About Us
What We Do
At the Syracuse City Volleyball Club, we grow as athletes, students, and people together. For CITY Club’s inaugural 2023-24 season, we had two teams of 14U girls. Our 27 athletes practiced twice a week and played in tournaments on the weekends from January to May.
Due to our success and increased interest from our community, next season we will be doubling in size and adding a boys division. CITY Club will offer 14U and 15U girls teams as well as a boys team. In future years, we hope to have a team for every high school and middle school player to join.
In addition to practices and tournaments, our players also regularly engage in team circle talks that explore topics like leadership, self-confidence, and persevering through stressful situations. Each player is also given a journal where they write entries based on a variety of prompts that our coaches read and respond to.
Coming this season, all players will need to have good school attendance and grades to participate. Group study sessions and individualized tutoring is available.
CITY Club placed in the gold bracket in every tournament that we competed in. It’s imperative that we uphold the same gold standard that we have on the court within the classrooms and greater community too.
Why we do it
Other clubs in Upstate, New York can cost around $2,000-$5,000 a season for one player. Syracuse has the second worst child poverty rate in the nation. We know that playing club volleyball comes with an extraordinary amount of benefits that should be available and accessible to every child, so we make that happen at CITY Club.
While most schools offer volleyball, club volleyball is a significantly higher level of commitment and play. It is also the primary method for volleyball players to get recruited to play in college and earn scholarships.
Club volleyball is undoubtedly a great choice for any student who wants to join a supportive, driven community and is ready to work hard! Come join us or donate to continue to make this possible for our deserving student-athletes.
How we do it
The Syracuse City Volleyball Club is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization. We are an organization that is for Syracuse, primarily by Syracuse thanks to generous donations from our community partners and public support.
Our donors see the rich benefits that accessible youth sports have on Syracuse youth. You can be confident that every cent donated goes directly to our kids because our entire leadership team, including our founders and directors, work on a volunteer basis.
Athletics has the opportunity to bring life skills into youth’s lives in a unique, fun way and the Syracuse City Volleyball Club is a fabulous arena to build and develop well-rounded individuals, says Amy Carter, Executive Director of Mercy Works.
“It’s learning real life skills in real time, as it plays out on the court. It’s learning teamwork and conflict resolution, leadership, and how to deal with stressors. Sometimes in life you’re going to win and sometimes you’re going to lose, how do you deal with that and succeed?”
Thanks to support from the Syracuse City School District, CITY teams practice in school district gym buildings. This makes our practice spaces accessible and familiar to our athletes and their families.
Due to our success, each year we are projected to offer more teams to accommodate the growing number of students who are interested in joining CITY. Please consider donating to help ensure we can meet the needs of our community.
