Club Try-out Dates Moved Up for Some Athletes.
Not even October yet and some volleyball enthusiasts are already thinking, planning and organizing the upcoming club season. It seems many programs around the state have been pushing for earlier tryouts and they have gotten this wish-well kind of.
The MSHSL student bylaws have clearly prohibited players from “Non-school Competition/Training” during the season (208). Therefore, tryouts and club organized training is not allowed. However, programs have been eagerly trying to push this date up for the past several years. This year, the local office for USAV has decided to allow tryouts for those players 14 and under much earlier. Teams may host their tryouts for 12’s, 13’s and 14’s as soon as October 7. Before, teams had to wait until the last Sunday in October to have tryouts for such teams.
Clubs have responded by jumping on-board and setting early tryout dates. For example these teams will all be hosting tryouts on Oct. 7th:
Core Volleyball Club (12s. 13s, 14s)
Eastview Juniors (10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s,)
Mizuno M1 (11s, 12s, 13s, 14s,)
Mizuno Northern Lights (10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s)
Vital (11s, 12s, 13s, 14s)
Southern Minnesota Volleyball (12’s)
The Minnesota State High School has also responded by putting out a note to all athletic directors and coaches. They clearly state that any player 14 and under that participates on a high school level team (varsity, JV, B-squad, or C-squad) is not allowed to tryout for a team until their high school season is finished. They go on to say that if an athlete would choose to participate in tryouts, they would lose eligibility. This is an important rule because more seventh and eighth grade players are getting moved up to higher levels. While they may not be on Varsity at such a young age, they could be getting playing time on 9th grade, B, or JV; they would need to wait until their high school season is finished before trying out for an off season team. Only time will tell, if clubs will push back some dates due to the MSHSL response. It is fairly safe to say that the 12 and under would be affected by any of this but if you have question about it, be sure to reach out to club directors.
For more details check out NCR website: