history

Established in 1997, Vision Volleyball Club is a girls club located in San Jose, CA. Vision trains young athletes in the sport of volleyball through practice and competition, in a constructive and positive atmosphere. Coaching philosophy teaches discipline, commitment, responsibility, teamwork, and self-pride. Vision sets a standard for junior club volleyball through its development, professionalism, values, and high standards of player development. 

Vision Volleyball Club offers competitive travel teams for girls at age levels 11-and-under through 18-and-under. Teams are comprised of 11 or 12 players, and are selected through tryouts. Vision teams compete with the goal of developing individual athletes’ skills, while maintaining a team goal of qualifying for, and successfully competing at the USA Junior National Championships. Teams play in the NCVA (Northern California Volleyball Association) sponsored Power League, and in USA qualifier tournaments. For the 2023 season, Vision will field 16 Travel teams.

The season begins in January and ends in early July. Team practices are two or three nights each week. Usually this includes one or two weekdays and/or one weekend day.

Tournament play usually includes approximately five weekends for NCVA league play, and three or four weekends for national tournaments. NCVA league tournaments are held throughout Northern California. The national tournaments take place in a variety of locations, and each team’s specific play is determined at the beginning of the season. These tournaments usually require travel on a Thursday afternoon or evening and play takes place from Friday through Sunday, or Saturday through Monday. In addition, each team will compete in an end-of-the-year tournament which is a one-week event at the end of June or early July. For information on tryouts click here.

An alternative to the Power League season, the Premier League season begins in January and will conclude at the end of May. Teams practice twice a week; once during the week and once every Sunday. Teams participate in either the NCVA or AAU Premier league. All events will be held in Santa Clara County and the greater bay area. Vision does not normally offer Premier League teams. 

Vision’s “Futures” program is designed with the goal of introducing and teaching young, beginning players (girls ages 7-11 years old), the sport of volleyball in a fun and positive environment. Participants will receive individual training in volleyball fundamentals and will learn the basics of team play. The Futures program is open to anyone interested in playing. The program is a year-round program and is broken up in four sessions; Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Each session is 5 to 8 weeks long, and can be joined at any time.  

Before I coached in a National Championship, before I played for the National Team and before I ever had a scholarship to Stanford I was a scrawny little ten year old in too-big spandex at my first club volleyball tryout. I’ve spent most of my life involved in club volleyball, as a player and then as a coach. It’s where I learned how to play the game, how to work hard and how to be a teammate. And as I grew up I had to make choices about where the best place was for me to do that. I know that today there are more choices than ever before. I can’t speak to all of the clubs in the Bay Area but I have spent some time with Vision Volleyball Club and I’d like to share what I’ve observed.

There are three things that stand out to me about Vision and how they help kids develop. The first is great coaching. As much as the focus gets drawn to winning, it is much more crucial to a player’s future that she is learning and getting better. I’ve observed the Vision coaches at every level in matches and in practice. They have a variety of styles but each finds a way to teach the fundamentals, to instill a good work ethic and the drive to compete and to identify each player’s ability to contribute. They’re invested in the learning process of every player on the team, starter or non-starter, and they actively prepare players to compete at the next level. If you are willing to learn then I can guarantee you will get better playing for these coaches.

The second thing that stands out is the tradition of excellence. While I stand by what I said about learning, we do all want to win. Vision has a history of fielding some of the best teams to ever come out of Northern California and consistently competes at the national level. The Vision name and reputation garners respect in the larger volleyball community amongst other club and college coaches. Girls know that when they put on a Vision jersey that it means something and there is a high standard to be upheld.

I saved the most important thing for last: the people. It’s easy to get caught up in the drama of bids and medals and scholarships and forget that we’re also talking about kids growing up and learning how to be in the world. My club coaches helped make me the person that I am, both through the lessons they actively taught me and in my observation of them. And there is no one who I would trust more to help mold the next generation than Joe Ripp and his staff. They come from a place of integrity, love and a genuine desire to help kids grow and succeed. On the National Team we held the philosophy that it was not enough just to be the best; we wanted to do it in the right way. I can tell you that Vision is doing it in the right way.