Volleyball tryouts are easier to run when you have a plan before players walk into the gym. The more clearly you know what you need to see, how you will organize the session, and how you will make decisions, the less likely you are to get pulled into rushed judgments at the end.
The free Volleyball Tryout Planning Guide is a practical coach-to-coach resource for organizing your tryouts, thinking through player evaluation, and avoiding last-minute decision-making. Use it before tryouts begin so your activities, notes, and communication all support the decisions you actually need to make.
What the guide helps you plan
The guide is meant to help you make the main tryout decisions before the gym gets busy. It gives you a simple way to think about your tryout structure, your evaluation priorities, and the practical details that make the session run smoothly.
- What you are actually selecting for: current performance, development potential, positional needs, or some mix of those priorities.
- How to organize tryout time so players are active and you get enough useful information.
- What to evaluate beyond isolated skills, including game understanding, competitiveness, communication, and coachability.
- How to reduce rushed decisions by planning your notes, groups, and end-of-tryout process ahead of time.
Who this is for
This guide is mainly for school and club coaches who need to run volleyball tryouts and make roster decisions with limited time. It is especially useful if you have a large group, only one or two courts, several players close together in ability, or pressure to make cuts quickly.
It is not meant to make tryout decisions automatic. A guide cannot remove all judgment from team selection. It can, however, help you be more organized, more consistent, and clearer about what you are trying to learn from each activity.
Start with the full tryouts resource
If you want the broader tryout planning resource, start with Volleyball Tryouts (Start Here). It connects the main tryout topics, including planning, drills, player assessment, and communicating results.
For a more detailed tryout schedule, see the Volleyball Tryout Plan Template. For activity ideas, see Volleyball Tryout Drill Ideas. For evaluation priorities, see Volleyball Try-out Player Assessment. If you are specifically preparing for a school team selection process, see these additional notes on high school volleyball tryouts.
Volleyball tryout planning FAQs
What should I plan before volleyball tryouts?
Start by deciding what you need the tryout to reveal. That usually includes current playing ability, positional needs, competitiveness, communication, coachability, and development potential. Then choose activities that let you observe those things in realistic volleyball situations.
Should volleyball tryouts be mostly drills or games?
Most tryouts need a mix, but game-like activities should carry a lot of weight. Controlled drills can help you see basic skill execution and manage large numbers. Small-sided games and 6v6 play usually tell you more about decision-making, communication, and how players respond when the play is messy.
How do I make tryout evaluations more consistent?
Keep the rating system simple and tied to observable behaviors. Decide your top evaluation categories ahead of time, number players clearly, and take short notes that you can review after the session. The goal is not perfect objectivity. The goal is a process you can explain and apply consistently.
When should I download the guide?
Download it before you finalize your tryout format. It is most useful when you still have time to decide what you want to evaluate, how to group players, what activities to run, and how you will handle final decisions and communication.
