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.

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…