1 of 2 paths must be taken:

1. Do well in tournaments from December through February in order to get an invite to the Regional Qualifier and then place in the Top 2-3 teams of that age division to win a bid to Nationals.
2. Attend a National Qualifier and then place in the Top 2 teams of that age division to win a bid to Nationals.

Many Clubs attempt to do both because an invite to a Regional Qualifier is not guaranteed nor is placing in the Top 2-3 teams of a Regional Qualifier and attendance at a National Qualifier is open to any club team of any USA Volleyball region.

Please contact your respective coach or the Director of the Club for more information.