Tryout info
Tryout info
How to become a valuable player (aka what coaches look for) - Part 1
All skills in volleyball are important and you should strive to build up all your skills -- you’re only as strong as your weakest link. The most important skill in volleyball is “reading” and the decisions you make based on that read.
Football is often called a game of inches, where you constantly strive to push the ball forward. I think volleyball is a game of decisions, where you are constantly having to make good decisions every single split second as the play unfolds. This only comes with time and experience with playing the sport.
But for this article, I want to focus more on the physical skills, and share with you what I’ve learned.
For the majority of volleyball programs, these are usually the key skills for each specific position. The better you execute them and the more consistent you are, the more noticeable, attractive, and valuable you are. These help you get selected to a team -- and when on a team, helps build a trust that you can represent the team on the floor rather than waiting on the sidelines.
* Outside Hitters must get kills (while keeping their hitting errors low) AND serve receive well (can be trusted to pass 2s and 3s, with no 1s or SRE/service reception errors).
* Middle Attackers must have good blocking (positive touches), good serving AND work hard to be available as an offensive attack option in almost every play, even though they are not set. AND, if they are set, they must get kills (while keeping their hitting errors low).
* Setters must get assists (awarded for every pass or set to a teammate who successfully attacks the ball for a kill) using game smarts as well as quickness and agility, AND have good blocking (positive touches).
Those that *serve really well* (can be trusted to make no serving errors, especially in pressure situations, AND make the opponent pass a 2 or less -- not looking for an ace -- so that they’re out of system) and/or *serve receive well* (can be trusted to pass 2s and 3s only, with no 1s or SRE/service reception errors) will generally find themselves getting playing roles as well, either as a Defensive Specialist or Serving Specialist.