Hello, everyone! I hope the summer is going well for everyone. All is well here in Colorado. The club season is winding down, and the high school season is getting started with open gyms, team camps, and practices beginning, so it’s time to get back into the swing of the “Three Ideas” newsletter. I intend to push out a newsletter every Tuesday throughout the high school season and leading into the club season.
One of my goals is to expand our community. I encourage you to pass on the newsletter to colleagues. They can join the mailing list on my Jim Stone Consulting homepage. My second goal is to supply members with relevant and valuable content. If you have suggestions relative to video topics, feel free to pass them along.
So, we’re starting a new year! Thank you for reading, and let’s go!
~Jim
Over my forty-plus years of coaching, I’ve made a concerted effort to stay abreast of current coaching trends. Keeping up with change is a non-negotiable component of the profession. There isn’t an excuse for not being up-to-date with the latest information, as accessibility is easier than ever via social media, videos, blogs, technology, statistical software, and clinics. I’ve explored ecological coaching methods, anticipated outcomes (statistics), constraint-led coaching, cognitive learning, linear vs. non-linear pedagogies, block vs. random activities, deliberate practice principles, and more.
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.
It’s early June, and high school coaches are scheduling open gyms, organizing summer team camps, and planning the fall tryouts. Early summer is a good time for the coach to evaluate the previous season, assess the strengths and challenges ahead, and decide what they want to implement in the upcoming season. Here are a couple of considerations for the summer activities and fall tryouts.
Burnout is a word we are all familiar with. The number of times the word is tossed around, you’d think it would have a definitive meaning. Burnout is a “catch-all” term indicative of other issues that cause unhappiness.
Most habits don’t start as habits; they start as routines. At first glance, these two terms seem interchangeable. However, the difference is quite stark. Both habits and routines are regular and repeated actions, but habits take place with little or no conscious thought. Meanwhile, routines require a higher degree of intention and effort that leads to positive results.
Hello, everyone! As club tryouts for next season are being planned, it is a good time to ensure your staff is evaluating the players with an eye to the future. Especially at younger ages, you never know which players will grow or have the motivation to improve their skills. It’s easy to decide which player is better at the moment. It is much harder to tell which player will develop their skills. In general, taller athletes tend to develop their movement skills later in their careers, so be open to keeping the taller player who may not yet be the finished product. Also, look for players who won’t be your star, or perhaps not even be a starter, but will make your practices better with their attitude and work ethic.
Hello, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Springtime in the Rockies! You never know what you’re going to get. On Saturday, we received a couple of inches of snow. Today (Monday) it’s 75 degrees. I’ve learned to pack for all situations. There’s some interesting stuff in this newsletter. There are great ball control videos. I’m biased, but a thought-provoking blog on coach development, and a different perspective on planning club tryouts.
Why are coaches so resistant to experimenting with new methods that might result in a modification of current beliefs? The uncomplicated answer is a lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge may have merit in a small percentage of cases. However, what I see more often is that coaches are so ingrained in their methods and so comfortable with their practice format that they become resistant to change, regardless of easily accessible and more productive methods being available at their fingertips.
Quote for the Week: In a powerful scene in the movie Cool Runnings, the story of the unlikely journey of a Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics, the team’s coach, played by the late John Candy, observes to one of the team’s stars: “A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.”