Coaching Volleyball Magazine October / November 2015 - Page 24

CLUB CORNER

The Cure for PTSD
(Play Time Stress Disorder)
Leon Blazer, Club Co-Director, Upward Stars Houston - West
Owner, Blazer Media Recruiting Videos

I

suggestions, I in no way am taking anyone’s
situation lightly. But year after year I find
that I have relatively few problems with the
playing time issues. It can be done.
Here are some key points to developing a
strategy to avoid PTSD.

to win a match, then they can alter
the PT a bit. But if a player does
not play in an entire match, they
have to be in the game for the next
match. Parents are told to define
success in the individual growth vs.
the W-L column.
c. Completely Equal Play Time – This
model is mostly for strictly developmental teams that operate outside
the normal club structure. Teams
rotate as they normally would in a
game, but the player from LB rotates to the back of the bench, and
the person in front of the bench
rotates to LF. Or they can rotate out
after being a server, or however you
define it. It doesn’t follow normal
subbing rules, so it is strictly for
those teams and the tournaments
that allow those rules for that level.

1. You have to have a clearly defined
playing time philosophy. You cannot
tell a kid and her parents that she isn’t
going to play all weekend if you haven’t
established your team as a “Non-equal
Playing Time Team.” Here is how I define each type.
a. Non-equal PT Team/Competitive
– I reserve this for my non-developmental teams. Most of the teams in
my club fall under this heading. I
tell the parents that it is an “Equal
Practice” and “Equal Opportunity”
team, but not equal game time. The
goal of the team is to win every game
that it has the chance to win.
b. Somewhat Equal Play Time – I lean
more toward this model with my
local/developmental teams. I tell the
coaches that if they have a chance

CHRIS FAHEY, TPTK MEDIA

hear it often amongst my coaching colleagues. The constant battle coaches
have with players, parents and administrators over how to deal with playing
time. Most parents claim to have an unbiased opinion but we all know the truth behind their motives when they call for that
dreaded parent-coach meeting.
They see all the faults in the other kids
and only the good plays of their own
daughter. When you bring up the missed
serve on game point, the response is “Well,
she made the rest of her serves” or “She
was looking to you for direction and you
weren’t paying attention.”
I’d like to think if the roles were reversed, I would be the model parent …
right? My daughter is 16 months old and I
can only hope that she takes up this great
sport. I’d like to think that I could be the
perfect team parent and not offer up unsolicited advice from my “expert” perspective. I’ll have a follow-up to this in January
2031 issue.
The challenge to create a positive playing
time culture is no easy task. And no situation is the same, so in offering up these

22 | October/November 2015 | COACHING VOLLEYBALL

2. Give the kids defined roles. One thing
I have found that is really discouraging
to a kid is not knowing what the heck
they are supposed to do. They sit there
with no anticipation or excitement for
their chance to use their skills (even
limited ones) to contribute to the team.
I have called kids everything from serving specialist to supreme hustler to great
motivator, to tip coverage master. I used
a rotation and a half to prepare my Tip
Coverage Master to tell her exactly what
to look for (and just stand behind the
block). You will find that a player who
is happy about her role, even if diminished, will show that joy to her parents
and they will be less inclined to bend
your ear over PT.
I had another team that I was helping
out with. They were struggling to pull
ahead against a team they were slightly
better than. The coach was asking me
what to do with a kid who hadn’t been
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