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.