THE MOVE TO SUMMER TRYOUTS

Last season, the Badger Region decided to allow clubs to hold tryouts in the summer.  This was a time of change and reflection across the region.  We gathered feedback from our athletes, coaches, and families and most were greatly against summer tryouts.  We also felt and still feel very strongly that this sport should not become year round and coaches and athletes should have some down time.  As a result, we decided to keep our tryouts in the fall last season.

After watching the summer and fall tryouts play out over the last year and the turmoil it put many athletes through, as well as gathering additional feedback from athletes, coaches, and families, we have decided to hold summer tryouts for most age groups for the 2025-26 season.   13s-18s will tryout in July.  The 10s-12s will remain in October.

We remain dedicated to the wellbeing, both mentally and physically, of our athletes and coaches.  We have a plan in place to ensure there is time to focus on school ball and to have some down time throughout the club season.  

Additionally, a concern of ours and families was and is that with summer tryouts, the growth and development of athletes during the high school season would not be taken into account.  To address this concern, athletes will be offered a national or regional position after summer tryouts, but teams will not be assigned until the winter when we start practices.  

Even though we hope to alleviate some stress by having summer tryouts, we know this is not a remedy for all.  Summer tryouts can take place between July 19th and August 17th.  Clubs may not ask for a response until August 1st for summer tryout offers, however retention offers are due July 13th.  While FC Elite will not be extending retention offers, those athletes that do receive them from their current clubs will have to decide whether to accept that offer prior to summer tryouts being held. 

We recommend not accepting retention offers if you'd like to tryout for FC Elite.  You can still try out for the club offering you the retention offer and not be bound to the July 13th timeline.

We also acknowledge a couple of other stressors with the summer tryouts.  Many families plan their vacations between nationals ending and high school season beginning.  If an athlete is unavailable for our tryouts, we will arrange alternate methods of evaluation, which can be discussed by reaching out to us via email at fcelite.volleyball@gmail.com.  

Additionally, we understand a new stress of not knowing which team an athlete will be placed on is there.  We do hope that by extending national or regional offers after summer tryouts that this helps with the decision making.  Your athlete will know they will have a spot on 1 of X national teams or 1 of X regional teams.  This should help when comparing offers from other clubs.  We are confident in the coaching and training that we have on all teams and believe an athlete can't go wrong with any offer they receive from us, but do understand a national schedule is more important than what club an athlete plays for to some families.

As with all things, we will continue to monitor and assess this situation.  We are committed to doing the right thing for the athletes and coaches, so if summer tryouts prove to be more detrimental than fall, we reserve the right to pivot again next season.