How to Run Effective Volleyball Tryouts

The start of a new season means one thing: tryouts. While both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience for athletes, coaches also face emotions heading into the new season. Tryouts need to run as efficiently as possible to effectively draft players. Therefore, we have provided some coaching tips to help you effectively run your volleyball tryouts.

1. Devise a strategic plan

A plan essentially comes down to what volleyball tryout drills will be run on the day. Ensure you are comprehensively evaluating athletes on their blocking, serving, attacking, and hitting skills.

As a rule of thumb, choose 3 drills in each volleyball category. Once the drills are selected, make a list of the necessary equipment needed to run the drills (i.e., pylons, tape) and the number of evaluators needed at each station.

2. Communicate with evaluators

A simple way to make a volleyball tryout easier before it even starts is to meet with all evaluators in advance. Have discussions about your plan for the day: running through the drills that will be tested and what evaluators should be looking for at each station. For instance, if one drill is shadow wall jumps, communicate with evaluators that they should be looking for athletes to successfully hit the targets on the wall (as if they were blocking a ball) with explosive power and correct form.

3. Double-check drill stations

Here is a short checklist you can cover to make sure volleyball drill stations are ready to go:

Are there clear pathways, allowing for a smooth traffic flow between drills?

• Does each station have the necessary equipment?

• Is each station numbered?

• Is there a sufficient amount of space at each station for athletes to perform each drill?

4. Explain volleyball drills

Although you might be inclined to start running the drills immediately, take 15-20 minutes to demonstrate the drills and answer any questions from your athletes.

Why demonstrate volleyball drills to athletes?

• Each tryout brings athletes with a range of expertise and experience.

• While your seasoned veterans might know each drill, it never hurts to run through them again to ensure they understand the proper technique/form. When it comes to newer athletes, going over the drills maximizes their learning experience.

Take 1-2 minutes for each drill and highlight these 3 areas:

• Movement patterns- demonstrate the movement and highlight key points of motion. I.e., Show what an effective serve looks like (the movement) and mention the importance of following through (key point of motion).

• Starting positioning- explain the correct body alignment, hand & foot positioning for starting each drill.

• Common mistakes- show what to avoid. I.e., Bad posture, overreaching, or dropping the glove.

5. Score volleyball players

Each station will typically have a time limit to ensure volleyball tryouts run smoothly. And evaluators have the task of scoring players in a timely manner to keep up with this time crunch. This is where volleyball evaluation software comes in.

Say goodbye to printing out evaluation forms and handing them out to every evaluator at tryouts. With SkillShark's easy-to-use mobile app, evaluators will simply use the slider button to score each player. All data entered by an evaluator is automatically saved on the platform’s back end, giving coaches instant access to results in a report-ready format. No lost paperwork or Excel data entry is required!

6. Make timely drafting decisions

Players want to hear back within a reasonable time frame regarding the team selection process. As a general rule of thumb, post results within 48-72 hours after tryouts.

However, in order to ensure you have made well-informed decisions, here are a couple of questions to ask:

• Have you analyzed players' scores across each core category (i.e., hitting, fielding, pitching, base running, character)?

• Have you run comparison reports to analyze player performance on a more granular level?

• Have you taken at least 24-48 hours to review all evaluation data to avoid making impulsive decisions?

7. Provide athlete feedback

Now that teams are chosen and scores have been posted, there is one final step in the volleyball tryout process: providing athlete feedback.

With every team placement decision comes an influx of questions from athletes and their parents:

• “Why didn’t I make the team?”

• “What skills did I lack?”

• "How can I better improve X skills?”

How Does SkillShark Improve Athlete Feedback?

With SkillShark, coaches don't need to spend any extra time configuring report cards after tryouts. All coaches have to do is navigate to the ‘Individual Reports’ tab in the SkillShark app, select a player (or players), and hit the send button. From there, a report is sent directly to the inbox of that athlete.

Volleyball report card in SkillShark

Wrapping Up

These tips for volleyball tryouts will make your day run as smoothly as possible. By educating evaluators on what to look for, having a contingency plan for any roadblocks, and planning drills ahead of time, a successful tryout is guaranteed.