SERVING IS A CLOSED-LOOP SKILL. All of the other skills in volleyball are open, which means there are a number of random variables occurring simultaneously that have an impact on the final outcome. As a hitter, you cannot control the set; as a…
Swing Strategy
Teams use the swing strategy when they want particular players (usually left-side hitters) to receive serve from all six rotations. The swing allows a team’s best passers to receive serve as much as possible, including when they’re in the three…
Mental Work and Communication Responsibilities During Team Defense
Most athletic performances are the result of interaction of physical action based on mental directive and influence. Some sports require greater emphasis on physical aspects of performance, whereas others rely more on mental aspects for optimal…
Have Your Team Ready to Go
What is most important for high school coaches in the development and training of their teams? On this occasion I will address some issues that I feel are critical to getting the most out of your teams. I firmly believe that coaches need to keep…
How to Use Your Timeouts Wisely Part 2 of 2
You plan practice, training routines and matches, but do you plan your time-outs? In our last article, we discussed strategies on timeouts and how to use that time wisely. While there is no right or wrong answer, here are some ideas to consider…
How to Use Your Timeouts Wisely Part 1 of 2
In any sport, there are times when a team struggles against its opponent. A strategically called timeout can be used to get the team back on the same page. Perhaps a blocking scheme needs to be changed, you need to discuss new serving strategies…
Big Picture Thinking
First, some definitions: volleyball skills include spiking, blocking, setting, passing, etc. Athletic skills include power, strength/stability, agility, quick movement, mobility, etc. The two are joined at the hip. You can improve a volleyball…
Know Your Role
It isn’t an easy thing to win a national championship, much less to do so in consecutive years. That makes what Coach Brady Starkey has done at Concordia St. Paul all the more remarkable. Under his guidance, the Golden Bears have strung together…
Volleyball: Reading Your Future
HAVE YOU EVER been to a sporting event and were just amazed at an athlete’s ability to react to a situation under extreme time constraints? The soccer goalie’s ability to block a penalty kick, the tennis player’s ability to return a serve, or the…
Using Your Bench
Have you ever been at a volleyball match and noticed a general lack of enthusiasm and total disinterest emanating from the bench? That used to be my team. Starters played enthusiastically and non-starters sat with arms folded across chests while…
The Out-of-System Offense
During the last two summers with the U.S. Men’s National Team, I was impressed with the velocity of the serves on the international level. What may have been even more impressive to me were the abilities of attackers to hit their way out of the…
Team Scoring Cauldrons: How Youth Volleyball Coaches Can Adapt
Legendary North Carolina soccer coach Anson Dorrance popularized the term “competitive cauldron” to describe a system of grading and charting players’ practice performance. Many volleyball coaches have adapted his system to their own uses, and…
“Leadership Through Team”
Inception
The whole thing started in my earlier days as a coach when we figured out, as every coach does, that in order to have a strong team environment, we would need to have strong leaders. This was a hit-and-miss proposition at best, in that…
How to get your Student-Athlete Recruited
I think it’s very important for everyone to understand that there is a place for every volleyball player to play on the next level. The different levels of collegiate volleyball are Division I, II, III, NAIA, and Junior College. Certainly your…
Fast-Tempo Strategy
The fast-tempo strategy incorporates fast, low-arching quicker sets to various zones along the net. This style of play can be a variation of the spread offense, but the fast-tempo can be employed no matter what offense a team is using. Although…
Thinking Critically About Calling a Time-out
A volleyball coach calls a time-out during a match for a variety of reasons. One of the most routine times to call a time-out is to stop the other team’s “momentum,” such as when the opposing team is scoring a run of points. The thinking is that…
Developing Leadership Skills Through Conversations, Evaluations and Retreats
Talent and skills…there are differences between the two. Talent is a thing that just comes naturally; it’s a thing that an individual was just born to do. Skills are things that an individual needs to work on and develop. Leadership is a skill…
Deliberate Practice
As coaches we have all seen the famous quote “practice makes perfect”. That quote was then prominently modified to “perfect practices, makes perfect”. Though both are great motivating statements and fundamentally true, the focus of this article is…
Creating a Winning Culture: Six Keys to Success
People:
When I came to interview for the job at Kentucky I was really impressed by the people with whom I interviewed in the six hours I was on campus. Starting with Mitch Barnhart, our athletics director, and Lisa Peterson, our senior women’s…
Create a Championship Atmosphere with Focus, Motivation, and Fun in Practice
The first key in developing a championship atmosphere is to convert as many drills as possible into games. The mentality of team members working through drills is to get it over with or just finish it. The athletes’ outlook is quite different when…
Competition in Practice, Practicing to Compete
For some athletes, competitiveness is in their blood. For others, competition is the necessary evil of the sport at which they enjoy or even excel naturally. As coaches, it is in our best interest to develop all of our athletes’ willingness and…
Coaching Great Players into Great Teams
When I coached the women’s volleyball team at Stanford University, many people automatically thought that as a coach you just recruited the best athletes, you rolled out the balls, and, if you’re smart, you stayed out of the way. In some cases you…
Medicine Ball Exercises with Cameron Davidson – Penn St.
Watch: Medicine Ball Exercises – Cameron Davidson – Penn St.
Box Jumps with Cameron Davidson – Penn State
Watch: Box Jumps Cameron Davidson – Penn State
Back Exercises with Cameron Davidson – Penn State
Watch: Strength & Conditioning – Back Exercises Cameron Davidson – Penn St.
Conditioning on the Court: Blocking Drill with Julie Kaiser
Coach Julie Kaiser explains and players demonstrate this Conditioning on the Court – Blocking Drill
Warm Up: Tips and Rolls with Thanh Pham – Univ. of St. Thomas
Coach Thanh Pham explains and players demonstrate the Tips and Roll Warm up drill
Circle Conditioning Drill with Julie Kaiser
Coach Julie Kaiser explains and demonstrates this Circle Conditioning Drill
Performance Training with Ruth N. Nelson
Ruth N. Nelson and Robert Selders JR. explains performance training using a bosu ball
Triangle Setting Drills with Tom Keating
Coach Tom Keating explains and demonstrates Triangle Setting Drills