Moving up level question-keeping doors open

[Anonymous]

Are coaches actually supportive when players asked to move up levels and off a lower level team? If moves all within same club, seems coaches would be working with each other and could be happy for the player-the lower coach could take credit for improving the player so they could move up, but seems more coaches are not supportive and outright annoyed when happens. Curious if this is universal or just club we are at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are coaches actually supportive when players asked to move up levels and off a lower level team? If moves all within same club, seems coaches would be working with each other and could be happy for the player-the lower coach could take credit for improving the player so they could move up, but seems more coaches are not supportive and outright annoyed when happens. Curious if this is universal or just club we are at?

I think animosity when a player leaves a club to move to another more competitive club is pretty common, but we haven’t seen it as much when a player moves up to a higher team within the same club, but it definitely happens. An instance I remember from a few years ago related to the 1s team at a big local club that had several players unexpectedly not accept offers and decide to play for other clubs late in the tryouts/offer process. In order to get players for their team the 1s coach then made offers to a significant number of players that had accepted offers to play on the 2s team which left the 2s coach in a tough spot having to go back into the pool of girls who tried out late in the tryout period to try to find players for certain positions.

I understand why that 2s coach was frustrated, but it should never have been directed at the players. As you point out, they should be happy that players are getting a chance to play on a better team.

[Anonymous]

I don't have experience with this, but the question makes me think of Metro introducing this new "National Level" between "Travel/Open" and "Regional Club", and how probably a lot of people trying out may not know that and I wonder if they'll struggle to fill the National Level for the ages they're starting it, which might affect the regional club levels?

I'm sure we'll hear some details about how it all shakes out when it's over, so it'll be interesting to see if this comes up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are coaches actually supportive when players asked to move up levels and off a lower level team? If moves all within same club, seems coaches would be working with each other and could be happy for the player-the lower coach could take credit for improving the player so they could move up, but seems more coaches are not supportive and outright annoyed when happens. Curious if this is universal or just club we are at?

The question is: are you clearly better than the players playing your position on the higher-level team?

If yes, then the club should move you up. If your club won't do that, it's time to consider a different club.

If no, why should they move you up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are coaches actually supportive when players asked to move up levels and off a lower level team? If moves all within same club, seems coaches would be working with each other and could be happy for the player-the lower coach could take credit for improving the player so they could move up, but seems more coaches are not supportive and outright annoyed when happens. Curious if this is universal or just club we are at?

The question is: are you clearly better than the players playing your position on the higher-level team?

If yes, then the club should move you up. If your club won't do that, it's time to consider a different club.

If no, why should they move you up?

Here's my understanding of the process. Let's talk just one position, then you can extrapolate to the entire team. Assuming that they take two setters per team, the coach of the top teams makes offers to the best setters at the tryouts. The coach of the second team makes offers to the next two best setters (and I stop here because you probably got the point). They make a few alternate announcements because some of the players who received offers may still shop around for other clubs and might not accept their offers. When a setter from the top team rejects the offer, everyone has a chance to bubble up: the best setter on the second team is offered a position on the top team, and an alternate setter receives an offer for the bottom team. The second team coach has no say in whether their top setter moves up: it would not make sense to offer a position on the top team to an alternate because you want your top team to be as strong as possible. It would be unusual for a coach to move up with their team from a previous season, so they cannot claim a player for their own team (unless the player accepts an offer and doesn't want to move up to the higher team).