Lessons from the U-14's

This past weekend I had the privilege to help coach our  U-14 volleyball teams. This year we have 9 out of our 14 athletes volunteering at different levels of club in the city.  The athletes make it possible for other young players to succeed.  The young athlete really look up to the BU girls.  It is awesome experience for both sides.

Donata our CIS libero of the year, was officiating a match and the coach sent two players to be captains. After we found out it was because they both wanted to meet Donata. Then after the match the coached asked if Donata would come and be introduced to their team.  It was another reminder to our team that they have a huge impact on the volleyball in the area.

In helping coach at this level I forgot how much we have to teach the athletes and parents at this age.  For most it is their first real experience competition that they will be a part of for any extended period of time. But also the athletes teach us a lot too. As a coach I am constantly learning, here are some lessons I learned from the weekend that I can take back with me.

Lesson's I learned

1.  Assume nothing.  The coaches handed out the draw for the players to see, They played their first game at 5:30 on Friday.  If you don't state a specific time parents will arrive with their athlete 5 minutes before match forgetting about the warmup time.

2.  Educate the parents. We have a large coaches and parents meeting with everyone in the club at the start explaining our philosophy and how communication works. Let them know that at this level our priority is learning. As the season progresses the coaches are encouraged to communicate with the parents let them know the focus of this month. This past weekend we started to use substitutions. We explained before our match to the athletes that we will do some subbing explained reasons why coaches sub. To put a player in that can serve a specific function. Serving sub, blocking sub, or an attacking sub.  A coach might sub to slow the match down, instead of using a time out. Trying to change momentum of a strong server. Not always does a coach sub because a player is doing poorly. But the first time a substitution happens though they are shocked. WE had tears even though we told the player she is going right back in after the opposition player loses their serve.

We also convinced one of our teams to run a 6-3 system. The girls love it. When they are asked what position they play we encourage them to say I play volleyball.  This is an interesting system for the parents because it is so different than what they have seen before. They have a hard time keeping track of rotations.  We have our setter set out of the right front, then the right back.

3. The Wave and High 5's are a big part of the game.   I was sitting on the bench as we scored a point the players on the bench started doing the wave down the bench.  I also learned you should change your leg cross every 5 pts very important for focus on the bench.  The players who weren't in the match were having a ton of fun on the bench.  I wonder if some time we take this a little too serious at the university level.  I need to encourage our athletes to have fun while being a support, but still remained focused.

4.  Keep in mind these girls are just beginning in the sport. I like to compare it to hockey. Parents will go watch a U14 girls hockey game and it is structured and looks a lot closer to hockey we see on tv. But then we remind them that this is their daughters second year playing volleyball. We encourage them to think back to watching a second year athlete playing hockey what did that look like.  The growth from the first tournament to the last at this level is incredible. As a coach we needed to keep reminding them where their base position was.  the ball is a magnate and they all get drawn towards it.

5. The athletes are more worried about fitting in than having success on the court.  Humour is an incredible release of tension for them.  It was interesting when I said sometimes you can do everything right and the other team just scores.  Teaching the athletes to be great teammates is such an important role for the coach.

The Reserves in Sport

At the University Level in Canada our substitution rules make it hard to play lots of players.  Unlike sports like hockey or basketball when most people on a team will get a few minutes here or there.  The possibility for some of the players will be it can be months before they get into a match.

I have found that in dealing with the substitutes we really need to be specific on roles and understandings. They are often the unsung heroes of the team. They play such an important role in helping prep for our weekend matches.  We ask our athletes to hit certain directions or to play like we expect the opposition to play.  We want them to push our starting group hard.

Early in the week we will use mixed squads with some reserves and starters on the same side.  We will want them to work together. It is also a great chance for our older players to help mentor the younger ones.  Plus when they make it on the court it is a comfortable feeling.

As the week progresses we start to do more Starters vs the Reserves.  I try hard to coach the reserves as much as I can throughout this period and ask our assistant coaches to help run and keep the “A” group on task and following game plans.  I can try to teach and show value to this group.

It is also important to talk with the reserve players to keep patting them on the back for their efforts.  I find it is the conversations in the hall way that have a greater effect than the ones on court or in the office.  The office feels so formal. 

We like to have certain types of subs.  We have the typical serving defensive specialist. Her job is just that to make serves and to play points.  We will often have her randomly serve in a practice often out of turn to what she is used too.  In theory if we were to truly train her for this role she would just play pepper every 8 to 10 minutes for a minute.  Then go in and serve.  But we try to mimic this by just having her serve randomly out of the norm. this way she still gets to play a lot in practice but still has the pressure of a random serving experience.

The second sub is our energy sub. She is to go in and try to turn our spirits around. She is to over celebrate everything. She will often sprint to hug players after great rallies and plays.  Just change the feel in the gym.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxVuySQT-eY

The bench celebrator is another role.  This person makes being on the bench or warmup area fun. Celebrate the teams success, help with keeping track of tactical things. I have attached a video of Robert Sacre from Lakers and his energy role.

Being the Role Model.

Playing university sports can sometimes be a difficult venture.  As athletes they are constantly on display.  Imagine for a moment every Friday and Saturday everything you do that week is judge on one outcome.  Then put that evaluation on TV, radio and in the paper. It can be a challenging.

We also ask our athletes to be role models for young up and coming volleyball players.  After our matches the athletes will always take time to mingle with the young girls that come to our match.  It is a great reminder of the situation they are in.  Often we get so involved with living our daily lives that we forget how much of a hero they have become to the younger girls in Manitoba.

When we have our U15 club tournament in March I remind the first year athletes to be nice, one or two of these players will be their teammates when they are in their fifth year.  The interaction they have with them can have an affect later.

This past weekend we had split with Thomson Rivers University out of Kamloops.  They are a team we traditionally beat.  But a good recruiting year and a change in coaching staff have the Wolf Pack upsetting teams all first semester.  We won in 3 on Friday and felt good about our chance on Saturday.  But found ourselves chasing all the time.  The last couple of weeks we have found ways to overcome this and push to a 5 set victory.  But this Saturday we just couldn’t. We lost in straight sets.  As you can imagine we were very upset as a group. This was not what we had planned.

We had some teams come to watch our Saturday match.  During the match one of the young girls found out one of her Grandparents had passed away and had to leave.  Her teammates had bought shirts.  They came down after the match and explained to one of the players what had happened.  The team then brought the shirt over and had all the players signed it for the girl.  The Bobcats were extremely disappointed in our play that night, but still took time to engage with the young group. They went out of their way to make sure the player felt ok.

 I didn’t know this had gone on.  When our coaching group finally arrived in the team room the signing of the shirt was finished.  We finished our debriefing and then left as usual.  It wasn’t until I received a thank you email from the coach that I discovered what the team did.

This is the kind of role models we always hope our teams will be.  After all volleyball can seem all encompassing when our season is on, but it is such a small part of whom we really are.  I can say today I am really proud to be a Bobcat.  It is easy to be a good person when your happy and winning it takes real character to put someone else first after a difficult loss.

Power of positivity.

If you find spelling or grammar errors, they are of my own doing. I am writing this at home after finishing a good book. Called the Energy Bus. 

We are now six matches into our season.  We presently sit 5 and 1. We are also ranked 3rd in Canada.  You would think from looking at this that everything is going fine.

We have gone to 5 in every match so far this year. We have shown strong resilience during this steak.  We are finding a different ways to win each time.  The first come from behind victory was against U of C. We were down 2 sets to 0 when we decided to make a change. We subbed two players in.  Both Nikala Majewski and Courtney Roberts entered the match and brought a lot of energy which helped bring the match back. This was both their first times playing in Brandon and in front of our crowd.

The next day we were up 2 sets to 1 and let the fourth slide away. Our focus became about the outcome instead of the moment.  We talk about staying in the moment all the time but the score can be a big distraction. This is something we need to get better at.

I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of success we were having.  At one point I sat down and my body language was really demonstrating my frustration.  My Assistant Coach Teagan Hunter snapped me out of this.  She made a couple of suggestion of moves we should make and helped bring me back into the present. We and I recovered our focus and won in the fifth. One would think this would be a strong lesson for me, but it took a couple more days before I truly got it.
On Monday we were all tired. Our level of practice was starting to deteriorate. I found myself starting to yell and discipline to try to get the level back up. But realistically the effort didn’t fall. We were just really fatigued. We jumped a lot on Monday as we identified blocking as one of our major issues to work on.
Tuesdays practice was even worse.  It was as if a zombie apocalypse had taken over our team.  I again ended practice with a bit of a scolding.  Two of our leadership team and a fifth were sitting around and stretching after practice.  I decided to address this issue with them.  After I said my piece about leading by example they spoke.  I was getting really negative.  They understood that they need to be held to a standard, but when they also like to know when they are playing well.

This struck a nerve with me.  I pride myself for being positive. I try to celebrate when things go well.  I needed to find a way to get back to that.
Wednesday morning I read an article about an NCAA Football team and their Energy Bus.  I found out they were bases a philosophy on a book the group read. I immediately bought the book to read.  It was exactly what I needed.
 Two quotes right near the front hit home for me.
1. "We are Winners not Whiners".  We were 3 and 1. The team was extremely tired but no one was complaining but me. I was disappointed at our level. But when I talked with our leadership team I remembered all the extra going on for them.  We talked on Thursday about our goals again. Discussed our steps in how we were going to achieving them. We left for Edmonton on a very positive note.
2.  "Positive energy positive people create positive results". It is easy to sit back and find everything that is going wrong but our mindset is something we can control. We can choose to look at each challenge as a way to move us closer to our goal.  Each time a team finds and exploits our weakness it gives us a chance to look at this part of our game and move forward.
We have a strong positive vibe within our team. You can really feel our confidence grow with each new challenge we overcome together. It is up to me the Driver of this Bus to keep the positivity going.  That doesn't mean just throw out blank “way to go” statements.  It means teaching athletes to accept challenges. To communicate making sure they understand why things are happening.  As a coaching group we encourage our team to problem solve. We ask them to find solutions to problems that the opposition throws at us.  We want them to take risks. WE need to encourage risks.
I recommend the book to all coaches.  There are so many more things that we take for granted that it reminded me of.

All around athletes

We had a decent preseason. We were 7 wins and 3 losses in our two tournaments. The preseason is used by our team to evaluate players and to train  for different situations.  One situation we weren't actually ready for happened.  The question was  what do you do when you run out of setters?  In our last 3 matches we lost a setter to injury. Already lost one to academics and have a transfer not eligible.

When Mary (setter) went down.  We went immediately to our libs (Donata) to finish the match.  Donates did a decent job but we missed her stabilizing presence on passing and defence. Then we decided to try plan B. This is a 6-2 using the left sides as setters.

When I get the opportunity to present at coaching clinics I always recommend the 6-2 but using the leftsides as setters. They would play in back right when setting but hit leftside when in the front row.

I remembered that Nikki was a setter in her high school in grade 12. She had a sore shoulder so the coach used her in a setting situation.  That kept her playing.  Vaovai the other left side was setting in a spilt court drill earlier in the week and did OK. We talked to both of them and they agreed to try it.

 The first set both Nikki and Vai tried was a 51 or a quick middle. They said it was one thing they always wanted to try.  We lost the first match in 3 but was close the first 2 sets.  23-25 and 22-25. The third or passing broke down and the two setters had to run all over the court.

The next match against U of W we played with more confidence and understood the system We ended up winning. We played Gill at libero ams used Donata in a swing sub situation.

We want all around players.  We want them to be skilled enough that they would be confident to try this.  That is why early in  our week of practice we will use two courts.We will need the attackers to act as setters or out side players to block in the middle.  This allows us to train a specific part of the game and makes everyone to be a little more refined in their over all skill.

6-2 leftsides or 6-2 middles. Give it a try.

Bobcats 14/15

I fell off the face of the virtual world once again. I reconnected with blogging during the Pan Am Cup, but since it finished I have struggled to get back to the blog. I will try to be better at blogging through this year. I enjoy the different experiences each year brings and to be able to share it with people makes it even more enjoyable.

WHO WE ARE,

Our team is back in full swing and working hard at all aspects of being a BU Bobcats.  We have 16 players on this years team. This is the largest number we have had. 16 players make for strong competitive games in practice. This number also allows us to break down the games its different parts on two courts.

THE PLAYERS

We have 2 setters, Mary Thomson and transfer Hope Schneider. Mary and Hope have played together since they were 14, they are very comfortable around each other. They have a strong relationship which allows them to feel that they are a big part in each other's success.

 This year we have 5 middles. This is a big change from last year's only 3 middles, you never get a break mentality. This is the most we have had in Meaghan Robertson's five years. Jodie Baker our 3rd year middle came back to camp ready to claim a starting spot. She really committed to fitness over the summer and has returned in much better shape. This is making her faster and higher than she was last year. This really showed in our first exhibition matches in Edmonton. Jodie was our most efficient attacker.  This year we added a 2nd year transfer from South Dakota State, Courtney Roberts. Courtney is a local Brandon athlete, she will be pushing for playing time and has a very positive attitude.  Courtney's first CIS action was against perennial powerhouse UBC. Courtney held her own and gained some valuable confidence from that. We added two freshman from Winnipeg. Sara Barker is. 6'2" athlete with a lot of potential. She is working hard and asking lots of questions. We also added Kayla Solomon, she is also from Winnipeg. Kayla is our first music student ever. On our recent road trip to Edmonton we told everyone to bring homework, Kayla brought her trumpet. 

We have 6 outsides this year. This is our most experienced group as we only added one player to this group. Nikki Majewski, Winnipeg, is a very dynamic athlete. She was selected as Manitoba Volleyballs player of the year. She has been a great teammate and is enjoying everything about school. When we talk about classes, Nikki is so excited about everyone of them. Her passion is contagious.  Regan Dahl has also had a strong preseason. She is in her second year and returned is great shape. With a small injury to Vaovai early in training camp Regan was able to play some big minutes in the Edmonton tournament. Regan and Nikki both showed that they are ready to play at this level.

We returned all of our outsides from last year's team. These three were a big reason why we were able to be ranked 2 in Canada for 9 weeks. All three of them, Tori Dakin, Shanlee McLennan and Vaovai Aiono all returned hungry to improve on last year. It is fun to watch them train and compete with and against each other. 

We also have 3 Liberos or defensive specialists.  Donata Huebert is back for her third year. She is coming off a highly decorated year as she was selected Libero of the Year for CIS as well as First Team All - Canadian. We have asked Donata to help mentor our younger athletes. Donata's experience and work ethic is one we hope they all mimic. We have a first year libs, Jamie Campbell. Jamie is another local athlete coming from Kevin Neufeld's volleyball factory. Jamie is incredibly hard working and has a passion for the game.  We also have 3rd year specialist Gillian Leech. Gilly is our utility player, she will play left side if we need her. She is also quite confident in being a serving-defensive substitute as well as the Libero. Gilly  has been a tremendous teammate and a positive example to the first year players.  In Edmonton, Gilly played all those and was successful in all. Margy Lafaele our other NZ girl  is assisting this year as a practice player.

The start has been fun, but September is always the honeymoon phase. It will be important to remember this excitement as the season progresses...

Pan Am Cup Wrap up.

Yes I just fell off the face of the earth. I had a hard time trying to put into words the last couple of days of the Pan Am Cup.  We finished sixth place out of eleven teams. This is a respectable finish but everyone is leaving with a sense that we could have been much higher.

We played some very good volleyball through the tournament. There was definitely more good than bad. The way it ended left a bit of a sour taste with most of us. We came out pretty flat against Puerto Rico in the 1/4 final.  It wasn't for lack of willow effort, we just couldn't find our game. This group of athletes are extremely proud and take losing hard. After the match we waited for Lupo and Britt to finish their press conference. Then Britt asked if the team could meet on their own. They held a no coaches meeting to talk about preparedness and playing through adversity.

Lupo decided we would watch the match together back at hotels hat night, which meant a late night for everyone involved. Plus an early morning for practice. We did have a day off so there was time for naps.

 I likedthey way we watched video. Instead of focussing on errors Lupo contrasted our best match against our worst. We watched the first set against Cuba! Then watched the first set against PR.  There was close to the same amount of errors made in both sets, but we could really notice the difference in body language and adrenaline.  We seemed to just look more confident during the Cuba match.

With just dropping in for 5 weeks with the team I really feel that I don't have the right to judge or comment and tried really hard to stay out of the conversation. Some of these players have invested 7 to 10 years with the program. I can only go off my own mind. I feel that sometimes as athletes and coaches we forget who we are.  We remember who we were. When a pressure situation occurs I sometimes suddenly feel like the hockey guy from Killam who is just starting out. Rather than the guy who has won coaching awards. I second guess decisions and then are late reacting to it. I think the players do the same sometimes. They might think I am the middle hitter who was converted to left side instead of the pro and allstar. Focussing on the wrong things instead of building confidence we break down our own. Affirmations are so important we sometimes forget.  If we can find away to maintain our confidence we will be fine.

We ended up watching 5 sets, the 3 Cuban and the first two of PR. The message was definitely retrieved.  I think this was way more beneficial than Lupo coming in and breaking things,calling out people and truly venting.  The only person that feels a little better is the coach.  But using it as a teaching moment is, smarter in the long run.

Another interesting discussion brought out was use of subs and also being a starter.  8 matches in 9 days is tough mentally and physically. Everyone we brought off the bench played well and made a difference immediately.

Overall, this tournament was to give some players experience and to evaluate them in different roles. I think the information Lupo was looking for was confirmed.  I leave with a ton of respect to the commitment and passion that these athletes and coaches have for the game. I am an extremely proud Canadian. I hope I was able to help in the development process and to make Lupo's job a little easier.  I enjoyed working with Joey, Maren, Byron and Adam. They all are committed and are a lot of fun. 

I hope I get an opportunity to do this again.  I am extremely energized to get our Bobcats going again and begin our run.