After your club’s volleyball tryouts, you likely provide players with feedback on their performance, explain why they did or did not make the team, and a list of what they can improve on. Athletes can use this feedback to either work harder for next year’s evaluations or determine what skills to focus on during the club season.
While it’s necessary to evaluate players during tryouts, it’s also essential to provide them with feedback throughout the year. Conducting mid-season evaluations can help pinpoint which skills volleyball players need to work on for the rest of the year, identify what they are doing well, and determine how they are pacing towards their player development plan and long-term goals.
Learn how providing feedback to volleyball players during the club season can help motivate them, enhance their skills development, and speed up their improvement.
Provide Motivation and Encouragement
Evaluating volleyball players throughout the season lets organizations give athletes feedback to motivate them to work harder and improve. Throughout the season, athletes may get lackadaisical with their performances. Conducting a mid-season evaluation can encourage them to make changes and work harder. Evaluations also let coaches encourage players who struggle throughout the first part of the season to help them finish the year strong.
Give Feedback on Skill Development
Mid-season evaluations let clubs provide feedback to players on developing their on-the-court skills, strategic and leadership abilities, and overall health.
- How they perform required skills: Clubs can refer to their player development plans to determine which skills athletes need to enhance at each level. Throughout the season, organizations can evaluate players on how well they perform these skills, including serving accuracy, hitting, setting, and passing. The players’ evaluations on these skills can be compared to their pre-season tryout performances to determine if they are improving. This feedback can benefit players by making them aware of which skills they need to work on before the season ends. These mid-season evaluations can also provide clubs with the opportunity to notify athletes how they are progressing towards their long-term goals.
- How their strategic and leadership abilities are developing: While athletes need to master necessary volleyball skills, it is also crucial for them to develop their strategic thinking and leadership abilities on the court. Learning the rules, identifying opponents’ weaknesses, being able to strategize and execute a game plan, and showing leadership on the court are essential skills for players to possess. These assets might get overlooked as players focus on volleyball skills, so it is crucial for clubs to provide feedback on these, so they do not get forgotten.
- Fitness and nutrition: Players need to be in good physical health to properly – and safely – move around the court. Clubs should refer to their player development plans to determine what fitness goals they set for their volleyball players. Organizations can then assess players’ overall fitness abilities and their stamina on the court. This lets clubs assist players who are struggling with their fitness develop a training and nutrition program to help them improve their overall health. If a player’s fitness is exceeding expectations, it also gives the coaches a chance to compliment him or her and encourage the player to continue to work hard.
Speed up Improvement
In-season evaluations notify athletes how they have performed since tryouts. This will tell them if they are making improvements, and if not, what areas they need to work on to get better. Instead of waiting for next season’s tryouts to hear if they are performing at the appropriate level, volleyball players can start making improvements sooner. This lets the club work with the player to determine what specific areas he or she should focus on, and what he or she can do to make progress. Athletes can then safely and effectively enhance their skills during the year – with the help of coaches and club staff — instead of waiting for the off-season.
Volleyball Clubs that seek greater efficiencies when sharing feedback with players have switched to using a digital player evaluation tool, like TeamGenius, to accomplish this goal. With the ability to share professional, branded reports with a few clicks means that coaches can spend more time focusing on helping players improve based on the data, rather than writing down information on a sheet of paper.
Mid-season player evaluations can be greatly beneficial to your club’s volleyball players. This feedback notifies athletes of what they are doing well and what needs to be improved, giving them the opportunity to make changes during the season and enhance their skills before next season’s tryouts. This helps players achieve their long-term goals and keeps them motivated to work harder during the year.
About TeamGenius
TeamGenius is a club volleyball player evaluation tool built for volleyball directors and coaches. Ditch the paper and spreadsheets to easily capture player evaluations, track, analyze, and share results with players all on one digital platform.
