DYS Club Values

2024-2025 DYS Volleyball Club Program

Dulles Youth Sports (DYS) Volleyball Club is our most competitive program. It is intended for experienced players who are looking to be challenged regularly.

How Is DYS Different from Other Clubs?

As far as volleyball goes, we are similar to most other programs in that we are all relegated by the same rules, teach the same skills, use mostly the same drills, and utilize many of the same offensive and defensive strategies.

Unlike many clubs, our coaches volunteer their time for the love of the sport and make a difference in the lives of local athletes. That is not to say that our coaches are not experienced or skilled in their craft. On the contrary, all our coaching cadres are experienced at the club and high school levels, including Head Coaches currently from Freedom, Stonebridge and PVI High schools. Over the past several seasons, DYS Club Volleyball teams have consistently placed amongst the top of their respective age groups.

Our operational expenses are primarily offset by our robust fundraising efforts, which allow us to operate with very little overhead. Because we operate as a co-op, we can develop a pro forma each season and set the player fees based upon a pro-rata share divided by the number of participants. This translates into one of our region's best values for club volleyball. This year, seasonal fee is $2,500. (This includes: all uniforms, warmup shirts, and tournament fees. It does not include any travel or hotel costs associated with trips.)

Also, because we operate as a co-op, all members pitch in to help take care of the club's business. There are volunteer positions available at all levels.

At the team level, examples of volunteer needs are:

• Team Treasurer
• Team Social coordinator
• Team Communications
• Team Travel Coordinator
• Team Video/Photography

We also have volunteer positions available at the club and board level for those interested. These include opportunities in fundraising, community service, networking, and website management. All positions are low in risk and high in grace. We want everyone to enjoy their experience with DYS. It has been our experience that many hands make light work. Most of our past families will tell you that the added interaction required to coordinate the various club-related activities helped connect the parents and enhance the DYS experience.​

It's About the Players

Our goal is to give the players great coaching, quality court time, and a high level of competition. We will teach them to be disciplined, compete and train at full effort, be a positive and supportive teammate, be problem solvers, and play with confidence and enthusiasm. We will achieve this by creating a competitive yet positive learning environment. This is only possible with all players, parents, and coaches performing their appropriate roles and working together.

We are committed to the growth and development of each of the girls in the program, not only as volleyball players but also as strong students and good citizens. We want to create a safe and positive place for them to learn about:

• Being humble in victory and gracious in defeat
• Dealing with adversity and conflict resolution
• Leadership
• Being a positive role model.

But, most importantly, we want all of our players to understand the true meaning of being a teammate.

What We Are Looking For In Players/Parents

In short, for players, we are looking for good kids who are good teammates and are hungry to be good volleyball players. For families (parents), we are looking for people who will support their players, their teammates, and the club with kindness, encouragement, and participation.

Every season, we establish a club mantra for that year. This year, for the first time, we are repeating a mantra from a previous season, primarily because it resonates with the crazy world we find ourselves living in. The club mantra for the 2024-2025 season is:

"Grateful for Everything, Entitled to Nothing."

We believe the right attitude starts with gratitude. As coaches, we express gratitude regularly to model the behavior we are looking for from our players. We are looking for players who want to be great teammates and will adopt this philosophy.

We embrace and practice a Growth Mindset. We believe that players need to learn how to fail to learn how to succeed. We encourage aggressive mistakes and risk-taking for the sake of long-term growth. We are looking for players who are open-minded and can embrace discomfort for the sake of improvement.

We work HARD. Strong teams are forged in the crucible of hard work for a common goal. We are looking for players who want to work hard with/for their teammates.

We believe that the sport of volleyball serves as a great medium to learn valuable life lessons. We have a Players Creed that is on the back of every practice jersey that helps to sum up our expectations:

Stay Humble

Hone Your Craft

Express Gratitude

Put The Team First

Give Your Best Effort

Find Joy In The Journey

This is our culture!

Thank you for your interest in DYS Club Volleyball.