Seven things that came up over and over when mentoring

1.     Volleyball is about seeing cues and reacting to the cues. 

 Often in Canada in women sport in particular we do a poor job of teaching reading cues.  The first system we teach is the slide line defense.  The ball moves this way the player in middle back goes to the side line.  Following the ball where it moves.  For this reason young players don’t need to know any other cues than the ball.If we would teach the young players to see the ball and then look at the attacker, even something as specific as their feet.  Still using the slide line defence, if their feet (approach) comes from out side in to the court we ask the athletes to go line seam, if the player stays in the court and approaches straight then go to the sidelines.  Now U-14 players are learning more about cues. Then they start  U -16 we add after they jump look at their shoulders.  If the shoulders stay turned then the athlete stays home more, if they rotate then the athlete rotates toward line a step. 

2.     Volleyball starts from the cues. 

This is to carry on from point 1. In volleyball the game is started by a whistle then after that the server has 8 seconds to decide when to start the drill.  But everything after that is decisions from what we see.

In many different drills I watched during my the last couple years coaches often start the drill by slapping a ball.  This is their cue to begin the drill.  But it isn’t game realistic.  That is based on a sound. The drill should start as a from a visual cue.  Usually a player or coach  tossing a ball high enough to them selves to attack or hit a down ball is significant enough for the athletes to begin the drill. 

3.     Players need more serving and hitting reps than coaches.

 Often as coaches we design drills where we are the center of the drill.  The more we can teach athletes to run the drills with tempo the more they will understand the game.  The more realistic it is for the level of play that the athlete will see.  At Jasper we were able to get U-13 athletes tossing and attacking their own toss.  Not very well but still well enough that we could enter the ball that way.

4.     Volleyball is random so create random drills.

  The best passing drill is pass set hit, the best attacking drill is pass set hit, the best setting drill is pass set hit.  The more we can teach technical drills with in the purpose of the game the more it will stick.  When designing drills think about what happens before and after that skill is needed.  When entering the ball into the drill find many different ways to enter it.  Examples are; off a serve, from a down ball, opposition tipping the ball, opposition sending a free ball the ball over and from a controlled attack. Each of these help make the game more realistic than a coach centered drill.

5.     The length of a volleyball match is predicated upon score not on time. 

This is why the length of drills should be based on reps or score.   Examples are Start score at 18 all and play to 25.  Serve 5 balls each and then switch roles. Make 20 overs in a row…

6.     Have a purpose.

There are many volleyball drill books with some great drill ideas, but as a coach we need to know what we are trying to accomplish.  Not just run a drill because it is a cool drill, or because I saw someone else run it. 

As mentioned above the best passing drill is a pass set hit drill. It is what the coaches focus on that makes the drill a little different.  For example we wanted to work on attacking for middles.  First we need to decide on the tempo we would like to run.  WE have come up with a numbering system that is based on when the ball is in the setters hand.  Third tempo set would mean the athlete has 3 steps left in their approach when the ball is in the setters hand. Many of our high balls will fit into a 3^rd tempo category.  A 2^nd temp set would mean they have two steps left when the ball is in the setters hand. This would be our x balls, back row balls or quicker tempo sets to outside attackers.  1^st tempo would be one step left. Many middles are first tempo, ball is hit on down trajectory.  Then we have a zero tempo.  The attacker is already in the air or jumping as the ball is in the setters hands.  Most university and national teams run this tempo with middles in front of the setter.

Then as mentioned in a previous blog, http://bit.ly/N7U7Iy we would run a high rep drill or tutor phase. Then after the athletes get a good sense of what it feels like in this situation we would move it to a mini game situation.  Ironically a lot of attacking drills we saw this summer were without a block.  Very rarely do attackers in a game get to attack against no blocks.  So the faster we implement blocking and attack around or off the more comfortable the athlete will become.  After mini game we then put it into a large game situation.  Our key words don’t change and the purpose doesn’t.

Finally number 7.  Challenge the athletes.

It is ok  for them to fail. We need to continually keep raising the bar.  Allow the athletes to fail and then sit back analyze the situation, what way can we work to be successful at this drill.  Failing means they are trying new things pushing their limits of success.  Teams that come from behind often are teams that believe they can come behind.  They have struggled and found different ways to succeed.   Here s an example of a drill we talked about this summer that makes it hard for a team to win.  Teams start at 20 all.  Play a game to 25, the catch is when a team gets to 24 they must win the next point, if not, they go back to 20.  The opposition keeps their points.  This is a tough drill to win, teaches teams there are no leads to big. To keep pushing.  

Who Makes you Better?

Who makes you better???

I just finished reading an article on the website positivelypositive.com written by Antonio Neves.  In his article he talks about finding people who help you achieve.  He referred to two types of people;  Allies of Glory and Thieves of Ambition. 

“Your Allies of Glory are those people that support you, encourage you, challenge you, hold you accountable, and push you to give your all without excuses.

Your Thieves of Ambition are those people that question your motives, support mediocrity, are afraid of success, enable your excuses, and accept the status quo.”

The whole article can be read http://www.positivelypositive.com/2012/07/25/who-makes-you-better/

In Canada we have our provincial team programs.  These programs are designed to keep our elite players competing during the summer.  It also gives them a chance to compete against other provinces top players.  In the last few years the prestige of provincial teams has dropped off a bit.  Coaches have not been encouraging their players to participate.(”thieves”) All the players involved in the provincial teams have made huge growths.  They have found away to make themselves better and are surrounded by like minded people.

Great examples of Allies of Glory could be found this past weekend at the National tournament. The Manitoba U-19 team  won the National Team Challenge Cup (ntcc). Derek Richels and Becky Young were the coaches of the Man 19’s.  Derek has been part of Brandon University since our inception seven years ago.  Along with Kevin Neufeld and myself, Derek has helped form the program.  It was great to watch Derek coach and see how he has created his own style and is very successful. Derek has sought out many different opinions.  He has worked with Dalhousie’s Rick Scott and spent the summer with Red River College’s men’s coach Dan Gilbert.  Becky was our captain for 3 years at BU and she was the head coach last year for 10 league matches and 5 exhibition matches.  Becky really understands the game and was a great addition for Derek.

Shanlee Mclennan was named MVP of the tournament.  I was so excited to see how Shanlee has grown.  At our end of the year Shanlee and I met and she set some physical and tactical goals.  She went home to Winnipeg and found a personal trainer and then started to train for competitive beach.  Any success Shan has some credit must also go to Wanda Guenette.  Wanda is Shan’s beach coach and  an Olympian in beach volleyball as well she played for over a decade on our indoor team.  Shanlee has definitely surrounded herself in Allies of Glory. In the semi-final and finals Shanlee had 51 kills on 114 attemtps with 9 errors.

Also on the gold medal team was Mary Thomson. Mary s a freshman coming in to our  BU program as a setter.  Mary probably could have played on the U-18 team but Derek and Becky chose to move her up so she would compete against the older girls.  Mary had the opportunity to set some against Sask in her 4 set victory.  Mary was lucky to be surrounded this summer by athletes who have played in one season of Canada West.  She was able to see how they trained and focused during the championships.  Just watching Mary play we could see the improvement in her game.  She is going to be very good.  One day she will look back on this summer and thank her Allies of Glory.

Also playing in the NTCC on Man 18’s were two of our freshman, Jodie Baker and Gillian Leech. Both Gillian and Jodie had an opportunity to play a lot and were a main stay on their teams.  Earlier this year Gillian decided she wanted to play university ball. She  knew she needed to commit herself to getting better. She also hired a personal trainer and started to get in better shape.  The volume of sets she saw in the NTCC it was a good thing.  Gillian has developed a powerful swing and has improved her jump a lot over her 6 months of training.  When she comes into our program in the fall she will have a seamless transition. Jodie Baker has grown up around competitive sports. She watched her older sister play.  Jodie ended up top 3 in the tournament with blocks.  Jodie also was selected to the Canadian Jr National Team.  Jodie will get an additional 4 weeks of excellence.  She will again see how elite athletes train and the necessary skills.

Lisa Nicol was  the head coach of the Man 18’s I was her mentor coach and she was great to work with.  We have invited her to join our coaching staff this season.  She will be able to give us a fresh insight with the team.  Lisa has  a passion for coaching and wants to be the best she can be.

Like the article said, Are we really surrounding us with the right people to help us get to where we need to be?  Am I really doing enough?

Jasper Volleyball Camp

Alberta Volleyball invited me to become a mentor coach at Jasper volleyball Camp.  I love this camp it is one of the best camps in Canada.  Jasper is an outdoor camp in the middle of the Rocky Mountain in Alberta where athletes from many provinces and states come to learn about the sport.

It is a 6’s camp, played outdoors but based on improving the indoor game..  Everyday you wake up and go outside and have a chance to see some amazing mountains.  The coaches here are university athletes and club coaches and some college coaches.  AVA hires mentor coaches to help raise the level of instruction for the “campers” Every night we have a coaches meeting to talk about different parts of practice planning or drill construction that we see and try to ask questions to improve and challenge the coaches.  The coaches also ask a lot of questions, which makes it even more enjoyable. The camp then improves volleyball as a whole coaches and athletes.  I also find that I learn lots from the younger coaches who have such a great passion for the game.

My volleyball-coaching career really evolved out of jasper.  I was here as an instructor for a better part of 10 years.  It was at Jasper where I was able to try out different coaching techniques and discuss coaching philosophies with other coaches.  I remember sitting in our dorm room planning practices as a large group.  We would share ideas of how we would go about progressing from basics to game play.  We would draw out plans on the chalkboard argue about key points in different techniques.  Play some card games.  Over all was an incredible experience. I also took my first level one course here.  It was a week long course with just volleyball coaches.  We were immersed in volleyball.  I was able to meet the provincial team coaches and found out about that level.  I set a goal of coaching at that level.  When I first told some friends one day in the next five years I would coach the provincial team they all laughed at me.  A hockey guy thinks he can coach provincial team. Now coaching with Canadian National Team and at Brandon University I am able to realize how lucky I am and how far i have come. 

The coaches get along with each other quite well at the camp. They also tend to find different ways to involve the campers in pulling pranks on each other.   It was here at Jasper that a lot of my friends were formed.  Rod Durrant Head Coach U of C, Shawn Sky Head Coach Mount Royal College, Dan Ota Head Coach Dalhousie University,  Dale Johns assistant coach U of A, Sylvain Loiseau Sherbrook College, Ron Thomson Head Coach GPRC, Keith Hansen RDC  and Shayne White Head Coach Wilfred Laurier, all worked here at different times with me. Mark Paas gave me a lucky rock here at Jasper as I was heading off to coach at GPRC (he also taught me to sumo wrestle).

The coaches’ sleep in classrooms on the floor. Taking turns sleeping in the dormitories and supervising the athletes.  They have a chance then to talk to the athletes and tell them about there experiences.  It is a chance for these coaches to help create a vision for the athletes.  At lunch they eat in a meeting room in the curling rink.  Shirley has catered the camp as long as I have been a part.  She makes great food and the campers really enjoy it.  Also at this time the coaches again mingle with different tables and tell volleyball or life stories.  I love sitting back and watching, this is truly a place where grass roots meet the mountains.