SEATTLE, WA - June 12, 2008
Teams Head to JOs and JVDA
WVBA Teams are working intensely for their final few practices before leaving for either Kentucky or Texas.

WVBA Mizuno 14 and 14-Red joined the Academy 17s team on Tuesday night to train with their elder club sisters. The three teams shared two courts and the younger teams went through the 17s normal training regimen. This included 25 minutes of jump training before practice, positional specialty skills training, and scrimmages at the end of practice. The 17s unit played both 14s teams straight up for the final 35 miuntes of practice and the younger teams held their own.

All three teams benefitted from the shared practice and they are looking pretty sharp in their preparation for the final tournament competition in two weeks.

USAV Junior Olympics
WVBA Mizuno 18, Mizuno 17, Mizuno 15, and Mizuno 14 will all be heading to Dallas, Texas to compete in the USA Volleyball National Championship. WVBA Mizuno 16 and Mizuno 14-Red will be heading to Louisville, KY to compete in the inaugural Junior Volleyball Director's Association (JVDA.ORG) Championship.

WVBA has qualified over 30 teams to compete at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympic Championship over the past 10 years. The JOs tournament in Dallas is a 4-day tournament spread over 10 days. The JOs will feature 812 teams.

The first to leave for Dallas will be Mizuno 18 who will depart on June 24th and play in the Club National Division June 26-29. Next up will be Mizuno 17 who will depart on June 26th and play in the Open Division June 28-July 1. Mizuno 15 will depart on June 28th and play in the Club American Division June 30-July 3. Finally Mizuno 14 will depart on June 30th and play in the Club National Division July 2-July 5. Click here to visit the Junior Olympics website.

JVDA Championship
WVBA will be sending two teams to the first ever JVDA Championships. This tournament will feature many of the elite clubs in the country who opted out of the Junior Olympics qualifying process this year as a protest against the USAV. Perennial national champion winners such as Sports Performance (Chicago, IL), Kiva (Louisville, KY), Team Z (Cincinatti, OH), Milwaukee Sting, TCA (CA, TX, MD and Georgia), and Texas Advantage (Dallas, TX) among others, formed the JVDA after attempts to influence USAV growth plans announced quietly in 2006 were rebuffed by USAV leadership.

26 of the top clubs in the country formed the JVDA in late 2006 and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA.ORG) asked this group to represent the juniors community within the national coaches' association by forming a joint operating agreement in late 2007. JVDA has over 200 clubs as members already. This year's JVDA Championship will be the first event of its kind to attract some of the most elite teams in the country away from JOs. There are 480 teams entered in this year's inaugural championship. There will be a team from Puerto Rico, the top high school team from Japan, and a team from China, subject to their government's approval of their visa request.

WVBA Mizuno 16 and Mizuno 14-Red will be the WVBA representatives at this important tournament. The field of teams is very strong. Mizuno 16 will play in the Open Division and Mizuno 14-Red will play in the Club Division.

For more information about the JVDA Championship, you can visit their website. They will be using AES for live stats so you can follow our teams' progress as they play some of the best teams in the country at the 'other' national championship.