Coaches Christmas

Coaches Christmas

Success isn’t a once in awhile thing, it is an all the time thing. A person doesn’t just suddenly become successful it is because they have worked hard to reach that point.  Then they must work hard to maintain that level.  Therefore success is a habit.

I try really hard to get away from volleyball for two days.  I found out a couple years ago that even a short amount of time helps with the excitement of second semester.  Coaching in the Canadian University and College is a unique experience coming from high school.  It is quite an adjustment for a coach as it is for a player.  The idea that you can take two weeks off for a break right in the middle of your season is definitely interesting. 

Taking two days off to forget about volleyball is awesome.  I was able to get to Winnipeg and visit with some friends.  Even though the conversation was about volleyball it was more about the state of the game in Canada and how we think we can improve it. 

The next couple of days were dedicated to recruiting.  At this point of the season we have a decent grasp on what we need to do to improve the team. There are some holes that we need to fill, players that are graduating, or areas that we need depth in.  Some recruits we have been talking with for a couple of years hoping to guide them to Brandon.  Others we will begin talking with.  I usually use the week before Christmas to call the Junior college coaches in Alberta and BC to get their opinion on who is playing well in their league.  I find that every coach including myself is a bit biased to their own player.  When I phone another coach to get an opinion on the different players from other teams it tends to balance it out. 

To me the cold call is the hardest, the first contact with a parent and a player.  I will google the athlete and read as many newspaper articles or information about the players as I can before the first call.  If a player is successful at golf in the summer it helps to start a casual conversation.  I don’t want the first call to be to formal, just a checking the interest type of call.  The follow up ones are easier to develop a bit of a rapport. During this time I also like to guage where are top recruits are at.  Some times at this point we need to scramble to fill.  This year we are fairly young in most positions so we are not so desperate to fill, we can take a bit of a risk on some raw athletes, or maybe try to change an athlete from middle to the outside.

After I finish a couple of days of trying to figure out where we stand, I like to go back and watch our matches, well parts of our matches.  I like to watch each set from 18-finish.  To see what we do during the crunch times of the match.  What should be our focus in the new year.  I am really happy with the result so far.  I really feel as if the team is committed to the program and our identity.  I worry about this time of year, just two weeks is a long time off.  We ask the team to continue with a jumping program and weight training.  We have found that this prevents shin splint issues when we return from break.  The body isn’t prepared for the load of the Christmas tournament.

The last thing I like to do is begin to watch our opposition that we play the second semester.  I sound like a broken record  but we have some big matches coming up.  I really believe that we have enough experience and the right make up that we can make a run deep into the playoffs.  I don’t think we should cancel out a chance at the final four or an appearance at Nationals, but we have to get there first.  So getting a big jump on our oppositions tendancies help.  Just so everyone understands, 2 hours of watching UBCO play on Christmas to wrap up their semester of competition.  We play them Jan 13 and 14^th.  They are a much better team than their record shows.  But I feel we match up well.

So for Christmas I asked for some great recruits and some important wins.  Oh and I bought myself some new shirts and ties.... Merry Christmas everyone.

December meetings testing and competing

We are officially on our Christmas Break.  With the strike this was a different December.  Traditionally we would practice till the Desks would go in the gym around Dec 8^thfor final exams.  Then we would focus on weights and some plyometrics.  This year since the strike went 45 days the school has decided to push exams until Jan 23-30^th.  Which gives us a bit more time with the gym, but it is a crazy time for students.

As everyone who remembers university life the end of semester are crazy and busy.  It is a weird time for a coach.  We found that the athletes are so focussed on their school that it is hard to teach new things or to fix some technical flaws.  We decided a few years ago that we can use this time to teach competition. We have since then started to have Queen of the Gym tournaments.  This is a tournament where you play with different people every game. If your team wins then you get positive points.  If you lose then you get negative points.  That way every point is worth two.  Lose 25-23 your down two but your opponent is up 2.  That is a 4 point difference. We hope that teaches our team every point is important.  Even if your down you need to battle till the end.

We had two good tournaments, 3 on 3 full court the first day, which Chloe won.  She is our leftside that was our libero at the start of the year.  She has strong ball control and found ways to win.  We talked in between each match about trying to be more strategic.  They have been playing with and against each other for a semester.  What are their strengths and weakness? How can your group use them to your advantage?   

Second tournament we ran was 4 on 4 tournament.  We had Sara and Becky from our coaching staff put on their gear and competed to give us 4 teams of 4.  It is fun to see them play.  Both Becky and Sara played last year so still are very skilled.  Becky ended up second in the tournament.  Our first year letfside Shanlee won the tournament.  Different than the 3’s tourney, Shanlee really cut down on her unforced errors and scored when she had too. At the start of this tourney we reminded them of what we are trying to do as a group, cut down on the unforced errors especially on the red trouble ball.

In this time we also do individual meetings with the players. We created mid term report card that we work through together.  We get the athletes to grade themselves on everything from individual skills to understanding and executing game plans, understanding their role and the acceptance of it.  We find that most athletes are very self aware.   They have a good understanding of their level of skill and their role on the team.  The team has a great feel about it right now.  Everyone is fitting in a feels like they are a valuable member of the team.  As a coach, my past teams always creep into my mind, I have had some very upset players in these meetings.  Even though I try to touch base with the athletes at least once or twice a month with a casual conversation in the gym, on a bus or in the airport I sometimes get surprised in the meetings. I know we preach that we are this year’s team and the statement is one of our standards.  I still remember the bad experience and try to avoid them.  For this reason I worry about some of the athletes who don’t get a lot of playing time.  I am happy they are all working hard and understand when they get their opportunity to make the best of it.

Lastly we fitness test.  We test three times a year.  We test in September when they arrive, then again in December, and then in May before the go home.  We usually get some big growths from the May to September from our first year players.  Over the Christmas break they still lift and work on a circuit.  We have found that the fitness test helps motivate people during this time.  Usually they see improvement from Sept till now.  Or they realize they need to put more effort into this part of their game. 

We have a tournament at home from Dec 29 to 31. WE have told each of the players what their role is.  We need to get some players quality contacts.  It is a good chance to reinforce our team character and have an opportunity to play some of the younger players in some different situations. This is a fun time for us as we are able to put the younger athletes in different situations without the pressure of league. 

http://www.gobobcats.ca/2011/12/07/conferences-of-canada-challange-set-for-december/  is a link to the tourney.  We are not charging for this tournament hoping to get as many youth teams out as we can.  It is a good chance to see the different styles of teams from the different leagues. 

Video

Here are some of the Video's Matt Packwood our Sports Information Officer put together on our website. gobobcats.ca  He did a great job thought I would show all of you.  The play by play voice is Tyler Crayston from CKLQ sports here in Brandon.

Less is More

This past weekend was a very important one for us.  We needed to get two wins at home, which would place us at 6 wins and 6 losses.  Being .500 would be incredible considering the strike and having to learn on our own.  We had a tough first semester with playing 3 top ten nationally ranked teams.

This weekend was Saskatchewan Huskies, even though they were winless heading into the weekend, we have learned that there are no easy matches in Canada West.  The Huskies had taken sets off some pretty impressive teams.  Leading up to this weekend was also my first time being able to be back in the gym for a full week of practice.  This made for an interesting dynamic.

We decided to take Monday off as we have been going for 6 straight weekends and felt that the extra day rest would be more beneficial than the practice.  Sometimes less is more.  Tuesday we went for 1.5 hours and had a practice with a lot of reps and movement.  We are able to put up two courts at every practice so it gives us a chance to rep a lot of different things.  It was a fun practice as we were hitting different tempo’s of sets.  Some of the outsides had the opportunity to hit some of the middle set selections and the mids had the opportunity to hit higher sets. It was a good way to introduce myself back to the team.

Weds though we got down to business, we watch video in practice and discussed what we would dot different defensively.  We would show it on a white board, then go on court and practice it.  I had used the same type of drill for this part of practice.  In retrospect it was too long of one drill for the time of night 8:30-9:30pm and the fatigue level of the athletes.  Earlier that day the athletes had a good weight session with Sean our weight coach, which help contribute to the fatigue level.  Thursday was more games specific and what we would try to implement offensively.

I also was a little grumpy this week.  I have a big fear of playing teams we should beat.  Maybe it stems from myself as an athlete and I would get complacent in training leading up to those games.  I really try to push the athletes so they are prepared to be in an extremely close match.  A few years ago a friend of mine, Frank Enns,  talked to me about different mind sets that athletes tend to have.  Athletes most often have an idea of the how we should do against a team before we play them.  We should beat this team easy, I would be surprised they get over 20.  Or this team is really good every game will be within one or two, or worse thinking we will be lucky to get to 20 on this team. 

Against Sask. I was worried of “they would be lucky to get to 20 on us mind set”  We used a video from Versus to help set the tone before the match.  Becky has been using videos before the matches and believes it is why we are on a run.  So we are not superstitious but why risk it.

 As it turned out We played really well Friday and had strong attention to detail winning 3-0 and they never got to 20.  Kellie set the ball very well, Chloe had 8 kills and jaryn had 9 kills with a hitting efficiency of .412.  As a team we were able to control the ball well and attacked over .300 which is incredibly high.

Saturday though was a different story.  We fell into our own mind trap.  Since the match the day before went so easy we were not as focussed in the process as the night before. Terry Orlick, a reknown sport psychologist wrote a paper “Winning after Winning” it can be found online at http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/free/winning.html   It basically says that it is difficult to win back to back  and have success because things have changed.  For us we found our selves focussing on offense only. We had scored so well the night before, that when Sask made adjustments we struggled.  They changed their defense and we had to find different ways to score.  For this reason our total focus went to offense and we let slip our overall game.  We had 16 serving errors in the 4 sets.  We lost the third set and at one point in the third set it was 6 out 7 servers missed.  Sask serves incredibly tough and with our focus on offense we seemed to be suprized with the pace.  WE had more 0 and 1 passes than ever before.  The night before we were just focussing on the present.  It is a big lesson for us to learn and hopefully we don’t have to relearn it again this year.

We won the match in four, so we achieved our goal of 500.  In our after match debrief we discussed the level of focus and where it was at.  Then I was able to address the team and thank them for their commitment this first semester.  We have an impressive group of girls here.  Each one of them has contributed to our success and found ways to make us better as a whole.  Different people have all led in different ways.  Claire Willerton has been a tremendous leader.  She is a fifth year player, who we are converting to the outside. Claire has been asked to come off the bench and help us when we are in trouble.  She has done this without one complaint.  She is still practicing incredibly hard and showing what team first really means.  We know that Claire will be ready for the challenges that we face second semester.  It would be easy for Claire to be upset, but she has chosen the high road and is an impressive example.  Claire makes us better everyday. 

WE have a week off to recover from the season, then we will begin again on Dec 13^th as classes now go until the 20^th.  It is a chance to rep some things out.  I myself love to be in the gym with this group, but in talking with Bobbie our Strength Guru, this is important for the group.  Need to stick to schedule. Less is more.

Learning and Relief

Learning and relief.

This was a big weekend for us as we played Regina Cougars.  They were tied with us at 2 wins.  This has playoff implications for both teams.  Traditionally 8 wins would get a team into 7^th spot. With the addition of UBCO from Kelowna to the league it could mean a team would need more.  So with this weekend marking halfway point of the season we needed both wins.

We continually preach team first and doing what you can do help the team become better.  This is easily portrayed with the main players.  As they have a chance to show it on the floor. It becomes tougher when you are a reserve.  How can they contribute to the team concept? WE keep telling them that they make us better in practice and that they have an opportunity to learn the game in a practice situation.  At some point they will be needed to come on the floor and perform.  This is tough because every player at this level has been the starter and go to player on their highschool teams.  Many see other players on oppositions getting opportunities to play and are having success and they know that they are as good as them.  But in our situation we need them to help keep getting us better and their time will come.

In the first match against Regina this happened.  We lost the first set again Jumping out to a decent lead to watch is dwindle away losing the set by two.  This was tough on our team emotionally, they did their best not to show it.  Held their heads high on the side switch and ran into the team huddle, but what went wrong continued to haunt us.  Our passing went out the window.  Late in that set Becky and Sara made a lot of subs and gave the starting group a chance to rest.  Our reserves lit it up.  They played with tremendous energy and put pressure on Regina.  Shanlee in particular was a force passing and scoring. We lost the set but earned some respect.

Becky and Sara went back to the first group but left Shanlee on the floor.  It was a great adjustment.  Regina was well prepped for our team so having a new player on the floor seemed to change their focus. Shanlee was their passing target and she was able to hold her own allowing our middle and rightside to get going.  WE came together and won the match in 5.  That was a huge relief for us. It was a total team effort.  To be able to put that in our mental back pack and know we can pull through.  To also see that our young team members are still improving a lot adds to our confidence.

Tori was in the same situation as Shanlee last year, she played spot duty and usually in situations where we needed an emotional lift.  When you are practicing a player doesn’t realize how much they are improving.  For Tori it was the New Years tourney at Laval.  We had the opportunity to play against FX Garneau a CCAA team that won the silver medal at Nationals.  Tori played in all those matches as did our young players.  WE were able to sweep them both times we played them.  She was then able to understand the level of volleyball she was playing at everyday.  It changed her focus.  Tori  also committed to doing her physical training this summer and has improved drastically. Now in her second year she is a valuable member of the team and rarely will be off the floor.

After the match we found out the strike was over!!!!  I was able to get back with the team officially after midnight.  I was so excited, the reaction of the team surprised me.  Of course the first thing they thought of was the unknown.  What is going to happen with classes, I have missed 7 exams are we going to have to write them all in one week? How many assignments are due?  This was going to be a big distraction for tomorrow.

We went into practice and had a good conversation about dealing with what we can control, and that was our team prep for todays match.  We also talked about what would be the best thing for the team, Should I take over immediately as head coach.  After talking as a coaching group and with some of the players we decided that Becky would head coach the team one last match.  I would assist her.  I haven’t been at practice in 7 weeks.  I am not in the best situation to make decisions based on athletes ability in certain situation.  Plus it is a great opportunity to show team first. To practice what we are preaching all the time.  I wanted to be back coaching so bad, but it was better to assist.

We really emphasized defense and being able to release to off speed shots or balls of the block. Forty minutes of our hour was dedicated to that type of drills.  We also took some time to make adjustment to block their rightside player.  We moved inside and defended one and relied on the player in 5 to dig the line shot.

Last week we talked a lot about communicating and then making adjustments as a group.  Well Saturday it all fell together.  We played great the team was able to make the adjustments.  Early in the first set Jaryn was able to chase down a ball that went sideways off a block and we were able to win the long rally. Kellie was so loud on defense that it became contagious and everyone was talking. It was fun to watch the team play.  We decided to start Chloe again.  WE had a good discussion about her focussing on passing a defending.  Her attacking would take care of itself.  The better she passed the more opportunities we would have to run middle and rightside.   The more seams she would have in the blocks.  Chloe knows she is a strong ball control player so this wouldn’t be hard for her.  We also know that Shanlee is breathing down her neck...Competing together makes us better.  Having fun with the competition makes us better.

We won 3-0 which leaves us at 4 wins and matches this weekend which we can reach .500 ^ wins going into Christmas break gives us a chance.

Close but no Cigar

We just returned home from another road trip, this time it was to Calgary to play the Dino’s.  The Dino team is an older team in the league and fairly deep in talent so we knew it was going to be a tough weekend.

The union has allowed the head coaches to travel so we can monitor the athletes, help drive them to and from the gym.  Not an ideal situation but better than nothing for now.  We have gone 41 days now without being able to be fully engaged with our teams.

We had a tremendous recruiting class last year and are very excited about our young players.  The weird part of this year is that I really feel disconnected from our first year players.  If we were teaching classes and in a normal routine the athletes traditionally stop by the office and we have a chance to discuss their development athletically, mentally and socially.  But being away from them for this length has hindered this.

This weekend for us will go down as lost opportunities.  We played fairly decent volleyball for most of the weekend.  But unlike last weekend against Trinity this weekend we had trouble closing.  Two sets we had 24-22 leads but were unable to win that last point.  This really wears on a team.  We also would go on big runs, just to watch the Dino’s edge their way back.

Being in the crowd was a tough time for me to sit and watch us lose confidence in our team concept and ourselves.  Winning in those situations is about playing for the people around you.  The power of helping a teammate will stand out in any situation.  Since I couldn’t be in the gym during our serve and pass practice in the morning, I went for coffee with Rod Durrant the Dinos men coach.  He said something that really sticks with me.  An athlete has to give back to their team in some way.  It is your responsibility to make sure the group is functioning smoothly.  It can be as small as telling the setter the last couple balls were tight, or a large as helping a teammate through a tough family situation. 

Communication is a life skill, there is no way a person would survive in the workforce without being able to communicate.  In the sporting situation it transfers directly.  When the team is in trouble or a teammates confidence is down it is the entire teams responsibility to help that teammate out.  As a coach we spend a lot of our time evaluating the athletes and we talk in such a way.  That was a really tough time for that error or that error is unacceptable.  As a player we can’t judge our teammates actions.  Too often in post game talks we hear judgment statements about our teammates. We should just accept it as an error and then do everything in our power to make the next ball better.  Helping the error become just a blip on the day. Losers assign fault, winners accept blame.

We talk with our team about the few times we have to give a free ball that we run to the net and are in a strong position.  We want to commit to our team that we will get the ball back.  Instead of going to the net tentatively and be back on our heels expecting the other team to score. 

Body language is such an important part of being part of a team.  From the crowd I could see the teams shoulders sag, head drop to the floor, and our walk slow down.  We were up 20-15 in a set when Becky called a timeout because of a 3 point run the dino’s went on.  We walked to the time out like we were already defeated. I don’t think I could notice that if I was on the bench being part of the competition.  Head up walk into that timeout with a sense of purpose.  Create the difference. 

I understand that this is hard to do when you’re struggling personally, but Fake it till you make it.  People who look confident and talk confident will often be confident. Run on the court with  sense of purpose.  Run off to the timeouts with pride. Give energy back to your teammates.

We played well enough to win for most of the weekend.  This is encouraging, we just need to play 2% better for this upcoming weekend.  No drastic changes, just have a purpose and trust our teammates. 

This is the fun time to be a competitive athlete.  We still have a chance to be 6 and 6 at the xmas break.  8 -9 wins traditionally get a team in the playoffs because there are so many split weekends in Canada west.  So opportunity is still there.

Highlights.

Meaghan had 19 kills on Sat out of the Middle

Chloe maintained her 11 kills

Lexi came in and had 3 stuff blocks

Shanlee came in and had 4 kills on 7 swings.

Lindsay is starting to look comfortable in the Libero spot and made some huge digs for us.

Trinity Day 2 Grinding

After our successful Friday we knew that Trinity will come out with some adaptations.  This match would become about adjustments and learning to score.  Or Grinding it out.

We have talked all year that our team is about ball control and winning the long rallies.  We have become very proud on the lack of unforced errors we commit.  WE really discuss knowing the right time to go after it. (Green light) the time to take a chance (yellow light) and the time when all you can do is protect the ball and try to disadvantage the opponent.  This match would become about unforced errors.

Trinity really focussed on Meaghan in the middle and wanted to limit her scoring.  They decided to take more risks on serving with the hope of our passing breaking down.  The first set started off with Trinity Jumping out to a fast lead. Trinity went up 8-5 with us already having 3 unforced errors.  A quick little team meeting in the middle with a reminder about protecting the ball fixed the problem quickly.  

As a coaching group with met with the outsides and showed them shots  that they hit hands on  Trinity was able to dig.  We explained if we could add 5km more to the shot they wouldn't have time to chase the balls down.  Jaryn Reuther really discovered this and it would work wonders for her.   We battled back and found ourselves up 24-23.  Trinity refused to quick, a huge stuff block for them and a confusion between Kellie and Meaghan had Trinity up 25-24.  A strong defensive play and a huge kill by their all star middle gave Trinity the first set.

With yesterday going so well for us and everyone scoring at a high percentage, when Trinity came out with their defensive adjustments we seemed to panic.  We forgot about what worked for us.  The coaches had a good chance to remind them of what our game plan was.  We knew we could win some long rallies, so lets not be scared to protect the ball.   The second set was extremely exciting for our fans.  We found ourselves tied at 13.  Then the teams traded points and went after each other.  We  also discussed during video that most of our serves we falling around the 5 meter mark of the court.  We need to get them moving more.  As the game was tied 20-20 Larissa went back and made a great short serve for an ace.  A couple points later Tori put one in the back corner for another Ace.  With Meaghan closing out the set for a 25-23 win.

At that moment we discovered how to win a close set.  We can manufacture points and if we have to we can win matches on tactical serving.  It looked like a huge weight was lifted off the team. The next 2 sets wouldn’t be any easier.  As we won 25-23 again and 25-21 in the fourth.  After the match we looked at the box score.  Trinity had earned more points than we did, but we were more efficient and won the plus minus battle.

We will not be the team that overpowers opposition, but we will be the team that waits for it opportunity to pounce.  When the light turns green we can bounce the ball.  When the light turns yellow we can score off hands or put the other team in trouble.  Then we know we can win the long rally.  Grinding the opposition down is not the easiest way to play volleyball.  It takes an everyday commitment to ball control and fitness.  But the Bobcats have shown they are willing to do that, at least for thar weekend.  Up next is the Dino’s in Calgary the question remains can we remember what got us to the victory last week?

http://bit.ly/vkqef4   box score of match