Question:

Do you have some basic coaching tips?

How to Keep Jammed Fingers to a Minimum

Finger Stretches

How to keep jammed fingers to a minimum:

We all do warm up stretches but only the wise players
think to stretch their fingers despite what we put
them through. Place your hand flat on the floor and
gently pull up on each finger until you have stretched
it. It can help prevent jams, which inhibit your
playing ability.

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The Most Important Muscle for a Volleyball Payer to Develop

Speak in Tongues

Here's some tongue-in-cheek advice on communication:

What's the most important muscle for a volleyball player to develop? Their tongue! Communication is critical to the 9th degree. If you've taken a vow
of silence, join a monastery ... but don't play volleyball!

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Basic Coaching Tips

If you're a beginning coach, here's a few basic ideas of how to conduct your affairs:

Treat everyone the same, but not exactly.
Delegate tasks, but supervise everyone.
Discipline, but always toward success.
Pursue excellence in everything you do and say.
Don't get emotionally involved in failure.
Always support individual integrity.

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To 5-1 or not to 5-1

Especially at the high school level, coaches often have to wrestle with the fact that they just don't have two varsity-level setters. And that always brings up the dilemma: should you go with a 5-1, or stay with the 6-2 and hope for the best?

There are two strong schools of thought: The first says to go ahead and use the 6-2, because the second player will eventually gain enough experience to become a varsity-level player.

But the second assumes that 2nd setter will never make the grade, and it's best to go 5-1 with the strong setter you now have.

Subscribers to the first theory say it's important to keep bringing setters along, because eventually that setter will graduate, and you'll be left with no one who has varsity experience.

Believers in the second group look at short-term results, and feel a new setter can be groomed a little at a time, without throwing that player into the fire when they're not ready. In the meantime, they say, the team will do better with a strong setter all the way around.

Which tack is best for your team? Ultimately, you'll have to decide for yourself, but in the meantime, you'll hear empassioned opinions on either side of the debate.

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Setting Goals, Part 3

Once we've set the goal for that particular season, we turn our attention to the younger players who will be in the program for a couple or more years, and begin to ask for longer term goals.

"We'll move into the upper division of our conference, then move on in the play-offs, then go to state," for instance, sets a 3 year goal. But we temper that with "at the minimum," so we allow ourselves the opportunity to surpass our goals. We don't want to just do enough to accomplish the goal when we're capable of doing more.

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Setting Goals, Part 1

Everyone knows about goal setting, but 90% of folks
never really set clear goals for themselves. As a
coach, that can hurt program.

We meet with our players at the beginning of each
season, and ask them what they think a realistic goal should be for the season. Invariably, they say, "Go to state." We tell them that's an admirable goal, but for a team that has only had 3 winning seasons in school history, is it a realistic goal?

That's the key to your goal setting: the goal must be realistic and attainable.

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Call It A Pass

It's a "Pass," not a "Bump"

Here's some sage advice for coaches:

Never refer to the underhand pass as a "bump." Calling
it a bump promotes the mindset of swinging your arms
at the ball rather than "passing it, Thanksgiving
dinner style, to your setter.

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Save on Injuries during Practice

Gates

Save on injuries:

A good addition to a volleyball practice are small
2 1/2' x 21/2' mesh fences to place around the hitting
area to keep balls from rolling underfoot (and
possibly costing you a hitter via a blown ankle).

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Brainstorm Potential Disasters

What If?

As a team, use "down time" during travel and between games to play "What If?" We sit down and brainstorm potential disasters (i.e., what if we forget our
practice balls and arrive at a tournament that doesn't supply them?). Then we work up solutions (i.e., borrow from team X during this tournament). In this way you're prepared when disaster strikes. (It's saved my teams numerous times.)

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Setting Goals, Part 2

In a high school program, it's difficult to set long term goal, because typically your team will change drastically every couple years. It's not like college ball, where you can go out and recruit in order to attain your goals.

So we first talk with the team, asking what a short-term goal should be, such as "moving to the upper division of our conference."

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Preparing For Icebergs

"Practice for Icebergs"

Here's some good coaching advice that can help your team win more games:

Always be prepared for disaster at the net and spend
some time working out solutions in controlled practices
rather than critical games.

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Emergency Moves

Emergency Spear

Here's a tip from hyo-sen on emergency moves, which
come up in every game, and are difficult to execute
if you haven't practiced them over and over:

All players, especially setters, should practice using
all arm and hand parts for emergency recoveries from
the net.

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