FAQs

Madtown offers a complete range of developmental opportunities for the volleyball player. Many players choose a full season of club volleyball, which runs between November to March or June, depending on the Program Level. In addition to the club season, we also offer training programming such as individual lessons, group camps/clinics/academies, SAQ and mental training, as well as college recruiting showcases. These offerings and registration links will be available through our Camps & Clinics tab on our website.

Whether you're a beginner interested in volleyball or an athlete seeking to further your career in college and beyond, Madtown Volleyball offers a space where dreams are chased and victories are celebrated. For the Madtown Club season, please read through the three Program Levels that offer a variety of training experience and commitments to understand your best fit.

Madtown Volleyball offers club teams for 3rd-12th graders. (Some exceptions for interested younger athletes.). Please see the USAV player age divisions to verify you are trying out for the correct age group. Athletes are able to play “up” but not “down, however, we encourage athletes to play at their grade level as much as possible since those are the peers they will play with in their high school program as well as they would be playing with their college recruiting class. We also offer clinics and academies to athletes from K-12. These offerings will be posted on our Camps & Clinics tab on our website.

Time commitment and costs vary depending on Program Level with different practice, training and tournament schedules. Time commitment and costs should be an important consideration when choosing which team to try out for and to commit to. Please click here to understand the three Program Levels for more details. Most fees are included in our club dues including the following: Coaching and technical director fees Overnight Travel Expenses for coaches Court fees Tournament Entry Fees (except Nationals) Strength & Conditioning Sessions (2 sessions/week for National teams and 1 session/week for Select and Regional teams.) LOVB Whole Athlete Training Program (W.A.T. Program) Uniform costs and travel expenses to tournaments are not included and additional. Uniform packages will be purchased by each family through the BSN website which we will provide after tryouts to committed athletes. Please note that when you commit to an offer and a spot on a team, you are also committing to the financial agreement to fulfill the season’s club dues. Madtown also offers off-season clinics and camps which vary from a few hours, 1-3 days, and up to 6 weeks.

Neighboring states have summer tryouts, so it makes it easier for athletes (especially those that live close to a state border) to be on the same timeline in order to evaluate different clubs. The Summer Tryout Period is a tryout window of around 10 days that allows athletes to tryout at more than one club if they so choose. It allows club directors more planning time for the upcoming season as far as divisions to register teams for, apparel, and training needs.

The addition of the summer tryout in July is the key change and now the main team selection period. Fall tryouts will become more of supplementary tryouts to fill in available spots. The actual club season of practice and play is unchanged and begins in Nov/Dec. As the length of the season does not increase, club dues are not affected by summer tryouts. We may offer trainings between tryouts and the start of team practices, but these are optional and additional opportunities for our athletes to train. Summer tryouts allow for families additional time to plan vacations properly around team schedules, since they receive schedules months earlier than when they did previously. Athletes can focus on their school fall season rather than worry about which club they are going to try out for since that process will already be completed.

Athletes register for tryouts through our new registration platform - Sprocket Sports Athletes only need to register and pay once, and then can participate in one or as many tryout dates as they would like. If you need help with the tryout registration process please email Sprocket Sports at madtownjuniors@sprocketsports.zendesk.com We offer three Program Levels: National, Select, and Regional to provide the best fit for a variety of athletes and their goals. Please read through Program Level descriptions before selecting your desired tryout group. Athletes need to register for the tryout session that correlates to their highest program level they aspire to play in for the coming season. If an athlete registers for the national level tryout sessions then they will be considered for national teams. If they do not receive a national team offer, they will also be considered for select and regional teams. However, if an athlete registers for a select or regional team, they will not be considered for an offer at the national level. There are a few instances where an athlete registers for a certain Program Level and a club admin will approach a family about the opportunity to play on a higher level team if we see that potential. Athletes should only attend the tryout sessions for the highest level program they desire to play at. Athletes should not attend both national and select tryout sessions. It is advantageous to attend as many tryout dates as possible so athletes can be evaluated most accurately. If you are new to club and would like to talk through the program levels with someone, please reach out to Lena Chan. (lena@madtownjuniors.com) or text 503-330-7326.

First, Madtown is not offering ‘retention offers’ to our returning athletes. We want to give every athlete a clean slate - and provide an open door policy for anyone that would like to be a part of Madtown to earn a spot. The one exception here is that if two athletes are evaluated evenly, the Madtown returner would get the preference. Offers for National and top Select level players are spots on a specific team at Madtown (ex 161 National, 163 National, or 161 Select) Offers for other Select teams and all Regional level players are for spots at Madtown – where Madtown has reserved a place for them at the club. These players will be placed on a specific team in November after the first few weeks of practice. Our thought process here is that a good portion of these athletes are new to volleyball, and they will develop quite a bit during the fall. We want to allow for their growth during that time and better evaluate them after a few practices. If we place these athletes on a team in the summer, it may not be the best fit for them by the time club season comes around. Offers will start going out to players from Jul 20-Aug 1st and anytime during that period. Offers are held by the club until Aug 1st at 7pm which means that athletes can accept the offer right away and complete the commitment process to Madtown or athletes can wait to accept the offer until Aug 1st and complete the commitment process to Madtown, or athletes can decide to not accept the offer by Aug 1st, which means that position is released back to the club and Madtown will then offer another athlete that spot. Once an offer is accepted by an athlete, this commitment goes both ways. This means that Madtown commits a spot to that athlete and the athlete commits to Madtown. Athletes will not be able to play for another club for the upcoming season after signing a commitment. This also means that families are committing to the financial agreement for the complete upcoming season.

If an athlete is unable to attend any of our listed tryout dates, we do allow for a video submission. Although this is available, it is not advised as it doesn’t allow for the best evaluation of the player. If you do decide to send in a video submission for tryouts please register through the registration system as if you were attending a day of tryouts so that we know of your intentions and have the necessary information. Email your video to Tyler Wills. (Tyler@madtownjuniors.com)

Fall tryout dates are on Oct 5th for 10U-14U and Nov 9th for 15U-18U and are for those players that missed summer tryouts, or may be new to the area or new to volleyball. The role of Fall tryouts is now more of a supplementary tryouts to the primary summer tryouts. We anticipate that the majority of our National level teams will be filled by the completion of the summer tryouts, however there will be some spots available on Select and Regional level teams. It depends on how many athletes accepted positions during the summer tryout period.

Teams are generally made up of 2 setters, 2 liberos, 3 middles, and 4 pin hitters. Depending on the system the team runs the number of players in each position could vary. Once team rosters are made there will be minimal movement. However with summer tryouts now, there is a greater chance that rosters could be affected by the time season starts - ie a player gets injured or a family moves out of town, etc... Once an athlete commits to a team, we will not move them without a prior discussion with the athlete and parents and their consent. We will only move players up a team, not down, unless requested by the athlete. During the season we may ask for an athlete to substitute on another team - if the need arises to fill a spot for a missing or injured athlete.

Every athlete at tryouts will need a USAV membership before participating. If you need a membership please click here. 2024-2025 Badger Tryout memberships are available to purchase. As a reminder 2023-2024 Badger Junior Player memberships are valid through 8/31/24 and CAN be used for summer tryouts. 2024-2025 Badger Junior Player memberships will become available for purchase on July 15th. It is recommended that athletes/families wait to purchase the full membership until receiving a Sports Engine club assignment request from you (July 15 or later).

At Madtown, our desire is that families are a part of our program for many years and view it as their home. We strive to provide a positive experience and a great training program that allows players to grow through a tiered and consistent approach. In between seasons, athletes have the ability to freely choose which club is the best fit for them at that time. Continue to do your research to discover if Madtown could be a good fit for you by reaching out to our players, parents, coaches and admin staff. Read our Madtown Manifesto. For athletes wanting to play in college, Madtown offers a significant recruiting advantage being a LOVB club and home to LOVB Madison pro team. We have local and national resources and connections to help find the best academic and volleyball fit. Recruiting coordinators can manage a new athlete as well as a returning athlete with the correct attention and conversations. Any recruiting efforts made with a previous club would just have to be talked through with the new club’s recruiting coordinator to make sure opportunities do not fall through the cracks during the transition. In general, changing clubs will not negatively affect an athlete. One club change is a common practice, but if an athlete continually changes clubs, this could be viewed negatively by college recruiters.

It is important for families to get to know our coaching staff, their qualifications, coaching philosophy, and how they work with players to develop skills and teamwork. Coaches photos, philosophies, and coaching experience will be posted on our new website. Since it is a work in progress, info will be constantly updated, however please reach out to Tyler at tyler@madtownjuniors.com for specific details.

Madtown provides a home court advantage with a 10 court facility dedicated wholly to volleyball. 2 courts feature TaraFlex - the official court surface for the Olympics since 1976. Our home also has a full strength and conditioning space, film room, video playback on every court , athletic training room, pro-shop, and concessions. Our address is 2950 Innovation Way Suite 100, Sun Prairie, WI 53590

Madtown is entering its fourth year of existence. It is the first LOVB club built from the ground up and Madison was chosen because of the community’s passion and support for volleyball. In three short years, Madtown has expanded to almost 50 teams with 3 levels of play at every age group from 12s to 18s. We have a winning track record of preparing our athletes from NCAA Division 1 programs to junior high/HS teams.

Yes, we welcome multi-sport athletes as long as they prioritize volleyball. National athletes are not allowed to miss any qualifier tournaments and are asked to communicate any conflicts with their in-season sport at the start of their season for matches and at least a week ahead for changed practice times that may conflict. Missed practices are "excused" as long as the athlete is currently involved in their other in-season sporting event and have properly communicated the conflict ahead of time to their coaches.