By Ryan Maloney, assistant women's volleyball coach
On Thursday we had our last team training session in the weight room: We talked about one question at the end:
On Thursday we had our last team training session in the weight room: We talked about one question at the end:
What will you do to make yourself irreplaceable?
Every volleyball player is replaceable from a statistical
standpoint:
If we have a hitter who has a .250 hitting percentage, we
need to recruit a hitter who can do that when she graduates.
If our libero passes a 2.4 (on a 3.0 scale) we need to
recruit someone who can pass that well when she graduates.
If our setter goes over the 1,000-assist mark, we need a
setter that good when she graduates.
But every so often a player comes along who can’t be
replaced (these players are rare). Maybe she has an incredible ability to lead,
or to create community. Maybe she instinctively holds her teammates to the
highest possible standard, or maybe she has an idea that changes the way we do
things.
Statistics can be replaced, intangibles cannot.
Note that this upends the idea of winning as the ultimate
purpose