Volleyball Tryouts: The Right Way to Cut Players (Without Destroying Them)

How you handle cuts says as much about your training as it does about her talent. Learn more here, coach → https://coachfreetraining.com===========================📌 Resources & Tools:===========================FREE:🎓 Mental Game Training for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com📬 Join our weekly Varsity Squad newsletter: https://coachhergame.com/yt-varsity-squad🔹 Player Impact Plan Template: https://coachhergame.com/impact🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game PodcastOUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Grab the Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for Teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg🔹 Championship Program Mentorship: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com===========================Connect with us!===========================IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/coachhergameTik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergameYouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!===========================⏰ Key Timestamps:===========================00:00 Introduction00:29 Reduce Anxiety Early03:49 Avoid Surprises05:55 Setting Evaluation Criteria07:32 Evaluating Intangibles10:13 Communicating Teams and Cuts13:53 Final Thoughts👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.In this video, I break down how I make tryout cuts after 14 years of coaching and four state championships, including decisions I still think about years later.This episode covers the evaluation system I built so those decisions come from data and clarity, not just a gut call under pressure.What You'll Learn:✅ Why real evaluation starts in the summer, not on day one of tryouts✅ The FAQ document that gets every athlete and parent on the same page about how cuts work before tryouts begin✅ How a two-day structure gives you the data to back up a hard decision✅  Why I stopped fitness testing and what I watch instead to decide who makes the team✅ How to evaluate leadership and mental toughness without cutting a player for a skill you're going to teach her anyway💬 Coaches — comment below: what's the hardest cut you've ever had to make, and how did you handle telling her?P.S. A few stats worth knowing:⚡️Larger high schools tend to cut more athletes than smaller ones, which is linked to earlier single-sport specialization in female high school volleyball players. (UW-Madison School of Education, 2026)⚡️A study of 22 head coaches found deselection happens in four distinct phases, and coaches often lean on intuition when evaluation criteria run into uncertainty. (Dunn, McHugh & Holt, The Sport Psychologist, 2016)⚡️A growing body of research now supports mental toughness as a trainable skill, not a fixed trait athletes are simply born with. (American College of Sports Medicine, 2025)The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #youthathletics #tryoutcuts #volleyballcoachHead to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!