Tryouts are typically one-sided. Players go and show off what they can do. They hope to get an offer to play for the club. If they are lucky, they get to meet their coach. However, most don't get to see their coach actually coach and show off their coaching skills or personality. If you are lucky to get a contract offer to play with the club, you don't know who is on the team and what your chances are to garner playing time. Then, if you sign the contract, you are committing to paying for the entire season, including your share of all the travel trips, regardless of whether move, get injured, dislike your team or coach. (Note, some regions allow players to opt-out of their contract up until a certain date without penalty). A fair tryout would be an interactive training session where the coach gets to see the players perform and where the players can see if they like the coach and their coaching style. Then, get a workout with all the girls the team wants to sign so kids can see how good or how weak a team may be, as well as their standing on the team. For example, one player spent a great deal of time and money getting training to be a setter, but the team she played on wanted to use her for a libero. When you get to tryouts, you need to realize that most players in that club are returning from the previous year and already have a position on the team. It is likely that you are competing for one of maybe two or three positions. [Recently, there were 51 middle blockers who tried out for a large club. What they didn't know was that there were only 2 open middle blocker positions in that club at that age group. The club didn't tell kids what was available. They just took their $50 tryout fee, let them play a little, then cut them.] Tell the club you won't sign a contract until you get to see your team and your coach perform together and see what happens. If you start your 'research' early in the late spring/early summer, you can gather the info you need to make a good decision. Don't wait for tryouts because most roster spots are filled by returning players (most are already promised positions before tryouts even begin). Tryouts are meant to be high pressure, like a car sales process, where you have a small amount of time to make a decision and a fear of having your spot given to someone else: Sign now or get left out.
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Last night a parent shared this story with me. Last fall, he searched around for a club volleyball program for his daughter. He met with a representative from a certain club and was told all the great things about the club. They had their own facility: Beautiful courts, workout equipment, specialized volleyball training equipment, and more.
The cost was $2000 for coaching, $600 for uniforms and more for each tournament they played. 3 hours of practice a week. It seemed like a solid deal. Then, on the first day of practice, this parent took his daughter to the facility. They put 10 teams on 4 courts. The girls weren't allowed to hit the ball over the net. When he approached the person he talked to about the club, she reminded him that he signed a contract. Throughout the course of the year, his daughter sat on the bench keeping stats at every tournament. She never received training from a head coach. Instead, it was some sort of an intern or associate coach. She was young and inexperienced. The setter is the single most important player on any team. They touch 1/3 of every ball that comes over the net. They make every hitter a better player and the personality of the team will adopt the personality of the setter. Picking the right person to be your setter is critical. The perfect setter, in my mind, is:
Height should never factor into the decision. I have seen so many coaches take their best hitter or tallest players and make them hitters. Then, the shortest player gets assigned to be a setter. Rarely do they take into account the keys listed above. The results are predictable. Mediocre setters = mediocre teams. Strong setters help develop strong teams. If you watch any tournament, you will notice how strong the setters are that make it close to the championship games. This isn't by chance. |
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September 2020
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