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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Monday Morning and my experienced u15 with two years of club under her belt and who went to 5 tryouts has zero offers. She’s shattered. She isn’t a rec level player. We don’t understand what happened. [/quote]
I keep telling my DD that it doesn't really matter what you do at practice, what really matters is what you do outside practice. These words of wisdom are not mine: I heard them one way or another from the mouths of experienced coaches. Club experience is irrelevant if all you do is show up at practice and tournaments. There are many players who work hard during practice, then go home and work even harder. The extra hours will eventually pay off because it will show in the way you move on the court. These are the players who really want to play volleyball and they will squeeze out those who simply show up for the social aspect (have fun with friends). All the players who are now left hanging need to understand that it will be even harder to make a team during the next season. My DD seems to have finally realized that this is the case, but I am still not sure if she is willing to put in the effort. [/quote]
That's the long game for sure but if your DD is still looking for a club as of this morning, there are things that she can do at whatever tryouts she might still have to increase her chances.

Communication, effort, and attitude are all within the player's control and they can choose to change those things now. Does she call for the ball, tell the hitters how many blockers are up or what shot to take?  Does she let a ball land on the floor between her and the player next to her without even taking a step for the ball? Does she give up on a ball that is going off the court because successfully bringing it back in play is unlikely or does she run and dive after it anyway? Does she give high fives to other girls that she might not know during drills or competition? Is she attentive and engaged when coaches are giving instruction?  What's her body language and facial expression like when she or the girl next to her makes a mistake?  Does she shag her ball when it's part of the drill or go shag balls when she's off the court waiting for her turn to go? Does she ask questions or engage in a positive way when she get feedback from a coach?

I coached club for 3 seasons and I can tell you with 100% certainty, that for girls on the bubble skill wise, these are the kinds of things that puts them into the "maybe gets an offer" column instead of the "no offer" column.[/quote]

My DD u16 does all these things and then some bc she’s a true “team player” and full of positivity. Not to mention resilience. But her club aspirations are almost crushed this year bc she doesn’t have a single offer after 5 tryouts. Even despite leaving it all on the court and doing all of the above mentioned things. Even cheering for the girls directly competing with her. Being covered in sweat at the end of every tryout. I truly wonder if coaches notice these things. At several tryouts even in the first day it was clear that teams were already formed and the pre-selects girls were on one court and everyone else was on the other. This happened 3x to my DD. No shagging balls and being helpful can compete with that. One club even took our money and told us at the end that their selects were already completed. It’s completely spirit-breaking. [/quote]

My DD did all the things too, and was even invited to invite only clinics. Tried out for 6 clubs (including former club). Was completely shut out. It became obvious last year that the teams were preselected/vetted. And being in club for so many years my DD had made many friends that were playing all over and they confirmed. Unfortunately my DD is too short now (5 ft 5) for any position other than libero/DS. She tried out for mid and lower level clubs. Nothing at all.

People need to go in with both eyes open. It is super cut throat. There are just too many girls who are tall that want to play and are good and not enough spots. Period. [/quote]
This is a trickle down of what plays out in collegiate recruiting. With some exceptions for girls with crazy high vertical jumps and incredible athleticism, most girls under 5'10" are told at some point that if they want to keep playing they need to switch to libero or defensive specialist. That results in girls having to learn a new position as well as there being an huge number of girls competing for those L/DS spots. In college, getting recruited as a libero is much different than for other positions. There are far fewer athletic scholarships used for liberos and many schools wait to recruit liberos until after they have locked down the other positions in that class year. The reality is that there are so many L/DSes that want to play in college, schools can wait to recruit and still find quality players to recruit as preferred walk ons.

It's interesting that this is playing out as much at mid and lower tier clubs though. While the top tier of CHRVA clubs have always had tons of tall girls, mid and lower tier clubs generally didn't. Are there really that many more tall girls that are getting into volleyball now? I would have figured there was a limit to how many 6'+ girls are out there.[/quote]

My DD had always been a libero/DS but was open to playing other positions if she could just be on a team. My point was that she’s locked into that position because there are just too many other tall girls who play that these teams can use to play everything else so switching isn’t an option/there isn’t a need. And to add to that, all the other “shorter” girls who play also find themselves with libero/DS as their only option means so many more girls are all competing for 1-2 spots.

She wasn’t playing something else before and now has to be the libero. And she is not interested in playing in college, she just wants to keep playing club now but those days may be over. She only tried out for lower tier clubs. [/quote]
My DD has always been a libero too and has had the same experience with having to compete with more and more girls every year for these reasons. She's an 18 this year and made the team at the same club she's played on for the past few years, but I sympathize with your daughter's situation. Hopefully her experience at the position will get her an offer if something opens up at one of clubs she tried out for. [/quote]

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