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Boo Volleyball Victoria
Posted by devo on February 26, 2008
It’s 8pm Tuesday as I sit here posting. Trials for Victorian teams to compete at the National Juniors were completed on Sunday. Athletes were told that the teams would be listed on the Volleyball Victoria site from 12pm today. They are still not there.
This is unfair on the athletes. Why would V V instruct their coaches not to announce the teams? I think it is part of a worse malaise. Are coaches afraid to back up their decisions? If you announce your decisions at the trials you have to face the non-successful athletes and their parents. It’s far easier to put it off, and put it on the internet. The coach is not there to “face the music”.
I have coached seven state teams. At the end of each selection I have had my manager speak to the successful athletes. I have spoken to the unsuccessful athletes and then been available to these athletes and their parents. This is the way it should be. These people have the right to know why.
UPDATE: the squads are now available here. (mid-morning Wednesday)
frank_the_tank said
Yes, it is rather odd…
I would have thought a majority of the teams would be decided any way…Maybe VVI is going to contact the athletes before their names are published on the web???
Or maybe as you said Devo, the coaches just don’t want to face the rejected athletes and even worse the parents…
Dave Jones said
It is important that the unsuccessful athletes get a chance to speak to the coach if they want to. Get some feedback, and let them know what they need to work on if they want to make the team next year.
mark said
I personally make it a point never to even change the starting lineup without talking to the affected player first. I just don’t understand any other way.
All Rounder said
wow – selections?
I thought everyone got to play at National Juniors
Linny said
Hey guys,
Just letting you know the teams were up on the website around Tuesday 17:00 ish it is just they were not put on the front page of the website. I had to go through the Juniors > State Team menu before I could find.
It isn’t that good an excuse but the teams were on the website just like VVI said
Dan said
I have personnally typed up notes for every unsuccessful athlete. With 55 trying out I am happy to ‘face the music’. VVI are trying to impove processes and in my opinion I and other State Coaches are not afraid to speak to players and anyone who did not make it in Under 17 Boys can contact me. I was informed to let athletes know that Wednesday night at the latest was the night that athletes names would be on the VVI site.
devo said
@Linny:
I am aware that they were there for a while as some people had the list. They were not there when I looked later – and I tried all reasonable pages – and they were not there when many other people tried and contacted me to see if I knew the successful applicants
@Dan:
Other coaches gave different information to their athletes Dan. I applaud your efforts to do notes – but did the other coaches do this? I still say that coaches should be available on the day to talk to unsuccessful athletes and their parents. These people invest a lot of time, energy and costs to attend trials – they deserve the chance to talk about the results.
Eldo said
There is one way to do it and one way only and, that is to have the guts to front the kids on the day.
I am with you Devo. The unsuccessful kids meet with me at the end of the trials and the “team” go off with the manager to get fitted for uniforms and to have a quite celebration out of view. Any other way is a cop out. I hate that day the due to fact that you have to crush some kids aspirations. It is not a process that gains credibility by hiding behind a postage stamp an email or a web site. On Sunday I spoke to some 20 kids and parents who missed out and hated every minute of it. It is a horrible job. Coaching State teams is hard and that is the real hard bit. Talk to kids and see how they want it.
WiG said
Hey guys at least your teams are picked early in the year, not a month before junior nationals like what occurs in some states.
hugh29 said
Totally in agreeance with you Devo. When i was an assistant with SA, giving feedback was the most important part of the process.
And it should be done at the end of trials when the teams are selected.
The process in SA is now a little muddier with the development teams. even though i think the kids in the top teams are informed right away, you have certain exceptions where kids who miss out on one team have a “Second chance draw” for a development team.
hugh29 said
BTW,
I saw how eldo handled announcing the selections on Sunday at the 16s trials and felt it was handled very well with both professionalism and sensitivity. watching from afar as eldo made the announcement there was definitely a sombre tone in their overall body language. It’s not easy being cut from this particular state team, as it’s the first trial for many of these young athletes, and the team is steeped in tradition. Only 10 kids from about 40 got through.
The selected players moved on to get book-keeping stuff out the way, while eldo and the selection staff made themselves available to the kids, which i felt was a really good way to do it. I was really impressed with the way eldo and his staff handled it.
Team SA Part 3: David Eldridge’s Finishing School for Young Volleyballers « Huy’s Volleyball Blog said
[...] As a development coach, my job has never been to cut people, so I can only imagine how unpleasant an experience it is to face up to these players. But empathy tells me that it probably feels worse for the player involved. Interestingly, Devo’s blog says Victoria did their selections only a week or two before, and did things a bit differently. [...]