By: Joe Trinsey Originally Published in: The Volleyball Coaching Bible Volume II Provided by: Human Kinetics Once you have gathered all the necessary information and formulated a reasonable game plan, it is time to transfer that game plan into a material scouting report that will help the players when the day of competition comes. Although coaches have a variety of tools at their disposal to accomplish this, the two most common are paper scouting reports and video study meetings. Part I Coaches can use a variety of scouting report formats, from a simple one-page outline of the game plan to a more in-depth multipage report. I have found that, for many teams, a simple scouting report can present all of the necessary information without overwhelming players. Part I should be a general description of the game plan, including some or all of the following points. See the special element, Sample Game Plan: Part I, for notes on a game plan. Serving Target Will you try to serve one player consistently the whole match, or will it change depending on the game situation, such as serving the front-row outside hitter or into a seam in a specific rotation? This is probably the most important part of your scouting report. See the special element, Sample Game: Part I, for examples of the serving target. Passing Notes You may or may not want to include specific notes on their servers for your passers. Remember to focus on the actions you want your passers to take, instead of simply describing the servers. Hitter Tendencies It is good to include information about their hitters - specifically, how you want your blockers to line up and any adjustments you want your backcourt defenders to make. If time is limited, just pick their one or two main hitters. Setter Notes You may want to include some notes on their setter(s), describing any tendencies they have and how much you want your blockers/defenders to read and respect the setter attack. See Sample Game Plan: Part I for sample scout rotations based on setter locations. Offensive Game Plan Although you will discuss this more with your setters than anybody else, you may want to include some notes on how you want to attack this team offensively. Also, it can be good to let your hitters know where they can hit an off-speed shot to when they get in trouble. Keys to Victory Although presenting keys to victory can seem cliche, sometimes listing three to five simple keys can help the players focus on what is most important. The best keys are often not opponent specific. They can simply be reminders of the most important parts of your system, so the players have them in mind before they study the specifics of the opponent.
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Presenting the Game Plan
