I’m so dissatisfied with this volleyball club to say the least. The owner, Peter treated my daughter (12 years) horribly, she would come home crying because she wasn’t allowed to leave early even though i’d previously emailed him. I promise you that your daughter will not get better because all he cares about is money and the girls who played for him previously.
Another uncomfortable to think about is that he’d touch my daughter in places where he shouldn’t. We thought this was for girls her age but it was really just him wanting to make $2000 on these poor girls who are just trying to learn how to play volleyball. There are way more options and I certainly would recommend anything else!!
DON’T send your daughter here unless you want her to realize she was manipulated throughout her volleyball experience.
i agree with all the one star reviews. i was a RT coach for about 2 years. i regret joining this club 1000%. The owner is rude/toxic/ is a bully to everyone involved. I have seen first hand how terribly he treats children especially the girls with lower skill levels. I also have heard horror stories from other coaching staff and how he treats his staff. It is true, he really only cares about money. He has 35 different volleyball teams, there is no reason why RT continue to use the worst facility in the NW suburb area. Another one of my concern is the lack of diversity i have seen within the club from its players and its coaching staff. To put things in perspective, i have been there 2 seasons.. there are 12 girls on a team, he has 35 different teams... during my time there i have seen 1 African American child.... out of 400 girls, there was 1 African american child.
Unfortunately, the owner peter is arguably one of the meanest person i have ever met, and a tough person to work for. Please do not send your children here.
Adversity, sky high, top flight, energy, MOD are far better options.
I am amused by the many one star reviews, especially since our experience has been excellent. My daugther is a fine volleyball player and is constantly seeking to improve her game. Period. She will never be a Division I player recruited by the likes of Pepperdine, USC, Illinois or Ohio State and that's fine with her. She has many diverse interests and skills and volleyball happens to be one of them. Period. Peter and his staff has been excellent, responsive, considerate and thoughtful. My daugther and her high school teammates with whom she particiates in Rolling Thunder each believe the quality of the program has helped them immensely. In the end, Peter and his minion has done what he set out to do, anecdotally, as far as I am concerned. I surmise that many of these one star reviews come from frustrated parents who continue to live vicarously through their marginally talented children, attempting, as it were, to make silk purses out of sow's ears. In a club of this size, there are always 25-200 of these amped up, clueless folks. They can be spotted miles away at these tournaments and many seem to have an affinity for lamenting what a terrible human being "Peter" is. None of this, in my estimation, is even marginally valid.
This place honestly is horrible. It is overpriced with bad coaching. The owner, Peter is very rude and horrible. He sells you on the club then ignores you.
My child is a player at a different club but tried out for the fall league. It cost $360 dollars for a month and a half and there are no refunds. The seventh and eighth graders that they coached could not even make their serves to the attack line. They draw people in with ‘no cuts’ but are too cheap to even hire coaches. To make up for that, they have parents coach, some with no volleyball experience. They practically forced me to coach, even though the schedule and my work schedule don’t line up well. There are 12 girls on my child’s team, and she is on varsity(7-8 grade) but they placed 5th and 6th graders on the team. The owner is a toxic old man who only cares about money.
PLEASE DO NOT PLAY HERE!! Have your child play at a better club like Sky High, Club Fusion, Adversity, WildCats Jrs, TNT, or D1. LITERALLY ANYWHERE BUT HERE
Agree with the other 1 star reviews. Owner is a caustic/toxic salesman who fails to disclose expenses, requires extensive legal agreements, and openly criticizes all other area clubs - think used cars. Completely shocked that he has any customers at all that put up with his antics and ethics.
Strongly recommend any other club instead.
Let me make this short and sweet. This club is all about your money and nothing else.
The girls do not learn much and have no fun at all. It is all about the club and the stats from each team, not at all about the girls and their progress. I am very disappointed in the management and coaches of RTV.
My daughter has been with Rolling Thunder for five years and has had a fantastic experience: rigorous training, friendships for a lifetime, excellent guidance from her coaches. She committed to a full D-1 scholarship as a sophomore. We couldn't be happier with her club experience!
Very dissatisfied with the way this club is run. I feel that once they have your money they could careless about what the kids are saying. After almost a full season now more than half the team still can't get a serve over the net.
The owner does not respond to ANY questions or concerns you have and would definitely never recommend this club to anyone. For a club that needs kids to operate, they definitely drop the ball on customer service.
While some can argue that Rolling Thunder is a competitive club that can help enhance skills, I will disagree. One would think that the 3 hour practices would ensure stellar players, but that is also false. During the course of the 8 month season, the drills and material covered at practices hardly varies. These useless practices caused me (a former player) to actually dread going to practice three times a week, and I was sometimes brought to tears over it. On top of this, I could see, even as a teenager, that the manager (P) was all about the money. He didn't care who you were, as long as you were spending $2,000+ as your club, and of course recruiting others to come as well. Unless you were placed on their top team, the two men who run the club would not even give you the time of day. A friend of mine has had to help clean the facility (mop floors, scrub equipment, etc.) for half an hour during and after practice simply because the owners were angry and could no clean their own facility (cleaning is the best way to improve volleyball skills, right?). My first year playing there, there were at least twelve teams for my age level, and today, three years later, there are only two.. All in all, do not waste your money at this volleyball club. There are plenty of other clubs to help improve skills. This club has sold out, and brought nothing but negative memories and experiences for me, my family, and my former teammates & coaches.
As a parent who has previous experience with other clubs, we have been extremely dissatisfied with our experience and would recommend that you never send your children here. Peter cares more about his profit than teaching volleyball. His facility is the worst in the area, by far. Your children will be taught by high school and young college players, not true coaches. After seeing the quality of instruction in other clubs, this one is a joke. Any player who can fork over the extensive fees for uniforms and the team can play, not competitive at all. Do not waste your money or your time. If there were a negative star rating, I would have used it.
I had two daughters in the Rolling Thunder program. This review is intended to help other parents who are stressing out as they evaluate the best program to develop their children. Pass on Rolling Thunder. As other posters have mentioned, we will not be returning nor are most of their teammates.
1. Peter (owner) does a terrific job of "selling" the club. He visits local schools with his RT logo jacket, walks around like a scout, and drops nice full color brochures. But (no offense to used car sales people) like a used car the package "looks" good but then starts to fall apart once part of the program.
2. in 2013, almost everyone who tried out made the teams. Sounds good. Unfortunately, this had two consequences. First, they stacked the teams with 12 players which means much less playing time. Second, Peter didn't have enough "qualified" coaches. Created tons of teams as his marketing worked, but then started asking Mom's with no prior coaching experience to become a coach. So we paid over $1K for inexperienced coaches? The first few games were embarrassing as many coaches were unable to correct faulty rotations and did not understand substitution rules.
3. Peter is terrible with communications after you sign up and paid. Like a good salesman right?
4. If you are not on the top 2-3 teams in an age group you get no attention. This is where Peter & Spencer focus all their time. This is what fills the brochure with college & high school success stories. They also get the best coaches and believe it or not MORE tournaments than the other teams. Yes - you read that correct. So I paid the same $1K+ for my daughter, I get a first time coach because she is middle of the road in talent (came here to get better) and they go to 2 less tournaments than the top 3 teams? I'm paying for the top 3 teams to play more?
5. Peter is just plain rude and demeaning to his coaches and yes, even the children. I'm all for a little "tough love" coaching to push your athletes rather than always cuddling them - if done the right way. Yelling at kids for mistakes during games and at practice - and not in a positive way. Let me explain. It's not about improving the kids for their benefit - but rather "how do you think your performance makes me and the club look?" I can't make this stuff up.
One thing I agree with Peter on is volleyball clubs are all about giving your kids repetition and conditioning. But...you can get this at any club without feeling your in the movie "Grumpy old men."
My daughter has been with this club for 4 years. She had knew and inexperienced coaches her first two years. Although inexperienced, the coaches were seasoned volleyball people that new the game and followed a set practice schedule across the age groups. She learned a lot. At first I didn't understand the concept but the results after a few years validated the process.
My daughter was not always a starter but worked to improve her game both during the season and at summer camps. She learned how to deal with adversity and work hard for what she wanted. She got better and she received more play time on the 1's team. She also took advantage of the skills nights that the club offered. As a freshman she was prepared and made her varsity team and started in over half the matches. She is currently getting interest from numerous D1 schools.
This is our third child playing club. Our oldest was at Sky High. We were happy at Sky High but are even more happy with our experience at Rolling Thunder. Our daughter had a goal of playing high school and college volleyball and Rolling thunder has given her the opportunity to reach those goals.
This year, my daughter and the other team players are not returning. Only the teams coached by Peter and Spencer get any attention. They never returned an email or acknowledged any communications. I think there a lot more disappointed families that are looking elsewhere for the 2014-2015 season.
My daughter is currently a Freshman at a local high school to Chicago. As a freshman she is the only setter playing on the VARSITY team. She is also the only freshman on the team. The owner of the club, Peter, coached my daughter last season, and I can tell you that she had a great time playing for RTVBC. She said there were nights that practices were really tough, but that's what I'm paying money for. I'm paying money for her to get better, you can't be taking it easy on people and expect to get better. I can't speak to everyone else's poor reviews, but my daughter had a blast!
Surprised to see all the negativity. My daughter absolutely LOVED her club experience and is about to graduate from her college, that she has been playing at with a full ride scholarship.
I wish there was a "negative star" rating.... this is a club that had great potential, but the "NFP" is a joke.... Peter makes hundreds of thousands of dollars in his "other" businesses that he funnels the money to.... The BUffalo Grove facility is too small for all the girls he packs in there for their less than adequate practices. I question his ability to host legal tournaments, no bathrooms, he's selling food etc....is he licensed???? He'll sell you the moon, then treat you like dirt..... Parents have been yelled at, he speaks ill about other families to parents, he didn't have coaches for teams for MONTHS, has coaches that are MOMS without any experience coaching NATIONAL teams!!! Parents are paying THOUSANDS of dollars to have their children coached by a MOM with NO training !!!! How can you get quality instruction when the MOM doesn't know what shes' doing????? My daughter needs a COACH, she has a MOM! I didn't pay thousands of dollars to have a MOM reading how to do rotations she just learned a few weeks prior.... Peter will take your money, shove a BS sunshine story up your rear, then turn his back. Forget about asking questions, forget about getting a simple email returned, forget about a phone call.... NEVER will he communicate, unless it's to yell and scream that some "ungrateful, overbearing, overprotective, over-involved, talentless mom" is in his way of making another buck. I would like the IRS to look into his holdings..... he's a scam in a RTVBC jacket! I would take your money and put it towards a college fund, and take your money elsewhere. He scares players into thinking he'll blackball them in the volleyball world, and they'll never play again if they don't do what he says and travel to BS tournaments..... he's a joke... he's a bully that never played volleyball, just knows how to sell the club.... GIrls are learning their bad behavior because they see this "man" yelling and belittling the coaches, and other girls in front of them... how can they teach sportsman like behavior when it's being displayed by the OWNER!? THere is NO consistency in discipline either....if he "likes" you, you can bash the world online and in person, and there is no consequence... Players miss practices and tournaments and still play.... I would rather burn my money than give that man another penny. Peter only wants to make millions, while being the cheapest piece of garbage around. Slimy snake in the grass. He's worse than a gypsy. My daughter has a MOM for a coach, a $3000+ MOM.... pathetic...... but he's bringing in big bucks with his 40+ teams (10-12 girls per team).... you do the math.... TAKE YOUR CHILD ELSEWHERE....
My daughters team didn't have a coach for two months of practice and 3 weeks into the season. There still several teams without coaches. We pay good money and they have no instruction. What a joke. Practices are just the team on the court watching the other teams with and without coaches. This was our first, and this is our last year.
My daughter joined this club during her first year of volleyball. Pro's the club is large...younger players are easily accepted onto a team, good entry level training for the novice player, the Director makes every young athlete feel special. Con's the director is a former Direct Marketer - he knows how to 'sell'. Therefore, individualized training to correct bad habits in a high impact sport for girls is nonexistent. His U13/14 players are not receiving the instruction needed to prevent serious shoulder and ACL injury during high school and college play. Given that in 2007 his total income was $800K, he can afford to build his own facility, but he won't. He is in this for profit - does not offer year-round training - which would include beach/sand play to help build muscle and response time - also relieving some of the high impact pressure of indoor play - making for a well-rounded player overall. Extremely expensive given the ROI. Also, his parents generally do not come for well-rounded athletic backgrounds. Very unsportsmanlike behavior. His girls do not know how to gel with club players from other teams during IHSA high school play. We have experienced this first hand. They assume that since that one of the club coaches is a HS school - all girls from RTVBC should make this HS team. If your daughter is NOT from his club, she will be bullied, excluded all communication - and this was led by the parents during our year with them on a HS team. Despite our efforts to try and team build outside of HS practice team and overcome their complaints - our offers were refused. Feel bad for the HS coaching staff as they tried to work with us. But, hard to do when 95% of the HS players come from this club and have been told their children will definitely play college volleyball. Thank you for checking out this site. If you are serious about having your daughter play volleyball - this isn't the club for you. A smaller club, with private lessons, and year-round programs that include sand play will produce MUCH better results as a cheaper price! Even their largest competitor would be a better choice...even though the same unsportsmanlike behavior exists there as well.
My daughter had a great time this past season. She loved her coach, and her teammates. She jokes that if it weren't for her club team she wouldn't have half of her friends. Definitely going back this upcoming season.
My daughter had a terrible experience at rolling thunder. Peter the owner is verbally abusive to the girls. Players left practice crying. There are many quality volleyball clubs in the area, I will be sending my daughter to one of them next season.
While I cannot say this has been a perfect situation, overall my daughter has learned to be a better player, more passionate, more confident in life and handles criticism much better. Is Peter tough, absolutely! Does he scream at the girls and openly criticize their playing, yes. Does he care about how the girls progress, yes. Does he expect the girls to come to practice and tournaments to work their butts off most definitely! Does he frustrate the parents by changing up teams and changing practices yep sometimes he does.
If your child is doing this for the social aspect of playing a sport then this is probably not the place for them. This is not the top club in the area but it isnt the most expensive either. When I get frustrated I talk to her coach and work through the issues. I dont do it in front of others and never at tournaments. I have seen some very good teams fall apart because a couple of players are not as focused as the others. I believe that to be the problems many times. You maybe thinking my daughter must be treated differently, nope she works her butt off or she doesnt play because there are others that play her positions just as well. When she is angry we talk and refocus that we play club to be better high school players. If she stops loving the game we quit. So far its been three years and her passison grows year over year. Could it really be as bad as these others have stated I suppose but you get out of it what you put into it. If you want reward with out work dont play here.
My daughter and her friends spent the entire season complaining about Peter, the owner, and the way he belittled her team. Girls who play for other teams in the area are very satisfied with their experiences. I will not allow her to play for Rolling Thunder again, she and her team mates will all be joining a different club next year.
Everything about Rolling Thunder Volleyball Club was misleading and negative. My daughter loves volleyball, but I can't believe how frustrated and aggravated her experience with RTVBC made all of us. We wanted her in a club close to home where she could continue to improve, with a reasonable cost and commitment. But we were talked into spending more money to go to a facility further from home, only to have our daughter so exhausted by the unreasonable expectations of this cult club that she struggled in school and all of her other endeavors. She was forced to quit because she otherwise would not have been able to achieve academic and other athletic goals. Girls from her school who joined other clubs had a much more positive experience. I would encourage anyone considering this club to look elsewhere. Peter cares more about money than about the girls and my daughter gained very little new skills of value to her, despite the $3000+ cost. Luckily, she's a good athlete and will play varsity for her school, but I'm sorry to say this club was a waste of money and time.