Some basic information about the Nevada AAU program: (Updated October 2, 2025)
-Nevada AAU has been around for over 16 years and is run by the HS coaching staff.
Lori Stephenson - lstephenson@nevadacubs.org 515-290-3506
Abby Stephenson- astephenson@nevadacubs.org 515-290-6146
-Girls in grades 5th - 11th are invited to participate. The middle school program is designed to give all Nevada girls a chance to see what volleyball is like and improve skills for school volleyball. The high school program is designed for the current volleyball players to keep working on their game during the off season
-We are still hiring coaches. We hope to have a head coach and at least one assistant for each middle school grade level, and we hope to have enough kids for two high school teams.
-Our practices begin in late November and the season is over the first weekend of March. Tournaments begin in late January and are held on Saturdays or Sundays.
-Practices are most often held at the high school and middle school. We have gym space reserved on Sunday evenings and Monday mornings, but we have to wait until the HS basketball schedule is determined and until we know how many teams/who'll be coaching them to know who will practice when.
-If your daughter is interested in participating, please let me know potential schedule conflicts as soon as possible. If she’ll be playing volleyball and participating on a local team for another team, please give me the coach’s name so I can see what we can coordinate together.
We will also have some other practices sprinkled throughout the season depending on gym availability. Practices are required. Athletes will be expected to share schedule conflicts ahead of time and notify coaches when not able to attend.
WRESTLING - several 7th/8th graders wondered about conflicts with school wrestling. There are no weekend wrestling events scheduled for junior high, so you should be okay to do volleyball.
-Tournaments will be held at the HS and MS and there will be a few tournaments at the Field House as well. The high school AAU team will travel to away tournaments. We may schedule a travel tournament or two for the lower grades based on availability.
-We try to have at least two tournaments for 5th and 6th grade, and at least four for 7th and 8th grade. Athletes can always move ‘up’ and play with grade levels above them, but no one may move down. That means that if we host a 6th grade team, the 5th graders can play but 7th graders may not. If we have limited numbers on the 5th grade roster, we may always host ‘sixth’ grade tournaments, and have mixed groups of 5th and 6th graders on each team.
-Grade level teams may be switched up at each tournament OR may be predetermined at the beginning of the season….it all depends on how many coaches we are able to hire!
-We want everyone to have tournament play experience, so everyone will be a part of a set rotation for each match. Please don't read that as "equal playing time." Even at the varsity level right now, we only have a few athletes that play all six rotations. Everyone else is off the floor at some point of the match. I have never ever seen a HS or college program have only six kids who played the whole time or who had exactly equal playing time for their teams of eight or nine.
-Parents will be asked to volunteer for the following jobs: line judge, down ref, libero tracker, and scorekeeping. The girls will also know how to do all of those jobs, but adult supervision is important at the tables.
-I can provide instructional videos for all jobs…as well as in-person training. ;)
-We will also provide workers for the Cub Den. AAU VB tournaments are big fundraisers for the Booster Club, so we are always happy to do our part!
Volleyball asks for a lot of volunteers so we can keep our costs down. As an exmple, hiring referres alone would cost over $500 for a tournament.
-The AAU program costs between $80-$125 a player. Family discounts and additional financial assistance are available. We want kids to play! Please reach out before the season if you need help covering costs. We can provide financial assistance for the local club fees, but families will need to cover the $20 to register for the national AAU organization.
-We have the same style jersey for everyone in our program so there are some used jerseys out there that can be purchased or borrowed. That jersey is on at least its seventh season, and we'll keep it around for many more years to help families save money.
Jersey sizing information
Another item: if any of the kids want a LOT of volleyball in the winter, there are club teams in Ankeny, Des Moines, Ames, etc. Unfortunately, most of those programs now hold their tryouts in the summer, so keep it in mind for next year if your daughter wants more volleyball.
We currently have several high school athletes who play club ball, and Coach Abby Stephenson played for Ohana when she was in 8th grade. I can answer questions if you have them!
Thanks!
Lori Stephenson
515-290-3506
Lori - lstephenson@nevadacubs.org
Abby - astephenson@nevadacubs.org
