Sporting Albany offers travel teams for both boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 18. Travel teams receive an average of 45-50 practice hours per season as well as 7 to 13 tournament days (depending on age level). 

Sporting Albany operates as a member of USA Volleyball. USAV is the National Governing Body for the sport of volleyball in the United States and within this organization are “Regional Volleyball Associations”. Clubs that operate in upstate New York and the Capital District are a part of the Iroquois-Empire Volleyball Association (IREVA) Region. To play for a club under USAV, every athlete must have a USAV membership.

SportsEngine is an all-in-one membership management system used by USAV. Anyone looking to participate in USAV sanctioned events must have a SportsEngine account. This account will allow you to attend tryouts, accept team assignments and be put onto team rosters. 

At Sporting Albany, we budget as close to full cost as possible to include all known expenses up front. Our largest costs include practice gym rentals and tournament entry fees, but also include factors like equipment cost and coach payments.  SAVB was founded on the principle of being a “more affordable volleyball program”; something that we still try to uphold. As the years go by, gym costs and tournament fees only go up, so club fees may increase year-to-year. 

USAV memberships are required to participate in any events sanctioned by USA Volleyball (tryouts, practices, tournaments, camps, clinics, etc.). A variety of memberships are available. To tryout for a club, a “single-event” membership will suffice. If a player then makes a team, they are able to upgrade their membership to the “full-year” membership for a discounted price. 

USAV memberships can be purchased via this LINK. Memberships are purchased without affiliating with a specific club.

Club payments are accepted by cash/check or VENMO. Checks should be made out to “Sporting Albany Volleyball”, and all VENMO payments must go to Club Director Zack Kuhn (@Zack-Kuhn). *Zack with a “k”!

Yes and no. By accepting your position on a team, you are giving us your commitment to our full practice and play schedule. If a conflict arises, and you cannot attend a tournament, you must notify your coach at least 2 weeks in advance. If a substitute can be found to replace you at the tournament, this substitute will be charged your portion of the tournament entry fee and you will receive your refund. If no substitute can be found, then no refund will be provided.

If a team loses out on a tournament that is canceled by the host club, we will do everything we can to replace it with another tournament because SAVB will not be charged for the canceled tournament. If a replacement cannot be found, the team will receive a refund for the lost tournament days. If a team must drop out of a tournament because not enough players can attend, our club will most likely not be refunded by the tournament, and therefore the players will not be refunded for the lost tournament days. 

Tournaments will range from 1-day to 3-day events. As a result, we do not schedule our teams by number of tournaments, but instead number of tournament days (TDs). All of our teams ages 16 and up will generally be scheduled for about 11-13 TDs, while our teams ages 15 and below will be scheduled for 7-9 TDs.

We try to balance each team’s tournament schedule with both “local” and “travel” tournaments, but like to keep everything within reasonable driving distance. Local tournaments are anything within the IREVA region ranging from Queensbury to Syracuse. Local tournaments are meant to not require hotel stays. Travel tournaments will always require at least one night in a hotel and can range anywhere from Rochester to Boston to Washington, D.C.

NO! It is club policy that all team members must remain at a tournament until all team responsibilities have been fulfilled. At a tournament, unless you have just won the championship match, you will almost always have to work the match after the one you just lost. That’s simply the way volleyball tournaments work. PLEASE DO NOT pressure your coaches into letting you leave early or try to get out of working. If a player leaves a tournament, without the consent of the head coach, before all team responsibilities are completed, this player’s position with the team may be terminated.

Most tournaments that require hotel stays also require visiting clubs to book rooms through their specific hotel provider in order to be accepted into the tournament. SAVB will acquire room blocks when necessary, and it will then be up to parents/players to book reservations via our block of rooms. SAVB does NOT pay for athlete hotel rooms, though we do our best to find the most reasonable prices at available hotels. 

At Sporting Albany, we acknowledge and are aware that club members are paying to be a part of our program. The goal of our program, though, is to develop the skills of all of our athletes. The majority of this skill development will take place at practices. At tournaments, playing time will be left to the discretion of the coaches. Of course, everyone would like to get 100% playing time at tournaments; however, this is simply not possible. That being said, it is part of our goal to get all athletes court time at tournaments. No athlete should sit an entire day at an event. 

At tournaments all teams will be required to supply a “work team” at least once. These work teams require a certified referee and a certified scorekeeper (as well as a handful of other positions). We strongly encourage that ALL PLAYERS receive certifications in both fields. Teams can be fined for not having certified refs/scorekeepers on their rosters. Parents can also receive certifications if they do so desire. No one wants to be the player who is stuck having to work every single match because their teammates do not hold up their share of the responsibility. Certification classes are offered both online and in person. For the most part they are FREE. Dates for these certification classes will be posted online.