Coaches Christmas

Coaches Christmas

Success isn’t a once in awhile thing, it is an all the time thing. A person doesn’t just suddenly become successful it is because they have worked hard to reach that point.  Then they must work hard to maintain that level.  Therefore success is a habit.

I try really hard to get away from volleyball for two days.  I found out a couple years ago that even a short amount of time helps with the excitement of second semester.  Coaching in the Canadian University and College is a unique experience coming from high school.  It is quite an adjustment for a coach as it is for a player.  The idea that you can take two weeks off for a break right in the middle of your season is definitely interesting. 

Taking two days off to forget about volleyball is awesome.  I was able to get to Winnipeg and visit with some friends.  Even though the conversation was about volleyball it was more about the state of the game in Canada and how we think we can improve it. 

The next couple of days were dedicated to recruiting.  At this point of the season we have a decent grasp on what we need to do to improve the team. There are some holes that we need to fill, players that are graduating, or areas that we need depth in.  Some recruits we have been talking with for a couple of years hoping to guide them to Brandon.  Others we will begin talking with.  I usually use the week before Christmas to call the Junior college coaches in Alberta and BC to get their opinion on who is playing well in their league.  I find that every coach including myself is a bit biased to their own player.  When I phone another coach to get an opinion on the different players from other teams it tends to balance it out. 

To me the cold call is the hardest, the first contact with a parent and a player.  I will google the athlete and read as many newspaper articles or information about the players as I can before the first call.  If a player is successful at golf in the summer it helps to start a casual conversation.  I don’t want the first call to be to formal, just a checking the interest type of call.  The follow up ones are easier to develop a bit of a rapport. During this time I also like to guage where are top recruits are at.  Some times at this point we need to scramble to fill.  This year we are fairly young in most positions so we are not so desperate to fill, we can take a bit of a risk on some raw athletes, or maybe try to change an athlete from middle to the outside.

After I finish a couple of days of trying to figure out where we stand, I like to go back and watch our matches, well parts of our matches.  I like to watch each set from 18-finish.  To see what we do during the crunch times of the match.  What should be our focus in the new year.  I am really happy with the result so far.  I really feel as if the team is committed to the program and our identity.  I worry about this time of year, just two weeks is a long time off.  We ask the team to continue with a jumping program and weight training.  We have found that this prevents shin splint issues when we return from break.  The body isn’t prepared for the load of the Christmas tournament.

The last thing I like to do is begin to watch our opposition that we play the second semester.  I sound like a broken record  but we have some big matches coming up.  I really believe that we have enough experience and the right make up that we can make a run deep into the playoffs.  I don’t think we should cancel out a chance at the final four or an appearance at Nationals, but we have to get there first.  So getting a big jump on our oppositions tendancies help.  Just so everyone understands, 2 hours of watching UBCO play on Christmas to wrap up their semester of competition.  We play them Jan 13 and 14^th.  They are a much better team than their record shows.  But I feel we match up well.

So for Christmas I asked for some great recruits and some important wins.  Oh and I bought myself some new shirts and ties.... Merry Christmas everyone.

December meetings testing and competing

We are officially on our Christmas Break.  With the strike this was a different December.  Traditionally we would practice till the Desks would go in the gym around Dec 8^thfor final exams.  Then we would focus on weights and some plyometrics.  This year since the strike went 45 days the school has decided to push exams until Jan 23-30^th.  Which gives us a bit more time with the gym, but it is a crazy time for students.

As everyone who remembers university life the end of semester are crazy and busy.  It is a weird time for a coach.  We found that the athletes are so focussed on their school that it is hard to teach new things or to fix some technical flaws.  We decided a few years ago that we can use this time to teach competition. We have since then started to have Queen of the Gym tournaments.  This is a tournament where you play with different people every game. If your team wins then you get positive points.  If you lose then you get negative points.  That way every point is worth two.  Lose 25-23 your down two but your opponent is up 2.  That is a 4 point difference. We hope that teaches our team every point is important.  Even if your down you need to battle till the end.

We had two good tournaments, 3 on 3 full court the first day, which Chloe won.  She is our leftside that was our libero at the start of the year.  She has strong ball control and found ways to win.  We talked in between each match about trying to be more strategic.  They have been playing with and against each other for a semester.  What are their strengths and weakness? How can your group use them to your advantage?   

Second tournament we ran was 4 on 4 tournament.  We had Sara and Becky from our coaching staff put on their gear and competed to give us 4 teams of 4.  It is fun to see them play.  Both Becky and Sara played last year so still are very skilled.  Becky ended up second in the tournament.  Our first year letfside Shanlee won the tournament.  Different than the 3’s tourney, Shanlee really cut down on her unforced errors and scored when she had too. At the start of this tourney we reminded them of what we are trying to do as a group, cut down on the unforced errors especially on the red trouble ball.

In this time we also do individual meetings with the players. We created mid term report card that we work through together.  We get the athletes to grade themselves on everything from individual skills to understanding and executing game plans, understanding their role and the acceptance of it.  We find that most athletes are very self aware.   They have a good understanding of their level of skill and their role on the team.  The team has a great feel about it right now.  Everyone is fitting in a feels like they are a valuable member of the team.  As a coach, my past teams always creep into my mind, I have had some very upset players in these meetings.  Even though I try to touch base with the athletes at least once or twice a month with a casual conversation in the gym, on a bus or in the airport I sometimes get surprised in the meetings. I know we preach that we are this year’s team and the statement is one of our standards.  I still remember the bad experience and try to avoid them.  For this reason I worry about some of the athletes who don’t get a lot of playing time.  I am happy they are all working hard and understand when they get their opportunity to make the best of it.

Lastly we fitness test.  We test three times a year.  We test in September when they arrive, then again in December, and then in May before the go home.  We usually get some big growths from the May to September from our first year players.  Over the Christmas break they still lift and work on a circuit.  We have found that the fitness test helps motivate people during this time.  Usually they see improvement from Sept till now.  Or they realize they need to put more effort into this part of their game. 

We have a tournament at home from Dec 29 to 31. WE have told each of the players what their role is.  We need to get some players quality contacts.  It is a good chance to reinforce our team character and have an opportunity to play some of the younger players in some different situations. This is a fun time for us as we are able to put the younger athletes in different situations without the pressure of league. 

http://www.gobobcats.ca/2011/12/07/conferences-of-canada-challange-set-for-december/  is a link to the tourney.  We are not charging for this tournament hoping to get as many youth teams out as we can.  It is a good chance to see the different styles of teams from the different leagues. 

Video

Here are some of the Video's Matt Packwood our Sports Information Officer put together on our website. gobobcats.ca  He did a great job thought I would show all of you.  The play by play voice is Tyler Crayston from CKLQ sports here in Brandon.

Less is More

This past weekend was a very important one for us.  We needed to get two wins at home, which would place us at 6 wins and 6 losses.  Being .500 would be incredible considering the strike and having to learn on our own.  We had a tough first semester with playing 3 top ten nationally ranked teams.

This weekend was Saskatchewan Huskies, even though they were winless heading into the weekend, we have learned that there are no easy matches in Canada West.  The Huskies had taken sets off some pretty impressive teams.  Leading up to this weekend was also my first time being able to be back in the gym for a full week of practice.  This made for an interesting dynamic.

We decided to take Monday off as we have been going for 6 straight weekends and felt that the extra day rest would be more beneficial than the practice.  Sometimes less is more.  Tuesday we went for 1.5 hours and had a practice with a lot of reps and movement.  We are able to put up two courts at every practice so it gives us a chance to rep a lot of different things.  It was a fun practice as we were hitting different tempo’s of sets.  Some of the outsides had the opportunity to hit some of the middle set selections and the mids had the opportunity to hit higher sets. It was a good way to introduce myself back to the team.

Weds though we got down to business, we watch video in practice and discussed what we would dot different defensively.  We would show it on a white board, then go on court and practice it.  I had used the same type of drill for this part of practice.  In retrospect it was too long of one drill for the time of night 8:30-9:30pm and the fatigue level of the athletes.  Earlier that day the athletes had a good weight session with Sean our weight coach, which help contribute to the fatigue level.  Thursday was more games specific and what we would try to implement offensively.

I also was a little grumpy this week.  I have a big fear of playing teams we should beat.  Maybe it stems from myself as an athlete and I would get complacent in training leading up to those games.  I really try to push the athletes so they are prepared to be in an extremely close match.  A few years ago a friend of mine, Frank Enns,  talked to me about different mind sets that athletes tend to have.  Athletes most often have an idea of the how we should do against a team before we play them.  We should beat this team easy, I would be surprised they get over 20.  Or this team is really good every game will be within one or two, or worse thinking we will be lucky to get to 20 on this team. 

Against Sask. I was worried of “they would be lucky to get to 20 on us mind set”  We used a video from Versus to help set the tone before the match.  Becky has been using videos before the matches and believes it is why we are on a run.  So we are not superstitious but why risk it.

 As it turned out We played really well Friday and had strong attention to detail winning 3-0 and they never got to 20.  Kellie set the ball very well, Chloe had 8 kills and jaryn had 9 kills with a hitting efficiency of .412.  As a team we were able to control the ball well and attacked over .300 which is incredibly high.

Saturday though was a different story.  We fell into our own mind trap.  Since the match the day before went so easy we were not as focussed in the process as the night before. Terry Orlick, a reknown sport psychologist wrote a paper “Winning after Winning” it can be found online at http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/free/winning.html   It basically says that it is difficult to win back to back  and have success because things have changed.  For us we found our selves focussing on offense only. We had scored so well the night before, that when Sask made adjustments we struggled.  They changed their defense and we had to find different ways to score.  For this reason our total focus went to offense and we let slip our overall game.  We had 16 serving errors in the 4 sets.  We lost the third set and at one point in the third set it was 6 out 7 servers missed.  Sask serves incredibly tough and with our focus on offense we seemed to be suprized with the pace.  WE had more 0 and 1 passes than ever before.  The night before we were just focussing on the present.  It is a big lesson for us to learn and hopefully we don’t have to relearn it again this year.

We won the match in four, so we achieved our goal of 500.  In our after match debrief we discussed the level of focus and where it was at.  Then I was able to address the team and thank them for their commitment this first semester.  We have an impressive group of girls here.  Each one of them has contributed to our success and found ways to make us better as a whole.  Different people have all led in different ways.  Claire Willerton has been a tremendous leader.  She is a fifth year player, who we are converting to the outside. Claire has been asked to come off the bench and help us when we are in trouble.  She has done this without one complaint.  She is still practicing incredibly hard and showing what team first really means.  We know that Claire will be ready for the challenges that we face second semester.  It would be easy for Claire to be upset, but she has chosen the high road and is an impressive example.  Claire makes us better everyday. 

WE have a week off to recover from the season, then we will begin again on Dec 13^th as classes now go until the 20^th.  It is a chance to rep some things out.  I myself love to be in the gym with this group, but in talking with Bobbie our Strength Guru, this is important for the group.  Need to stick to schedule. Less is more.

Learning and Relief

Learning and relief.

This was a big weekend for us as we played Regina Cougars.  They were tied with us at 2 wins.  This has playoff implications for both teams.  Traditionally 8 wins would get a team into 7^th spot. With the addition of UBCO from Kelowna to the league it could mean a team would need more.  So with this weekend marking halfway point of the season we needed both wins.

We continually preach team first and doing what you can do help the team become better.  This is easily portrayed with the main players.  As they have a chance to show it on the floor. It becomes tougher when you are a reserve.  How can they contribute to the team concept? WE keep telling them that they make us better in practice and that they have an opportunity to learn the game in a practice situation.  At some point they will be needed to come on the floor and perform.  This is tough because every player at this level has been the starter and go to player on their highschool teams.  Many see other players on oppositions getting opportunities to play and are having success and they know that they are as good as them.  But in our situation we need them to help keep getting us better and their time will come.

In the first match against Regina this happened.  We lost the first set again Jumping out to a decent lead to watch is dwindle away losing the set by two.  This was tough on our team emotionally, they did their best not to show it.  Held their heads high on the side switch and ran into the team huddle, but what went wrong continued to haunt us.  Our passing went out the window.  Late in that set Becky and Sara made a lot of subs and gave the starting group a chance to rest.  Our reserves lit it up.  They played with tremendous energy and put pressure on Regina.  Shanlee in particular was a force passing and scoring. We lost the set but earned some respect.

Becky and Sara went back to the first group but left Shanlee on the floor.  It was a great adjustment.  Regina was well prepped for our team so having a new player on the floor seemed to change their focus. Shanlee was their passing target and she was able to hold her own allowing our middle and rightside to get going.  WE came together and won the match in 5.  That was a huge relief for us. It was a total team effort.  To be able to put that in our mental back pack and know we can pull through.  To also see that our young team members are still improving a lot adds to our confidence.

Tori was in the same situation as Shanlee last year, she played spot duty and usually in situations where we needed an emotional lift.  When you are practicing a player doesn’t realize how much they are improving.  For Tori it was the New Years tourney at Laval.  We had the opportunity to play against FX Garneau a CCAA team that won the silver medal at Nationals.  Tori played in all those matches as did our young players.  WE were able to sweep them both times we played them.  She was then able to understand the level of volleyball she was playing at everyday.  It changed her focus.  Tori  also committed to doing her physical training this summer and has improved drastically. Now in her second year she is a valuable member of the team and rarely will be off the floor.

After the match we found out the strike was over!!!!  I was able to get back with the team officially after midnight.  I was so excited, the reaction of the team surprised me.  Of course the first thing they thought of was the unknown.  What is going to happen with classes, I have missed 7 exams are we going to have to write them all in one week? How many assignments are due?  This was going to be a big distraction for tomorrow.

We went into practice and had a good conversation about dealing with what we can control, and that was our team prep for todays match.  We also talked about what would be the best thing for the team, Should I take over immediately as head coach.  After talking as a coaching group and with some of the players we decided that Becky would head coach the team one last match.  I would assist her.  I haven’t been at practice in 7 weeks.  I am not in the best situation to make decisions based on athletes ability in certain situation.  Plus it is a great opportunity to show team first. To practice what we are preaching all the time.  I wanted to be back coaching so bad, but it was better to assist.

We really emphasized defense and being able to release to off speed shots or balls of the block. Forty minutes of our hour was dedicated to that type of drills.  We also took some time to make adjustment to block their rightside player.  We moved inside and defended one and relied on the player in 5 to dig the line shot.

Last week we talked a lot about communicating and then making adjustments as a group.  Well Saturday it all fell together.  We played great the team was able to make the adjustments.  Early in the first set Jaryn was able to chase down a ball that went sideways off a block and we were able to win the long rally. Kellie was so loud on defense that it became contagious and everyone was talking. It was fun to watch the team play.  We decided to start Chloe again.  WE had a good discussion about her focussing on passing a defending.  Her attacking would take care of itself.  The better she passed the more opportunities we would have to run middle and rightside.   The more seams she would have in the blocks.  Chloe knows she is a strong ball control player so this wouldn’t be hard for her.  We also know that Shanlee is breathing down her neck...Competing together makes us better.  Having fun with the competition makes us better.

We won 3-0 which leaves us at 4 wins and matches this weekend which we can reach .500 ^ wins going into Christmas break gives us a chance.

Close but no Cigar

We just returned home from another road trip, this time it was to Calgary to play the Dino’s.  The Dino team is an older team in the league and fairly deep in talent so we knew it was going to be a tough weekend.

The union has allowed the head coaches to travel so we can monitor the athletes, help drive them to and from the gym.  Not an ideal situation but better than nothing for now.  We have gone 41 days now without being able to be fully engaged with our teams.

We had a tremendous recruiting class last year and are very excited about our young players.  The weird part of this year is that I really feel disconnected from our first year players.  If we were teaching classes and in a normal routine the athletes traditionally stop by the office and we have a chance to discuss their development athletically, mentally and socially.  But being away from them for this length has hindered this.

This weekend for us will go down as lost opportunities.  We played fairly decent volleyball for most of the weekend.  But unlike last weekend against Trinity this weekend we had trouble closing.  Two sets we had 24-22 leads but were unable to win that last point.  This really wears on a team.  We also would go on big runs, just to watch the Dino’s edge their way back.

Being in the crowd was a tough time for me to sit and watch us lose confidence in our team concept and ourselves.  Winning in those situations is about playing for the people around you.  The power of helping a teammate will stand out in any situation.  Since I couldn’t be in the gym during our serve and pass practice in the morning, I went for coffee with Rod Durrant the Dinos men coach.  He said something that really sticks with me.  An athlete has to give back to their team in some way.  It is your responsibility to make sure the group is functioning smoothly.  It can be as small as telling the setter the last couple balls were tight, or a large as helping a teammate through a tough family situation. 

Communication is a life skill, there is no way a person would survive in the workforce without being able to communicate.  In the sporting situation it transfers directly.  When the team is in trouble or a teammates confidence is down it is the entire teams responsibility to help that teammate out.  As a coach we spend a lot of our time evaluating the athletes and we talk in such a way.  That was a really tough time for that error or that error is unacceptable.  As a player we can’t judge our teammates actions.  Too often in post game talks we hear judgment statements about our teammates. We should just accept it as an error and then do everything in our power to make the next ball better.  Helping the error become just a blip on the day. Losers assign fault, winners accept blame.

We talk with our team about the few times we have to give a free ball that we run to the net and are in a strong position.  We want to commit to our team that we will get the ball back.  Instead of going to the net tentatively and be back on our heels expecting the other team to score. 

Body language is such an important part of being part of a team.  From the crowd I could see the teams shoulders sag, head drop to the floor, and our walk slow down.  We were up 20-15 in a set when Becky called a timeout because of a 3 point run the dino’s went on.  We walked to the time out like we were already defeated. I don’t think I could notice that if I was on the bench being part of the competition.  Head up walk into that timeout with a sense of purpose.  Create the difference. 

I understand that this is hard to do when you’re struggling personally, but Fake it till you make it.  People who look confident and talk confident will often be confident. Run on the court with  sense of purpose.  Run off to the timeouts with pride. Give energy back to your teammates.

We played well enough to win for most of the weekend.  This is encouraging, we just need to play 2% better for this upcoming weekend.  No drastic changes, just have a purpose and trust our teammates. 

This is the fun time to be a competitive athlete.  We still have a chance to be 6 and 6 at the xmas break.  8 -9 wins traditionally get a team in the playoffs because there are so many split weekends in Canada west.  So opportunity is still there.

Highlights.

Meaghan had 19 kills on Sat out of the Middle

Chloe maintained her 11 kills

Lexi came in and had 3 stuff blocks

Shanlee came in and had 4 kills on 7 swings.

Lindsay is starting to look comfortable in the Libero spot and made some huge digs for us.

Trinity Day 2 Grinding

After our successful Friday we knew that Trinity will come out with some adaptations.  This match would become about adjustments and learning to score.  Or Grinding it out.

We have talked all year that our team is about ball control and winning the long rallies.  We have become very proud on the lack of unforced errors we commit.  WE really discuss knowing the right time to go after it. (Green light) the time to take a chance (yellow light) and the time when all you can do is protect the ball and try to disadvantage the opponent.  This match would become about unforced errors.

Trinity really focussed on Meaghan in the middle and wanted to limit her scoring.  They decided to take more risks on serving with the hope of our passing breaking down.  The first set started off with Trinity Jumping out to a fast lead. Trinity went up 8-5 with us already having 3 unforced errors.  A quick little team meeting in the middle with a reminder about protecting the ball fixed the problem quickly.  

As a coaching group with met with the outsides and showed them shots  that they hit hands on  Trinity was able to dig.  We explained if we could add 5km more to the shot they wouldn't have time to chase the balls down.  Jaryn Reuther really discovered this and it would work wonders for her.   We battled back and found ourselves up 24-23.  Trinity refused to quick, a huge stuff block for them and a confusion between Kellie and Meaghan had Trinity up 25-24.  A strong defensive play and a huge kill by their all star middle gave Trinity the first set.

With yesterday going so well for us and everyone scoring at a high percentage, when Trinity came out with their defensive adjustments we seemed to panic.  We forgot about what worked for us.  The coaches had a good chance to remind them of what our game plan was.  We knew we could win some long rallies, so lets not be scared to protect the ball.   The second set was extremely exciting for our fans.  We found ourselves tied at 13.  Then the teams traded points and went after each other.  We  also discussed during video that most of our serves we falling around the 5 meter mark of the court.  We need to get them moving more.  As the game was tied 20-20 Larissa went back and made a great short serve for an ace.  A couple points later Tori put one in the back corner for another Ace.  With Meaghan closing out the set for a 25-23 win.

At that moment we discovered how to win a close set.  We can manufacture points and if we have to we can win matches on tactical serving.  It looked like a huge weight was lifted off the team. The next 2 sets wouldn’t be any easier.  As we won 25-23 again and 25-21 in the fourth.  After the match we looked at the box score.  Trinity had earned more points than we did, but we were more efficient and won the plus minus battle.

We will not be the team that overpowers opposition, but we will be the team that waits for it opportunity to pounce.  When the light turns green we can bounce the ball.  When the light turns yellow we can score off hands or put the other team in trouble.  Then we know we can win the long rally.  Grinding the opposition down is not the easiest way to play volleyball.  It takes an everyday commitment to ball control and fitness.  But the Bobcats have shown they are willing to do that, at least for thar weekend.  Up next is the Dino’s in Calgary the question remains can we remember what got us to the victory last week?

http://bit.ly/vkqef4   box score of match

Overcoming Adversity

Bouncing Back.

Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings- Ralph Blum

This was so true of the Brandon Bobcats this past week and weekend.  A Week ago we were coming off a trouncing by the Winnipeg Wesman.  Everything that we feared about our young team came glaring through.

But to the teams credit they started to search for what the individual could do to make it better.  With the BU Faculty strike on our recovery started with a Monday practice with no coach.  The athlete, captains ran the practice.  It was not a smooth practice.  I had numerous players call in frustration.  They demanded more and better.  As mentioned in a previous blog, As coaches we are Faculty and have been told in no uncertain terms that we cannot coach or be part of anything to do with practice.

The athletes decided  to fight this, they formed a coalition with all the teams.  They organized a formal meeting with both the University and the Union. They called a press conference, did research on why people are declared essential essential so  that we can start coaching again. I was extremely impressed with their determination towards this.   I believe that by standing up for themselves was the start of our turnaround. We are still waiting for the Unions response, the University has said "if the Union is ok with it we are too".  So it is in the hands of the Union executive.

Next as a coaching staff we decided that we need to implement a lot more video.  We wanted to show the athletes the systems and how they looked executing them.  Explain in depth what we are looking for.  Especially since the upcoming weekend we were playing the number 6 ranked team in the country.  As a coaching staff we started to look at potential line-ups.  Which line-up was our most effective?  When we broke it down by set scores we were surprised by which line up was our best.  There is something to be said about the feeling on the court. When each member of the group can help create confidence in each other, then that is often most important factor. Athletes tend to play for each other, especially in tough situations.

WE didn’t spend a lot of time discussing Trinity Western’s offense.  This week we decided it was about us.  In the practices the coaches implemented our serving game plan, blocking and defence plans, without it being in relation to Trinity.  We really emphasized what our vision patterns should be.  When to be stopped on defense.  We want our athletes to stop when the attacker jumps.  We used to say on the attackers arm swing, but we found that we were always late.  We found if we ask for jump then we are stopped well enough to react to the ball.  The biggest difference in experienced athletes and our young players in the range the athlete can go on defense. We felt if we can get our ball control game back to where we believe it should be we had a chance.

Friday was an exciting day for us, everything seem to fall in place. The first set we played strong defense and scored a lot early in transition.  We had challenged Lindsay Mclaughlin, who would start a libero, to have a big presence in the game.  Allow the players around you to feel your presence.  She is normally a focused quiet player, but we need her to change some.  She is our second setter when Kellie digs the ball.  Lindsay took charge and help lead us to a 25-22 win.

The second set was a marathon as both teams went after it. Trinity is ranked number 6 in Canada for a reason.  They jumped out to a 13-10 lead, when Meaghan Roberson had a huge kill for us.  Then Chloe Reimer went back and executed our serve plan and put TWU in trouble. We were tied 15 all.  Now it is a game. Becky had sub in Lexi Loewen in the middle.  Lexi is a bit smaller but fast middle who can close to the outside.  She is a strong outside blocker.  Our serving and offense was keeping the ball outside so this was a great sub. Lexi put up a solid block and we were able to defend around her.

TWU ended up with a 24-22 lead.  Kellie made a courageous dump to get us to within one.  Then Kellie went back and put some tough serves in.  This helped us make some big digs as we tied up the match and went ahead 25-24.  Teams then traded points. We found ourselves tied at 27.  Meaghan our second year middle took over offensively and we were able to get her the ball in transition and we won a big 31-29 set.

After that type of game it is often hard to comeback. Meaghan had found her groove and away we went.  When a player is hot a setter will set them until their arm falls off or the opponent stops them.  Meaghan went off for 6 kills this set.  We won 25-16.  We were carried by a group of 2^nd year players.  Chloe Reimer our libs turned leftside had 13 kills, Tori Dakin had 12 kills on the Rs and Meaghan had 16 kills.  Which really is exciting for our future.  Of course it was more than those three as we needed some strong leadership in tough situations from other players. 

We now had rebounded well, the test will be tomorrow.  Can we do it again?  TWU is a well coached team they will make adjustments and we will have to find another way to win.

I put a video of Meaghan and Alicia Perrin going head to head.  Alicia played on the FISU games team this summer.  

Here us the box score link    http://bit.ly/uvQiOm

Confidence is a Fickle Friend

Strike Day 28.  We are coming off a very troubled weekend.  We played a home and home series with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.  The U of W entered the matches ranked 8^th in Canada.  We struggled both days against them. We didn’t perform up to our expectations.

The strike is really playing havoc on all of our confidences.  We have missed 48 contact hours of on court volleyball. This is time that we haven’t been able to have our coaching staff together fully. To look at it in terms of academics this is more than a three credit course.  For a lot of athletes this is one of their most important courses.  The trouble with this statistic is we can’t make up this time.  For the rest of the academic world when the strike ends we will have a solution to make up the class time missed.  For athletics everything proceeds as normal. This is a tough situation on all of us.

 As a coach you preach  the concept of team first all the time to the players but in this situation the coaches are not able to fulfill our end of the bargain and it feels terrible. The assistant coaches and athletes have been impressive as they have tried their hardest to make something positive out of this.  I don’t have a large ego that makes me think that I alone can solve our problems right now.  But I do believe that if we had our whole coaching staff together we could.  Six sets of eyes are better than two.

When we first went on strike a month ago we were starting to really gel as a team and our basic philosophies were starting to show as a group.  We played those two exhibition matches against Regina and we felt this upward momentum. Ashley, Becky and Sara did a good job preparing for Manitoba and we were close on Friday, but then Saturday the cracks started to show.

Confidence is a fickle friend.  When athletes are confident they play above their head.  Athletes will play with no fear in their game.  As the confidence starts to deteriorate in them or worse confidence in their teammates/  When this lack of confidence start to show then problems follow.  In hockey to explain this lack of confidence coaches and athletes use the term squeezing the stick too tight.  This means that they don’t have the subtle feel for the puck and are trying too hard.  Same thing happens in volleyball, athletes start to second guess their decision or the system. They will over swing try to make something out of nothing.  A player will then try to do too much like covering for another teammate on defence, leaving themselves out of position.  The ball always seems to find the player who isn’t doing their job properly. 

When this starts to happen players often start to look for solutions, usually this is within the team or with one of the coaches. In our situation this is hard for the athletes, because the head coach cannot really interact with them, the assistant coaches are out student teaching and involved with their own education.  They are trying to figure out their own life as well as trying to problem solve the team.  Becky, Ashley and Sara have made me extremely proud to have worked with them.  They have a vast knowledge of the game.  Becky really understands the game especially  from the point of view as a setter, Ashley  has a strong grasp of all positions  but excels as a middle coach and Sara  is the same but has a strong background as an outside attacker.  Together they cover all necessary knowledge of the game.  The difference is a more experienced coached would have a few more ideas on how to get this knowledge across.  Plus the assistants are in a tough situation as they have friends on the team.  Other than the freshman all the coaches would have just finished playing with them.  To ask Becky to get on Jaryn and Claire is not fair to her.  They are some of her closest friend.

So as mentioned above the athletes start to look elsewhere to find solutions and gain confidence.  If coaches are not available then the athletes talk to parents, former coaches, friends playing on other team, and other sport coaches.  The athletes are then given a new set of information on how that person would fix their situation.  These people are often a good resource for the individual player when it comes to dealing with mental and emotional situations.  These people will have an understanding about the athlete from past dealings and will help them through those tough mental situations.  But when it comes to blocking and defensive schemes this source of information often gets the athletes on two different pages.  One player is moving one way when the other is expecting them to move another.  It creates more harm than good. Every team has different philosophies on what is correct and a coach has to be passionate and confident about their system.  Many different systems have won in volleyball.  Russia won an Olympic championship playing six up defence.   In Canada that is considered a Jr. High defense.  It would be hard to convince outside coaches that this would work for us.  But if a coach was passionate about it with the correct personnel it would work.

How to build back the confidence? 

We are continuously asking the athletes to talk to each other during the match.  This creates a stronger understanding in each other, and alleviates any confusion in what each other are doing.  Just talking out loud saying what you’re thinking during the match will make a world of difference for each other.

 We need to celebrate when we do something correct.  The team needs to focus on the things we do well and find a way to use this in our situation. We passed very well last weekend.  We were in system quite a bit.  If we can maintain that we should be ok.

Simplify what we are asking people to do.  We need to pull back on the number of options and ask athletes to do the basic first.  In the movie “For The Love Of The Game” There is a scene where Kevin Costner (baseball pitcher) is struggling to throw a strike.  He stops centers his body and says “one more time, like you’ve done a million times before”.  He doesn’t try to throw harder, or try something tricky.  He just went back to a basic pitch. Just find the basic system and keep focussing on that.

We need to find this confidence fast.  If both sides of this strike can find it in their hearts to solve the issues fast it would go a long way to solving some of our confidence issues.  I hope and pray that this doesn’t go much longer.

Bison's day 2.

Day 2 Adjustments were made and seemed to be working.  Just sticking and trusting game plan is important.  We started the line-up that we finished with one exception, Kellie, Jaryn, Larissa, Tori, Chloe, Meaghan and rookie Brianna as the libs. 

As a coaching group we felt that this ball control line up would work for us.  We also spent some time with the middles talking about taking risk and looking at trends that Manitoba runs in each set.  We did a very good job on defence and blocking.  We struggled offensively; we were down 14-11 when Becky made a double sub. Jenna and Claire came in and brought us back to a 19-18 lead.  Kellie and Tori came back in we were riding a high.  But a missed serve and 4 hitting errors cost us the set 25-21.  But blocking we had held both Tricia and Kristy to even 3 kills and 4 errors.

Second set Becky decided to reward Jenna for fighting back for us and she got her first ever set start in the CIS.  The team responded and came out flying, we jumped out to a 9-5 start.  Then we got stuck in a rotation. It was suddenly 9-9 and we struggled with passing.  I was watching in the crowd and I commented, if we can get the ball to even go forward we have a chance.  We shanked or passed straight up 4 balls.  Then we got a bad match up with Kristi Hunter matched up with Jenna and Kristi had success swinging at and over her.  This adjustment made our defence a little more difficult.  We fell down 14-12 when we doubled subbed.  Kellie brought us back to tie it up at 16.  Then a serving error and a hitting error on our side we found ourselves down 18-16. WE battled back to a 19 all tie.  We had really found a way to limit Tricia and our serving and trouble balls had kept her out of the match.  Now with the set on the line we became happy to put the ball in play and their libero Nicole Hall was able to take over the match.  Suddenly we were serving her and they were in system, then when we were in trouble we started to just put ball in play to 5 where Nicole played.  Tricia was able to score 4 of their next five points.

Then the wheels fell off.  Becky made a good choice and changed the line-up around for the third set.  She started Jenna, jaryn, Tori, Claire, Lexi, Meaghan,Chloe at libs. We then forgot what we have been working on as our identity.  We really want to be the team that it is difficult to play against.  We want the opponent to earn all their points.  We try to do this by making wise choices and pt the other team in trouble.  This set we had 11 attacking and 3 serving errors. Manitoba just had to earn 11 points on their own.  This was a tough lesson for us.  Mentally we need to be better and need to be aware of situations.
Jaryn and Meaghan each had 10 kills and a hitting efficiency over 30 percent

Lessons Learned

1.        Believe in self and keep trusting new strategies

2.       Remember what we stand for, make the other team earn points

3.       Better perform on the floor because we are deep enough to bring people off the bench

So back to the drawing board, learn from this and work hard to get ready for Winnipeg.  Even though this is the second weekend of the year, it could be the make and break point for playoffs.  We are still on strike so the prep still falls to Becky and the team.  They have done a great job so far... Go Bobcats

Match vs Bison's

Strike is still on.  So Becky gets her first official head-coaching debut.  We played the Manitoba Bison's another team basically in the same situation as us.  It has become a good rivalry for both programs.  David Larkins from the Winnipeg sun wrote about it and can be read at http://bit.ly/tXlIE5 

We put together a strong game plan and the coaches felt the team was ready to perform.  We started Kellie, Claire, Jaryn, Tori, Meaghan, Larissa, and Chloe at libs.  The team came out firing on all cylinders.  We served tough and put them in trouble, which kept the ball out of their National Team member Tricia Mayba’s hands.  We won the first set 25-16.

The Bison’s are a well coached team and Ken made a couple of adjustments to their defense and was able to make us continue a lot of balls.  We fell behind early, but with some strong offense from Meaghan and Jaryn, we were ahead near the end.  We then used a double sub which all pre-season worked wonders for us.  But this time unfortunately it didn’t, five errors in a row from our side found us down 22-21.  We switched back and the team battled losing 25-23.  Jenna and Brianna coming in for the double sub weren’t the reason for the errors.  Just an untimely passing breakdown and a few poor hitting choices were more the reason

The next set was close all the way with Tricia and Kristy Hunter finding their groove. The Bison’s won 25-22. Our defense needed to improve if we had any hope of coming back in this match. Becky and Ashley decided to go with our smaller lineup.  Moving Tori to right and Chloe swinging.  Chloe accepted the challenge and had 7 kills in the set.  Lindsay came in as libs and touched a lot of shots defensively.  We were in a ball control war.  It was full of long rallies.  As the game got closer to the end we started to serve easier which allowed Tricia to get more swings.  When the match gets closer we need to trust our selves in what we worked on.  We ended up losing 31-29 in the set.  We had three swings to send it to a fifth set.

Jaryn ended up with 18 kills and was a tremendous leader throughout the match.  Meaghan had 13 kills and we feel that she needs to get more opportunities, she should match Tricia’s volume and Meaghan showed she can match up with one of our National team players shot for shot.

The box score can be seen http://bit.ly/uFZExd

So what did we learn?

1.     We need to teach the middles how to think a bit more when it comes to blocking.  There were some obvious patterns that emerged late in the match which can help us.

2.     We need to serve tougher all the way through the match and follow serving plans.

3.     Defend better, we over read situations and were out of our positions. Trust that each of us will fulfill our defensive resposibilities.

4.     Set Meaghan in transition more. Then find away to use our stronger attackers on their weaker blockers.

Creating Game Plans

CREATING GAME PLANS,

Still on strike and getting frustrated.  This weekend our league starts we square off against the University of Manitoba.  It will still be considered crossing the picket line if I coach the team this weekend.  So again I will do the best to stay mentally healthy and cheer on the team. I have a tough time not being around the team.  Don’t realize what a great career you have until you don’t have it.

We have had some interesting conversations with our coaching staff on the make up of the game plans for this weekend. When developing a game plan, first we need to make sure we understand what our strengths are.  All good game plans are built around the team’s strengths.  A common belief is that coaches change their systems and way they do things against teams.  But the truth is we try to find ways to exploit the other team’s weakness with our strengths.  As a coach we watch a ton of video. There are many programs available to help coaches break down video.  They speed up the breaking down of the film, but they don’t allow the coach more free time.  Most coaches just watch more game footage to find a larger sample of trends. Any statistician will tell you that the sample size needs to be large to get a good read. 

First we watch video to look for trends in the oppositions serve reception to attack.  We will get a percentage of which player gets set the most in which rotations. Then which player will get set off of what type of pass. We labeled passes based on a 4 system.  4 setter doesn’t have to move, 3 they move within a couple of meters, 2 around the attack line or pushed forward, 1 anywhere else that it can be set.  Over passes we give a one if the other team can play it, but if it is killed directly from the pass we give it a 0, also an ace serve is a zero.

Next we will watch the opposition defense formations.  Are they bunch blocking or spread blocking, does a player walk on transition after attacks, do they dip deep on blocking, are there small or large blockers, weak defenders.  All this information will help with our game plans.

Then we will look again at our strengths, so we will have different assignments based on who is in the ft row of the other team.  So for example Trinity Western is a swing blocking team, they all have the same starting position, but we realize player A really turns side ways when we show a certain attack pattern, We will implement that into our plans.  Player b in Trinity is good at covering tips off serve reception but in transition she is playing real deep then we can tip on her in mid rally. 

Then we will give the team information about different attackers, we will show our team the shot trends of the opposition’s starting group.  First we will show video off serve reception and then in transition. We understand that at the university level all players have all kinds of shots, but seeing them execute them might help athletes pick up the cues sooner of what shot is coming.

We also don’t believe in calling serves, we game plan them based on certain situations.  Then we rely on the athletes to recognize those situations.  We also allow the athletes to serve based on what they feel.  If our game plan is to serve the front row attacker, but the athlete sees player C has missed a serve and her body language is still frustrated. She then decides to serve at her hoping to catch her in thought. As long as she has a volleyball reason for going away from game plan then green light.

We want our athletes to think the game and make adjustments on the fly.  We need to teach our athletes at a younger age to watch for trends on the opposition. Often we will get athletes in their first year that has no idea of what is happening on the opposition’s side.  They just watch the ball and react.  If ball is set left side then they go to x on the floor.  We believe that the game is too random and we need to react to that. We often see young setters will take turns when they set, setting hitting warm up (One to left side, one to middle, one to right side).  This makes life of a blocker easy when they figure out that tendency.

Last we keep our video meeting to 20-25 minutes and we don’t share all the information on our game plan sheets.  Players will learn over the course of the year which area of the game plan is more important for which positions.  We then will meet positionally with the athletes to go over their specific responsibility.  Then we train it over the course of the week.  Small groups  of player first for large reps then in a game situation.  In football they have a prep team that runs the oppositions plays and the home team competes against them.  In volleyball we rely on each other to mimic the opposition.  Taking turns being that player using their tendencies.  We find that if the starting group role plays that player they get a better grasp of what the opposition does.  It is like the teacher who finally understands algebra after they teach it.

So tomorrow is our dry run of our game plan against U of M.  We don’t have a lot of recent footage on them, but neither do they on us.  So it will be an interesting match.

5 R's of Volleyball

5 R’s

We have been talking a lot lately about the mental side of the game.  I have friends who coach different sports who have interesting ideas about self talk.  Ultimately we all agree that it comes down to a routine.  The team that is able to stay in the moment the longest usually wins the game. 

So how can a coach teach that to the players?  If you followed the blog I wrote about the national team this summer, we talked about it.  I use the 5 R’s of volleyball

 A few years ago when I was coaching at GPRC in the ACAC Leigh Goldie used an acronym with the Wolves to help us with between  the rally thinking.  The game of volleyball is really circular.  So he thought of the game that way.  Mentally a bunch of things need to happen.  The 5 R's

The first R is react.  This is the way the game is played, when the ball is in play the athletes have to react to the situation and play what is in front of them.  Yes there is a game plan to follow, but really the game of volleyball is so random that once the ball is in play a person needs to just react.

The second R is respond.  Once the ball is dead the athletes need to respond to the situation. If it is a score for your team then you cheer and have a chance to give energy back to the team.  A look in someone's eyes and a big fist pump can go along way.  If the opposition scores then the athletes have a chance to build confidence back up.  Again a look in the eye a bit of advice or a positive comment can be the difference. One of my biggest pet peeves is the tapping of the chest and saying "my bad".  No kidding it is your bad, everyone in the gym knows who is responsible for the error.  Tell us what you can do to fix it.  " I have that seam don't worry".  That comment builds trust and keeps the confidence high.

The third R is review, what could I have done different  Move my feet midline the ball

The Fourth R is relax.  This is the three seconds where a person takes a deep breath and then centers the body.  A chance to get rid of the last error.  Some will clap their hands as a physical show of corrections, others will "park" the error by touching the floor or wiping their shoes.  These are just physical ways to say, I have moved on.

The fifth R is Refocus.  This is usually done by communicating.  Getting back into the game, to be totally immersed in the present situation.  Reacting to this next rally or winning the next point the only one that matters.   If you are on serve reception, then the communication is towards the type of serve the server has or the location that she has been serving so far in this match. It can also be about who has who's seams.  When you have the serve, the players usually share the attackers locations, what type of block they will be making against the opposition, is the setter front row or back row and many other points.  By saying it verbally to the team it shows everyone that the athlete is ready to go and understands the present situation they are in.  One of the biggest struggles for teams is when they get down in the score, they get stuck in the second R and forget about the last two, which are very important.

So as a coach, we set up some game play drills and give them a break inbetween serves so that we can work on the mental side of the game.  Usually in volleyball you have 15-20 seconds between rallies.  This is the time the opposition or your team rotates, the ball being retrived to the server and the server using 5-8 seconds to serve. This allows the players a chance to get used to the routine.  At first as a coach you need to state the steps, but as the practice goes on you just look for the centering breath and then the conversation.  These are the two keys.  Like any skill it needs to be trained.

Step Forward....

Step ahead…

WE have just returned from the Lea Marc tourney at University of Winnipeg.  We finished a respectable fourth.  The tournament was a good opportunity to see how we have progressed from last weekend.

We had a large focus on blocking with the middles and Right sides this past week and into the weekend.  The left sides we focused on serve reception and out of system attacking.  Ashley Creighton was able to make most of the practices this week so she spent a large portion of the time working with the blocking group.  She would attack off the hitting boxes early to get them to feel the power in the block.  Most young athletes try to use arm swing to create the block.  Instead we want a nice stable block with a position of strength, feeling it all the way through the core to the tip of their fingers. This is what creates the stuff block, not the swinging of the arms.  Next she had them attack against each other.  Once they understand what a blocking posture feels like then we work on vision.  Vision is everything in blocking, especially middle blockers.  Situations will happen that will eliminate or make it hard to set certain players so then life is easier.  The sooner players can recognize the situation the easy blocking becomes for them.  Too often as coaches we stand behind the blocks watching their footwork when really we need to see their eye patterns to determine blocking. We were much better at blocking.

We lost Kellie Baker our starting setter to an injury late in the week, so this would be Jenna’s show this weekend.  To be honest Jenna must have been exhausted by the end of the weekend.  5 matches and some very average passing, she probably ran the Boston Marathon twice… It was a good thing for us to work with Jenna, we had a chance to clear up some vocabulary I use that she had a different definition for.  We also had a chance to work together on the creation of different types of game plans, getting her to think a bit more the Bobcat way.  There was a lot of learning happening fast.

We still worked out hard all week, four practices three weight sessions and two different circuit-training sessions. We noticed by the last few matches the players were starting to show fatigue.  We started missing lots of serves.  When you are jump floating and the legs start to go the net seems to get higher.  We also noticed the fatigue in blocking.  It is normal under fatigue and stress to go back to what is comfortable.  So the middles hands started to get lower and lower.  We used the term having your hands in your pocket.  Opposition middles would contact the ball and our hands wouldn’t have reached the top of the net yet.  So we had to relearn the skill of high hands in a tough way.  But hopefully this lesson has stuck.

We also wanted to cut down on our unforced errors, but as fatigue kicked in our errors went up. We average over 40 errors a match.  WE talked to our team, it is like we are playing a match to 25 and the opposition are only playing to 15.  Handicapping our selves some times.  If we can move our opponents serving aces to under five percent of our total passing I believe that will be a big difference in the 23-25 matches, and we played in a lot of them this weekend.

We have a break this weekend for Thanksgiving so we will train hard and give the athletes four days off.  This should bring them back ready to fly for the remainder of the pre-season.

Becky again went undefeated this weekend.  I went 1-3 starting to feel a bit of pressure to get a few W for my own sake. Plus her uncle is my athletic director…

Weird and muted

Weird

We are still on strike so this was a difficult weekend for me personally as we played University of Regina Cougars in our last preseason matches.  The strike meant that I wasn’t allowed to be in the gym at all this week.  I haven’t been at any of the prep sessions for this.  So I was really nervous about this weekend.

The worst part about the situation is it is totally out of my control.  There is absolutely nothing I can do to remedy the situation, except cross the picket line, and there is no way I would ever do that.  I am out until this is settled.

Lucky for me the match was televised by our local Westman Cable channel, so I was able to watch the team perform.  It helped relieve some of the stress I was feeling.  We started our more experienced line up together for the first time.  The first set we fell down 18-11, then Becky made a double sub.  Jenna and Niki came in and turned the match around for us.  When we double subbed back the score was 19-17.  It was a great come back.  The team then limited their errors and we ended up winning a tight on 26-24.  That was exciting for us. Claire played right side for us again and did a great job, she is starting to get comfortable there.  After 10 years in the middle this has been a good challenge for her.

We came from behind again and won the second set 25-23, then the third 25-19.  Tori played extremely well for us.  We have been working on her hitting the ball harder and having different shots.  She was able to use them all and kept the opposition off balance.  Plus we served very well and had them out of system a lot.

Becky and Ashley did a great job of keeping the team focussed.  We had talked before the match about different situations that they could be proactive for.  We also agreed that I wouldn’t text in anything.  The team needs to be about that group at the moment and can’t be worried about different things that I am saying.  I am not there in the emotion of it all so t
he coaches have to be able to make the decisions on the fly.

Sunday’s match was a different type of match. The match wasn’t as streaky for both teams as Saturdays was.  Regina is a well coached team and they made some good adjustments to their game plan.  We fell behind again early but a strong run of 4 stuff blocks in a row brought us back into the lead and built confidence in our game.  Ashley has worked a lot on blocking with our middles and rs the last two weeks and she should be proud of the result from this weekend.  This level of blocking will make us a good defensive team.  Our middles we very good blocking against their mids today.  We lost the second set and Becky put in an alternative lineup that we talked about.  It is a strong ball control line up.  This line up is meant to wear the opposition down and get our mids going.  We won that set 25-11.  They again made some subs in the fourth and we were tied at 18.  Then  our defense gell into place and we were able to pull away and win 25-20.  This is a good way for the preseason to end. 

The weird part was not being there with the team.  Sunday’s match wasn’t on tv or streamed on the web, so a friend set up his computer on the stage and I was able to watch the match through skype.  It was a good view.  The problem I forgot when on skype the other computer can hear me too.  So one play there was a miscommunication and the ball fell.  I yelled out loud thinking I was alone at my house, but they heard me on the stage. So Matt had to mute me.  A little embarrassing but still funny.

The strike continues on Monday and so do the negotiations between the two groups.  I am hoping that it is settled soon.  I am missing the team a lot.

Strike Day 3

Well I walked 10km today on the picket line. Actually the pace is relatively slow, but it saves my feet extra wear and tear.  We are waiting to see how the negotiations are going and hoping for some positive updates. The two sides agreed to have a conciliator come in to help with the bargaining. A conciliator meets with the two sides separately and then takes their point of view to the oppositions. Ironically in volleyball we call this position the captain. Bit usually between coaches and officials or athletes and coaches.

The team has our last exhibition games this weekend.  University of Regina is coming here to play.  This is going to be a tough weekend as I cannot be in the gym.  I mentioned to Becky and Ashley if Bailey the Bobcat (mascot) looks a little heavier than normal and starts signalling things go with it...

The coaches have done a great job and the team is working hard at getting better.  I really hope that this situation will create some leadership skills for the athletes, and bring the team closer together as they need to lean on each other more.  My dad taught me there is a positive in every situation, just some you have to search a bit harder for.

I have no idea of when the strike will end.  I am at the mercy of the negotiators.  I just have to figure out ways to help the team without being in practice.  Walking 10km a day will make me fit, so that my full time job and commitment to the girls.  GO CATS!!! Miss ya and Cheering for ya!!!

On Strike!

It happened Brandon University Faculty Association is on strike. As a member of the Union all the coaches are on strike too. That means we have to walk the picket line for 3 hours a day. Some forced excercise and a chance to meet other instructors at the univerity are the positives in what is happening.

Luckily we met as a coaching staff and all understand where we are headed in the next couple weeks. I am very comfident in our coaching staff. Becky and Ashley have a strong understanding of the game and understand the systems we are trying to implement. Also this forces the athletes to help each other understand situations.  This week of practices are filled with situations and the athletes need to figure out what is the best option. example would be leftside involved in a triple block. Ball is dug should they stay inside and try to hit a shot, do they have time to get outside, or should they call for an inside outside set.

By having them problem solve together research says the proper technique will eventually come out and transfer better than just giving them the solution and repping it.  This is difficult for a coach, we have to give up some power to the athlete. Well this strike has me giving up all power, tough on me.  When the team is practicing I find myself counting down the practice, waiting to find out how it went.  6:15 they should be in the middle of ball control, 6:30 splitting into two courts mids are working on transition and the outsides are working on inside sets, 7:45 starting wash....I hope the strike doesn't last too long, my clock isn't that attractive to look at.

Coaching Rewards

Coaching is an interesting position and career choice.  When you coach younger athletes you get a lot of feedback and rewards as you see them develop and improve. Coaching at a higher level is sometimes a tougher situation.  A coach will pour all their passion and energy into the team for the hope of developing players to reach the next level, or become great members of society.  Of course coaches also do it for the rush you feel when you win. Unless you're Russ Rose of Penn State or Doug Reimer of UBC, the last few years have ended on a loss.  Only one team gets to win it all, so the rest are battling to improve with the hope of being the one to up end their run of championships. So for elite coaches their personal rewards must be more than wins or they will go crazy.

One year I was coaching provincial team, we had a good summer but as the head coach sometimes you had to push the athletes for them to achieve their levels. At the end of the summer when we arrived back at the airport I noticed that some of the players were giving the assistant coaches some fun gag gifts. It bothered me that they had a relationship with the players that they would give them gifts.  In hind sight, we had lost a match  I felt we could’ve won so it was probably a good thing  that I didn't get anything. At the time though I was pretty down.  It wasn't until a few years later when I was invited to one of the players weddings that  I realized that it wasn't about the gift, it was about the level of respect the athletes had for me.  Being invited to the wedding was the best gift I could ever get.  The athlete still was in contact with me and wanted me to be there on their special day. She said it was important for her that I was there.

So coaching rewards often come later. Coach Wooden was once asked if he felt that a certain team was the best he had ever coached.  His answer was “Ask me in ten years.  Then we will know how these young men turned out.”

This past weekend I was on a recruiting trip to Alberta to watch some of their top teams compete and was able to connect with a bunch of Alumni.  If you Consider that our team is only in our 7^th year of existence we have quite a lot of Bobcat women alumni that are coaching volleyball.  I think this is one of the biggest type of reward for any coach.  It is a big pat on the back for our coaching staff and the other coaches who helped build the alumni’s love of volleyball. In order for a player to reach the university level they had to have some quality people invest in their lives as well so we can't take all the credit.

The two most obvious alumni are Becky Young and Ashley Creighton, as they are assistant coaching with us at BU.  Sara Grona is coming on to help the university team this week during our potential strike.  Erin Henning is the head coach of Grande Prairie Comp High School and assistant coaching at Grande Prairie College in the ACAC.  Nicole Ban, who has just returned from playing pro in Norway is assistant coaching at Grant MacEwan University in the ACAC.  Joely Hanke is head coach of Ponoka Comp High School in central Alberta, Ashley Melnyk is head coach of Vegreville Comp High School in central Alberta. Nicole Clemons is assistant coaching at Neelin High School.  Kelly DeRoo is coaching at Vincent Massey in Brandon.

When I realized how many former athletes are still involved in the sport I was a bit overwhelmed.  I think this is the one biggest thank you any coach can get. I am still in contact with all of these former players and help them out when I can, and they help us out when they can.  They are our biggest supporters and recruiters, without them our jobs would be a lot tougher. 

When I was interviewed for this position I was asked "what do you hope to achieve?" My answer was a national championship and a team full of coaches. It looks like I have accomplished some of that... now that darn national championship

Recruiting the love and hate relationship.

This weekend I am heading on a recruiting trip to Edmonton.  Spruce Grove hosts a large international tournament and Grant MacEwan University host a large ACAC tournament as well the same weekend.  This gives me a chance to see most of our potential recruits on one weekend.  It was this weekend last year I feel helped solidify my relationship with Shanlee and Niki.  Both were competing at the Spruce Grove tourney and I travelled there to watch and support them. Niki and Shanlee are very important recruits for our ability to remain a top ten program. 
At the MacEwan tourney I had a chance to see Lexi play again.  I originally tried to recruit Lexi out of high school from Winkler. She chose to go to a College for her start of school.  So 1 year later I was able to meet her at MacEwan and being the discussion of attending BU in one year.
Recruiting is an ongoing thing.  It never stops.  We have to identify athletes in grade nine and ten and then follow their progress throughout their high school.  CIS has very different rules from the United States.  Mostly this is because the head coach of most CIS programs does most of the recruiting for the program.  Compared to the NCAA where a lot of program has a national and international recruiting coach on staff.  The Head coach only gets involved at the end of the process.
In Canada and the US we rely an awful lot on friends and acquaintances to help us with recruiting.  We will receive emails from athletes that are interested in playing in the CIS, but often we won’t be able to watch the athlete until club season.  I will often ask a friend or a coach I have met to go and watch a match and give me an opinion.  As a coaching staff we borrowed an idea from junior hockey.  WE created a rubric that we can send out to coaches to help with their evaluations of a player.  It shows the level of athleticism that is necessary.
Quiet often I will get asked about what a coach wants in a video.  Most coaches will watch a video only for a short time. Introduce yourself on the video and then grab a basketball rim. If a girl can touch the rim the coach will then continue to watch.  I would personally rather watch a set of a player playing rather than a highlight video. A set allows us to see the athlete make some errors, and then watch their reaction to the errors.  It lets us see how the athlete handles the match after 20. Do they play safe, or do they find away to score (make something out of nothing)?
The next point on recruiting is athletes be honest with us.  WE have very limited time to actually get out and watch athletes play, and even more limited budget to bring athletes in to visit the campus.  We like to only bring an athlete in if we know it is down to us and one other school.  Then meeting the team is the final factor for them. Coaches talk to each other.  Most of the University and college coaches get along incredibly well.  WE know who each person has as their top recruits.  We all end up going after the same athletes most of the time.  Ryan Hofer from TWU and I seem to like the same style of athlete, because it always seems to come down to Trinity or Brandon for the athletes we recruit. So if an athlete tells us one thing and them another we tend to find out.  Ultimately most coaches have plan A, B,C. So if an athlete chooses to go elsewhere it stings but we have another option.
Explaining recruiting to my friends outside of coaching I often equate it to a high school guy trying to date a girl.  We called last week, should I call again? Too soon, don’t want to hound her?  Wonder if Ryan has called her today? I sent her an email update on our weekend, wonder if she read it? I talked with one recruit and her team won a tournament, so I called her on Monday to congratulate her.  I asked her did anyone else call? She told me I was the 7^th University to call that day. She is that talented. So imagine she talked with each of us for at least 15 minutes. 90 minutes with coaches in that one day. As a coach you need to find something that will make you stick out or above the other Colleges and Universities.  So we meet them and try to build a bit of a relationship with them. We want them to feel extremely welcome and wanted on the team.
This year is different; I am trying to meet some different athletes that we are looking at.  We haven’t had the chance to formally meet them and throw our hat into the ring.  This will be an interesting weekend.