Blocking Fundamentals:
Keypoints:
1) Tracking sequence – “ball, setter, ball, hitter”
2) “Butterfly Hands” – engages the shoulders, finger out, thumbs up
3) It’s not how HIGH you get but how strong / consistent the block is.
Most hitter hit between 6 – 8 inches above the net
4) “Ready Position” – feet pointed straight ahead
weight on the inside of the feet
5) “loaded hips” -knees bent w slight lean forward, flexed
6) Hands always in front with FIRM fingers
7) “Hold the Seal” as long as you can - Arms penetrating
If you don’t jump high enough to penetrate, then hold your soft-block as long as you can.
8) Footwork (4) – always land with outside toe facing in (forces you to turn square to the net)
Slide-step
Crossover-step
Step Crossover
Step Crossover-step hop
Turn and run (for those who are not as coordinated – emergency only)
9) “Soft Eyes” – See all things but don’t commit.
10) Watch the hitters feet and line up with hitting arm. Practice with players wearing baseball caps. It will take their focus off the ball and watch the hitter.
11) Against a swing offense your outside blocker needs to have a footwork pattern going from outside in. Otherwise the hitter will tool the blocker everytime because of where the blocker is forced to line up.
12) Blocking a hitter hitting a fly (back 2), make the blocker jump sooner than they think they need to. Fly approaches have a quicker than normal arm swing.
Defense:
Team Defense:
Peimeter -
Keypoints:
1)know the rules – know where you’re supposed to be.
2) Know when to break the rules – learn to read hitters and ANTICIPATE rather than REACT.
Creating a Championship Atmosphere With Focus, Motivation, and Fun in Practice
Presented at the 2000 AVCA National Convention
This past season, our staff took on the project of rebuilding a once successful volleyball program. One of the goals for our staff was to create a championship atmosphere in our training sessions. The year presented a new scenario for me as a coach. It was late in the season, and we had no opportunity to play in the post-season and were out of championship contention. Our team was training for its last few matches of the season that would solely be played for pride. I was impressed with how our team kept focused, motivated, and had fun in practice while improving our level of play. I had been accustomed to teams being challenged by trying to win a conference championship and preparing for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, we challenged them to become the best they could be, at that moment in time. The feedback from the athletes reinforced our beliefs that the atmosphere created during our practices kept players focused, motivated, and having fun. A championship atmosphere includes a high level of focus, motivation, accountability, daily improvement, competitive attitude, confidence, and fun in training sessions. Four areas we determined to be key in our training were create games versus drills, to build confidence through intensity and challenges, increase the level of verbal and non-verbal communication, and focus on the little details in practice.
Games Versus Drills
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 playing games. When playing games, the athletes play to win, which inherently creates an atmosphere of strong work ethic, a high level of focus, motivation, competitiveness, and fun.
Turning drills into games create fun and effective practices. Even simple hitting lines can be turned into a game. Put hitting lines on both sides of net. The first team to successfully hit five hard-driven balls in a target area without the ball contacting the net tape wins. To add some additional game related details, have the second person in line call off a hitting shot (“hit line”) and cover the hitter, while the setter also covers the hitter, despite the absence of a block.
A coach can create games that are either cooperative or competitive in nature. Cooperative games are designed to have all teammates work towards a common goal together, even if they are on opposite sides of the net. Any type of pepper game where the goal is to keep the ball in play is cooperative. Competitive games put at least two groups against each other and result with a winning and losing team. Each group can affect the outcome by earning points or defending against potential points.
Most games have a scoring system that makes a team focus on specific goals. Scoring offers accountability, a method to gage competition, and a way to direct focus. Simple scoring awards a point whenever an objective is reached. Plus/minus scoring can be used in simple scoring games, with a point being taken away if an error occurs. Wash scoring rewards a team for earning a specific amount of points consecutively. Teams earn a predetermined amount of little points in a row to earn a big point. Games are played to a specified amount of big points. Ratio scoring evens the playing field between teams with different functions or levels. The team that reaches their goal of little points first, earns a big point. An example would be a game designed so the serve receive team needs to score 3 little points before the serving team scores 2 little points, and in result, the winner gets a big point. Bonus points can be awarded as an emphasis for successfully achieving an objective within a game or drill. It is an easy and effective way to highlight a specific skill or play within a game. Award a bonus point for quick attack kills, perfect passes, or 3 bonus points for stuff blocks during a game. Progressive scoring emphasizes streaks of points. Winning one rally is worth one point, the second consecutive rally is worth two points, the third rally is worth three points, and etc. (Welch, 1993).
Build Confidence Through Intensity and Challenges
Champions like to work hard. They thrive on it. Create a fast paced intense environment during training. The athletes enjoy leaving a training session feeling like they gave all the physical and mental energy they could. The cumulative effect of their daily investment into the team adds up to a commitment that insures being the best they can be.
Another great way to build confidence in a team is to give them a handicap in practice, and make them come back to win. If you play games starting at 11-13 in practice, they will learn how to play at crunch time. It is confidence builder to be in a real match down 11-13, call a time out, and tell the team only four points are needed to win the game. They just did it yesterday in practice! Add an extra winning of points burden, especially late in practice. Place the players in situations where in order to win the game, they will need to win three rallies in a row (Neville, 1990). For another example, to earn their way out of practice, the team needs 4 serves in a row in zone 1. Facing adversity in practice successfully builds confidence in games. The players learn a champion’s perspective.
Communication
When a team is playing well, a team is usually celebrating with each other, and communicating effectively. When the performance level drops, teams have a tendency to shut down the communication lines. To negate some of the roller coaster effect in the ebb and flow of the game, enhance team communication through practice. Develop practice plans that have players practice loud gym voices whenever possible. A team can line up in order by any creative means (uniform number, hair color, birth date, alphabetical by middle name…), and count off 1-2-1-2 to make teams. Players must yell their number (1 or 2) as loud as possible.Get players used to being vocal in front of teammates. Tell team 1 to go to one side of the net, and team 2 to the other side. Make sure the newly formed teams celebrate, give each other high fives, group together to make a game plan, and do a team cheer. After every game or drill, we make sure all teammates go to each other and give positive feedback and high fives to each member of the team before shagging balls. Whenever possible, we create opportunities for the teammates to talk and make contact before, during and after every game. Verbal and non-verbal communication has to be built into your training program, as it will not happen automatically at first. Improving communication, positive comments by teammates, celebration, and contact increases the smiles and positive feelings about teammates.
Little Details
The little details in practice must be done consistently throughout all phases of practice. A coach should be very objective oriented and train for very specific results to improve the little details. As an example, run a simple game such as two on two cross net pepper. The players pass, set, and then tip the ball over the net, while switching positions from front row to back row as the ball is on the other side of the net. The group should be given a goal that the ball must cross the net 100 times, or start over if ball hits the floor. This is a great time to reinforce the little details. The players must vocalize “mine” or “yours”, give a passing target with the setter’s hand, call shots “tip line”, cover the hitter position as ball is being tipped, be in base defense posture or blocking base posture, and any other emphasis a coach may have. The team continues to go back to zero if they do not exhibit all the traits you have required of them. An example would be if player X did not cover the hitter, the score goes back to zero.
Segment training is a great way to focus on the little details of the game through effective feedback and adjustments in a game situation, while focusing on a smaller portion of the game. A left side cross court game is one type of segment training that focuses on defending the outside hitter cross court attack, which is a hit that occurs a high percentage of the time. The game can be played either cooperatively like a pepper game, or competitively. An imaginary (or taped) line goes down the center of the court perpendicular to the net. Each team consists of a left front, left back, middle back, and a right front setter. The left front hitter must hit the ball angle into the diagonal court to be inbounds. Little details such as off-blocker movement to defense, approach patterns for the hitter, left back base-to-wide movement (defend setter dump, then release out to sideline defense), parallel line movement in defense, and other aspects of the game can easily be monitored and corrected during play.
The four areas key to developing a championship atmosphere in our training improved our level of focus, motivation, and fun in training sessions. By incorporating these four objectives into your routine practices, the behaviors will become routine in actual games.
References
Neville, William J. (1990). Coaching Volleyball Successfully: Leisure Press, Champaign, IL.
Welch, M. “Enhance the Practice Experience: Score Points.”Coaching Volleyball, 1993.
Volleyball Conduct / Evaluation
Parent Code of Conduct
1) Always encourage your athlete to do his / her best.
2) When giving feedback on performance be positive and specific. Ignore the negative.
3) Lead rather than push. Allow athlete to develop at their own speed.
4) Remember what it’s like to be young and trying new things. Support your young athlete with post event treats or rituals regardless of performance.
5) If a misunderstanding develops between you and the coach, think about when would be the most appropriate time to talk to him or her. Right after a match is not the best time to talk.
6) Be a good example of sportsmanship to your athlete.
7) All questions will be directed to the head coach. If I do not know the answer to the concern, I will contact the assistant coaches and get back to you as soon as possible.
Bill of Rights for Athletes
1) Right to participate in sports, not a right to play.
2) Right to participate at a level compatible with each athletes maturity and ability.
3) Right to have qualified adult leadership.
4) Right of athletes to share in the leadership and decision making of their sport.
5) Right to participate in a safe and healthy environment.
6) Right to proper preparation in sports.
7) Right for an equal opportunity to strive for success.
8) Right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Player Evaluation
Player number______
Player team______
Player position______
Secondary position______
Skills Test Score______
Player Rank______
Guarantee Playing Time______
Things I need to do to improve ______
Strengths ______
______
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PLEASE RETURN THIS BOTTOM PORTION TO YOUR COACH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I ______, and my parent and/or guardian ______understand my responsibilities as a volleyball athlete for SUMMIT Volleyball. I understand what my role is on my team and will do my best to support my teammates, coaches, and be a positive reflection to myself and my school.
We would like to take this time to thank all the parents of the SUMMIT Volleyball Program. It is because of your support that these athletes have experienced the highest degree of success and we would like to thank you for all your sacrifices throughout the season.
A special thanks goes to the 18’s teams and their parents who have sacrificed so much over the last few years and we would like to give them a special recognition during their last season of their SUMMIT Volleyball career.
Once again the coaching staff and board of directors would like to thank you, the parents, for all your time and dedication to making this such a positive experience for all these athletes! Thank You!
SUMMIT Junior Volleyball Program
COMMUNICATION IN VOLLEYBALL
A factor in any program's success or failure is the ability of the coach and his/her team to communicate with each other. Successful coaches know how to communicate effectively. Coaches should keep in mind the following three suggestions when talking with their players:
1.Communication involves sending messages and receiving messages. Many coaches are good at providing information, but poor at listening to what players have to say. Coaches should LISTEN to their players.
2.Speaking, or verbal messages, is only one form of communication. Many times non-verbal messages, such as facial expressions of joy, sadness or anger and behaviors of kindness are stronger than anything a coach can say. When talking with players, remember that HOW you express yourself is often as important as WHAT you do. How a coach talks with his players is heard before what you say.
3.Successful coaches, faced with the pressures and excitement of competitive sports, think carefully about what they say and the emotions they communicate. Inappropriate comments or gestures can only harm the player-coach relationships.
A coach can improve his communication skills by adopting a positive approach. The positive approach emphasizes praise and rewards to strengthen desirable behavior. This approach not only helps athletes to value themselves, but also enhances a coach's credibility. In contrast, the negative approach uses punishment and criticism to eliminate undesirable behavior. The negative approach increases fear of failure, lowers the player's self-esteem and lessens the coach's credibility.
The positive approach can be put into practice by a coach following these suggestions:
1.When an athlete performs a skill, even if he/she commits several errors, look for something specific in the performance worthy of praise "Look for something right!" Scolding and berating players reduces the player's feelings of self-worth.
2.Reward the players' performance and efforts regardless of the game results. Many factors that determine the outcome can not be controlled by the coach or players. These include the performance of the other team, the calls by the officials, the quality of the facilities, and "luck."
3.Reward frequently when players are first learning a skill. Reward occasionally once the skill is well learned.
4.Reward small improvement. Some players may never become great players.
5.Look for opportunities to praise players for showing desirable social and emotional skills. Good sportsmanship, teamwork, and cooperativeness deserve to be noticed.
6.Choose carefully how to reward the players. Use trophies, patches, ribbons, and specific certificates as end-of-season rewards. However, small rewards based upon meeting game performance skills should be used. Athletes should learn that playing sports brings its own rewards: a sense of accomplishment, pride and a feeling of competence.