Coaching Volleyball
Build Routines, Then Build Habits
Habits are automatic behaviors initiated with little thought. Good habits can serve a player well by facilitating a rapid response without using mental energy to analyze a situation methodically.
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter 12.10.25
The year before winning our first Big Ten Championship at Ohio State in 1989, we actually finished in sixth place in the conference. We battled hard that season—took several of the top teams to five sets—, but we didn’t have the intangibles to close out crucial sets needed in tight matches.
What made that team special, though, was their leadership and willingness to grind. They decided they were good enough to win a championship and made a collective choice to pursue a championship. That meant committing to a tough off-season—6 a.m. lifts, running sessions, attendance in “open” gym practices, the whole deal. Standards went up, both on and off the court. And it paid off. They reached their goal and won a Big Ten championship the following season. A few of the younger players maintained that same mindset, won another title two years later, and proceeded to take Ohio State to the Final Four in 1991.
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter – 12.3.25
How many times have your players said something like, “Let’s just have fun when we play”? Or maybe a parent says, “The team just isn’t having fun.” The tricky part is, “having fun” means different things to different players, let alone the definition that the coach might possess. For some, it’s “hit and giggle” volleyball—goofing around, not really focused on getting better or competing. For other players, on the same team, fun comes from pushing themselves, working hard, and chasing challenging goals. It’s a balancing act for coaches to have a positive atmosphere on the court while still challenging the players to improve.
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter – 11/27/25
Most people probably don’t recognize the name Kirk Hammett. If you do, you’re either into heavy metal music or you’ve got pretty wide-ranging music tastes. Kirk Hammett is the lead guitarist for Metallica, but he wasn’t always in the band. He joined in 1983, after they’d already blown up internationally. So what did he do once he landed a spot in a supergroup? He kept taking guitar lessons at Joe Satriani’s shop in the San Francisco Bay Area—and he was getting his butt kicked in the process!
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter – 11.20.25
Most coaches use statistics to track the results of a skill or a team’s performance. Was the pass good or bad? Did the serve take the opponent out of system? Was the attack a kill or an error? Without a doubt, this type of information has value, as it allows players or coaches to provide feedback on skill development or current performance. As important as result information is, it’s important not to ignore “process” information. Process can be defined as “the way” you perform a skill, not the result. For example, did the player work hard and implement good footwork as they transitioned from defense to attack, or did your setter get to the ball and square up to the left front target area? For younger players, I value process evaluation over result evaluation. You won’t find any iPad software to record process. You’ll need to rely on paper and pencil. A component of evaluating process is the way your team plays and attaching metrics to the way they play.
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter – 8-12-25
I received a suggestion from a reader to dig into how the professional leagues, along with the changes in the collegiate environment (NIL and Transfer Portal), will impact high school and club volleyball athletes. Great suggestion! I’m going to go to work and generate a blog on this in the upcoming weeks. It will require some thought. Suffice to say, there will be changes in recruiting. No longer will high school athletes ask college coaches if they will start their freshman year. Every year, someone might transfer in to take your spot. There will be no guarantees for any player in this environment of player movement.
Read MoreThree Ideas Newsletter 7.29.25
To improve attack efficiency, players often don’t need to make more good attack choices; they need to make fewer bad ones. I tend to script a priority list of decisions that good attackers employ to increase their effectiveness. I constantly encourage players to make quality attacking choices based on the situation.
Read MorePlayers Need Challenging Coaches Now More Than Ever
With increased reliance on AI to do the heavy lifting, is there collateral damage in terms of the students’ ability to think critically, perform a thorough analysis of the information, generate their ideas, and develop the capacity to solve problems and accept challenges?
Read MoreTeam Bonding To Team Building To Team Culture
Team bonding and team building differ significantly in their objectives and design. Most of what I see are team bonding activities, where the focus is on having fun and building relationships. There is certainly nothing wrong with those things! When I think about team building, I see it as being more focused on how my team can best accomplish shared objectives.
Read MoreFrom Knowing to Doing: Embracing Trial and Error
Take the attributes of a cheetah and apply them to your coaching. How agile are you in changing direction with your coaching methods, decision-making, and experimenting with something new? I don’t see a massive knowledge shortfall in the volleyball coaching community. However, I see an action problem. Taking action means taking a risk. Coaches tend to be risk-averse when trying new methods and strategies, preferring to stay within their comfort zone. Every season is a “rinse and repeat” format from the previous season.
Read More