I am quite excited about our athletes this week. We had Monday off all together, playing 5 matches on the weekend plus some travel it was a good break for the team. Tuesday though we return with a vengeance. The athletes had a weight session with our strength coach. Here was the final part of our testing and Chloe max squatted 240lb. The rest of the returning group had made significant improvement. The team as a whole came back in decent shape.
Tuesday continued with a small group session with passers, talking about the minor adjustments that are needed depending on where the opposition is serving. There have been a few studies that have determined passing and it relationship to the body of the passer. Midline is still the most efficient and it is something that we want our athletes to work towards. An athlete is way stronger directly in front of her core. The next efficient is passing off left side of the body. I believe if you have to take a ball outside your shoulders a player has more room for error on the left side of the body. The last is passing to the right. A player still needs to rep passing on the right side of their body, because volleyball is such a random sport. Teams can adjust their serve reception to make it harder for opposition to serve this.
Another small group worked with Ashley on blocking, closing the block to the right side or setter. She also worked with the outside blocker to reach back into the seam. We need to get much wider with our hands on blocking. At times it looks like we are diving into water with our hands on top of each other.
Then Tuesday ended with an hour presentation by Bobbi Schram on nutrition, pre and post game. What we can control and what we can’t. It was full of useful information. Quite a few of the athletes new the information now it is just to put it into action. As a coaching staff we decided we can control the 30 minute window of replenishing energy. Bobbi suggested a granola bar that has Carbs and protein listed on the label. WE have bought a bunch of the bars and will hand them out to the team after the match. When thinking about this, we would be hard pressed to get back to the hotel in the 30 minutes. This is one area that we can control.
Last weekend Becky Young had her first CIS head coaching victory. Against TRU we decided that Becky should be the head coach for that match. Becky was our team MVP last year, she has played alongside a few of these athletes for awhile. WE thought that by making her head coach for a few matches in preseason it would help establish her as a coach. Second it gave me a chance to watch her coach and give her some feedback of what I believe is happening. Third at Brandon University the faculty has the potential to go on strike within the next month. If this happens as a member of the faculty I won’t be allowed to participate in any coaching activities. So Becky and Ashley will log the majority of the work, with Kevin and Derek mentoring them and helping out when they can.
Kevin is working hard at Neelin high school plus he is coaching the JV volleyball team. He is training this team like an university. I am positive that they have had more practices than most university teams in Canada. So with that kind of commitment it is hard for him to make it consistently. Derek has been coaching year round for 5 years. This past summer the Western Canada Summer games went long into August. Derek needs a break. It wouldn’t be fair to him to pressure him to come back in full time. He would do it but it wouldn’t be good for him. If the strike happens Becky and Ashley get the reins. The good news is they both have been coached by some excellent coaches...we get a chance to see if any of stuck.
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