How you handle cuts says as much about your training as it does about her talent. Learn more here, coach → https://coachfreetraining.com

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📌 Resources & Tools:
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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 Podcast

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:

👉 Grab the Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for Teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🔹 Championship Program Mentorship: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

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Connect with us!
===========================

IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

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⏰ Key Timestamps:
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00:00 Introduction
00:29 Reduce Anxiety Early
03:49 Avoid Surprises
05:55 Setting Evaluation Criteria
07:32 Evaluating Intangibles
10:13 Communicating Teams and Cuts
13:53 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 #volleyballcoach

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Every roster has a cactus kid. Most coaches never get trained for her. Learn more culture tips here, coach → https://champions.elitecompetitor.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 Podcast

OUR 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/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: The Gift of Strong-Willed Kids
01:13 Meet Wendy Snyder & Fresh Start Family
03:05 Traits of Strong-Willed Kids & Future Leaders
06:06 Coaching Cactus Kids: Earning Respect
07:03 Handling Intensity Without Disrespect
09:44 Teaching Peaceful Conflict Resolution & Win-Win
12:54 Detachment & Handling Different Personalities
13:25 Team Conversations & Detachment Skills
16:27 Reframing Complaints as Requests
21:16 Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Wendy

👋🏼 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.

🎙 Joined this episode by Wendy Snyder, positive parenting educator, family life coach, and founder of Fresh Start Family.

Coaches, you already know the player. Intense, competitive, hard to read, and probably one of the best athletes on your roster.

This episode breaks down how to coach that intensity without letting it slide into disrespect, and how to run a team conversation about it without shaming the kid who brought the energy in the first place.

What You'll Learn:
✅ The difference between competitive intensity and actual disrespect, and why coaches confuse the two
✅ A simple script for peaceful conflict resolution you can use with any two players who are clashing
✅ Why "behind every complaint is a request" changes how you respond to a player who's venting
✅ How to hold a team meeting about one player's impact without making her feel like the problem
✅ When to loop a parent in versus letting the athlete handle the conflict herself

💬 Coaches — comment below: What's your go-to move when one intense player is creating friction with the rest of the team?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Conflict communication patterns accounted for 40% of the variance in team cohesion among competitive youth athletes (McLaren & Spink, International Journal of Sport Communication, 2020)
⚡️Managing parents ranked among the top reasons coaches considered leaving the profession, per a national survey of 3,470 coaches (U.S. Center for SafeSport, 2026)
⚡️More than 40% of sports officials surveyed cited unruly parent conduct as the biggest threat to their job satisfaction (National Association of Sports Officials, 2023)

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.

#coachhergame #mentalperformance #coachinggirls #teamculture #youthathletics

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Culture isn't a poster on the wall, it's a system you run every week. Don't miss the July templates and live call on team culture →https://champions.elitecompetitor.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 Podcast

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Check out the free training for coaches → https://coachfreetraining.com
👉 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/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Struggle Together
02:13 Service
03:51 Stories & Vulnerability
05:10 Mental Training Program
07:23 Wrap-Up & Next Steps

👋🏼 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.

Culture doesn't happen by accident, and trust falls won't build it. In this episode, I break down the three things that actually create team culture: struggle, service, and stories.

You'll see the exact low-lift system I run every season, from a six-part challenge series to a weekly circle where players open up.

What You'll Learn:
Why struggle, not fun, is what actually bonds a team
Why it's important build in intentional team challenges at the start of the season
How to turn a simple team meal into a leadership moment
The Open Circle Method for building real vulnerability and trust
Why pairing mental training with team bonding saves practice time

💬 Coaches — comment below: which one does your team need most right now, struggle, service, or stories?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
Team cohesion is linked to lower burnout in female youth athletes (Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2020)
Team cohesion strengthens athletes' ability to handle adversity through social support (Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)
Psychological safety, not talent, is the strongest predictor of team performance (NYT Magazine, 2016)

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 #teamculture #youthathletics #coachhergame

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!