In collegiate sports, there is a constantly rotating roster of players. Every year, new first-years join the team and experienced seniors leave.
College athletes who experience this rotation said that although there is pressure to improve their athletic ability and fill the shoes of those who preceded them, having a positive outlook is ultimately what makes the change possible.
“It’s not about replacing someone. It’s about growing into a leader yourself,” said Andersen Fuller, Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball senior middle blocker. “We talk a lot about trying to be comfortable when uncomfortable.”
Pepperdine athletes said building a new team each year can be anxiety-inducing, but adaptability is necessary to the team’s growth.
Adjusting to new players
Student athletes find themselves constantly playing in new environments alongside different players. The number of students leaving per year can differ drastically.
Last year, the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball team graduated two seniors and gained seven new players. This year, the team is preparing to lose five seniors.
While professional teams do not experience the same rotation as college teams, they still have to adjust to new players. The Los Angeles Lakers had eight of their players either traded to another team or signed with teams offering higher salaries through free agency in 2023, according to CBS Sports. Only four new recruits joined to make up for these losses.
“Sometimes it takes coaches years to convince players that a rotation should be changed, and sometimes, it even takes a new coach to implement that change,” sports writer, Jared Dubin, wrote in a Feb. 2021 ABC article. “Players are creatures of habit, after all, and that extends to the way they flow in and out of the game.”
Pepperdine athletes said having team spirit helps them learn how to best navigate these changing conditions.
“There is no semblance of class ranking or trying to be superior to each other,” said Ethan Watson, Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball redshirt freshman and middle blocker. “Even though you’re competing with each other for spots, it never feels that way. It just feels like you are all trying to work toward a common goal.”
Student athletes said they bridge the gap between upper and lowerclassmen through team activities and bonding. This summer, the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball Team traveled throughout Europe, which helped new recruits get to know the other players before the start of the school year.
Watson said Bryce Dvorak, former player on the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball team, helped him improve by going over video footage of games and giving him pointers during practice.
“There’s definitely moments where you get a text and he [Dvorak] will say, ‘Hey, I’m going to come in at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow; we’re gonna get some reps,’ and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, I would really love to sleep in,’” said Watson. “But, at the same time, if he’s doing it, why can’t I?”
Taylor Rath, Pepperdine Women’s Soccer Team redshirt sophomore goalkeeper, said she wanted to earn the respect of the older players when she first joined the team.
“I wanted to take this team to a place they hadn’t been yet,” Rath said. “I wanted to be the difference. Staying consistent is key for me.”
Coaches and athletes said recruiting first-year and transfer athletes with similar values and a desire to uphold Pepperdine University’s mission of strengthening lives for purpose, service and leadership is crucial to creating this team consistency.
“There is a foundation that never changes. The thing we value most is developing Waves of character,” said Max Rooke, associate coach of the Pepperdine Women’s Soccer Team. “You treat people differently. You make decisions differently. You take winning and losing differently.”
How coaches handle team changes
Coaches said they feel anxiety when older, more experienced players leave, but ultimately know they can maintain their team’s high national ranking by instilling determination and strength in new players.
“Every year, you are going to graduate some amount of players,” said Jonathan Winder, head coach of the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball Team. “We are always trying to balance it but work hard to make sure that we are putting ourselves in a good position to get the players that we need to be successful.”
Winder was a former player on the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball Team. He said he is motivated to ensure the current Pepperdine team continues to better itself, in part, because he helped the Pepperdine team win the national championship in 2005 and was the 2007 American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“Coming back and trying to move our program back to the level it was at when I was here is really important for me, ” Winder said. “I got to play here when we won the national championship and had lots of success, and so I’m now trying to figure out how to do that as a coach.”
Rooke played two world championships for the Great Britain National Soccer Team and won the United Soccer Coaches West Region Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2016 and 2017 before coaching at Pepperdine, according to Pepperdine Athletics. He said these experiences have allowed him to understand how to better coach his team.
“Some of the best players don’t know how they’re doing it. They just naturally have this gift — this talent,” Rooke said. “They can’t tell you exactly how they did it, but as a coach, you have to be able to verbally communicate and share your vision to other people, and that’s a different skill.”
Rooke also said that one of the most important parts of adapting to changing rosters is accepting that each team is going to be different. Because of this, he renames the team each season so players feel like they are on a new team altogether instead of missing old teammates. This year, the Pepperdine Women’s Soccer is in its 31st season.
“Each year, each team, for that amount of time, is trying to create a magnificent story,” Rooke said. “An extraordinary story for our program, for themselves and for what we’re trying to do.”
Why humans’ ability to adapt is important
Both athletes and coaches said that openness to change is one of the most important ways for a team to be successful.
Pepperdine Athletics Counselor Jhanelle Peters said the key to being able to adapt to new environments is understanding that one has something valuable to contribute.
“You need to remind yourself that the environment is new — your skill is not,” Peters said.
Being a professional athlete requires “coping skills,” or strategies that one can implement to manage negative emotions, no matter the circumstances, Adam Formal, a clinical and licensed psychologist who specializes in athletes, wrote in an Oct. 2021 article for Joola.
“Adapting both within a game and between games can often determine who wins and who loses a match,” Formal wrote. “With the recognition of this tension between consistency and adaptation, a player can gain insight into what drives improvement over time.”
In every group, there is a constant rotation happening. Cooperation and willingness to take on new challenges is ultimately what makes someone successful in any field, Bob Helbig, media partnerships director at Energage, wrote in an Oct. 2022 Washington Post Article.
“When done right, flexibility and adaptability in the workplace produce positive outcomes for the employees and employer,” Helbig wrote.
Psychological experts, coaches and players at Pepperdine said learning how to adapt, although possibly anxiety-inducing, is a skill that is necessary to the growth of any person or team.
“They prove to each other that they are willing to work hard enough and are disciplined enough,” Winder said. “That’s what really builds the trust with the players. It’s always about developing a good process.”
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Email Kaiya Treash: kaiya.treash@pepperdine.edu
