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Getting Cut from a Kid's view...
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 wvb |
Getting Cut from a Kid's view... |
Lead | |
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Registered Member
Posts: 348 (04/09/08 6:27 AM) |
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ouidigit |
So sad! | ||
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Registered Member
Posts: 40 (04/09/08 9:11 AM) |
 Very touching article!
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spikeattack |
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Registered Member
Posts: 15 (04/09/08 9:48 AM) |
That hurts!
From personal experience, sometimes I wonder if I had been better off being cut rather than sitting on the bench never playing, but yet having to listen to a lot of verbal abuse from the coach. I wish now I could have left the team and play for a YMCA or some kind of rec league, but none were available at that time. I remember writing a poem when I was about 15 or 16 years old about the subject of bench warming and it got selected to be in some kind of literary book that the high school put out. I wish her the best of luck and hopefully she will find a club that will accept her and allow her to continue playing volleyball without the fear of being cut. Thankfully there is a club just like that in the Raleigh Durham area and the name of it is CCVC. |
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Hopeful Parent |
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Registered Member
Posts: 92 (04/09/08 11:25 AM) |
My oldest daughter went through getting cut from the middle school VB team. Turns out she was a pretty soccer golie........life lesson.
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WIVBCRAZY |
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Registered Member
Posts: 759 (04/09/08 11:31 AM) |
I know of a girl that had her heart set on volleyball as a freshman. Pretty good bb player and thought she would just roll into the other sport. She cried for
24 hours according to her mother, then went out for cross country and was one of the best runners ever for her school, continuing on to run in college....you
need to find your calling and not give up just because someone said you can't.
I do feel there are better ways to post the roster. At least do it in the gym at the end of the practice and not in a public forum outside the office with the rest of the student body around. Post it, have the girls read it, then take it down. Or hand out envelopes with their fate in their hands and have them take it outside to read in private if they want. |
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vb15fan |
personal touch | ||
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Registered Member
Posts: 65 (04/09/08 3:13 PM) |
Cutting a kid is never easy. I think that is why some coaches prefer the roster on the wall technique. My daughter's high school coach does it the hard
way. The coach will individually and quietly talk to the player being cut during the course of the workout. Much as other players are talked to about
technique or other issues. I'm sure the girls know that sometimes the topic of conversation is, in fact, a girl being cut, but at least the girl can
quietly leave the workout or finish and go home without any attention being called to her. The choice is hers.
I'm sure this is much harder on the coach but much more personal to the player. The players never like being cut, but at least it is a less public. |
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Woody |
Another approach... | ||
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Registered Member
Posts: 958 (04/09/08 8:12 PM) |
In our local middle school (Texas), the coach uses a very novel approach:
Multi-day tryouts end well after the school day, say 5:30 or so. Everyone huddles in the locker room for 20 minutes, while the coach posts the roster on the office window. Coach goes in the locker room, and tells the kids "it is up". Kids go, read, and many are cut (when my oldest went through this, there were ~120 kids trying out for ~30 spots on an A and B team). Here is the novel part. Our middle school has an outdoor pool, and tryouts are in August. The coach hosts a pool party for ALL the kids who tried out... "stay as long or as short as you want". All are encouraged to stay for some period of time (condolences, congratulations, all flow here). The pool has a nice way of hiding the tears, and giving excuses for red eyes, while the healing process with all their friends begins. Meanwhile, the list is removed from the glass. Unconventional, but it seems to work. |
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Lost Arra |
no lists | ||
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Registered Member
Posts: 28 (04/10/08 8:18 AM) |
14 years of coaching. I used a "list" the first year because I was spineless.
Every year afterwards I spoke individually to every player, those that made it and those that didn't. I dreaded that day but it's the right thing to do. Pool party sounds like a good idea. Wish we had a pool. |
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dewnorth |
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Registered Member
Posts: 44 (04/10/08 9:35 AM) |
Woody and Lost - Great posts. Pool party - or any kind of get-together, is an AWESOME idea. The kids should know that there is no shame in getting cut, perhaps
only in not trying out. And by inviting everyone, it seems that message is sent. Kudos to your coach. As for telling the kids face to face, I think it's
the least you can do. Like ripping off a band-aid, it might sting a little more for both coach and player at the beginning, but hurts less in the end.
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willbdunn |
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Registered Member
Posts: 92 (04/11/08 6:15 PM) |
Learning to deal with adversity is a big part of growing up ... one that more and more is being denied to kids today by well meaning adults. Its why you now
get high school seniors begging parents and conselors to call schools that denied them admission and have the schools reconsider. Its why college professors
get phone calls from parents of college students about test scores.
As hard as it is, these lessons are better experienced and learned early in life. Because so much of sports teaches lessons about life. Afterall the perfection of redirecting the motion of a ball with your arms is not a useful skill, but I think we all agree playing sports has so many benefits. Not making the cut is yet another example. |
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