CAP II CLIPBO ARD
What color is your dragon?
by Brad Van Dam • Photo: USAV Club Coach | Milwakee Sting
PERHAPS YOU HAVE LISTENED TO volley- ball coaches complain how they wish their players would read the opponent better, or mention dis- appointment in a player’s form while performing a skill. Numerous times I’ve heard of a “next level” coach having to “fix” athletes when they get them, lamenting lack of volleyball IQ, lack of transition, or poor form. To this I say: “We didn’t ask them ‘What color is your dragon?’ soon enough.” Have you watched U.S. soccer with pop-up mini nets, no goalies, mini fields and the joy and smiles of four and five year olds tickling the twine with a wicked worm killer? USA Soccer has done well promoting creativity, motor learning and functional path training while “right sizing” the game to their small clients. I really enjoyed a YouTube video called “The
Backwards Brain Bicycle.” It struck me how dif- ficult it is to “un-teach” our brains what we have learned. This video made me ask myself how our younger-aged children are tackling the conditions we complain about when they get older, and how to improve from the current state. One can fix a problem before it begins by solving the root cause. Having been blessed with the privilege to coach and guide discovery for 20 years at various levels from U12 to U18 club and grade school, I decided that a new challenge was in order. Our club had a kid’s program in place, kindergarten to fourth grade, and had wonderful people already committing their time. I decided to volunteer. I learned so much from the students (roughly 100 annually), and I realized I had been riding the bicycle backwards for years. The primary requirements which I believe are critical for guiding discovery for these munchkins (ages 3-8) after watching the success of many of my wonderful colleagues are as follows:
• Patience to ask and listen to the kids’ why • Creativity to teach the why in the way the kids learn
• Curiosity to learn how to do both of the above better each time with real passion When I first learned I would have the respon- sibility of trying to not screw up a child for their future coaches, and I realized the magnitude of being blamed for their bad habits until they were out of college or rec league, I was slightly horri-
fied. Then I read a blog about nursing home vol- leyball and I realized I could be scarring children for life. I purchased the “VolleyTotz” video by Texas Advantage Volleyball Club’s John Sample from 2011, and thoroughly enjoyed the ideas and passion with which it was presented. I then researched USAV’s published information from IMPACT and continue to learn from places like Volleyball Coaches and Trainers and the “Growing the Game” resources at USAV. After adding some personal spice to make my own gumbo, as my most recent CAP cadre coach Penny Lucas-White mentioned to us at the Badger Region’s CAP I and II course in 2015, my own children became the test pilots, since I’ve already scarred them as part of their birthright. Heading into my fourth year of involvement in the Milwaukee Sting Volleybee’s program, I’d like to share some of the concepts and a few of the games the “test pilots” have enjoyed. I’ve also found these three guiding principles effective when designing programs to teach volleyball for 3-9 year olds: • Build from something they already know, be it true or imaginary
• Use visualization with your verbal cues before executing
• Make almost everything a SHORT game or contest
Example 1 We begin by asking how many 3-9 year olds
have seen the movie “How to Train Your Dragon” or “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” Most hands raise since 3-5 year olds raise their hands automat- ically when those around them raise their hands. We then ask them to close their eyes and to pic- ture their own dragon lowering its head to allow them to sit on their neck and ride. We ask them to hold the dragon’s ears with their palms up, so the dragon can still hear. We ask them to tighten their knees on the dragon’s neck by shifting their weight to the balls of their feet to help hold on, but not too tight that they hurt their dragon. We ask them what color their dragon is. My favorite answer from this season was a
4-year-old girl who answered in an instant with the specific and passionately delivered, “Midnight
60 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
blue!” We ask if they should be balanced when riding their dragon. Of course you should be low when riding your dragon, “so you can go faster” and the “wind doesn’t throw you backwards off it.” “Dragon” becomes our verbal cue for ready po- sition, tied to a visualization. Visualization is one of the foremost tools in sports psychology today, and while I’m using a dragon to deliver a lesson, a child is learning another tool they can use to be a better athlete while having fun.
Example 2
“Dragon Tag” is a warm-up competition, timed and random. I felt utilizing the warm-up time in a gym as visualization and reinforcement of the verbal cues was effective use of these three minutes since Time Magazine tells us a goldfish has a longer attention span than a human now. Players choose partners and are asked to spread out throughout the gym facing their partners. The dragon riders may only shuffle step to transport themselves, learning to balance while moving quickly. One dragon rider of each pair is selected as “IT,” and that dragon rider must tag the other dragon rider on the knees and yell “Mine!” to score a point. For two minutes, this continues, and the “IT” rider chases the not “IT” rider. After two minutes, reinforcement is given on how to best succeed, remaining low, keeping hands in front, weight on toes, being loud, calling mine, etc. The players switch who is “IT” and play a second two-minute round to determine who wins. Coaches reinforce positive corrections such as
remaining low, hands in front, tush low during the action, using the established verbal and visualized “dragon.” After time is called, the number of tags are compared in each pair, declaring a winner. The losing group must then roar like an angry dragon as loud as possible.
Example 3
“Catch a Dragon” then expands this concept onto receiving a serve during competition. In a recent camp, while utilizing 4-foot high mini nets for the 3-7 year olds, a timed “grill” (game-like drill) was created by the players throwing First Touch
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74