The A5 Difference
The Player Experience - Learning Life Lessons through Volleyball
"A5's vision for the future is to earn a reputation on both qualitative and quantitative levels within the next five years such that we are considered by acclamation to be the finest Junior Olympic Volleyball Club in the South and one of the top ten in the nation."
We offer the following summary of attributes that we believe differentiate the A5 family from most other Volleyball Clubs - "The A5 Difference".
- Consistent coaching is of course one of our core values, but its importance was reinforced during our benchmark study. Most clubs have a tryout and assign girls to a team and the coach teaches whatever he or she learned as a player. The best clubs in the land require their coaches to teach the same language, techniques, plays and culture from the time that they enter the club until they leave for college. A5 ascribes to this philosophy, and has a master coaching structure in place to help implement it. Additionally, A5 encourages and funds a variety of professional development opportunities for its coaches.
- A5 recognizes that the cost of playing club volleyball is high - out of reach for many families. So we've created revenue streams other than player fees. Indeed, 16% of the revenue generated by the club is from sources other than player fees.
- We also have a need-based financial assistance program in which we are able to help dozens of economically disadvantaged families with the cost of playing for our club. Concurrent with financial assistance, we provide a way for these families to earn money to help offset player fees.
- Eight of the twelve benchmark clubs that we studied controlled their own facility. With the development of Southern Volleyball Center, coupled with a long-term Use Agreement with the Cooler, our ability to practice consistently and uninterrupted is assured for the foreseeable future.
- For our elite teams, the cost of travel exceeds that of player fees. So we've expended significant effort to bring the competition to us. We now host six major tournaments throughout the club season to include the Beast of the Southeast Invitational, which attracts top teams from throughout the Southeast.
- We learned from our benchmark study that bigger doesn't always mean better, so we never actually aspired to become a 65-team organization. That said, demand for elite volleyball training in the South is enormous, and experience suggests that GMA Atlanta is big enough to support three or four nationally elite clubs. So rather than expanding to incorporate local teams on the roster, we have chosen to expand geographically, through the incorporation of sister clubs, with the goal of these clubs, too, achieving elite status. A5 now has two sisters - A5 South in Peachtree City, GA, and GA5 in Suwanee. Our goal is for the three A5 sisters to constitute three of the top five clubs in the Southern region.
