Nerves

The great thing about having assistant coaches that have gone through our program is their ability to relate to the team.  We were having a tough practice and in discussing the practice came up the topic of first league match.  I sometimes forget the nervousness and excitement that the young athletes get from their first regulation match.

It is something a lot of the athletes have been dreaming about for a long time.  They can officially say they played CIS.  This match is important to them.  The coaches were talking about how nervous they were for their first match.  Our first match ever was against Regina.  Thinking back I was really nervous to coach my first match.  The excitement around a CIS match is great.  They felt the athletes were looking ahead of the practice and start to think about the match.

Nerves are an interesting thing. Physiologically we get butterflies, sweaty palms, dry mouth and some will even get an upset stomach or shaky hands.  People who are excited react in the same way physiologically.  The difference between the two is our perception of the situation.  Our brain is amazing thing it is taught to react to cues that we have come across.  WE do have a choice in how we decide whether we are nervous and scared, or nervous and excited.

Controlling nerves have been researched and studied a lot. Some of the main recommendations are;

a.       Prepare well.  The more you understand the game plan and your teams systems the more confident you are in your ability to perform when the opportunity arrises. Practice hard and this will also aid to your confidence.  Coaches cliché is always practice like you want to perform in the match.

b.      Know the audience, most people don’t want to see people fail.  The opposition fans may heckle and try to get players off track, but realistically they expect athletes to perform.  The home fans are really pulling for their team.  When young athlete get a chance to go in they have the entire crowd behind them.  

c.       Often as athletes we project our worst fears on the match.  “I am going to struggle infront of all my family and friends” Athletes need to rationalize their fears or distractions.  Write them down and look at them objectively.  With some of the athletes we talk about writing their distractions and fears in a book.  Then if they crop up into their head during the match they can say “I closed the book on them for now”

d.      Positive self talk and relaxation is important.  Our brain often tries to lead us down a negative path.  Here is a good article I have found.  http://onforb.es/VsEVyD it discusses all the different brain trick we have.

e.      Last one eat a banana, it helps with the nerves.

Controlled Scrimmages and Planning.

We have had a great week of practices.  We played 10 hours of volleyball on the weekend with organised scrimmages with U of Regina and U of Winnipeg.  This is an interesting tradition that volleyball has.  We meet up and play controlled games against other teams.  The first session we played 3 different styles of “wash” or multiple ball drills.  The basketball coaches at BU think we are crazy to get together to practice with the other team.  I always respond with the standard “ Don’t you get tired of playing against your own team?”  On Sunday we had a couple of the men’s players come in to officiate sets.  We split into two groups and would scrimmage 1 set against each of the Universities.  Then the would play each other for a set, we would then play one of them again for a set.  WE kept rotating like that. Play one set, then have a short practice to work on something specific.  Then play another set to see if we have a good feel of what we practiced.

As a coaching staff, we decided to  give the team Monday off to catch up on school work. They were expected to do a weight session. When we were all back together on Tuesday you could feel a real sense of purpose with the team.  We handed out Iphone skins to help celebrate our succesfull pre-season of learning. The practices this week went very fast and were very focussed.  Our captains decided to have a players only meeting. This was to set the record straight, to help the younger players get a sense of what it is going to take to be successful in league.  I was really excited about the group taking ownership of the year.  Tom Skinner always tells the team that they are in control of the results, as coaches we put the pieces together for success, but what they do with that information will determine where we end up.

Another thing that changed was the practice plans.  Now that we are in our new facility and have a chance to use two courts to tweak some technical things, we take advantage of that. Here is a copy of our practice on Tuesday. 

In the plan this week we controlled as much as we could; who would play beside who, who would go through the drill twice so the courts would be working around the same time.  The number of reps the drill would take.  The athletes setting their goals and working together really was successful this week.

When planning a practice, for me it is like watching a movie.  I need to see the drill in my mind before I put it down on paper.  I think what is it we need to work on.  This case it was hitting off blocks.  We moved the attenna’s closer together so the outside attacker had to hit the ball between them.  We discussed with the defense your job is to keep them in the drill forever. After doing a rough draft, I then look at the flow of the practice. Are we warm enough to swing full? Does the practice build on the previous drill? Does the game act as an accumulation of the entire practice? Once all of this is set I will then type it into our practice plan.  Then I usually find an adaptation of a drill yet again.  Being over planned really helps the success of the practice. Then we still find situations that I hadn’t thought of. In that case as a team we decide on the rules. An example was we were playing a game to 25. If you score 24 you must score 25 or you go back to 23.  This time we had the hero (A player who had to score the 25^th point).  But we hadn’t counted on the team with 24 getting a stuff block. The purpose of the game was to put pressure on the attacker, so we decided it would be a wash.  Then the team with 24 had to receive serve for their 25^th point.  This would give the player a chance to score first opportunity. 

I just find that routine in planning for practice has been successful for me.  I always feel confident heading into practice that we have an opportunity to get better. 

Quick recruiting trip and questions asked to me.

I was on a whirl wind recruiting trip out west this past weekend. Recruiting is such an interesting part of our job. It is never the same twice. Usually when recruiting I try hard to watch players that we have identified.  The second part is to meet with coaches and get leads on who is emerging as a possible Canada West Player.

During the tournament I try really hard not to distract the athletes  There are recruiting rules in the CIS that state this too, but if the coach allows you coaches can talk with the athletes. NCAA is different they cannot interact at all with the athlete and need to state so if an athlete approaches them. I say hi to the athlete and the coach and then just watch.  After matches I will talk to the coaches.  Often this conversation turns technical and I have found many an interesting drill idea from this time.

This year a long time friend of mine was coaching a team.  He asked me if I would come meet the team and talk to them about playing the game and answering questions.

Here is what transpired to the best of my memory.

Team Question #1. What is the height of your smallest player?  Volleyball is getting to be a taller and longer sport.  Our smallest player is our 5’4” libs.  She is extremely fast and has great vision.  Our smallest outside attacker is Chloe.  She is  5’8” but she touches 9’10”.  This is quite a big jump.  It isn’t how tall you are it is how high you play. 

Team Question #2 What do you think are the most important skills for Highschool teams?  I think at all levels it is serving , passing and playing out of system.  These are the three skills/systems we spend a ton of time on.  Blocking and attacking will take care of itself. 

Team question #3  What can a player do to get noticed in a try out?  I think you should try to be 3^rd person in line when a coach describes drill.  Thae first person will try and the coach will correct.  Usually the third person is the first person to do the skill or drill the way the coach wants it done.  Second thing is follow the rules to the T, get noticed.  One year I was coaching provincial team and the athletes were playing pepper.  The coach in charge of the drill said if the ball is shanked the two partners are expected to run and get the ball and start playing where they get it. The door to the gym was open to a field a ball was shanked out to the field.  Two players ran out and started peppering outside.  Whenever we were discussing the players both players names kept coming up.  Everyone was so impressed.

Team Question #4.  What can we do if we are on a losing streak?  I think it is important to stay as a team during this time.  No one likes losing, but very few teams go through an undefeated season.  With a young team learning to win their are some close matches.  The team needs to stay strong, it is easy to start placing blame on one another.  I told them of one of our teams in Grande Prairie.  I love high fives and low fives.  It means you see and recognize the team mate.  When I was coaching at a highschool in Grande Prairie the team took to high to the max.  Whenever two Ceinahs met each other in the hall way they would high five each other.  Sometimes there would be no time to talk in-between classes, just a quick hand slap in the hall.  People in the school started to notice the camaraderie of the team.

Team Question 5.  What do you look for in a player?  I look for speed and dynamic movements.  Too often in volleyball we try to just time our movements with the arrivial of the ball.  The best players react fast and are ahead of the ball.  Attacking, wait longer and approach faster.  Blocking, beat the ball and be stationary and strong in the air.  Serve reception spot the ball, beat it to the spot and then pass it. A fast player is usually a high jumper, good blocker, strong passer and server

New Facility and Goal setting

New facility,

If you have been following along our blog we are in theprocess of building a new gym and renovating our old gym.  It is an exciting time here for our athleticsand for the team. 

Earlier this summer I was talking with Kevin Neufeld and hecame up with a great team building idea. When it was time to enter the gym we should do it as a big groupblindfold the athletes so that they all see the gym for the first time at thesame time.

Yesterday was that time for us to enter the gym.  We met on the steps and blindfolded theteam.  We then had them form 3 linesholding hands.  A coach then lead theminto the gym to the end of the court.  Wethen counted to three.  The reaction ofthe team was priceless.  It is a greatway for them to begin our new journey in the facility.  Next week we will begin to practice in there.

This week we also met again with Dr. Skinner and we wentover goal setting.  We focused mostly onthe process goals.  We are setting goalson Monday for the week.  It is a way forthe athletes to focus on a skill that we might not be working on during theweek. 

https://acrobat.com/app.html#d=X8rephqoLkCmxcKGonF9TA

The above link is to the online version of the form we use.  We have a the athletes fill out the form in their personal dropbox folder that syncs with my computer.  That way I can keep track of their progress and write responses to their goals.  

One of the by products to the form is the athletes again have to think and evaluate their game.  We have a technical, tactical, nutritional, educational and team goal.  The team goal was describe to them as "who haven't I connected with lately?' Maybe invite them for tea or to meet you for lunch.  Just an idea for the athletes to make sure they understand each other better.  

Inside a preseason tourney

Preseason is upon us already.

This past weekend we travelled to Briercrest College and University of Regina to play our first set of exhibition games.  We scheduled the Thursday Briercrest match and the Friday morning Med Hat College matches so our young athletes would have a chance to play in some matches before the first Canada West tournament in Regina that weekend.

Our first two months we prioritize fitness ahead of results at the preseason tourneys.  In CIS there are no wild card berths.  The amounts of teams for Nationals from each division are based on the results from the year before. With Canada West teams meeting in the final we know we have 3 births.  The preseason record counts towards the top 10 rankings, but ultimately teams win the right in.  For this reason we rank conditioning ahead of the result.  Of course we want to win, but we don’t base theteams rest on peaking for the tourney.

WE set team goals for the weekend around our systems and the learning of them.  We want this weekend to confirm our different defense and the player’s communication within the system. As the errors build up players and coaches tend to get quiet.  I know as my frustration builds up that I always find myself sitting down and clamp up.  I have asked my assistant coaches to recognise this in me and to ask me a question.  “What’s next?  This simply jogs me back to reality and then I start coaching again.  We ask the same from our players.

We discussed in depth the 5 r’s of volleyball.  I’ve mentioned this in a past blog. http://coachingbobcats.blogspot.ca/2011/10/5-rs-of-volleyball.html

But we really emphasised the during rally communication as well.  Saying what you see is the habit we need to have happen.  I equate it to writing a test together.  If one person in the group knows the math part of the exam really well but refuses to communicate the whole groups mark will go down.  This is the same in volleyball, what we watch and say out loud has effect on our team as a whole.  We explain even if it is the wrong read at least your teammates know you made the wrong read and then can adjust accordingly.

What do we say?  Well our defense is based on whether the setter is front row or back row.  We will also adjust later in the season based on what the tendency is in each rotation.  We will bunch in one situation and against another team we will spread block.  Everyone has to know the rotation.  We have some very creative coaches in Canada West and they will have different rotations.  Alberta the defending silver medallist run a modified 6-2 system, plus their se3rve reception is more of a trapezoid shape than a line or the traditional 3 player passing.  So it is important in that situation to confirm who is responsible for the attackers across the net.

Once the ball is set we want our back row then to identify what the opposition middle is doing.  To try and pick up the read as quickly as possible, The middle is going 30!  That is because we feel that will be the middle is the quickest a ball will come over, we have less time to react to it than the outside set.  Then when head back to the ball, is it in system or is it off the net.  Then the set, what is the hitters approach like, where are our blockers, will the middle be able to close or are they committed? Then our defense moves accordingly. We want this to happen with vocab,  hitting cross or line, roll or swinging, closed, seem or triple block. 

Last week maintained our weight training and track workouts till Weds.  We then travelled 4 hrs to Briercrest.  The Briercrest and Med Hat matches were good, we were fresh and won 4-0 both matches.  We won 3 straight and agreed to play a fourth both matches to make sure everyone played.

When we entered into our matches in Regina against Manitoba we were feeling pretty good but as a coaching staff we could see fatigue creeping in as the match went longer.  We lost in 4, won the first set 25-21, then lost 22,22 14.  The last set we were tired. 

We then went and watched video as a group, we had 2.5 hours off before we played Sask.  We clipped all the attacks of Manitoba and showed the set we won.  As a coaching staff we wanted to show our team executing the systems properly.  We were able to get 5 triple blocks which showed we were focussing on the right cues.

We played a bit of a younger group against Sask and lost in 4 again.  Win or lose we start every team debrief with what went well.  We ask for specific plays that stood out.  Not just we closed our blocks well, we want Lexi came a long way to close that block in the second set.  I want them to recall the exact play.  I feel this helps build team confidence but it also helps them begins to help them replay the match in their heads.  The second part of this is to teach athletes how to take a compliment.  We have a tough time taking a compliment, quite often we feel we need to justify it with a negative situation to balance the compliment, or we feel we need to compliment the person back.  We teach our athletes the appropriate thing to do is just to say thanks. Nothing else. 

We then discuss what we need to work on; this one was tough on us as we feel that we need to be able to beat Sask if we want to play in the playoffs. We used this opportunity to show our young players that Canada West every match is up in the air.  I also took this time to thank some athletes; we have a few athletes that are working extremely hard to fix technical errors.  One in particular is trying to learn new footwork as she had left-handed footwork for her right handed approach.  She has worked very hard at this, right now she is not jumping as high as she did with the other footwork, but it will pay off in the long run.  We pointed this out to everyone.  It is important for her teammates to support the change to make it worthwhile for her.

Saturday morning we watched video of our match against Sask, this time we showed 20 mins of the set we won, but really noticed break down in our systems and defensive postioning.  We then went to play Alberta.  Again we lost in 4, we went back to watch video again before we played Regina in the consolation semi.  The video showed improvement with our defense when we were serving but we were sloppy off serve reception and in transition.  Alberta was able to take advantage of the errors often.

The amount of video we watched is beginning to pay off we really notice the improvement.  We were able to win the Regina match in 5, some of our younger players played a big role in the win.  Mary our freshman setter started the entire match and played well for us.

Sunday we loaded the bus for a rematch with Sask.  This was an important match for us we needed to send a message to ourselves and to Sask that we were better than our last match.  We played our best match winning 14,14,20.  It was a good bus ride home.

Beginning Typical Week Being a Bobcat.

Start up of the 2012/13 season is well under way.  As always with this time of year the athletes are working hard and improving Daily.  The first week of school we gradually built up the volume until we are at a super high level right now.

A typical week for the athletes right now is

Monday

They have weight training in small groups with our Strength Coach Sean.  Right now it is a very basic program making sure everyone is caught up to speed.  Then we will have practice from 4-7pm.  Usually a small group from 4-5pm, example would be setters and middles.  Then from 5-6pm the whole team will train together.  The hour with the whole team is dedicated to our systems. We focus  a lot on the defense to transition part of the game.  With the Mikasa ball we feel the game is played a lot more out of system than it used to be played.  Then the second group will work on skills from 6-7.  This way everyone has 2 hours of practice but also a good hour working on things specific to their positions.

Tuesday

Morning starts with a track workout.  This is a great team builder.  It gives each player a chance to see how each other work.  It also has lots of positive peer pressure when an athlete thinks they are done but see their teammates keep pushing, they keep pushing too.  The photo’s are from this weeks track work out.

Tuesday we also practice 4-7, different groups than Monday as we have to juggle around some class schedules.

Weds

The athletes are asked to work out on their own with weights today.  With Brandon being a small school we have only a limited number of courses.  This makes it very hard to get everyone in the gym at the same time.  So we trust the athletes to get this done.  This is an important part of our program and the athletes must understand that they need to lift or do the circuits on the days scheduled.  We have planned this for optimum recovery and results.  During the pre-season physical training is a priority over being fresh for tournament matches.  If the athlete skips a day it affects the whole team.

This week we have our first meeting with Dr. Skinner . He is coming in to create our standards.  We have three over riding values on our team.  Be loyal, Bring honour to the program, Put the team first.  These are brought from the last year to the next year.  But each year is different so we have to have  adifferent set of standards for the team.  With Dr. Skinner we come up with these standards.  We have already discussed what each of the values look like and don’t look like.  For example what does being loyal mean when you are coming off the bench?  The team came up with; cheering for the players on the floor, looking for weaknesses within the oppositions defense, being ready to go when called upon and also knowing the game plan so you can execute it when you have a chance to play.

Know as a team we have to decide on all the things we brought up which are the most important ideas and methods.  These we want to write down and hold each other accountable for.  Each year the team comes up with their own.  Last years can be seen here http://coachingbobcats.blogspot.ca/2011_09_01_archive.html

We also normally practice from 4-7pm the same as we have all the way through.

Thursday,

Thursday the team is required to do a circuit in small groups.  This one involves a little less jumping and more bungy cords, working on footspoot and trying to create an overspeed situation with the team.

Then we will practice from 4-7.

This week we are travelling to Briercrest to play our first exhibition matches.  WE play Briercrest College at 8pm.  This team competes in the Alberta Colleges League. It is a good chance to for our rookies to compete before they face CIS competition in Regina Fri to Sunday

Weekend.

This weekend we play in the University of Regina Tournament.  We have a great pool.  We play University of Manitoba and University of Sask on Friday.  Round out pool play with last years national silver medallist U of Alberta.  Then depending how we do play an A side of B side playoffs.

I will update how it went next Tuesday.

We also had the opportunity to take our team photo's, head shots and video introductions for each player.  We had a fun time with this.  Alex Beshara he is our Communications Officer Social Media.  He documented the event for us.

Welcome to BU "Rookies initiation thoughts"

On Tuesday at 6pm central time on twitter there is a volleyball tweet up or discussion. It is facilitated by @goodtouchvolleyball.  This past week one of the topics was hazing. If you want to join in it is #gttalk   It led me to think about our first years and their welcoming to BU. I am happy with how our first year players are fitting in with the team so far.  With the addition of 6 first year players this leads us to the idea of rookie initiation and the dreaded word hazing.

I am not naive to think that our team won’t have some form of first year welcoming.  I like to talk to our captains beforehand. Personally I believe this is the Captains first real challenge as leaders.  They have to be strong enough to make this a fun and safe activity.  I believe the purpose of a welcome to BU experience is to team build, to bring the athletes officially into our family.  By having the first years singled out and make a fool of themselves does nothing to endear them to our school. It also can be a source of stress on a student who already has a ton of stress placed on them. The idea that you have to earn your way on to the team is very archaic.  The athletes today have put a ton of time into their sport already, hired person trainers, played provincial and national teams just to get to this level.

In the discussion with the Captains I mention three guidelines.

1. Captains and the rest of the team are personally responsible and accountable for all the actions.  They need to make sure it is a safe environment.  I also ask it not to be limited to First years.  It needs to be inclusive; if the first years do it then the Captains or veterans should be doing it too.

2. The activities chosen are genuinely voluntary nature, first year athletes have the choice to participate or opt out of the activity without fear of any negative consequences. If an athlete makes a positive choice to limit alcohol, or food intake, we should celebrate this activity instead of ridicule.  This is a committed person who wants to be able to train. Alcohol takes 48 hours to leave your system, if overconsumption occurs, that is two days of training and recovery wasted.

  3. WE do not have special dress up activities and then head out around town.  We want to be seen as mature place of learning.  Whenever anything negative happens around the athletes it is “Brandon University Bobcat arrested” or “Former Bobcat in trouble” as headlines in the paper.  They lose a bit of their own identity and have to think of the larger group.

So far in our 8 years of existence our welcome parties have gone pretty smooth. But I still worry about the ramifications every year.  It only takes bad one to put tarnish on the program forever. 

I am not in favour of this type of activity and let it known to the team.  WE live in a small community and when it comes to athletics it is even smaller.  Coaches find out eventually all the things that go on. 

We recruit athletes that are quality people and this is their time to prove us right.