Sporting Albany offers travel teams for both boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18. Travel teams receive an average of 60-75 practice hours per season as well as 10 to 16 tournament days (depending on age level). 

Junior volleyball clubs generally operate as a member of a larger governing body. There are many different governing bodies (i.e. USAV, AAU, JVA) but all are national organizations that give local clubs the structure and support they need to operate. They set the rules of play, offer safety and insurance coverage, and provide access to certified coaches and officials. By affiliating with these governing bodies, clubs can run sanctioned practices, compete in sanctioned tournaments, and offer players a clear path to higher levels of competition, including national events and college exposure. These partnerships add credibility and help ensure a safe, competitive, and professional experience for athletes and families.

At Sporting Albany, we primarily operate under USA Volleyball (USAV) and our local region within the organization is Excelsior Empire Regional Volleyball Association (XLRVA).

But we are also members of both the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA). This allows us to attend events hosted by all 3 organizations and expand our range of opportunities.

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 accessible volleyball program”; something that we still try to uphold. As the years go by, operating costs only go up, so club fees may also increase year-to-year. 

Each year, we carefully review our past season’s budget and projected expenses to determine club fees. Like many organizations, we’re impacted by inflation (rising costs for gym rentals, tournament entry fees, equipment, etc.). In some cases, teams may see an increase in tournament participation or travel opportunities, which also affects pricing. Our goal is to provide the best possible experience for our athletes while maintaining transparency and fairness in our fee structure.

USAV memberships are required to participate with any club sanctioned by USA Volleyball. A variety of memberships are available. For tryouts, we always suggest purchasing the “Tryout Membership”. This is valid for a shorter period of time, costs less money, and does not require affiliating with a specific club.

If a player then makes a team, they will be able to upgrade to the required “Full” membership for the remaining cost. 

USAV memberships can be purchased via this LINK. Memberships are purchased and managed through the SportsEngine system.

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

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 (@SportingZK)

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 15 and up will generally be scheduled for about 15-16 TDs, while our teams ages 14 and below will be scheduled for 10-13 TDs.

At SAVB 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 considered to be any events within a 2-hour drive and are meant to not require hotel stays. Popular stops are at Halfmoon, Clifton Park, Saratoga, and Syracuse.

Travel tournaments will always require at least one night in a hotel and can range anywhere from Boston, MA to Cleveland, OH to Richmond, VA. The more popular stops have been in Hartford, Boston, Providence, and Mohegan Sun Casino.

NO! It is the club’s 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 immediately 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.

There are two types of travel tournaments: “Stay-to-Play” and NOT stay-to-play.

For Stay-to-Play tournaments (historically USAV events), visiting clubs are required to book rooms through their specific hotel provider in order to be accepted into the tournament. In this situation, SAVB will acquire a block of rooms and send the information out to parents. It is then up to parents to book reservations within the block. If the club does not meet the required minimum number of room nights, we may not be accepted into the event. SAVB does NOT pay for athlete hotel rooms, though we will always do our best to find the most reasonable prices based on what is available.

For non-stay-to-play tournaments (historically AAU events), parents will be free to book whatever travel arrangements they are most comfortable with. We always encourage parents to work together if they would like to coordinate a team hotel or travel plans. 

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.