Lots of learning

Pre-season is a great time and a very frustrating time. 

We just completed our first exhibition weekend at U of R.  We ended up 2 wins and three losses.  The tempo if the play in the matches were very streaky.  It is not really a good example of the level of play that our league is at.  For our young athletes it was an eye opener.  Our goal this weekend was to play everyone a lot,  we accomplished this and were able to see some different things in each player.  Consistency will come, but for now we need to refine our team ideas.

The two weeks leading up to the Regina tournament we worked on just putting in some basic systems so we could look the part of a team during this tournament.  We worked primarily on what responsibilities we have on defensive end.  We also worked on what to call specific sets, so the setter and attackers would be on the same page. We also worked a bit on serving.  I think that we serve well, I was happy with the improvement of our serving skills.

The interesting thing about volleyball is that the game is so random.  To introduce systems usually we talk in predicable terms.  If the middle does this then we do that.  But volleyball is not black and white; it tends to be played more in the grey.  The middle came 31 but the setter was pushed back so it is further inside, do I help block or release??? The play is a scramble and the ball is set and out of nowhere an attacker has a full approach, do I block?

There is so many little intricacies that a player learns over their five years that are hard to teach.  I compare it to catching a fly ball in baseball.  You can explain what to look for and demonstrated it, but it isn’t until they have seen thousands of fly balls does it become natural and people don’t have to think about where it is going.  The same pattern of development for defense and serve reception in volleyball occurs.  Often we hear coaches ask why can’t they see that.  The reason is because as a coach we have watched hours upon hours of volleyball.  I remember as a starting coach, watching a practice and Keith Hansen from Red Deer asked me what I thought the trouble was with a player’s arm swing.  I used the stand by…low elbow, but the truth was the arm was too fast I couldn’t see it.  After hanging out in his practice for a couple of months suddenly bang, I could see the arm, my vision had caught up to the game and I was able to identify errors. 

Ever since that day, I try to remind myself during pre-season to talk a lot about vision.  What are the clues we look for?  When I was first introduced to the game we used to explain to our team that they needed to be stopped on arm swing of the attacker.  I find that our team is always moving still when the ball is contacted.  Now WE say stop on the jump.  That will then have us actually stopped for the contact of the ball. Then when stopped we can identify traits of the attacker.  Teaching young athletes to forget about the ball and watch the surroundings is a tough concept.  When we did it this past weekend we were good.

As a team we need to understand that it is a long season, still a month till we play.  We need to spend more time and energy learning the game and building confidence in our skills within the game.  This week we will focus on playing the game out of system.  If we can cut down on the number of unforced errors we will win more matches. 

Last weekend we asked the team to swing hard, we need to hit the ball harder more often, so with that came a lot more balls being hit out of bounds. As a coaching staff we need to just suck up that error and reward them for taking the risk to hit hard.  Eventually they will find the court with that pace.  Just need more opportunities.  Next weekend is U Of W tourney another opportunity to improve.