A Week of Learning.

The last 2 weeks have been very interesting one if you follow our Bobcats Women's Volleyball team.  We came off a decent weekend against Manitoba and had a short week to prepare for Mount Royal. We traveled to Calgary on Weds to be able to play Thursday and Friday.

We ended up losing both night to Mount Royal and we were taught a very interesting lesson about discipline and block defense.  Mount Royal was very well prepped and kept us off balance both matches.  They then did a great job of funneling our attackers to their defenders.  We were leaning on balls and really using our wt room strength.  We found out that we couldn't over power them.  They were able to dig up and transition our shots.  Secondly we started to free lance on our own defense.  

For example we asked our blockers to take away the left side on their middle and our player in middle back would then slide to the right to help defend.  Instead our middles would front the attacker and they would score to the left.  Eventually our defenders started cheating left, but our middle would then block properly and they would score to the right side.  It was all unraveling defensively.  The same thing started happening with our blockers they would set up to block cross and would reach back to line and then proceeding to have the ball hit off them.

After Friday’s match we watched a set together in the hotel and really noticed what was happening.  Hoping that would help Saturday.  I know that blooper video never helps.  It was in essence a blooper video discussing our block defense.  It didn’t help.

Our league is such a tough competitive league that .500 winning percentage will not get you in the playoffs.  Our league is November to February, it is hard to think but in early November we are feeling playoff pressure with those two losses.  We felt we needed at least a split.  

Monday’s practice was crucial we needed to get back into our groove.  This practice was a defensive one with a lot of pursuit and tough defensive situations.  We then began to introduce our defense again a different way.  We spent all Sept and Oct hoping to solidify our defense block relationship.  Over the course of this practice we discovered that we had different terminology.  When I was saying read they were thinking different from what we were trying to accomplish.

Tuesday I called Scott Koskie.  Scott is our assistant coach on the Canadian National Team and we discussed a variety of ways to teach block and defense.  We came to the conclusion that we needed to put them in different problem solving situations.  We designed a drill that worked well.

It is a 6 versus 6 wash style game.  Team A would be on serve reception and would also receive a free ball. This would happen 5 times and then Team B would receive the serve and the free ball.  Before the first serve we would give Team B specific defensive instructions.  Of the leftside on Team A scores line they get 3 points. If team A middle scores on the left side they get 3 points.  Then Team B would huddle up and decide how they wanted to defend this problem.  We then gave Team B a point for a dig, a point for a set and a point for a kill.  If they played proper defense they could get 3 points on each ball.  We felt rewarding the defense and the block would keep the focus on that skill.  Plus with the players deciding how they would defend the situation also helped them discuss and figure out different defensive ideas.

This worked well and it led well into explaining our game plans again.  The team prepped for University of Calgary Dino’s much better.  Everyone could feel the energy and commitment within the team.  We had a good week of practice.

Our Friday’s match was sold out we had the largest crowd of the season and we started really slow and Calgary was on fire.  We were still in our funk.  We couldn’t pass or defend.  Nothing was working.  The effort was there but still slightly off.  In the 3^rd set we were down by a fairly large margin when we substituted Brooke Huculak.  Brooke is a first year outside attacker from Forrest Manitoba.  Her old high school team was at the match.  When she entered the match her team went crazy.  She served and made some big defensive plays.  This seemed to energy the team and the crowd. We battled back and won the 3^rd set 25-23.  Then all of a sudden everything we worked on made sense.  We won the 4^th 25-18.  The fifth was a really battle.  They went ahead 14-12 when Kellie Baker had 2 back to back stuff blocks for the tie.  We then went ahead on a great defensive transition.  We had three match points that Calgary held off.  We lost 19-17.

Saturday we had a chance to explain in a bit more detail our blocking ideal and show what it looked like when we did it properly.  This the opposite approach from the week before.  This worked well for us.  Saturday’s match was all Bobcats.  We won in straight sets and held the Dino’s to .107 hitting efficiency.  It is something we can be proud of.  This still has us at 5-5 record.  The upcoming weekend we play U of W and it is another big match.  WE need to apply what we learned this week and keep building.  This week is still a strong defensive focus week.

Rivalry Weekend

This past weekend we played the Manitoba Bison’s.  They are presently ranked #4 in Canada and are one of our provincial rivals.  I started to talk to our team Monday about rivals and what they mean.  The rival matches are exciting for us and the school gets rev’d up for them too.

In a study in 2006 Ku came to the conclusion that a rivalry is really something that exists within the minds of competitor and media. The rivalry intensifies with  prior interaction. It is also given that rivalry magnifies competitors’ psychological involvement and desire to win independent of objective stakes, it may lead to departures from rational or typical competitive behavior.  

The Bison team is very close in age with our team.  They are a young team that relies on young players to be successful.  They have played club together for a long period of time and our really disciplined in their systems. Our Bobcat athletes have played alongside the bison players on school, club and provincial teams. They have formed strong friendships off the court with the Bison players.  This made last week of training interesting.

The first noticeable reaction was Monday.  We arrived at school to find that the construction was still going on and they had a vehicle exhaust venting to the hall of the gym.  So they asked us to not practice.  The team was disappointed and seemed a little concerned about the lack of reps they would get.  Monday’s practice is used to just make some small corrections from Saturdays match therefore it is usually very light.  Second event happened during our video session the athletes had a lot more information to give out about the individual Bison players. The athletes also all asked more questions and wanted to see more specific video of the Bison starters.  (My hope is that this preparation will soon transfer into a weekly event. ) When an athlete gets into their 4^th and fifth years they have competed against a lot of the same players on all the oppositions.  They will have stories and remember what happened the last time we did this...the opposition did that. Our first and second year players were feeding a lot of extra information since they knew so much more.

Friday we came out flying.  Our serving game plan worked well.  We kept the pressure on them and that made it easier for us to block and play defense around that.  The first set we would get a good lead and then the Bison’s would battle back we eventually won the first set 25-23.  The next 2 sets went well for us.  We were able to control the match and won 25-17 and 25-18.  Tori Dakin had 4 serving aces and Shanlee Mclennan added two more.  Shanlee is leading the nation in serving aces.

We knew Saturday we would see a different team.  The Bison’s are well coached and very disciplined. They would make some adjustments and we would need to adjust.  From the start of the match we seemed a bit off. We fought the ball, the Bison’s changed their serving strategy and we found it difficult to adjust.  I feel that we spent too much time evaluating our passes instead of playing off them.  If we pass a one we need to find a way to score or put the opposition in trouble so we can get an easier ball back and then be in system.( A little story to input here...  In the 2008 Olympics the Brazilian men’s team knew the U.S. team would serve tough.  They decided to use the U.S. block to help get them into a better situation.  The Brazilian team would intentionally roll into the U.S. block and then cover that shot.  They would then run speed off that play.  It worked really well and helped them win the match).

The Bison’s kept pressure on us the entire set. They won 25-21 that set was never in doubt. We battled back in the second set and matched their score. 25-21. The third set we struggled again with ball.  I also think this is the rivalry, we wanted to win the second night so bad that when we weren’t winning like we were Friday it was magnified.  We talked in our pre-game about playing in the moment.  I played am Asic’s commercial to help explain it. But doubt crept into our heads. At the end of the set I tried making a couple of subs to relieve the starters and hope the substitute could bring some energy.  The Bison’s won 25-19.

The fourth set the wheels fell off completely.  We struggled at every aspect of the game.  As we made more errors we started to set the ball higher and to call for a higher set.  That played into their hands as they were able to close blocks everywhere.  We decided to make a couple of subs.  We put Mary into the match to set for Kellie, Gillian went in for Shanlee and Larissa went in for Lexi. The 3 subs played with a ton of passion and energy.  WE called a time out down 14-6, and just asked the group to compete just do what they can and have fun with it. What happened next was really impressive.  That group battled hard dug some balls and went on a tear.  They caught up to the Bison’s and tied the game at 21-21.  It was fun to watch them find different ways to win and they celebrated each other’s success.  We played hard, but eventually the Bison’s came out on top 28-26^th.  The Bison’s showed why they are 4^th in Canada, but we grew in confidence.  We all learned that we have a deep bench and the pressure for the starters to perform is off them.  If they struggle which all do we have players that can perform.  It also showed us that if we play with confidence and just play with whatever happens and find away to cut down our red ball errors, like our team did in the fourth set,we can play with the top in the nation.

A little side note, Brandon University Women’s volleyball is #1 in Canada in hitting efficiency. (kills-error/total attempts)  it is rare that a Canada West team is that high.  But we will celebrate that for now.  Shanlee added 4 more serving aces to maintain her 6 ace lead on the next player. 

Opening Weekend

Opening weekend

It was an interesting and learning weekend for us.  We played our first league matches against University of Regina.  Regina has become a pretty good rivalry for us.  They always play us tough.  Plus in Canada West it is extremely hard to win on the road.  Our schedule then becomes very important. 

I felt we were really prepared on Friday and have been practicing well all week. We ran a continuous drill on Weds that we struggled with earlier in the year.  We struggled to get the ball to continuously cross the net 15 times as we rotated around the court.  This time we achieved 50 overs in the drill.  We discussed how much we have improved and some athletes even commented "how was that drill hard before" We won the first set on some strong serving.  Regina pushed us all the way and for some reason we looked nervous and unsure of our self.  In one of the time outs we talked about confidence and fighting for it.  It is a choice of us to allow the other team to take away our confidence.  We need to fight for it.  We battled the rest of the way.  We were down 2 sets to 1 and we battled back to win a convincing fourth set.  The fifth set is always a risky situation.  This set feels like a sprint to a finish.  We lost 15-13.  We won every statistical number we could except digs.  Yet Regina won the match.  This happens when one team wins two of their sets by a big margin and lose close.

We were all extremely disappointed.  After the match we went through our regular post match discussion.  I was really frustrated, more with myself then the team.  Our effort was strong.  If we maintain our effort and correct our focus we will be better the next day.  In my younger coaching I would have blasted the team after the match, but really it wouldn't help improve our situation.  Plus our effort was there. 

When we went through our stats we decided if they beat us by 12 digs and that was the only stat they beat us in, then that would be our focus.  We needed 10 digs to beat their total.  We didn't need to reinvent the wheel; we needed 2 more digs a set.  That seems really simple but that was all we really needed.  Our discussion in the morning just was a refocusing on our system and showed the team that we were in the right spot more than not.  We just needed to dig the ball up.  We started our adjustment mantra of 2 more digs each.

Our serve and pass practice started with defense from coaches off a box. I am not a big fan of hitting off boxes at the athletes.  We eliminate some of the most important cues for the defenders. Today this is just to get a feel of digging the ball up, a controlled situation to get some confidence in the different situations.  We then went quickly to live attackers with no middle blocker, then we added the middle.  This progression seemed to help us understand our depth on seams and on closed blocks. In the morning during breakfast I read online two articles about how mood affects cues.  That people who are happier tend to see more cues and look at things in a broader way.  People who are angry, nervous, and tense seem to look at thinks with blinders on. The article stated that research has found that cues are more readily recognized when people are happier.  We also took time to discuss their vision pattern with some of the athletes.  We have to know where to look in order to react to the cues. Our serve practice was really upbeat.  We had some fun in it

We came out in the match with a ton of energy.  We were serving tough.  Chloe decided to get the 2 more digs a set all on her own.  The first 8 points she had 4 digs that we were able to transition to points.  That set the tone and the rest of the team followed suit.  We cut their attack percentage in half.  Of Friday their efficiency was 25%.  (kills-error/total) Saturday we held them to 12%.  Our team goal is to keep the opposition under 20%.  It was a fun match to coach in.  The athletes were in a groove, discussing early what was happening and then working together to try a limit the other team’s opportunities.  We have always prided our team in our ball control When we were out defended it was a good character check for us.  We responded well.

We returned to Brandon at 2:30 am after the match.  The young first year players and myself had a fundraising commitment in Winnipeg on Sunday.  We had to be back together at 3pm and head in to Winnipeg in a van.  The young athletes were impressive very upbeat and had fun together.  They were studying most of the way.  I learned a bit more about each of them.  I have to admit that Jasmine kicked my but in name that tune.  The worst part it was my playlist.  She really knows her old rock and country. 

This week we have our sport psych meeting.  This is one of our most important meetings as Dr. Skinner is introducing courageous conversations.  Even though right now we have a strong team image and team concept, eventually every team goes through some kind of adversity.  This class session sets the tone for how to deal with some things athlete to athlete.  Plus it is an amazing skill to learn for their careers post sport.  I will discuss this session more in depth next week.

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.