Reply to Coach conflict of interest (Club + HS Volleyball )

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am starting this thread for folks to discuss this conflict of interest that may be consequential taking into account that some of the coaches are with one foot in one boat (club coach) and the other foot in a different boat (HS team coach). I think naming high schools and coaches should not violate any norms as long as the discussion is factual and civil. Make sure you don't provide information that would identify your player - this might have unintended consequences. [/quote]
For the most part, being a HS and/or club volleyball coach is a second job for the coach. Both pay very little relative to the time involved and given the rise in popularity of volleyball, qualified coaches are a scarce resource. And because HS volleyball and club volleyball don’t overlap much by design, many qualified coaches will do both. I’m certain that there are HS coaches who favor players from their club and who perhaps give the benefit of the doubt to a player from their HS when choosing club teams, but I don’t know that it is a big enough issue to warrant drastic measures.

A good example of potential conflict of interest would be MVSA and Montgomery County public schools where there are tons of coaches and players that overlap. Even teams like Metro Travel teams that tend to pull players from a larger geographic area can have potential conflicts at private schools. Until a few years ago, the Flint Hill School in northern Virginia had a significant number of Metro Travel players and the coaches also coached for Metro. Georgetown Day School seems to be moving in that direction now, with  coaches that coach for Metro and an increasing number of Metro Travel players.

I’ve seen discussions that there should be rules against this, but I don’t see how this would be practical unless there were many more coaches available. The reality is that there aren’t enough coaches to have a separate pool for HS teams and club teams. There is going to be overlap in many cases. With 50–100 girls trying out for 12-15 roster spots, even the most honest and objective HS coach (who also coaches club) is likely to face accusations of bias from disappointed players and their parents. And maybe there is bias in some cases, but I suspect that most of the time it’s people looking for a reason other than “my kid wasn’t good enough” to explain why they didn’t make a team. [/quote]

I agree with many of the points you raised and I am sure many coaches do their best to be fair when they evaluate players at tryouts. I like most of the MVSA coaches I interacted with and I can tell that most of the MVSA players are better than my DD. I also agree that many parents overestimate their kids' skills and abilities and they become emotional when their kids are rejected. I personally wouldn't rant about my DD not getting a spot on varsity (which is dominated by MVSA players), especially if my DD's position is filled by better players. But too many concerns raised about a particular coach may suggest real bias. I started this thread to figure out how big the problem really is and whether anyone can find solutions to address it. I am not sure whether the schools can afford bringing an independent coach at the tryouts to alleviate bias concerns. Even assuming that bias can be completely eliminated during tryouts, it can perpetuate with court time. [/quote]

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