Three Ideas Newsletter – 12.3.25
Hey everyone!
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.
One of the key learning principles of Deliberate Practice is challenging the athlete or team to the edge of their current abilities. That kind of effort doesn’t always incorporate fun—it can actually feel pretty miserable sometimes—but that’s where the real growth happens. Under the guise of making sure the players have fun, coaches risk compromising true growth for the athletes.
Any player or team with a goal of having fun needs to invest time in defining the word that everyone can embrace. Since the members of your squad will have different ideas of what fun entails, perhaps we should not have “fun” as a goal. Especially with younger players, we want them to enjoy their time on the court. However, the longer one stays in a sport, the sport becomes less fun and more satisfying. Are we dealing in semantics? Not really. Accomplishing a challenging goal with the understanding of how much work was invested generally results in a warm, fuzzy feeling of satisfaction, but I’m not sure there was a ton of fun along their journey.
Thanks for reading!
~Jim
Quote for the Week – “Do not confuse leadership with charisma. Charisma does not equal leadership, and some of the most effective leaders have very little charisma.” ~Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great.”
Three Ideas For This Week
Idea #1 -Develop Armswing Mechanics During Warmup – An activity that I consider cringeworthy is players warming up their shoulders by pounding the ball into the floor to a partner, supposedly rehearsing a spiking arm motion. This activity warms up the shoulder, but also violates every concept of a good armwing to be used in the attack and serve. I prefer players to warmup their shoulders by spinning the ball over the net to a partner with an emphasis on the “T” position, with the elbow back and the hips open. Start at the 3-meter line and work your way back to the endline. An alternative option might be, rather than catching the ball, to have the partner pass the ball to themselves, set themselves, and then spin the ball back over the net. The accuracy may not be great at the start, but they’ll get better.
Idea #2 – Developing Movement Skills – There is approximately 900 square feet on half a volleyball court. You have six players, so, in theory, each player is responsible for 150 square feet. This court coverager requires movement. A distinguishing characteristic of good players is that they move their feet well. Players learn to move their feet by moving their feet. You should incorporate movement into all your activities. If players are setting back and forth in warmup, have them shuffle step 3 steps laterally, or touch a cone while the ball is in the air. When playing pepper, have a player dig, then cover a tip. You’re only limited by your creativity. But standing while a ball is in play should be discouraged. Look at the foot movement by Steffi Graf while warming up in tennis. Always on her toes, always moving. Can your players adopt the same principles? VIDEO
Idea #3 – Run Your Middle Attack Away from the Setter – Most offenses have the middle attack go to the setter. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach. However, if the pass takes the setter off the net, setting the middle hitter becomes more challenging. If you have your middle hitter attacking zones a distance from the setter, it becomes easier to keep them involved in the offense when the pass takes the setter off the net. Watch the video for more detailed information. VIDEO
Video of the Week – Game-Related Attack Footwork – You want a majority of your practice activities to be game-related. In this video, we look at the various scenarios your attackers will face. Place your attackers into these situations as much as possible in your training sessions. VIDEO
Archive Blog Post– Keys For Running An Effective Slide Attack- The slide attack offers the opportunity for your middle hitter to attack behind the setter when you’re in a two-hitter rotation. When executed correctly, the slide attack is challenging to defend. READ MORE
900 Square Feet- Lee Feinswog writes a great daily newsletter that focuses on all aspects of volleyball (college, club, beach, international). If you want to stay up with the daily events in our sport, this is the best resource available. To get on the mail list, hit this link. 900 Square Feet
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~Jim
