The Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are still two years away, but one certainty is that there will be plenty of men’s and women’s volleyball—indoor and beach—featured on the primetime broadcast. Fredericksburg is fortunate to have a strong club volleyball presence that includes both the indoor game and the beach version. Your youngster might not have enough time to prepare for Los Angeles, but every Olympic journey has to begin somewhere, and the beaches of the Rappahannock YMCA or a warehouse near a Chick-fil-A are as good a place as any to launch a love for volleyball, if not a spot on the front of a Wheaties box.
The largest club in the Fredericksburg area is the 540 Volleyball Academy, with a facility located off Route 17 in Stafford. The facility includes four indoor courts, a weight room and a lobby, along with close proximity to the aforementioned Chick-fil-A. For the 2025–2026 season, the club had 31 girls teams competing in age groups from Under 12 to Under 18 and one boys team, with the hope that they will be able to expand the boys program in the coming years.
The cost for club play can range from $3,000 to $5,000 for an entire season, and some of their teams have traveled as far as Orlando and Las Vegas for national tournaments. All 12 girls from 540’s 18 Elite team have committed to play in college, but 540 also offers a number of camps, clinics and smaller travel programs that are more budget-friendly and geared toward introducing younger players to the game of volleyball.
“One of our big goals as an organization is to provide as many players in the greater Fredericksburg area the opportunity to play volleyball,” said Courtney Hempe, who is co-director of 540’s travel volleyball program. “Most other clubs offer only a specific number of travel teams per season, resulting in numerous athletes being cut. As long as we have the 9 to 12 players needed to form a team, we try to have a team for every player.”
540 Volleyball Academy has nearly 60 coaches active in the club and is looking to add an Under 11 girls team for the upcoming season, with tryouts occurring from August to October, depending on the age group. The remarkable growth at 540 has also improved the club’s standing at state-level tournaments.
“I always joke that nobody is exactly excited when they see that 540 is next on their schedule,” said Mo Fahmy, who is director of operations for the club. “I think that’s a pretty good reputation to have. I think the biggest thing for us, though, is getting rid of this idea that if you’re a really good volleyball player in Fredericksburg, you have to drive north to play high-level volleyball. There are way too many talented kids down here for that. We want to keep building something where eventually the question isn’t, ‘Why don’t you go north?’ It’s ‘Why would you leave Fredericksburg?’”
Another club that is helping Fredericksburg keep its top volleyball players local is 108 Beach Volleyball Club, which is run by Deirdre Walker and focuses primarily on the beach game rather than the indoor game (think two-man or two-woman teams as opposed to the larger six-a-side teams). The sand game has always been popular at beaches and parks, but in the last few years several colleges, including Division I programs, have introduced beach volleyball doubles as an NCAA-approved sport complete with scholarships.
Though 108 Beach Volleyball focuses primarily on the beach version of the sport, it does offer indoor instruction as well. The club utilizes the sand courts at the YMCA in Stafford and different schools throughout the region to host its indoor games and clinics. The club is open to all ages, and costs range from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on which team and training program the athlete chooses. Their tryouts typically open in August.
Another club in the area is JK Sports, which offers a travel program as well as individual instruction. The travel teams and age groups are largely dictated by numbers at tryouts.
There is also a new club starting in the Fredericksburg area called Khaos, which hopes to establish travel teams for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Prices for JK Sports and Khaos can be found on their websites or Facebook pages.
