Sign up for Serve City Volleyball Club Sept. 1 girls team tryouts

With Wheaton and Carol Stream as its hub and with training locations in Wheaton, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn and West Chicago, Serve City Volleyball Club is proud to be serving the western suburbs as the most family-friendly, fun and affordable volleyball club in the Chicago area for the sixth straight year.

Founded in Chicago in 2013 and debuting in the suburbs in 2013, Serve City combines the suburbs’ most inexpensive registration fees that fit the needs of working-class and middle-class families with a dedicated, growth-mindset training approach that helps athletes stretch, learn and grow both on and off the court as volleyball players, leaders and people.

In 2020-2021, Serve City is offering an exciting new approach and robust training model to the season along with safe and healthy protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Serve City club season begins with practice the week of September 8.

(Serve City also offers 8-week-long short seasons for athletes who need to participate in short-term club volleyball seasons. There are no tryouts for short season teams; short season team roster spots are given to families who register for teams on a first-come, first-served basis.)

Athletes will be asked to attend tryouts on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Athletes who take part in tryouts will be trying out to receive an invitation to join Serve City for the full 2020-21 season or just for one or two phases of the season.

(This year’s full season will be divided into phases to allow more flexibility for athletes and families and to provide a robust training approach amidst the state’s health restrictions during the pandemic.)

Phase 1 of Full Season: Sept. 8 to Oct. 31

Phase 1 of the full season runs for eight weeks, starting on Sept. 8 and concluding on Oct. 31.

Phase 1 will focus on player training, with two practices a week devoted to an engaging mix of:

• Positional training (setters, pin hitters, middle hitters, back-row defense and passing, etc.)
• Age group training (including regular intrasquad scrimmaging)
• Player assessments
• Outdoor training (sand court 6s or grass court 6s) without masks as weather permits (starting Aug. 15 the state is requiring volleyball players to wear masks while playing indoors but not outdoors)

Phase 2 of Full Season: Nov. 2 to Jan. 15

Phase 2 of the 2020-21 season begins on Nov. 2 and ends on Jan. 15. Like Phase 1, it will run for eight weeks, with breaks for Thanksgiving Nov. 22-29 and for Christmas and New Year’s Dec. 21 to Jan. 3.

(The season will immediately transition to Phase 3 as soon as the state approves playing volleyball leagues or tournaments.)

What happens in Phase 2?

• Teams will be formed based on coaches’ evaluations of athletes throughout Phase 1.
• All athletes who accepted full-season invitations from us either before or after our Sept. 1 tryouts will be automatically accepted onto a team.
• Select athletes whose families only signed up to take part in Phase 1 will also be invited back for Phase 2 and assigned to a team.
• All new athletes who didn’t participate in Phase 1 but are now interested in joining Phase 2 will be asked to attend tryouts on Saturday, Oct. 31.

After Phase 1 player training, Phase 2 will focus on both team and player development. It will feature two team practices a week along with positional training and a mix of match play and in-house tournaments pairing Serve City club teams of similar age levels together for competition.

Phase 3 of Full Season: League Play and Tournaments

Phase 3 caps the full season. Phase 3 could begin at any time during the pandemic-affected season. Phase 3 starts immediately after state and local authorities and USA Volleyball approve league play and tournaments for youth volleyball teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When youth volleyball receives state approval for league and tournament action, full-season teams will begin competing in the Chicago Volleyball League. Here are the Chicago Volleyball League dates for middle school (12U, 13U, 14U teams) and high school (15U, 16U, 17U, 18U):

• 12U/13U/14U: Dec. 19-20 | Jan. 16-17 | Jan. 30-31 | Feb. 20-21
• 15U/16U/17U/18U: Dec. 12-13 | Jan. 9-10 | Jan. 23-24 | Feb. 6-7

Final team rosters will be established in Phase 3, with all full-season members again automatically accepted onto a team.

Phase 3 concludes on Feb. 21 for middle school teams and Feb. 7 for high school teams (prior to the start of the IHSA season on Feb. 15).

Extended National Team Season

Those athletes who made national team rosters will return from the IHSA season break to participate in an exciting extended national team season.

• The middle school national team season will run from May 1 to June 13 (14U) or June 15 (13U, 12U).
• The high school national team season will take place May 8 to June 13.

Serve City national teams will practice twice a week and take part in two weekend tournaments to gear up for the 2021 Asics Jr. National Championships currently scheduled for June 11-13 for 14U to 18U and June 14-15 for 12U and 13U. Asics Jr. Nationals is one of the largest junior volleyball tournaments in the country, drawing club teams from across America to the 32-court venue at Navy Pier in Chicago.

For more information about Serve City Volleyball, tryouts and the upcoming season, please email jsmith@servecityvolleyball.org or call (630) 457-7524.