Three Most Common Recruiting Questions.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of every program.  There are many different styles of recruiters and recruits.  With Brandon University, being a smaller university in Usport recruiting also is the head coach’s responsibility. During my time recruiting, some common questions arise.  

1. How much will I play?

More and more young women can step in and help a line up right away. However, for most of the players they will have to work hard in practice for a few years to get much court time.

For most first years, eighty percent of their volleyball time is practicing.  This is where they develop skill and tactics. This allows them to try new skills, to fail and struggle without the fate of the team on their shoulders. Sport is tough that way, thousands of people get to watch a player succeed and fail over the course of their career.  That also means twenty percent of volleyball is actual game play.  In the case of most first years, it is more like five percent game play.  Therefore, eighty five percent of the year you are playing with people as talented as you or better than you are.  You will be challenged and improving daily.

2. How many classes should I take?

Most of our athletes take a reduced course load to handle the demands of being part of the program.  Thirty credits is a full course load. Most athletes will take 24 credits or less. Which means that they are taking one less course a semester.  Add that missed course a semester up over 4 years and you have a full eight courses left in your fifth year. That is a big reason why Usport has 5 years of eligibility rather than four.

3. What is a typical week like?

A student athlete’s demand on their time changes whether we are in season or out of season. Our season last from mid-October to end of February then playoffs start. Teams that make it to the finals then go to nationals will play until mid-March.

In season, our athletes will do weights for maintenance twice a week and a physical circuit once a week. This extra physical commitment is usually Monday to Wed. We find this helps prevent injuries as well as allows the athletes to perform at their best late in matches.

Next, we add extra academic demands for first year students or students who need academic help.  These students have study hall on Mondays.  We use study hall to help organize the student athletes.  We need to make sure they are aware of when assignments are due and test are scheduled.  We also will teach them some study skills.  With missing quite a few days for travel, athletes need to organize their time. They need to keep their instructors aware of days they are missing. They need to arrange to write tests on the road or before we leave. The student athlete often will hand in papers before due dates to accommodate travel schedules. 

Then we have two video sessions a week.  The video occurs before practice on Monday and Weds for 30 minutes. Here we review the past matches and what we need to focus on.  We also will go over game plan.  Monday we will show how other teams have had success against our upcoming opponent. This allows setters and hitters to work on shots that they might need for the upcoming matches.

We also have extra on court sessions; the athletes attend one small group training session over and above practices.  Our practices last for two hours a day Monday through Thursday.  This is where we have an opportunity to break things down a little more.  Have the athlete get a feel for a new skill.  During our regular practice time, it is all pass set hit drills.  There will be a major focus on a tactical or transitional part of the game.

We practice for two hours a day as a team.  This is a very quick tempo; we try to keep the flow going as much as possible.  We will start on two courts working on specific things.  A good example would be outside attackers covering a tip and transitioning outside for attack. Then middles liberoes and setters would be working on a push 41.  The end of practice is always 6 on 6,

Our travel is often by air; we usually fly out for our road trips Thursday around noon and return home Sunday around noon.  .

On match days will we will have an hour serve and pass practice in the morning. Then we will play our match that night. In Canada West, we have a schedule where you play the same team back-to-back nights. This makes the weekend very interesting. Always is fun to see the adjustments teams make.   We often practice at 9am and then return to hotel to watch video in smaller groups on Saturday. This allows the athletes a chance to schedule their day.  When to study when to sleep.  We will do a team meal together 2.5hrs before we play.

In our preseason, we will require more strength sessions. We go to three weight sessions a week and two dryland circuit sessions. We will have more court time as well.  We will practice 6 days a week and will begin the small group sessions.  We will begin our video and study sessions.  We try to emulate the amount of time they will be using the rest of the year.

Who Coaches the Coach?

A few years ago, I heard the phrase "You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with". I use that phrase a lot with our athletes. Are the people who surround yourself with helping to make you a better player and person?

I have a great group of friends involved in coaching. Not all of them are volleyball coaches. These people allow me to discuss situations and help make my decisions. I have great colleagues that also love to improve their sport and enjoy talking coaching and science of coaching.  This is my main source of professional development.

However, over the years I have not taken many opportunities to pursue other professional development. I tend to just stay in my own gym and rely on books I read about coaching and leadership. I am a voracious reader. I love finding books. I tend to have 3 or 4 books on the go at one time. But specific volleyball professional development has been hard to come by. I discovered my love of learning later in my coaching career.

  When I lived in Alberta at the end of the season I would evaluate the year and write down some recommendations fo myself.  Then I would move on to the next team.  I was coaching year round. I loved coaching and wanted to be involved in everything.  College would finish then club practices would start. When Club finished Team Alberta would start.  Every experience with those teams  made me a better coach but I didn't have time to go back to those recomedations.  I was stuck in a perpetual cycle of what I knew as best practices.

When I decided to start my Masters in Coaching at University of Victoria I found my best practices challenged by what science was saying.  Dr. Van Jean taught our motor learning class and her class literally blew my mind.  It allowed me to rethink all the drills we used. Was this the best use of their time? Did it transfer from practice to matches? Was my feedback being a help or was I hindering learning with my constant chatter? It changed the way I coached and small success followed.

After I finished my Masters I was able to work in small chunks with our Canadian National Women's Team.  Here Arndt Ludwig ( Lupo) was putting the science we learned into practice. It was refreshing and I wanted to see more. A lot of my time with the national team my role was to stay behind and train the athletes who didn't travel. Again, I was in my own gym.

When I was selected to travel with the team I saw volleyball played at an incredibly high level.  The speed and power of the game again was a catalyst for change. It allowed me to change the way I looked at the game. I realized we can ask our athletes to do more. Our Canada West is a very good league and filled with incredible athletes but we can play faster and stronger.

I believe every coach and athlete need to watch the level above them.  Know what that is like and try to mimic it when possible.

Finally, after 20 years of being in my own gym and running my own program I felt stagnant. I longed again for that catalyst to help me improve as a coach. I applied to the University for a Sabbatical. I wanted to travel and discuss with different coaches’ about how they run their programs.  I  also want to see how they make game plan decisions and how they practice for these.  I want to ask them what they personally do to stay current. How do they find ways to challenge their ideas?

Luckily, Ken Murphy at Northern Arizona (NCAA Div 1) has offered to open his gym for me. He agreed to let me sit in on coaching meetings. Be around the team at practice and watch how his coaching interact.  He has been incredibly accommodating.  

I have also reached out to a few professional coaches in Europe who have agreed to meet with me.  I have found that most volleyball coaches are very accommodating and love to talk volleyball.  I know I enjoy it when I can sit around with coaches and banter ideas back and forth.

I love coaching and my career at Brandon University and hope to return a new and improved version of myself.

My goal is to share some of my thoughts and discoveries on this blog as I travel around in search of coaching best practices.