Blaming the wrong people

"Our coach just sucks"

Many parents get upset when their team isn't winning. They get mad at the coach for not winning. The coach gets blamed for not pushing the players harder and sometimes for pushing the players to hard. He or she gets undercut and verbally chewed out by frustrated parents in shadows or in the bleachers. The coach maybe can't focus on the right fundamentals or maybe doesn't know the game... I will even agree that the coach might play favorites the whole time BUT why be mad at them? If club, you are paying to be there so after the season ends move on to another club. In school, go to the AD or administration.  The school administration is who hired the coach in the first place right? The coach maybe doing the best job he or she can do. There is no point to be angry at the coach. Demand better from the AD. Chances are all he or she does is hid from anything that might make them uncomfortable or look like work. You don't like the coaching choice and you complained then pull your daughter. Vote with your feet. Let the school know that you don't need them or care what the heck happens the program. I know most of you won't do that.  "My daughter just likes playing" will be the defense for allowing her to play on a team that you think the coach is a moron. Complaining to kid about it doesn't help either. The only people who can help you in the time of frustration is the AD and administration. 

Here is the key to all that I am saying. The school thought that who ever they hired to be the coach was good enough for your kid. They didn't go find a good coach. They found a warm body to do it. They most likely didn't care much about what knowledge of the sport the person hired had or how they would man the helm of the program. They wanted someone to do the job. So don't be mad at the coach you are convinced of can't spell libero much less knows what one is. Go voice your anger on the people who made a poor choice. Remember, they would never hire a high school football coach who was a volleyball player in middle school. Let that sink in. 

Just not impressed

This fall, I have been officiating middle and high school volleyball. This has given me a great chance to see players from all over the area. Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, Iredell, Burke, and Caldwell Counties in NC have I been in. So far... I am not impressed. The most impressive team I have seen all year was a middle school team who was spot jump serving. They crushed the little team they were playing but I truly believe they would beat ALL the high school teams I have seen this year. Here is why I have not been impressed overall. Let me state up front that there are good players on teams but I am addressing the WHOLE team not being impressive.

        Reason 1. Clubs: I watch familiar faces in warm-ups and I know these girls play club. I know they have played for years yet these players are still struggling with the basics. Passing, serving, talking, and moving their feet. Serves should always be made. If you aren't up by 5 plus then you better not be serving the ball out or in the net. There is never excuse NOT to talk while playing however I see team after team chalked full of club players that will not talk. I say that the clubs these girls play for are a reason the teams aren't impressive because they should have taught these skills. 

         Reason 2. Coaches: There was one coach I dealt with as an official that if I could have thrown a rule book at I would have. Sadly, in high school the coaches just aren't the best in every school. Big reason in that is schools don't want to pay these coaches anything and they expect them to deal with tons of drama.... that is another blog for another day.... Coaches are allowing players to be lazy. They maybe don't have the best players but they can make their players hustle to the ball. Allowing players to be lazy to the ball is going to give you poor results.

          Reason 3. A mix of players: Players that haven't sold out to volleyball enough to play all year are always on a high school roster. Nothing wrong with that except most of these players who add in are called upon to be key roles in starters. These girls might be great athletes but they don't have fine tuned volleyball skills. Sloppy play as in net calls, carries, two hits, or four hits can happen more offend with players who don't play yearly vs ones who play do play yearly. This goes back to the coaches and they have to get all players on the same page to prevent sloppy play.

I gave three reasons why I am not impressed with teams this year. I hope we can all work to bring about better volleyball next season and that starts now.