A5 Birmingham Joins the Family

We are pleased to announce that National Powerhouse A5 Volleyball Club - ranked #2 in the country over the past five years by Triple Crown Sports -- will be entering the Birmingham market this season, bringing the total number of clubs in the A5 Family to five. 

 

Several weeks ago we were approached by a group of coaches from Birmingham with the following message:  "10-12 years ago "1" teams from Birmingham were competitive with "1" teams from A5.  Nowadays, however, A5's "3" teams are beating "1" teams from Birmingham.  Athletes here are hungry for the vision, structure, discipline and training methodology offered by A5, and we would like to be part of a collaboration that offers this level of service and commitment.

 

Growing by adding satellite clubs was never part of our master plan.  Indeed, if one were to research the goals we set for our organization a decade ago, becoming a "mega-club" was nowhere on the list.

 

That said, we have long had our eye on the Central Alabama market, as we believe that a club with A5's vision, training regimen and organization can flourish there. Crucially, we have identified a core group of coaches and administrators who are of like mind -- led by Club Director Chuck Runyan -- and Chuck will be filling out the coaching and administrative staff in weeks to come.  

 

Our intent is to build this club from the bottom up -- attracting a strong base of younger athletes, providing quality training and an outstanding experience, so that in a few short years A5 Birmingham will be competing with other A5 clubs for Regional Championships and National acclaim. We intend to continue our "no-cut" policy for girls 12 and under, and depending upon what we see at tryouts, we will field one or two teams in each of the older age brackets as well.

 

It is not our plan to expand nationally by slapping an A5 logo on clubs throughout the country, as we believe club volleyball to be an intrinsically local business.  We will expand geographically only when the ability to transmit culture and create value exist.  Certainly Birmingham is close enough to Atlanta to permit the transference of culture and cross-training of coaches, and we are very excited about the opportunity to do so.

 

Additional information about A5 Birmingham -- coaches, clinics, information meetings, tryouts, etc. -- will follow in very short order.  We are already hard at work in creating a website. In the meantime, we extend our heartfelt welcome to the newest member of the Family.