The first practice sessions should be designed to review individual skills and drills for basic play. These periods actually serve a dual purpose. First, they reacquaint the players with the game and its basic skills. Secondly, these early practice sessions give the coach an idea of the overall skill level and potential ability of the group. These practice sessions should be planned and organized to accommodate large numbers.

Conducting the first practice sessions, often proves to be the most difficult task the coach encounters during the year. It is during these early sessions, that the coach begins to look for those experienced players who are already possess a high level of skill and game ability and for those players whom the coach feels have the greatest skill potential and coach ability. The coach must also realize that no matter how many years of experience he/she has, there will be mistakes in player selection as long as players retain their individuality and coaches their human fallibility. However, a prudent coach will develop a sound method to select his/her players while keeping in mind that no two players develop at the same pace physically, mentally, or emotionally.

The content of these early sessions is largely determined by facilities, number of participants, available time and the coach's plans for participation.

Evaluating Individual Skills

Evaluating the skills of an individual is a difficult task particularly in a team sport where it is initially difficult to determine an individual's effectiveness as part of a team. Certain individual skills, such as the volleyball serve, can be observed apart from team play. But many reaction type skills that are an intricate part of play are observable only in a game situation.

Possibly the best method of evaluating individual skills is a simple estimation of each candidate's skills on a coach-designed check list. The coach identifies the basic skills he/she feels are important. Later, during a scrimmage, these skills may be checked and rechecked as to the athlete's ability to consistently perform correctly the skills. Another series of tests of basic athletic ability could also be given. A jump and reach test and a shuttle run for quickness are examples.

Evaluating an Individual's Game Ability

Once an individual's fundamental skills are evaluated, it becomes the task of the coach to evaluate a player's game ability. What a coach is trying to determine is the athlete's ability to combine his/her skills with the necessary elements of game knowledge, game sense, and competitive drive for effective team effort. As such, the athlete must be viewed in relation to his/her teammates and her teammates evaluated in relation to the individual athlete. Thus, an individual must be seen in many different combinations to determine whether it is her game ability that is being seen or if a particular group of players is responsible for her play.

Evaluating Leadership, Attitude, and Competitive Drive

Over a period of time, a coach can identify certain types of behavior that generally indicate a player's ability as a competitor. These are listed below.

• Ability to function under physical and emotional stress in a competitive situation.
• Ability to play one's own style of game regardless of the tactics of the players of the other team.
• Ability to change tactics based upon the other team's style of play.
• Ability to maintain a high level of skill regardless of the skill and behavior of the opponents.
• Ability to maintain emotional stability while others are losing theirs. Experience is a major factor in developing game stability.

• As a defender, does she refuse to give up, no matter what the score or the number of times the opponent has beaten her?
• After making a mistake, can she be in the next play without dwelling on the mistake?
• Does she approach every game and every situation with a positive attitude toward winning?
• Can she make the most use of her skills, no matter what the conditions of the playing area present or the level of skills presented by the opposition?

• Can a player sense when a standard pattern of play is not working and do the unexpected?
• Can the player specialize at more than one position?
• Is the player coachable?
• Can the player sense her position on the court in relation to her teammates and opponents?
• Can the player change her mind when the situation changes?

Before the final selection of players is made, the coach must decide whether he/she will organize a distinct team or teams, or a single squad. There are advantages and disadvantages for both patterns of selection.

Team Selection-Advantages

1. A unity of feeling and security develops within each team.
2. The players work with the same people immediately and a team unit can be formed quickly.
3. If there is a varsity and junior varsity, separate practice times can be scheduled.
4. Time is not wasted in organizing for drills and scrimmages at practice sessions and line-ups will not vary greatly.
5. If there are two coaches available, the group is naturally divided for coaching purposes and there is carry-over from day to day with the same coaching personnel.

1. With the early selection of players, player evaluation mistakes can be made. Late developing players may be lost to the program.
2. Players may let down since they have made the team for the season.

1. The teams are flexible and deserving players can be moved up or down easily as the season progresses.
2. Players must maintain a high level of skill consistency to maintain their position.
3. The players of lesser ability will try to improve their skills since there is a chance of moving up.
4. There is a squad unity that promotes greater interest and support in both varsity and junior varsity matches rather than the varsity being the only important game.

1. Time may be needed before practice to organize the total squad into groups for drills and scrimmages since there are not any definite units.
2. It may be difficult for two coaches to work with this type of structure.
3. There is constant pressure on the coach and uncertainty among the players, for the coach is always selecting and moving players.

The selection of one or more permanent teams is a difficult chore. The coach and team are committed to the selection for a season. However, organization during the season is comparatively simple. The selection of a squad is easier initially but demands more time and effort on the part of the coach throughout the season. The flexibility offered by the squad arrangement generally produces the best competitive results. Possibly the best arrangement of personnel, is to combine the best elements of team and squad organization and apply those principles to the total volleyball organization. This will depend upon the individual coach's experience and maturity.

Player Combinations

Combining individuals for team play is a very difficult decision for any coach. Finding six players and their substitutes that mesh physically and psychologically is not quickly accomplished. Many teams do not necessarily "come together" until late in the season.

For junior high volleyball teams, all players should receive instruction in all the skills. Later, as the coach and players become more familiar with each other, certain players will acquire specific duties and player positions.

Since all players have the responsibility of passing, a player should be able to anticipate the ball and position herself to pass the ball to the setter or another teammate depending upon the game situation. Thus key physical characteristics in any player's profile would include speed, quickness, flexibility, and the ability to achieve rapid recovery. Key mental characteristics would include a knowledge of the skills and strategies of the volleyball game and the ability to read the other team's tendencies or intentions.

A setter must possess all the game skills and display intelligence and game sense as well as complete knowledge of what the coach wishes to accomplish. As the designated play maker, the setter must have quick feet and body agility in order to position herself in proper position to receive the pass and then set the ball to a hitter. Body balance and body position related to the hitter are important factors for a proper set to occur. Psychologically, she is the team's spark plug; with calmness and control, she organizes and encourages the other members of the team.

Spikers/blockers are frequently physically tall with a strong jumping ability. Effective spikers must develop the ability of controlled suspension while aggressively spiking or dinking the ball over the net. The success of the spike or dink is dependent upon timing, precision, and direction of the force imparted to the ball. Good blockers must be able to read the setter's set and react. The ability of blockers to shift positions quickly and time their jumps with the opponent's attack is important to any team's overall success. A good blocker is not timid but is aggressive. A blocker takes pride in her ability to stop the other team's attack.

Diggers like the setter must possess all the game skills. Diggers are the last line of defense. Diggers must have a keen sense of the flow of the game in order to react to the opponent's attack. Diggers must have complete body control as they must react to a variety of game situations and pass a volleyball that is hit with a varied amount of force and speed and directed to all parts of the court. Thus a smart mind along with swift feet and quick reflexes are normal characteristics.

There are two different methods to compose a team. The coach has a choice of: (1) choosing team tactics to suit the players, or (2) choosing players to suit the team tactics. In most cases, only the first option is possible since the coach must choose his team from a specific group of players. Suitable tactics must be selected to use the individual abilities of the players for an optimal team system. Gradually a coach may try to develop the players' abilities to use more effective team tactics. This means that a coach must compromise between his ideals as a coach for the capabilities of the players.

To compose a team, a coach ideally needs tall and mobile players. However, on a junior high school team, there are never enough tall and skillful players to pass the ball, to forcefully spike a ball, and to excel in back court play. A coach has to form his/her team out of players with different physical, emotional and social abilities. A coach must take this diverse group of athletes and choose an optimal team system that puts each player in a position to have some form of success. This is a very difficult task because a number of other factors must be taken into consideration. These include experience, mental attitude, team spirit, and desire.

For this reason, it is almost impossible to simply state how a coach should ideally compose a team. However, there are some sound principles for determining a team's composition:

• All the players should be able to play effectively in both the front and back court positions.
• The players should be distributed around the court to achieve a balance in attack and defensive abilities (in pairs or groups, tall and short, setters, diggers, and attackers/blockers.)
• A mixture of temperaments is necessary. A team needs a catalyst as well as neutralizers.
• There should be at least one or two experienced or "cool" players in reserve to be used as substitutes in case of emergency.
• The coach should always be looking for players to keep the team strong and in high spirits.
• Each team member will have a consistent, successful serve.