CAP II CLIPBO ARD
Coaching beginners with an open mind
by John Navagh Club Coach | Beach Cities VBC | Southern California Region
I HAVE BEEN COACHING JUNIOR CLUB volleyball for nine years at the 12-and-Under level. My teams have mostly been comprised of entry-level players with little or no volleyball experience. In that time, I have attended many coaching clinics, training classes and “chalk talk” sessions in an effort to improve my coaching skills.
I often found myself at these events thinking that the techniques I was learning did not apply to my teams because they were entry level teams and not ready to learn the advanced techniques being discussed. Also, my team was “different” because we did not practice five times a week like the high school teams of the coaches with whom I was in these clinics.
After hearing the same concepts being em-
braced by many different coaches, I finally had to put my pre-conceived limitations of my team behind me and give these concepts a try. You will most likely have heard these coaching tech- nique suggestions from multiple other sources. But if you are like me, it might take hearing them a few more times before you embrace them. Do not assume that your beginner level players cannot benefit from coaching techniques used for more advanced teams.
Coaching concepts I struggled to accept
Let the game teach the game: As beginners, I thought my players needed additional time in practice working on individual skills: serving, passing, setting and hitting. My team now spends a lot more time at practice scrimmaging. 6-on-6, 6-on-4, 4-on 4, 6-on-2 – depending on how many players are at the practice. Having parents or assistant coaches shag balls helps get the ball back to the server quickly and keeps the number of contacts per hour high. Wash drills (especially those where coaches toss balls in to start a rally with little or no time between rallies) are also great for creating game-like situations with a high number of contacts per hour. I used to think that scrimmaging in practice was too slow and not a good use of practice time, but as a coach I have learned that I can control the speed of the drill or scrimmage and get maxi- mum benefit. Obviously, the players get to work on all their skills in these types of drills, so there is no real sacrifice here. Teach them the rules: I have learned it is
important to teach the players the rules of the game. The very fundamental rules of three
contacts per side, lifts and double contacts are always taught. But other rules that may not be enforced as often at the beginner level should also be taught. Back-row attack rules and overlap rules are some examples. On serve-receive play- ers need to understand the overlap rules so they can position themselves properly, rather than just going where the coach tells them to go. Having the players simply memorize where to stand for serve-receive for each rotation cheats them out of the ability to think for themselves. It means they will need to start the learning process from scratch for every new team they are on and every new coach they get. Young players will understand these concepts if we give them the chance. Three or four person serve-receive: Back when I was their age, we used a 5-person “W” serve receive formation. That made the most sense to me, as it maximizes the number of passers and minimizes the amount of court each player has to cover. Although I was told at every clinic that I attended that three- or four-person formations are superior, I refused to hear it. I finally tried a four-person serve receive, and my team improved dramatically. All that talk from
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the other coaches about reducing the number of seams actually has some merit. I am now using a three-person serve-receive, and I’m still surprised that these little 9- and 10-year-old players can cover that much court, but very glad I gave it a try.
Keep it fun with high success rates: My first coaching experience was with an organi- zation that started at age seven. At this level, they learned to serve, but played “hot potato,” where the players caught the first ball over the net, and then played “toss-set-spike” volleyball from there. I thought this was ridiculous, since passing is such a fundamental part of the game. I decided I was going to teach these kids how to pass. That team struggled. While all the other teams had fun, learned how to set and cheered when they spiked the ball, my team learned how to shank passes and chase the balls across the floor. We rarely set or spiked the ball. I should have listened to the director.
Coaching concepts I hope more coaches embrace Coach the players you have, not the players you wish you had: I see coaches who forbid
PHOTO: WALLY NELL
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