Today I have been sitting in my apartment on this long weekend Sunday preparing for the upcoming week of Volleyball. Today was a great day. It was filled with connections from all different parts of my coaching career.
Former athletes and coaching colleagues have texted to say hello. They contacted me with pictures and videos. For no apparent reason other than to just to say they were telling stories or reminiscing about their time with me. This is a real treat and one I love each time.
Also this past week I went back to coaching a provincial team. It has been 10 years since I coached at this level. I have to admit I was a little nervous about coaching at this level again. There are lots of things to different skills and tactics to teach. No way we could fit them all in our two week schedule.
The players were on three different teams that competed in the National Team Challenge Cup. They all were taught a slightly type of game. We decided as a coaching group the first week together the focus should be more about systems and team identity.
We started on the beach nothing like some Queen of the Beach to get the players to begin playing with each other. We also decided to focused on getting to know each other. I decided to use a lot of ideas from the summers with Ken Briggs and Carrie Fedun, when we used to coach our provincial teams in Alberta. We had a lipsync competition which would have made Jimmy Fallon proud. We had a parody song competition. They had to use information they received from our "speed meetings". We had a great pool recovery session. The athletes are taking turns cooking for each other and have had some amazing meals. We watched a lot of FIVB volleyball clips. This is how Canada blocks. This is how USA plays defence. Look how Brazil serve receives. Then look how Manitoba does it. Ok Manitoba isn't FIVB but maybe one day some of them might be.
I have two great assistants this year again. Sara Grona and Lisa Whyte are taking a lot of outside prep off my shoulders so I can focus on Volleyball and building trust with the players. Between the three of us we have created a lot of laughter and have found a real joy in working with this team. After all if it isn't fun for us how can it be fun for them. I am looking forward to week two. I can't wait to see how far we will get and how much more joyous times we can create. It is weeks like these where I am reminded how much I love coaching..
Former athletes and coaching colleagues have texted to say hello. They contacted me with pictures and videos. For no apparent reason other than to just to say they were telling stories or reminiscing about their time with me. This is a real treat and one I love each time.
Also this past week I went back to coaching a provincial team. It has been 10 years since I coached at this level. I have to admit I was a little nervous about coaching at this level again. There are lots of things to different skills and tactics to teach. No way we could fit them all in our two week schedule.
The players were on three different teams that competed in the National Team Challenge Cup. They all were taught a slightly type of game. We decided as a coaching group the first week together the focus should be more about systems and team identity.
We started on the beach nothing like some Queen of the Beach to get the players to begin playing with each other. We also decided to focused on getting to know each other. I decided to use a lot of ideas from the summers with Ken Briggs and Carrie Fedun, when we used to coach our provincial teams in Alberta. We had a lipsync competition which would have made Jimmy Fallon proud. We had a parody song competition. They had to use information they received from our "speed meetings". We had a great pool recovery session. The athletes are taking turns cooking for each other and have had some amazing meals. We watched a lot of FIVB volleyball clips. This is how Canada blocks. This is how USA plays defence. Look how Brazil serve receives. Then look how Manitoba does it. Ok Manitoba isn't FIVB but maybe one day some of them might be.
I have two great assistants this year again. Sara Grona and Lisa Whyte are taking a lot of outside prep off my shoulders so I can focus on Volleyball and building trust with the players. Between the three of us we have created a lot of laughter and have found a real joy in working with this team. After all if it isn't fun for us how can it be fun for them. I am looking forward to week two. I can't wait to see how far we will get and how much more joyous times we can create. It is weeks like these where I am reminded how much I love coaching..
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