Reluctant Player

Question
I coach a 14 & under girls team; one of my players reluctantly comes to practice & attempts to learn the skills.  She has made every practice and after 2 months, still shows favoritism to her arms after "attempting" to receive a serve.  She was at one time setting forth a very strong attempt to properly pass the ball, get under serves, foot movement, but lately has fallen backwards and gives the aura of "I don't care & it hurts my arms".  I had talked with this young lady with her parents, our club director and co-coach present and asked her if she indeed wanted to play' her response was yes, she wanted to be there & play & learn.  After this talk, her efforts went south.  How do I stop feeling frustrated as a coach since the player doesn't 'want' to play?  How do I get the player to become more focused on volleyball when she shows up for practice instead of giving me the 'weak arm' look or doesn't even try?

Answer
Hello Trina and welcome to www.AllExperts.com

My name is Coach Tovar

To make sure that all my readers young and old can understand some of my comments, I have chosen to use simple vocabulary words and interpret the rule for this sole purpose.

It seems you have the better part done by talking to the student, her parents, co-coach and your director. Over the years, one of our goals was to keep children interested in their sport. It is not good when a student wants to leave a sport that maybe their parents forced them into.

"The number of weapons you have on your team will depend on how well you get to know each and every player" Tovar

It is possible that this student has lost her drive. If she came in with this attitude then it is best to not let her practice. In my lifetime I have found two types of this players.

Player X - a player that gives their best in practice but does not want to commit to the actual playing in a game. This player likes to be part of something, likes to go through the practices and game preparations. This player also likes the road trips, and especially the idea that they belong to some group they feel comfortable with. These players are very rare, shy, and do not like to be noticed as excellent players even though deep down they know they have better skills than anyone on the team.

Player Y - this player does not like to practice because they know that they have better skills than everyone on the team and therefore they should not practice. The connection of "If you don't practice you don't play" does not seem to apply to them. These are the players who never come to practice but yet on game day they always ask, "My mom said that If I am going to play, if not so she can take me home". These players don't take responsibility for the process of practice and play.

It seems that you might want to talk to her mother privately to see how the student gained interest in the sport and since when. You might also want to ask the mother if the player has acted this way with previously played sports. I would also talk to the player and not say anything to here so that she will be able to tell you the truth. If the player feels that there is a 1% chance that you will tell anyone else then the player will not tell you. It could simply be that other players are interfering with her in  a way outside the practice times.

As much as I would personally love for a player to stay with me, I would rather let her go and keep the winning atmosphere through out my practice sessions. I will usually ask the player to leave once I have talked to their parents and have tried everything else. This type of player can bring the whole team down if not taken care off.

I know that many coaches and players have gotten used to not having something new in the sport of volleyball. This is why I have created a volleyball play book that coaches can purchase to make volleyball playing and practicing more fun by running thousands of plays. This e-book is only for coaches and not for players alone. If you let your daughter visit my website and read my quotes, see my alien volleyball designs and much more, all for being a FREE member. I am sure this might lighten her mood.

I hope this answers your question. Please take the time to rate me. Any feedback you can provide for me will be great.

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Thank you for visiting www.AllExperts.com

Coach Tovar