Mary Our Queen Volleyball Information
Hello, everyone. I hope that you find this website useful for accessing important information regarding the PAL volleyball program at Mary Our Queen.
MOQ PAL Volleyball Goals:
1. Provide ALL athletes with the best possible chance for success on a volleyball team. We want young women to grow as athletes and have a positive experience working with other girls as a TEAM.
2. Encourage a spiritual and human element to this team experience, recognizing the worth and dignity of all teammates, all athletes in the program, and even our opponents. This should not be and will not be an endeavor devoted only to winning.
3. Prepare ALL athletes for a future volleyball career in high school and possibly college.
Try-Out Information:
Try-out date is SATURDAY MAY 20, 2006
Try-outs are held in the Mary Our Queen Gym
5TH GRADE 2:00pm - 3:30pm
6TH GRADE 10:00am - 11:30am
7TH GRADE 8:00am - 9:30am
8TH GRADE 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Registration forms may be picked up through the school office.
PRINT BOTH FORMS
Volleyball Registration Information
Click Here
Volleyball Registration Form
Click Here
Turn them back in to the school office.
Forms are due by May 5th by 3:30pm or a late fee of $25.00 will be added.
Try-Out Scoring:
All girls trying out receive a number and must perform individually and as part of a team in front of experienced volleyball evaluators. They are evaluated on fundamental skills, athleticism, communication skills, and effectiveness during match-play.
Judges change from year to year but include college coaches and/or players
. No parents from MOQ are involved or have a say in the scoring.
Each judge scores an athlete on each skill or test. When all the try-out tasks are completed, each athlete’s scores totaled to determine her final score. Players are then ranked from top to bottom and team placement is solely dependent on these scores.
What if a particular athlete has a "really bad tryout?" Well, tryouts are nothing more than a snapshot of the athlete’s performance on one day. While one can argue that maybe an athlete "deserves" to be placed higher, that she just had a bad day, that does not address the athlete who "stepped up" and outperformed the others. It would be unfair to ignore her higher performance. In an ideal world, it would be best to have try-outs over several days. However, that is not feasible, so we just do the best we can with the time allotted.
What is the "PAL" league?
The PAL league stands for Parochial Athletic League. The league consists of private schools in the Omaha area, most of which are catholic schools.
When are the matches? The PAL season runs from August to the end of October. Teams play about 8 league matches during the season. Matches may take place any day of the week except for Wednesdays, but generally fall on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays.
Teams do have the option of playing in extra tournaments sponsored by other organizations, but they MUST play in the PAL matches if there is a conflict in the schedule. The MOQ athletic committee generously allows a $100 allowance for each team to use towards these outside tournaments.
Teams
The number of teams will be determined by the number of girls trying out and the number of coaches that are available. Every effort is made to make teams of 8-10 players. In the past, however, we have had odd numbers like 23 girls in one grade. Since the minimum number of athletes is 8, two teams of 11 and 12 are made.
Team Placement
5th grade: Each athlete earns a score during tryouts, and the talent is evenly split.
6th grade: Ability grouped. Teams are divided into the two PAL divisions: Competitive or non-competitive. It is the volleyball director’s discretion to determine if a team’s talent level lands them in the competitive or non-competitive league.
7th grade: Ability grouped. Teams are placed in AA, A, or B leagues. Mary Our Queen has competed in the top two leagues. The PAL commissioner ranks teams based on previous year’s performance and will recommend a league for the current fall.
8th grade: Ability grouped. Teams are placed in AAA, AA, A, or B leagues. Mary Our Queen has competed in the top two leagues. The PAL commissioner ranks teams based on previous year’s performance and will recommend a league for the current fall.
We don’t cut players and we welcome all talent levels. A volleyball player does not have to have prior experience playing volleyball. But do realize that beyond 5th grade teams are ability-grouped. If you or your daughter has little experience or is not the most athletic child out there, chances are she may not make the top team. And that is perfectly fine!
Also realize that even though teams are "ability grouped", that does not mean that all members on a team are of the same talent level. That could only be accomplished if we cut athletes. If a volleyball player is to become successful, she MUST learn to work in a team atmosphere with all kinds of talent. THIS WILL BE HER REALITY IN HIGH SCHOOL and CLUB. The sooner she learns this, the better. The last thing a volleyball player wants to do is show up at high school or club try-outs with the attitude that the coaches and directors are there to create a team around her. A player should lose herself to the team and team goals working with the realities around her. Imagine the life lessons a player can learn from this!
We need to encourage our girls to play sports period, and not be obsessed with making a "top team." It’s a blessing that we have teams for all levels. Truthfully speaking, many athletes on the second and third teams are glad to have a team environment that is less competitive.
Practices:
Most teams practice two times a week or more leading up to the start of the weekly matches. Once weekly matches begin, teams will practice about two times a week.
When practices take place depends on the coach of the team and his or her schedule. Some teams practice after school, some in the evenings. You can view the practice schedule by going to the MOQ athletic website at moq.creighton.edu, and then clicking on the sports zone page and then the gym schedule page.
Practices are important to the volleyball teams and should not be viewed as "optional" for participation on a team. If a player is consistently absent or late for practice, playing time may be affected.
Coaches:
Coaches at MOQ do so strictly out of the goodness of their hearts. They are volunteers, and we are lucky to have them.
Based on the volunteer pool, the director decides who would be best for the team. And let me tell you, sometimes that volunteer pool is thin!
All coaches receive a volleyball instruction manual.
Obviously the goal is to get the most qualified person for the job, and most of the time our coaches do a great job.
On the registration forms, parents are asked if they would like to volunteer, and some do. Sometimes a non-parent does volunteer to coach, and that is great. We strongly encourage non-parents to become involved.
Club or "Select" Volleyball:
MOQ is not club or select. We don’t cut players and we welcome all talent levels. A volleyball player does not have to have prior experience playing volleyball. But do realize that beyond 5th grade teams are ability-grouped. If you or your daughter has little experience or is not the most athletic child out there, chances are she may not make the top team.
Playing club volleyball can provide valuable experience. Do realize that it will come with a cost of time and money. Every family must decide if it is worth the effort. I say "family" because it does affect the entire family. Based on positive feed back of former players, I can recommend the following clubs: Omaha Momentum, Elite, River City Jrs., Sunset West. There may be other terrific clubs out there. I’m just listing the ones I feel comfortable recommending.