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I begin by teaching them how to gain valuable feedback from their own experiences. If a pass went a certain direction, what may have been the cause? If a serve had a certain rotation,
what can that tell me? If the attack didn’t go where they intended it to go, what can be changed next time?
when they are held accountable and participate in their own learning. Another way that we can prepare our teams is to put them in drills that will emphasize what we want them to work on. If we want to improve passing, we don’t run hitting lines. If we want to improve court sense and personal knowledge growth, we can’t put athletes in drills where coaches have complete control. As mentioned above, “Queen/ King of the Court” is one of the best drills for this purpose. It allows the athletes the most touches and rewards the one thing everyone loves, win- ning. Winners stay, losers rotate off and retrieve the ball. Those players who are struggling to win will eventually find ways to improve and will begin to win some games. Teaching players to play “without a coach” can also be accomplished
by implementing “correction drills.” Very rarely do players get a second opportunity to repeat a play after an error. Correction drills allow for those players to immediately use the feedback they have gained and try to correct their previous errors by giving them another chance at the same ball. Correction drills can be created in any game situation, whether it is three-on-three back row or six-on-six full court. This is an effective and engaging process that will quickly lead players to make the needed adjustments. The most effective way, in my opinion, to prepare athletes to think
independently is to put them in a game situation and let them play. I have had some of my best practice days when I come into the gym and tell my players we are playing 3 out of 5. The players go nuts. I assign the two teams “player/coaches,” and they are responsible for time-outs and creating lineups. This forces the teams to recognize momentum swings, tactical timeouts, lineup mismatches and other random happen- ings that coaches usually have to pick out during the matches. After each game, I will discuss with each side why they did certain
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things throughout the match and what they could have done better to defeat the other team. I think these situations have prepared my teams for the possible chance they do not have me for a match for one reason or another. I feel there are too many coaches who prepare their teams to listen for constant feedback or direction. I think we are cheating our athletes if they complete a season without having to self-evaluate and self-teach. There are many situations that teams can be put in that will create those thinking moments and force them to solve the problems without guid- ance from a coach. Find a way to engage the athletes, make them make some decisions and become stronger volleyball players both physically and mentally. This should allow you to perform your job at a higher level without having to guide the team play by play.
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