JVA Membership
Click here for a current JVA member list (last updated 6/30/2010)
Why You Should Join The JVA...
Currently an estimated 90% of all registered volleyball members in the United States (USAV & AAU) are junior players or coaches. By becoming a member of the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) you will have a vote and a voice in all efforts to bring forth positive change to junior volleyball:
*JVA Club Directors have the opportunity to register their club coaches for AVCA memberships for the significantly reduced rate of $35. To take advantage of this JVA members-only offer please click here and fill out the JVA Club Coach form and return to the AVCA Office.
* By joining together, junior club directors can develop an organized group of small business leaders to lobby for improvement and better representation at the regional and national level for their sport. This type of effort will allow all clubs both large and small to be working partners with their regional and national leadership. The JVA feels strongly that since the junior community is the overwhelming source of funding for both the regional and national organizations, it should have a fair voice in the governance of those organizations.
* By agreeing to a working partnership with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) the JVA recognizes and supports the effort to bring all of the key organizations in the sport together. By forming a unified front the junior community can help lead the way in the development, promotion and marketing of our sport. The future of Volleyball is dependent on the growth and success of our youth and junior organizations.
* The JVA is committed to expanding the grassroots movement for the sport to bring more young players to the sport at the younger levels. While Volleyball might be popular at the High School level it has been far outpaced by sports such as Soccer and Softball at the Junior High and Grade School level. To reverse this trend we will be working with the AVCA and USA Volleyball to develop a training and competition model that will encourage widespread participation at the youth level (ages 8-12). This is a key area to address if the sport of Volleyball hopes to see significant growth in the years to come.
* The JVA is committed to addressing two areas that we feel strongly have a negative impact on our sport. (1) The first is the sky rocketing costs of participation in junior volleyball. While club dues have steadily risen over the past two decades we feel those costs are manageable, but the cost of travel has exploded. It is now common place for travel costs to make up the vast majority of a player's membership fees during a club season. The JVA feels that a solution can be reached that can begin to curtail the escalating expense of junior volleyball and make the sport more inclusive. If this can be done then the sport will be much more appealing to a large section of the youth market that currently cannot afford to be involved. (2) The second area that the JVA feels needs to be addressed is the current length of the junior season. In the past two decades the junior season has been extended approximately three weeks and now goes into the second week of July. The agreement is almost universal that the season is too long and the length of the season is contributing to several issues that have a negative impact on the sport. Those issues are less participation at the youth level, more injuries at all levels and an overuse factor for those players that must go directly from their club teams to the USA High Performance programs or their collegiate program. Many of the elite level collegiate coaches have been saying for years that many incoming freshman are entering college with overuse and chronic injuries that will plague them for most or all of their collegiate careers.
