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Getting Started in Volleyball
By Julia Cantone // usolympicteam.com // April 15, 2004
Getting Started in Volleyball
The best way to get started in indoor volleyball is by finding the USA Volleyball Regional Volleyball Association in your area. RVA Web sites provide contacts, tournament listings and information on regional camps, clubs and teams. The High Performance Program provides juniors with the best coaching and competition available to develop a pipeline to the USA National Women’s and Men’s Volleyball Teams. The program offers National and Development Camps and Teams for each gender and junior age group -- advanced junior players can try out for Regional High Performance, Youth National, Junior National, World University Games and National Teams.
To get started in beach volleyball, check out the USA Volleyball Regional Volleyball Association in your area to see if they offer beach tournament listings or information on camps, clubs and teams near you. You can also search for a camp or clinic through the USA Volleyball Web site. The Web site also offers a Beach Basics download with rules, history and contact information. Once you have learned how to play beach volleyball, participate in Regional and National USA Volleyball events such as the California Beach Volleyball Association competitions and the U.S. Junior Olympic Beach Volleyball Championships. The Junior Olympics offers competition for kids in age brackets from 18 and under to 12 and under by year, plus an Under-21 Open category. Medalists in these competitions will be considered for future High Performance Beach Volleyball competitions such as the Youth (Under-18) and Junior (Under-21) World Beach Volleyball Championships, World University Games and other NORCECA and FIVB competitions.
Becoming a Member of USA Volleyball
You must be a member of USA Volleyball to be eligible to compete in sanctioned tournaments or to be a member of a USA Indoor regional or national team. Membership forms are available through your Regional Volleyball Association. There are many classifications of membership, including junior, adult, league and booster.
Major Events
Nearly 500 adult teams compete each year at the USA Volleyball National Championships. The annual Junior Olympic competition serves as the Junior National Championships. The National Teams compete in such major international events as the FIVB World Cup and FIVB World Championships once each quadrennium.
Professional beach volleyball players compete in the Association of Professionals (AVP) U.S. tour and the FIVB international tour. The major AVP events are the Manhattan Open (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), the Chicago Open and the Las Vegas Shoot-out. The major FIVB events are the Grand Slams. World Championships are held annually, except for summer Olympic years. Juniors participate in the Junior Olympic Championships and the Youth and Junior World Championships each year.
How to become and Olympian
Beach/ Indoor
Qualifications vary from sport to sport. Please contact USA Volleyball for specific information.
Contact Information
web: USA Volleyball
email: postmaster@usav.org
phone: 719.228.6800
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