So Your Kid Did Not Make the A Team
By: Coach Houser - About Volleyball
Parents! No matter what, the coach makes the decision
A player goes to all the practices, plays in two summer tournaments, and is at more open gyms than any other player is. However, the coach still puts the player on the 'C' team. Is it fair? Maybe a call to the athletic director will solve the problem. Perhaps yelling at the coach will get the player pushed up to the higher team. On the other hand, is it the right choice to put the player on the 'C' team? Will that player not get more playing time, learn more about the game, and become a better player?
Parents, family, athletic directors etc. do not have the requisite knowledge to select athletic teams. The head coach is the person who has seen each player practice, condition, and play for 100's of hours. The head coach will place people on teams depending upon what is best: (a) for the team; and then (b) for the individual.
When I was the head coach at Bassett High in Virginia for 16 years, I was a club coach. We hosted doubles tournaments in the summer. We had two open gyms a night. We offered the girls a home camp and several residential camps. After all that, I knew their boyfriends, their grades and their parents. I knew if any of them were players that no one could tolerate, and I knew which of them were made of pure gold! (I'm getting upset here!!!) I PITY THE FOOL who would tell me after all I did with my team for the 9 months of the off-season that THEY knew who should be on what team better than I did.
Parents are not the head coach. The head coach is in the trenches and knows best what the girl can/can't do. You have seen her at those open gyms and at those tournaments. You know how she compares to the other girls. When parents try to push agendas on the team, school, or club, they often only serve to hurt the player and the program. Furthermore, parents do not have the power to have their daughter break team rules, just as if a parent cannot tell their child that they are free to get to be tardy, to curse teacher or to be truant.
Last summer I directed a camp back at Bassett High. At the end of the camp, the head coach and I were talking about whom to keep on her varsity. Some of her opinions surprised me, but she knew the players better than I did. I just told her, "If 'the good of the TEAM' is always how you base your decisions, you can't be wrong. In other words, if you are relying on "TEAM first and individuals second,' then you should not lose sleep doubting yourself." So coach, it sounds like you have done both: looked after the team while simultaneously doing your best to please the individual. It is hard to do. If the parents are unhappy, what do they expect you to do? Please THEM? Nope. That's not the way it works.
If as a coach, you have thought arduously about whom to put on what team before making the final decision, do not second-guess yourself. Ever decision you make should be both: (a) in your program's best interests; and (b) in the best interests of the child. Ultimately, it is that simple.
What team a player is selected for is not an issue for debate and will not be discussed with parents and players. It's been done, it's over. In addition, if the parent wants to pull the player, then every day the player stays out is another set of consequences for skipping another practice. It is that simple. If the player decides to quit, then see if there were someone who was cut who would like her spot. Fill it quickly, but not with anger. Fill that opening with joy for the girl who is back on the team.
