Three Ideas Newsletter 7.29.25
Hello, everyone! I suppose we will fondly remember these sweltering temperatures in January, but for now, I’m eager for the cooler fall temperatures to arrive. Even though we don’t experience a lot of humidity here in Colorado, 100 degrees is hot regardless of your zip code.
I drove down to Denver last week and had lunch this week with Tom Hogan, Director of Operations for League One Volleyball. Tom’s official duties include coordinating talent acquisition, coaching staffs, and all facets of competition. Suffice to say, he’s a busy dude. I can’t think of a better person to be in a leadership position in the development of professional volleyball in the USA. Tom filled me in on the things learned in the first season and what to look forward to in year number two.
I remain curious about the impact of professional volleyball and the changes in the collegiate volleyball environment (a different form of professional volleyball) on high school and club volleyball programs. At this point, there are more questions than answers, but it is worth discussing!
On a different note, I came across a photo (above) of Toshie Takeshita, the former setter for Japan, when they won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics. Standing 5’3″, Takeshita proved there is more to being a good setter than being tall. She was definitely in a class of her own!
Thanks for reading! Suggestions are always welcome! Have a great week!
~Jim
Quote for the Week: “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done” – Thomas Jefferson
Three Ideas For This Week
Idea #1 – Spiker Decisions
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. I engrain these six items into a hierarchy. As you can see, all players should be aware of what is happening on both their side of the net and the opponent’s side of the net.
- Kill the Ball – This is your top priority. If the attacker sees an opportunity to score, do so! However, sometimes the situation (poor set, poor approach) makes it difficult to kill the ball. If so, proceed to #2
- Recycle the Attack – If killing the ball is not an option, smart attackers will direct the ball into the opponent’s block, allow the ball to be blocked, then cover the attack (hitter or teammates), and transition back to attack. Like any skill, this needs to be practiced. To recycle, hitters can’t hit hard into the middle of the block, making coverage difficult. Either tip or roll the ball at 50% speed into the top of the block. However, if the set is off the net, recycling is difficult; if so, proceed to #3.
- Direct the Attack to the Opponent’s Setter – Although the setter may play the attack, teams will hit a lower percentage when a non-setter is playing the second contact. However, if the setter is blocking and the attacker cannot direct the attack to her, then proceed to #4
- Direct the Attack the Opponent’s Best Hitter – If I can place the attack on the opponent’s best hitter, especially if I can get them on the floor to defend, it might take them out of the offense.
- Keep the Ball in Play – Sometimes, when all of the above is difficult, execute a controlled attack that the opponent will defend, and we’ll try to win the transition rally.
- Make an Attack Error – Too often, players will skip choices #2-#5 and either kill the ball or make an error. Errors happen, and you don’t want to have hitters afraid to make an error. However, too many errors are made when the attacker attempts a low-percentage shot. The attacker needs to strike a balance between aggressive and smart attacking. Equally, if the attacker picks out a good shot but makes an error in execution, the coach can shrug their shoulders, clap their hands, and tell them to “get the next one.”
Idea #2 – Be Creative in Your Feedback – One of the key aspects of coaching is communicating effectively with your players. Too often, we tend to rely solely on verbal or statistical feedback. Spice up the message and engage the audience to ensure your feedback hits the target. I created a brief video that showcases the diverse range of options for player feedback. VIDEO
Idea #3 – Directing the Pass to the Middle of the Net Might Provide Interesting Options – Often, coaches tend to develop their systems based on what they’ve always done or whatever the current trend is in the coaching community. At the U-18 World Championships, most teams directed the first contact to the traditional right one-third of the court. However, a few teams directed the first contact to the middle of the court, which caused stress for the outside blockers (should I help block the middle attack or not?), while also creating more space behind the setter for the right-side attack. If you have a good right-side attacker or a middle hitter that runs a good slide attack, this system might be worth a look. Here is a brief video demonstrating the options available to your team. VIDEO
Video of the Week: The challenge of team defense is to defend the approximately 900 square feet on your half of the net effectively. There are many defensive schemes available, but they are all built around similar concepts. In this video, we demonstrate the backrow defenders going from base position (defending the first attack option) to a perimeter digging position (ball set to outside or backrow attackers). VIDEO
Archive Blog Posting: As high school practices are approaching soon, I’ve listed five “time-sucks” that you should eliminate from your practices. READ MORE
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
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~Jim
