Sharing volleyball coaching insights and ideas
I wanted to throw the following question out to the readership:
How do you deal with player tardiness?
There seem to be three main schools of thought:
Which way do you tend to go with your team(s) and why?
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John is currently the Strategic Manager for Talent (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England. His 20+ years of volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries.
4 Responses
I coach high school and middle school and I’m a 3—I work around it.
First, sometimes the kids have no control over their parents and/or carpool situation. I couldn’t possibly punish the kid.
I also start every practice with something they love to do. Once the nets are up, they immediately start playing 2v2. They love it. It’s competitive. They get to catch up with each other when they are waiting in line. They can switch to other courts/teammates. And they don’t even realize they are warming up and getting a lot of reps.
If tardiness became a habit, I might need to intervene. But that hasn’t happened to me, yet.
I, too, tend to work around it. However, if I deem the lateness as a way to cop an attitude from any players, I do have a “late routine”.
We all experience oops moments of being late, but to not teach my players to strive to be punctual and communicate with their parents/rides, I feel, is doing them a disservice towards their growth.
Coach H
I’d say I’m more concerned about accountability. First and foremost communication is most important. Is it in their control or out of their control. Younger ages are more dependent on parents and so it’s frequently out of there control.
Next, is it chronic or intermittent. If it’s a regular problem that’s in their control then we have a conversation around accountability to themselves, the team, and they’re coaches.
Consequences follow based on repeated lack of accountability and are player specific.
Generally, I do 3… Work around it.
Completely agree with BEN.