Bad tryouts pick the tallest kids and the loudest parents' kids. Good tryouts produce a roster you can defend line by line — to yourself, in November, after a five-set loss.
Day 1: Measurables and skills
Station work, everything scored on paper:
- Serving: score every serve, points for zones hit, make notes of each server what they do well and need improvement on
- Passing: Score every pass from a real server, 3-2-1-0 scale, take notes of pros and cons of each passers
- Attacking: entries off a live set, scored for kills and smart errors, again notes, notes notes!
- Athletic screen: standing reach, approach touch, block touch, lateral speed
Day 2: Play volleyball
Mixed teams, short sets, re-mixed every 20 minutes. You're watching for the things stations can't show: who talks, who competes at 18-all, who lifts the weakest player on their side instead of freezing them out. Most importantly, who can flat out play.
Making the cuts
Rank three lists separately — skills, athleticism, compete level — then build the roster from the compete list first. Skills you can coach. Compete you mostly can't.
Expect push back from players who are cut, and from your administration. Those notes will be important to present as proof as to why who made they team and who didn't.
The conversation
Cut kids deserve two sentences of truth and one concrete thing to work on. No email cuts. You're a teacher; teach on the way out too. Good luck.