High School and Middle School Coaches....PLEASE DON'T!!!

It makes you nauseas, just the thought of it. The amount of sleep you’ll lose because of it, the angry and hurt e mails and phone calls soon after. The looks into the eyes and the awkward meetings ahead; it’s a Greek tragedy playing out right before your eyes and it’s ALL under your direction.

Welcome to High School and Middle School tryouts!

They are right around the corner and most coaches who have overseen programs and teams at these levels know what we’re talking about. Years ago, it was a list posted on the wall of the gym. Then Parents and accountability came into play and coaches had to stat tryouts, have a reason as to why a kid wasn’t chosen for the freshman, J.V. or Varsity programs, write letters or have individual meetings so no athlete could be seen reacting to the roster. Never mind they showed up in skater vans and cut offs and walked to the baseball field having no idea what was ahead, coaches need to give reasons why now. Parents wanted to know why their daughters or sons didn’t measure up. Why did this coach HATE their child?

There is no formal study or data to be found but it wouldn’t be out of the sphere of plausibility to say that volleyball loses thousands of players in the months of August and September after tryouts take place. Kids that are cut, that once may have gritted their teeth and worked harder to get on the team next year, walk away and try another sport or activity. or sadly, nothing. No one can live through being cut TWICE from the same sport, right?

Perspectives are odd things. Big schools having to cut dozens of athletes from their younger teams, some of them club players who feel ripped off that they spent the money to get better training but didn’t get their pot of gold at the rainbow’s end. Other’s feel none of this because their school is just 150 kids and a total of 18 girls has to play all four sports throughout the school year. Some kids come to every open gym, play rec and city leagues, YMCA or beach! Some others play 3 other sports before their tryouts begin. All body shapes and sizes are represented, all kinds of mental processes at work. In the end, there are only enough uniforms, only enough coaches and resources and if there are too many kids trying out, subtraction is put into effect.

However here is an idea that might help with the phone calls, the e mails, the hurt feelings, the angst and agony of being cut

Don’t.

Don’t make cuts. Your school has resources it uses for the teams you have: coaches and gyms and volleyballs and nets. So let’s use them to make those kids that didn’t make the cut to keep playing. Yes it’s more work, yes it’s more time but the advantages are overwhelming.

First, imagine a tryout where you were going to have to make cuts with this proposal: “You aren’t going to be named to our school team at this time however we’d still like you in the program to see how you develop. We’d like to offer you a Sunday every week for just a couple of hours to see if you are a hard worker, coachable and wanting to improve. Would you be willing to be a part of a very low cost or free program like that?”

Now the onus is on the kids and their parents. They haven’t been told they aren’t good enough, they’ve been told they aren’t good enough YET! Some kids might say no and walk away. But some, and in fact hopefully for your program, MANY might come back at you and agree. What’s in this for you?

First, simple math: if you have 50 kids in your program as your base of talent and you field three teams from them after tryouts, you can be pleased OR you can have 80 kids in your program and take three teams worth. Would the teams be different? Would the one with the talent pool of 80 be higher?

Secondly, what do these names have in common: NBA Hall of Famer Bob Cousy, Lionel Messi, future Baseball Hall of Famer Orel Hershiser, Carmelo Anthony and Michael Jordan. Okay, the last one gave it away but yes, all of these players were cut from their high school teams!

Sure, one could say that is a small sampling of the millions of high school athletes and for the most part, coaches probably DO get it right. But how many of those kids that were cut might have been a USA National team player if given one more chance? Of course, sadly, we’ll never know.

Facts are these: according to the Centers for Disease Control, “During puberty, you may experience a ‘growth spurt,’ or period of fast growth. Most girls start their growth spurt between ages 9 and 11, reaching their full height between the ages of 15 and 18. Some girls grow as much as 4 inches per year.”

Freshman tryouts for these “normal” bodies put their growth spurt at or around freshman tryouts. How would YOU do at any sport, knowing what you know now as a coach, if you tried out for a sport before you hit puberty full force? You may not be where you are today if someone had limited your options back then.

Maybe those girls you just cut have not even started growing yet. Their eye hand coordination might be behind; their “athleticism” might be suspect as they try to find a sport. Maybe their financial situation precludes them from club or even buying a ball to practice with. We can look past all these things but should we?

What would it cost your High School or Middle School program to have a Sunday “league” where players got to play! Maybe your teams coach them for NHS hours or community service, or even more importantly, a better footing as a program? It might cost you some time and energy, but what are the payoffs?

• A bigger base of athletes to choose from. 
• A chance for your athletes to become better players by coaching.
• A great opportunity for you to grow the game in your area. 
• A restful night’s sleep the day before tryouts. 

Of course these ideas are flexible: maybe it’s Friday afternoons, maybe it’s a small fee, etc. But the premise remains: Don’t handicap your program by limiting its size and scope. Give kids a chance to grow into their bodies and talents. Give your school, neighborhood or area an alternative to just walking away from the sport.

If we can help with anything, please let us know at outreach@azregionvolleyball.org.

"You may do that..."

Twelve years before that fateful day of December 1st, 1955, Montgomery bus driver James Blake had already gotten under this young woman’s skin. In those days, the city buses had two doors, one in the front of the bus and one in the back. Black passengers would come to the front of the bus to pay the driver, then get off and go outside the bus to reenter in the rear door of the bus. On this day, as the young woman named Rosa Parks paid and walked off the bus to re enter in the rear door, Blake shut the door and drove away. Parks never forgot that. 

According to a local historian in Montgomery, Alabama at this year’s Juneteenth Festival, a celebration that stemmed from the June 19th abolishment of slavery in Texas in 1865, Parks also was within her right to stay in her seat. According to Montgomery law at the time, if the bus was “standing room only” black people could keep their seats. As the bus began to fill up, the 10 seats at the front of the bus already filled with white passengers forced the bus driver to move the marker separating the white and black seats back a row, thus putting Ms. Parks in a “white seat.” When a white passenger came onto the bus and demanded that row of seats, three black riders moved the back: Ms. Parks did not. She politely moved the window seat. After threats, the driver was summoned and when he threatened to call the police if she didn’t move.

Rosa Parks said in quiet defiance, “You may do that.”

What happened in the days after this historic event is a glowing example of teamwork and the components of it. Here was a young “soldier” in Ms. Parks who through her actions found a rallying point. Once arrested, the black community of Montgomery began to force the action.

What happened was called the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Three days after Parks’ arrest, black churches began to spread the idea of a bus boycott and on December 5th, when Ms. Parks was found guilty in 30 minutes of disorderly conduct and violating a city ordinance, a fine of $14 was levied but Parks appealed and challenged the idea of segregation.

On the day of her trial, 35,000 leaflets were distributed around the city and a young minister was put in charge of the boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. This coach would mastermind a boycott of city buses that crippled the financial structure of the city of Montgomery. 

When black passengers needed to get somewhere, local black residents with cars would take them. When there weren’t enough cars, King’s church bought a dozen more. When businessmen in Montgomery pressured the insurance companies of these drivers to drop them, local black leaders got insurance policies on their own and covered the drivers. There were no black riders on Montgomery buses for 381 days! 

This kind of multi tiered teamwork is hard to imagine today. The idea that everyone is behind a common goal, this goal SO monumental in history, that it broke the back of corporate Montgomery and forced new legislation is an example of what CAN be done when there is 100% buy in. When the whole is greater than the parts. When a leader is able to rally and inspire his team and when a team can rally around a moment of intense or extreme hardship.

Rosa Parks, being a Civil Rights worker before her arrest, understood what she was doing and her bravery and grit have never been forgotten. Her museum in Montgomery is a busy tourist destination and rightly so. 

When Dr. King was asked about Mrs. Parks, he was candidly quoted, "Actually, no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'”