15 seconds to impress. Are you prepared?
By Dave Taylor
Recently I was out searching for different volleyball activities offered by schools during the summer. I came across the website of one particular school that has a reputation for being a competitive volleyball program. I've been coaching for a lot of years, but this is the FIRST time I've ever seen an explanation of what coaches are looking for at middle school tryouts. It's published and live for anyone to see and is definitely a great way to say, "Hey, here it is. These are the expectations. If you can meet these expectations Aug 24-26th, you will make the team."
Middle School volleyball. It's the first opportunity for kids in public schools to REALLY participate in school sports in an official capacity. The odds of making the school team depend largely on the number of kids who show up to tryouts. At the school mentioned above, it will be around 100 kids. Not taking talent into account, the odds of making the team are roughly 1 in 5. Not bad odds. But then, if you read closely enough, you can see in big, bold letters how to increase your odds.
Rewarding kids for best effort and also helping other kids understand what best effort looks like is a top priority for us at Spike Frog. Coach Dee Dee, Will and Bonnie, coaches for the Junior Frog Yellow Dragons team, have come up with an awesome award for “Best Effort”. They award a Dragon Medallion weekly recognition award to one kid on the team that gives best effort.
From Coach Dave
Coach Dave here…First off, let me thank each one of you for playing with Spike Frog this Fall season. I’ve been able to attend a number of practices and games to see lots of smiling faces and proud moments. As I’ve watched the games and practices, I’ve had a few thoughts come to mind that I wanted to share with you.
Serving. As volleyball players advance in their skills, this might be THE BIGGEST accomplishment in their early development. It’s similar to riding a bike without training wheels. It is a solo skill they can do all on their own. Because of that, we have designed a lot of our rules around serving.
Volleyball on the Couer D'Alene
By Dave Taylor, Coach and Technical Skills Instructor
I grew up about 35 miles away from Plummer, Idaho. In fact, I'd even been in that same gym as a high school basketball athlete for my school. I was excited to go back and revisit my high school glory days. I remembered the wooden bench very well. It felt exactly the same as it did 30 years ago. My junior year in high school, I was called into action and got to see some actual court time in a REAL game! No longer was I to be used as a practice dummy for the starters, this time my number would be in the books. My name would be announced. My parents would watch ME in more than just the warmups. I don't remember how much I played that game or what my stats where, but I do remember one play quite vividly. I had just out-jumped all of my teammates and the opponents for a rebound. An opponent who was vying for the same ball, bumped me just enough that I came down on someone's foot. My ankle twisted and that was the end of my remarkable journey to Plummer, ID.
