QuestionQUESTION: my the grade daughter did not make the 8th grade team for volleyball. She has a serve that gets over the net overhand and bounces off little girls and rarely is returned. She is a strong girl. 5'5 150 lbs and not fat. Her daddy was a NFL Pro prospect so i know how powerful she is . She is also good at returning serves because she does not need to use much strengeth and also can spike with power. Her weakness is setting because she does not have the quickiest feet in the world.
In a try out what percentage of her game should go to her ability to dominate from the serving line ? What percentage for returning and other areas of the game ? Assume she is a good team player and wants to work hard to get better ?
If she was the best server bar none , and the coach agrees to that would there be a place on the team for her on your team or am i missing something.
I have a 8 am meeting with the Coach.
ANSWER: Hello Steve! Welcome to www.allexperts.com!
This is how I judge how I should keep on my team:
Question 1: Can she help me this season? If not;
Question 2: Can she help me in future season? If the answer to both is "no," then I can't keep her.
From what you've told me, it appears that your child can physically help the team this season.
But you tell me all her physical traits. There are a number of topics coaches consider when choosing a team.
(a) One problem may be attitude.
(b) You daughter may not be hustling. Day after day, chronic refusal to hustle DRIVES COACHES CRAZY!
(c) She may be lacking at being a good teammate. She may criticize her teammates, turn her back to them, roll her eyes at them, etc.
(d) Maybe she's being disrespectful to the coaching staff. She may not try what she's asked to try. She may not follow their directions.
(e) Your daughter may also have discipline issues at school.
(f) She may be on the edge of being academically ineligible. Some coach will cut the girl before her poor grades force the school to remove her from athletic teams.
(g) She may have parents who are so irritating with their "it's all about us" attitude, that the coach has had enough. She may have parents who tell the girl to not perform fundamentals the way the coaches are instructing. The parents may coach from the bleachers, spread rumors, take pictures of practice and send them other people, make scenes in public, criticize the coaches behind their backs, go over the coach's head w/o even speaking to the coach, etc. (ALL that I just listed in (g) occurred on my team this past club season. Yep, even the picture-taking. Amazing! There are girls that I will never coach again, b/c their parents come with them!)
(h) She may have a problem with the team rules. She may be chronically late, may miss practice w/o notifying the coach, etc. She may think she is above rules that are given to her.
If she is having any of these issues, then the coach had a good reason to cut her. But, from my experience, it's unique for an 8th grader to have many of them.
My most important job as a coach is to look out for the team first. Not individuals. Not parents. Not the assistant coach and not me. For the team. That's why I have rules. That's why I give the team speeches & warnings. That's why there are consequences for being late, for getting detention, for missing practice, etc. If I'm directing tryouts and I don't think a child can help us this year or next year as much as other girls, then I can't keep her on the team. In addition, if I think a girl (or her family) have a disruptive nature that will hurt the team, then I can't keep her.
I hope that the girls who were kept on the coach's team were either (a) the best vball players at tryouts or (c) have the most potential, AND (c) have the best attitudes and are looking out for the team.
No one deserves to be on a team. No one. Being on a team is something a child earns by (a), (b) and (c) above.
I've been teaching 30 years, but do I deserve the most important classes? No, I earn them. And for the 5th straight year, I am teaching 5 classes where students have to pass an end-of-course test in order to graduate. Some math teachers teach none, b/c the principal doesn't trust them to prepare the students for the end-of-course test. When I start doing poorly, when other teachers stand out, then I will lose my special classes.
You say you have a meeting with the coach. I'd be very careful in what you say. If you lose your temper or make threats or accusations, then that's the MORE reason to keep your daughter and her "crazy" family away from a team! So you can either go into the meeting rational and cool, or further solidify your daughter's situation.
And don't expect the principal or athletic director to overturn the coach. Personally, if someone else picks my team, then they can coach it. And I will tell them that. My staff and I will pick our team by the (a), (b) and (c) above, and we know better than anyone. If the principal or athletic director overrules me, then we will quit. They hired us to teach and lead the team, but they don't trust us to put a team together that we think will be successful? The administrators of the school aren't there every day. They weren't at tryouts. My staff and I know who should be on the team. We know which girls can play best for us and will best make the best bonded team. The people who sit behind the desk don't know.
For all this typing, please do one thing for me! :) Please visit me at www.coachhouser.com. There are enough smiling faces there to make everyone feel better all day long.
Tom Houser
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: coach,
I was a two sport all American as well as academic aa, it is not about me or my ego, i understand that part. i have a young coach who is surrounding herself with cheer leader types. This will be the first time I have ever talked to the coach or a.d or principal about sports. I asked if any of the things you discussed were issues. I have coached youth sports for 10 years. i understand them all. What i am trying to get a handle on is how important is being able to dominate from the service line. I also started middle school soccer and mentoring programs for under privileged kids so people do not think I am a nut.
thank you for your time but you can of went off after I asked you to assume she worked hard and was not a problem. I gave the coach an easy way out and she assured me those were not at issue.
AnswerHey man!
Welcome again!
I didn't mean to go off on you at all. But when parents say, "My daughter ..........," I try to make sure that they know that it's about team. I see that you already know that.
I apologize for not answering about your serving question. I thought about it, then sent the answer, then later thought, "OH NO, I forgot to answer his question," so thanks for bringing that back up.
In my opinion, if a girl can dominate, it's awesome! However, again I stress that for a girl to dominate, then opponents must have a sorry serve receive. Your daughter could go 20 miles down the road to another conference, and her serve might be normal and the opponents would pass it. I've already seen 8 matches this year: middle, high and college. Not a single girl has dominated yet, b/c the serve receive has been strong. You know who they say, "Good pitching stops good hitting"? Well, good serve receivers shut down good servers!
That being said, in my first answer I said, "Can she help us this year?" and you seem to say yes she can. Then, why was she cut? The only reason I could come up with was my (a) through (g) in my first answer. Something's up. Something's going on that afraid you don't know about.
Have you had the meeting now? If so, I'd like to know what happened. You may want to email me at
[email protected] so that it won't become public.
Have a great day and week! And again I apologize if I was too mean or aggressive in the previous answer. That's really not how I want to be here. I just want to help.
Coach Houser
