What is the most important element in picking a team?
Other people may tell you their opinion, but I have the answer:
The #1 priority in properly picking your team is:
KNOW THE GIRLS BEFORE TRYOUTS EVER BEGIN.
You need to know:
Their game
- What can they do?
- What can they not do?
Their personality
- Are they lazy?
- Are they bratty?
- Do they have a foul attitude?
If you try to select a team without knowing the players, you will regret it. When I took my first coaching job, I had one month to prepare. Wow, after about two weeks into our season, the mistakes I made in selecting my team were glaring. Too late then! I had not had enough time to evaluate their heart, their dedication, their athleticism, their desire, their character.
How do you get to know them?
Well, it takes TIME!
Lots of time.
If you have that time, you need to:
Be at all the vball functions that you have planned. Try not to schedule vacations or college classes during this time. Yeah, some coaches actually do not attend what they expect their kids to attend.
Get to know your players and their families. Get beyond the first impressions. Find out about last year's team. What did they like about it? Not like about it?
Watch them at camps. Yeah, you can take a lot of time to coach them, but step back occasionally and watch them. Do they work hard even when you are NOT looking? How do they interact when they cannot see you watching?
Check out their grades. Talk to their teachers.
Visit them, if they go to other camps.
Visit them, if they play in a doubles tournament. If you play doubles, see if they want to catch a ride with you!
Send them internet cards, IM them some, etc.
If you are only anticipating 20 girls at tryouts, your life is easier.
If you are anticipating 50 girls at tryouts, that is a problem!
Let us see if we cannot lower that number in June & July!
How to trim down your team before tryouts begin? You can do this by:
making the conditioning challenging. Yes, make it useful and reasonable, but let us use it to weed out a few girls who really are not serious.
Telling the girls the high expectations you have and how hard the team will work during the season!
Telling the girls that there will only be 6 starters and there will be NO DISCUSSION about playing time. You do not tell parents about their daughters' curfews (even though you have opinions! Lol), so coaches will not allow parents to discuss volleyball players' playing time.
Maybe even, you saying that practice will last x hours a day and x hours on Saturday and Sunday (if your state allows that).
Maybe saying that soccer, lacrosse & tennis will not conflict with vball from August through November. Not even if a girl in on a travel team. School vball will come first. That's it. No discussion.
