TEACHING THE GAME
Smart volleyball vs. dumb volleyball
The difference between victory and defeat often comes down to which team has more “thinking” players who do the right thing at the right time. To help you play more intelligent volleyball, we’ve compiled these tips from some of the game’s wisest players and coaches
by Don Patterson Don Shaw
Former Stanford men’s and women’s head coach, member of the AVCA Hall of Fame
Indoor: Non-thinking players don’t carry out the game plan. Thinking players have given thought to the game plan and do their best to carry it out. For instance, as a coach you might say, ‘When you need to keep the ball in play, send it to this particu- lar player.’ When that situation comes up, a lot of players will forget to do that.
It’s one thing for players to do something basic — like taking line or cross from a hitter. But it’s another thing to do something a little different — like not just getting the ball to Area 1 but giving it to a certain player. Thinking players make that happen.
Bill Neville
National commissioner of coaching education for USA Volleyball, founder of Nevillizms
Indoor: Non-thinking servers bounce the ball a few times, the whistle blows and then it’s a Pavlovian response — they start to drool, and they just toss it up and hit it in the general direc- tion of the court. It may look like a good serve, but it will be dead center and go to the best passer. Thinking servers value every serve as a potential scoring opportunity — not an ace may- be, but a chance to put the other team in trouble. They’ll identify their target with a purpose and locate the ball so it goes to a weaker passer or to a spot where it will be harder to pass.
Todd Rogers 2008 Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist
Beach: Non-thinking players try to go for a crazy cut shot on the beach on off sets and often miss because there’s only about a 2-foot by 2-foot window to hit into. Thinking players snap a 50-60 percent hit to the deep middle, which is a much bigger area of the court and can be diffi cult to defend because there’s often hesitancy on who will take the ball.
Andrew Fuller Assistant coach, University of
Southern California sand volleyball
Beach: Thinking players cut down the variables in live action by parsing through data in practice and video study, which helps competition become more free and simple. On defense, thinking players focus on the more likely actions of the attacker and become faster and more effi cient in their movements. Of- fensively, thinking players simplify the pass and set to give themselves the most attacking options.
42 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
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