HIGH PERFORMANCE
USA Volleyball High Performance: A fun challenge
See High Performance
tryout schedule and rosters on Pages 16-17
s you can see from the long list of High Performance indoor tryout dates on Page 16-17, there are plenty of opportunities for players across the coun- try to get into the USA Volleyball pipeline and better their game. To be specifi c, there will be 33 HP tryouts for girls and 17 for boys in 2014.
A
The question you may be asking is whether you’re good enough for USA Vol- leyball High Performance.
There are a couple of answers to that, and one of them is summed up nicely by Collin Powers, director of USA Volleyball High Performance Indoor National Programs. “Until you put yourself up against some-
body, you don’t know,” he says. “Players tell us quite often, ‘I want to spend three hours playing with and against the best players in the region,’ so a lot of them come to the tryouts for that experience.”
But really, am I good enough?
This leads to answer No. 2. There are many levels within the USAV High Perfor- mance program. It’s not just for players who will someday be wearing a USA national team uniform. Powers estimates that about 50 percent of the young athletes who try out for HP get slotted into some tier of the program. There are fi ve different age categories in each gender (the youngest group being for those born in 2002, 2003 or younger for girls, 2001, 2002 or younger for boys). The national teams (usually with 12 members) are at the
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top of the pyramid, but there are many other levels geared toward bringing out a young player’s best game. Check
USAVolleyball.org for details.
If you are selected to the HP pipeline, you’ll have the opportunity to get high-level coaching at invitation-only programs that follow a USA training systen designed by the senior national team coaches. In these programs, you will receive quality practice time and good competition. You will also be
provided with a detailed evaluation of what you need to improve on to continue progress- ing.
“Evaluations are a big part of our camps,” Powers says. “They give players constructive criticism: Your weaknesses, your strengths, what the coaches believe will take you to the next level.”
What catches the eye of an HP coach?
If you guessed ball control, that’s a great
answer. But as Powers points out, a lot of people think of ball control only in terms of good passing, and there’s more to it. “The USAV High Performance program has a broad defi nition of ball control,” he
says. “A great blocker controls the ball well. A great attacker controls the ball well.” And body control is also part of the equation. “(We look at) a player’s speed, balance and coordi- nation to perform the skills, to get to the ball quickly, to regain balance after a play, to be in control of your body. When coaches (identify a great player), it often boils down to someone who really controls his or her entire body well or knows how to take a pass low or knows what to do when getting off the net and attacking.”
Don’t forget: There’s time to become great
One of the goals set by USA coaches and
staff when designing and shaping the HP program was to keep late bloomers involved in the game. So if you’re not the best player on your team, don’t fret. Keep working at it. Because you may well be the best player in a couple of years. “We see players who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time who, three years later, are college all-Americans,” Powers says. “There are a lot of reasons players may not have reached their potential at an early age. Maybe they haven’t been trained well. Or it may be that some of their athleticism is their ability to learn things quickly.
“The ability to learn and adapt is hard to
measure. It’s a form of potential that a player may not know he or she has. And because players develop at different ages, we believe in having a lot of programs to evaluate them and help them become better.”
PHOTO: USA VOLLEYBAL
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