The VPI Does Not Lie: Why Include Behavioral Insights?
The VPI Does Not Lie!
Why Include Behavioral Insights?
Blog for avcaVPI™ Users
One factor that makes the AVCA’s College Prep Combines unique when compared to other recruiting assessments is the recognition that success as a volleyball players goes beyond physical metrics (avcaVPI™) and includes the ability to function in a team setting. Each participant is given a DiSC assessment, a self-administered, on-line questionnaire, and provided with an 8-page Athlete Behavioral Profile (ABP). The College Prep events all include a 45-minute debriefing session, delivered by a certified behavioral analyst, who unpacks for the players and their parents the mysteries behind functional and dysfunctional team play.
The goal is twofold: 1.) to introduce players to the ways their style of interacting is impacting their teammates, and, 2.) to give college recruiters insight into the temperament of the players they are considering adding to their teams. Unlike the VPI score, the ABP is not a competitive measure, but rather an assessment designed to promote self-awareness and more effective group interaction – two critical components of success in volleyball.
The DiSC categories are Driver, Influencer, Steadier, and Complier. All players (and coaches) are a combination of these traits, and most have one or two that are dominant. Teams in which players value different traits for their contributions to the success of the group are generally functional teams, meaning, they play up to their potential; teams in which there is tension between players who are ‘wired’ differently will spend as much time fighting each other as they do their opponents. These are the classic under-achieving teams.
The reason the ABP is now part of all AVCA College Prep programs is because coaches know that internal squabbles can destroy even the most athletically-gifted team, and yet, as evaluators of talent, coaches were not routinely including interpersonal traits in their calculus on prospects.
The DiSC assessment is already utilized by numerous college programs and has proven reliability in the 15 to 18 year-old age group. Adapting this tool for use in AVCA College Prep Programs is helping address the heretofore unknown: What is she like?
Just like the avcaVPI™ is a ‘short hand’ evaluation of volleyball-related athleticism, the ABP is a ‘short hand’ look at a player’s personality and behavioral style on the court. All AVCA members have free access to both the athleticism metrics and the temperament traits of the players who have attended College Prep events.
Simply log in using your AVCA user name and password.
