If you are new to my website, my purpose is to provide the collection of volleyball information that I have collected over the years to coaches and players.  Here is a great article about volleyball nutrition.  I hope it helps you and your team.

By Lisa Dorfman, MS, RD, LMHC; Sports Nutritionist; University of Miami Athletic Department; Adjunct Professor–Department of Exercise Science

Volleyball 101
Volleyball is an explosive, quick power driven sport. What propels the ball over the net is energy, primarily anaerobic muscle energy, for serving, spiking, blocking, digging, and rolling. Long rallies and training sessions are fueled by a combination of anaerobic glycolysis and aerobic metabolism–a combination of fuels from the breakdown of muscle sugars called glycogen and a balanced diet containing carbohydrates, protein and fats. The key to peak performance volleyball nutrition is pre game fuel, intermatch replenishment, and consistent glycogen building–keeping the ball airborne means keeping the players fed and hydrated 24/7. The estimated calorie expenditure per minute for noncompetitive and competitive play is estimated to be:

Food Energy
Food energy, calories from foods and fluids are not uniquely different from other power team sports. A high carbohydrate diet of approximately 50-65% of total calories fuels both anaerobic and aerobic energy needs. The type of high carbohydrate foods that meet these needs include fruits, veggies, whole grain cereals, breads, and pastas, and low-fat dairy. Ten to twenty five (10-25%) of calories from protein provides additional power strength for muscle repair. Main meal foods such as lean meats, chicken, turkey, fish, nonfat cheeses, dairy and egg whites or egg beaters or protein fortified smoothies or trail mixes can meet these daily needs. Less than 30% from healthy fats are recommend for managing ideal competitive weights and can be met through “seasonings” or snacks of nuts, nut butters, fish oils, avocado, soy, and vegetable oil based salad dressings.

While carbohydrates are key to performance, special attention should be given to mineral rich carb choices to manage electrolyte losses from sweating. Replacement of sodium, potassium with sport drinks, lightly salted foods such as baked chips or pretzels, calcium fortification with low fat dairy snacks such as nonfat milk or yogurt and iron rich foods such as lean meats, poultry, fortified cereals, beans, or peas can assist with energy utilization, efficient muscle contraction and prevention of hyponatremia (low blood sodium) and hypokalemia (low blood potassium) which can impair performance. In addition, antioxidants–vitamins E and C from a combination of nut and fruit snacks have been shown to assist in muscle repair and recovery in competitive athletes.

Volleyball nutrition is not complete without addressing fluid intake. The typical volleyball player may lose up to one or more pounds during practice or the equivalent of 16 oz of fluid. Therefore, a minimum of 2 cups of fluid prior to playing, 4-6 oz of fluid every 15 minutes of play and an additional 2 cups of fluid after practice should be consumed to management symptoms of dehydration. Athletes training and residing in warmer climates need to ensure round-the-clock hydration in order to prevent the cumulative effects of dehydration on training and performance.

Taking Volleyball Nutrition on the Road
The challenge to peak performance during competitive match means getting enough nutritious food while traveling. Players should prepare by taking a stash of sport or breakfast bars, shakes, sport drinks, crackers, trail mix, healthy soups like vegetable, bean, noodle or minestrone, small cereal boxes, fresh fruit, and mini bagels on the bus or plane. Pregame meals should be light in fat, moderate in protein and carbohydrate based. Pasta with grilled chicken or shrimp, lean meat with baked potato or a lean meat, mayo-free 6-inch whole wheat sub will also work 2-3 hours before game time. If extra fuel is needed before play, a cup or two of sport drink, water with ½ a sport bar 1 hour before play may help the hungry player however whatever foods are consumed before competitive play should be tested beforehand in practice.

A Day in the Food Life for Volleyball Players:

Morning
Citrus fruit or juice or cup of strawberries or blueberries
Egg white omelette with green veggies, tomato and nonfat cheese
1 small bowl oatmeal, whole grain cereal or slice of whole grain bread
2 tsp nut butter
Water

AM snack
Low fat breakfast bar or sport bar
Water or sugar free beverage

Afternoon
Turkey wrap or sandwich with low fat whole wheat tortilla or bread
3-4 oz turkey
lettuce/tomato
2 tsp mayo
1 small bag baked chips
1 apple or pear
Water or sugar free beverage

PM snack
Fresh fruit smoothie with lowfat yogurt
Or lowfat yogurt with fresh fruit and granola sprinkle
Water or sugar free beverage

Evening
Grilled chicken salad with whole grain roll or
Fresh grilled fish with veggies and baked potato or
Sushi with soup and salad or
Pasta with veggies and lite red sauce
Water or sugar free beverage

Evening snack
Frozen low fat yogurt with fresh fruit topping or air blown popcorn with a parmesan sprinkle

Two December’s ago, I had the privilege to listen to Dr. Greg Dale speak at the AVCA Convention on the topic presented in this article. Gregory A. Dale, Ph.D. is a Professor of Sport Psychology and Sport Ethics at Duke University. He is also the Director of Mental Training and Co-Director of the Leadership Program for Duke Athletics. In addition to his work with Duke athletes and coaches, Greg consults with numerous college and professional athletes and teams as well as corporate groups. Greg has written three books related to leadership and performance. He is also a member of the Sport Psychology Staff for USA Track and Field and is a dynamic speaker who provides a variety of interactive and innovative workshops around the country and the world.

The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches: How to Unlock and Unleash Your Team’s Full Potential

Greg Dale works at Duke University in the Athletic Department. He was hired full time to work with the coaches and athletes on the mental aspects of performance and has had the privilege of working a lot with the volleyball team. In addition, he has taught a Duke, worked with professional teams and in the corporate world. However, his main job is in the Duke Athletic Department.

Dale is a former high school and middle school coach up in New York City and down in San Antonio, TX, where he is from originally. He has a real passion for trying to help coaches create an environment where kids can be successful.

This past December, Dale presented an educational session at the AVCA Convention in Sacramento, Calif., on “The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches: How to Unlock and Unleash Your Team’s Full Potential.” What follows is a partial/edited transcript of his presentation. You can listen to the full presentation on the AVCA Web site. Just click on the red Education tab on the left side of the AVCA Web site, enter your username and password and follow the links to the presentations.

As we go through these “Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches,” you’re going to see things that aren’t necessarily a secret. These are things that I think we should all be striving for in terms of being successful and in terms of creating an environment where our kids can truly be successful.

When you have an environment where kids want to play for themselves, want to (play) for each other, but they also love playing for their coach, you have a great thing going.

So, let’s move on to these “Seven Secrets of Successful Coaching.” This is not rocket science, but I do want you to think about it.

Number one is Character. I think that coaches that are credible have character. One thing I think you have to be willing to do is make the tough decision regardless of the consequence of that decision.

What’s the classic case where it might be difficult for the coach to make the right choice regardless of the consequence? You’re All-American/All-State player violated a rule, right?

I’m going to paint a very hypothetical scenario for you. Let’s say your best player goes out and break a rule. Let’s just say it’s a drinking rule and you’ve said that if you break this rule, you don’t play the next game. But, that next game is the regional final, or the national semifinal, state championship or conference final. What do you think happens to your credibility in the eyes of all those kids on your team if you allow that star athlete to play? When you have said ahead of time, if you break this rule, you don’t play.

(Some of you might ask), aren’t you punishing the whole team? I would say that’s a rationalization. We rationalize that we’re hurting the whole team. Guess what. You’re not hurting the team. That kid’s choice is the one that’s hurting the team.

Are you in coaching about the significance of teaching that young man or young woman a lesson for life, or are you in it about winning? I’m not telling you it is an easy choice. But, I think if you sit your star player down, that sends a pretty good message that you mean business. That, if you said it, then you have to follow through with that. Alright.

Now, some coaches will say, “Well, I’ll put it out to a vote to all the kids and ask them what they think.” Let’s see… 16-, 17-, 18-kids, you ask them, should our star athlete play in the big championship game, what are they going to say? More often than not, they’re going to say yes.

I’m going to challenge you that more often than not, your kids are going to rise to the occasion and do very well. And I would challenge you that (if you play that athlete) you might win that next game, but you will lose for the next three or four years in your program because your kids are not going to respect you. You’re going to lose credibility if you are not willing to make that tough choice. It’s a hard decision.

I also think you have to be honest with people. The first time you are dishonest with people, you’re going to lose credibility. Now, coaches do this very unwittingly sometimes. This might sound like a simple thing, but if you say to your kids… “If you guys work really hard, we’re going to get out of here at 5 o’clock today.” Then, 5:15 rolls around, and you’re still out there. 5:30 rolls around, and you’re still out there. 5:45 … Three days later, “If you girls work really hard today, we’re going to get out of here at 5 o’clock today.” Again, 5:15 rolls around, 5:30… After a while, what’s going to start to happen when you say, “If we work really hard today, we’re going to get out of here at 5 o’clock?” What’s going to happen? Nothing.

I think it does two things. Number one, they’re going to think, “Yeah, right, we’re going to get out of here at 5 o’clock.” It starts to undermine your credibility. Second, I think that in some cases it can undermine the quality of your practice, because you’ve got some kids who are going to hold something back. “Why should I bust my hump through 5 o’clock, give you everything I’ve got, when who knows when this things going to end.”

Now, I’m not saying that some days you’re going to have to leave them out there. But, if you are going to use that as a motivator, then you’ve got to try to stick with that. If you promise it, if you say it, you’ve got to follow through with that. It’s very important.

A coach on character…“The legacy I want to leave is doing things right, doing things ethically, doing things morally, being competitive, yet classly. Would I love to a national championship? Absolutely, it’s something I dream about. But, I won’t do it at all costs. I won’t sell my soul for a national championship.”
– Rhonda Revelle, women’s softball coach at the University of Nebraska.

Number two is Competence. How long does it take your kids to figure out you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about? 30 seconds? 15 minutes? Not very long, right?

Well, here’s a couple things. Obviously, you have got to know the game of volleyball. And, you are here (at the AVCA Convention), you’re learning that. You’re learning new and better ways to do things. But, you better know your stuff.

Here’s another thing… are you innovative? Your athletes want to know they have a coach on the cutting edge, who’s willing to at least look at if there is a different way that we can do this? Now, you might discover there isn’t a different way, but you have to be open (to look at things).

For those of you who are head coaches, do you have yes people working for you, or do you have people that can challenge you? Challenge you, ask you or say. “I don’t think that’s the best way to do this because of this.” If you don’t, you need to create an environment where people can begin to do that. Your assistant coaches have to deal with challenge a little bit.

I know our women’s basketball staff before Gail (Goestenkors) went on to the University of Texas, had been together for about 12 years. You know what she made her staff do? She made the assistant coaches switch positions. The person who was coaching the post players found out in the spring that she was now going to be coaching the guards. Boy, that assistant coach went and learned everything she could about coaching guards. The other one learned about coaching post players. That’s pretty drastic, right? But, she felt like they were becoming complacent. They were not doing the things that they needed to do to be innovative.

A coaches on confidence…”You’ve got to always be looking for new and better ways to do what we’re doing.” – Mary Wise, women’s volleyball coach, University of Florida

Number three is Commitment. How do you demonstrate that you’re committed? Time, absolutely. What else? Be prepared everyday. If you don’t post practice plans, I encouraged you to do that. Jolene Nagel, Duke’s volleyball coach, does that. It’s not real detailed, but I think it get our kids an opportunity, mentally, to make the transition from being a student to now being an athlete. It also helps you to get organized. I would encourage you to do that.

What else? Feedback and evaluation. You’re willing to give that. What else? Effort. If you’re putting forth the effort. Keeping up with technology, absolutely.

Here’s the thing, I think if I were to ask each of your kids separately, what are three to four core values of your program, would they all say the same thing? If they wouldn’t, you need to do something about that.

What are your three or four core values that you’re not going sacrifice no matter what? That’s important because I think your values are what drives your mission, it’s what drives your goals, it’s what drives your rules of engagement, and it drives everything that you do. If you haven’t spent any time on that, you need to spend some time on that. Your athletes want to know they have got a coach who is passionate and works really hard.

I would also tell you that when you work really hard, and do all this stuff that you’re so passionate about, what are you supposed to do when you go home? What do you do with all that stuff? Are you supposed to bring all that home with you? Are you supposed to try to let it go? How many of you do really well with that, letting it go?

I just want to tell you about something I read. I (read an article about) the divorce rates in America and it looked at different professions. The national average is about 50%. They looked at the coaching profession; and guess what that is compared to the national average? It’s higher. Part of it is that we care so much about what we do, that when we go home we might be there physically, but mentally and emotionally, we’re back coaching.

Tom Osborne, the former football coach at Nebraska, every Wednesday night during the season, not in the off season, but during the season, was date night with his wife. They would go out and talk about anything and everything but football. They’d talk about their own kids and their relationships. I would encourage you to think about that.

Number four is Caring. If I were to put these in any order, this would be right up there with a coach’s character. But, do you think it’s important that your kids know you care about them? Yes. They don’t say how much you know, so they know how much you care. It’s absolutely critical.

There’s a coach who’s interviewing for a job at Duke and knows the game better than anybody else, but doesn’t really care about his kids. That guy is probably not going to get the job. You have to be able to do both of those.

How do you show your kids you care about them? What can you do to try to specifically show that you care about them?

Take the time to listen. How are they’re doing, how’s school? I would encourage you that if you don’t know when your kids’ birthdays are, you should know when their birthdays are. I’m not saying that you have to have party hats and cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday to everybody. But what is it going to mean to one of those kids who’s on the fringe, who doesn’t play a lot, or is one of your role players? You go up to them before practice and say, hey Happy Birthday, hope things are going well today, I’m glad you’re on this team, I really appreciate what you do. Then, when you ask that kid to go out and work a little harder, he or she is more likely to do that because you took the time to notice.

If you don’t have the time of day for kids when they’re injured, if you don’t talk to them when they’re injured, that sends a pretty good message that I don’t really care about you unless you can help me win. Think about that. If you have a kid who is legitimately injured, you’ve got to spend time with those kids, even if they’re not one of your star players.

Coaches on caring…“I think that when a kid finishes a sport, they remember number one, their friendships, number two their relationship with their coach. They don’t remember a win, though obviously they’re going to remember some of them. Overall, that’s not what they remember. And they don’t remember if he or she was good at x’s and o’s, they remember that coach cared about (them) or did she not.” – Gail Goestenkors, former Duke women’s basketball coach, now coaching at the University of Texas.

Number five is Confidence Building. Do you have an impact on the ways your kids are confident or not? Absolutely. Yet, I see coaches everyday doing things to undermine that one thing, that intangible, that you absolutely need to have to be up there when it is time to serve for the match at the end of the game. You have got to have a kid that’s confident. It’s really, really important.

I think as a coach, if you’re not challenging people, if you’re not getting in their grill to challenge them to become greater than they can be, then you’re doing them a disservice. So how do you challenge people without destroying their confidence? I think that’s at the core of what we call a coach.

So how do we do that? We’ve got to understand that most of the mistakes aren’t made on purpose. When was the last time that you had kid purposely serve the ball into the net? Anybody have kids that do that? What about serving the ball out, or hitting the ball out? The kids are not trying to screw up on purpose, so why do we forget about this sometimes? Because you want to win.

You’ve got to think about that. I don’t know a kid who purposely screws up on purpose. A lot of them defeat their mistakes whenever possible. Now, obviously, you have rotations and kids come in and out, but what happens if every time a kid makes a mistake he or she looks over to where you are and is thinking about what the response is going to be from the sidelines about that mistake? What do you do as a coach? What kind of environment are you creating? Fear?

The quickest way to create fear of failure is to punish them when they fail. How would you describe an athlete that’s afraid to fail? How would you describe that person as an athlete? Competitive. Perfectionist. Trying to aim that ball, taking a little bit off that top spin to try to get it in, right? Absolutely, and as a coach, if every time they make a mistake you’re throwing your clipboard down and you’re yelling at them or you’re screaming at them, you’re going to create an environment where kids are going to shy away from that.

I think that we’re motivated in one of two ways. We’re motivated to pursue success or motivated to avoid failure. Which environment do you create? To avoid failure? I know, it’s hard. The thing is, they’re going to reach more of their potential if they’re pursuing success than they are avoiding failure.

You’ve got to create an environment where your kids know that as long as they’re working hard and they’re going for it, that they don’t have to worry about every time they make a mistake what’s going to happen. You’ve got to try to create an environment where for the most part they can play.

You also have to create an environment where everybody feels good about themselves, and what they can do. One coach talked about his high school basketball coach who was the best he ever had. He said, you want to know why? Because he made everybody on that team feel like he was a valuable part of his team.

Here’s something I would encourage you to think about. Let’s say your team has won a match, done really, really well, but you have a kid who didn’t get to play or didn’t play that much, but worked her butt off all week at practice. What a great opportunity – but you have to know your kids though, because maybe she doesn’t want you to do this –why don’t you point her out. “(Your work in practice) is one of the reasons we won tonight. You did this, I saw you do this on Tuesday, I saw you did that in another practice.”

The kids that played are going to get the satisfaction of playing. The kids who are your stars are going to see their names in the paper and all that stuff. But, what about that kid that you need to play that role of the role player. You have to notice it sometimes when it counts. Think about doing that with the kids.

Number six is Communicator. Before, during and after competition.

Before competition. I think you have to avoid saying things with “but…”. “We’re really banged up, but…” “It was a long bus ride over here, but…” What do you do when you do that? You’re giving them an out. You need to avoid doing that.

During competition. The first opportunity you have to interact with someone, I would encourage you that the first thing you should do is ask them, “What did you see out there?” Maybe as a head coach you don’t have an opportunity, so maybe your assistant can do this. Then you, or your assistant, can tell the player what you saw. And then you or your assistant can say, “I think the most important part of it is, how are you going to fix that.”

High school kids can do this, I’m telling you. I’ve seen it done, and, then you can say, “that’s exactly right,” or, you can say, “I think you need to do this.”

I have heard coaches, who time and time again say, that’s a much more constructive 10, 20, or 30 second interaction than yelling and screaming at them, and then becoming defensive about why you’re doing it.

Another example. When you call a time out and you call everybody over and tell them what you want them to do. Have you ever done that and then they go out there and it doesn’t look anything like what you asked them to do?

Part of the reason why is because, like some of you (in this session), you’re looking at me and your thinking about what you’re going to eat lunch a little bit later. (Same thing) in that huddle. You’ve got one kid thinking about the mistake she just made, you’ve got one kid who’s thinking about how the official is hosing them today and not giving them any calls, and maybe you’ve got one kid who’s thinking about who’s watching them in the stands.

Here’s what you should do. If you’re the head coach and you have time (or maybe have one of your assistants do it), point to one of the kids and say, “what did I just ask you to do?” You might be surprised.

We had an All-American at Duke, Alana Beard in women’s basketball. The first time Gail asked her what did I just say, it had nothing to do with what she just said. They’re looking at you, but they’re not always hearing you. It’s really important to think about that. You should also let your kids know that you’re going to do that. It makes them aware of it from the beginning.

After competition. If you don’t have anything good to say, then you should wait 24 hours to say it. Dean Smith, the coach who coached at that other place down the road said, “I learned early on, if I didn’t have anything good to say, I wait 24 hours.” Because, here’s the thing… When you go in to the locker room and you rip them, and you vent on them, there’s one person in that room who feels just a little bit better when you are done. Who is that? You!

Also, the word “don’t”… you need to remove it from your vocabulary. “Don’t serve into the net.” “What ever you do right now, don’t think about pink elephants.” You’re body doesn’t hear the word “don’t,” it hears what comes after it. Hit the ball in the net. Hit it long. Hit it short. Whatever it is you’re saying to your kid, you need to always tell them what you do want them to do..

Lastly, have somebody film you during matches. Point the video camera on you and, if anything, put it within ear shot, so (you can see) what is it like to be an athlete on the court with you on the sideline. Are you a raving lunatic over there? Or are you calm, in control and confident in those crucial situations. Watch it sometime and see what you look like.

Last, but not least, is number seven, Consistency. Ok, some days, do you feel “washed out” before practice? You don’t know whether you are coming or going. Or, some days, things are going to happen to you that you don’t anticipate, right?

Now, do your kids have to worry each day what kind of mood you’re going to be in? If they do, I’m challenging you, you’re never going to reach your potential as a coach, and your team isn’t either. You’ve got to be consistent.

You’ve got to figure out a way to steal five minutes (before a practice) to allow yourself to let go of all the other “stuff” that has happened to you that day, and come and be ready to go. You want them (your athletes) to show up in a pretty good mood and ready to work hard. They expect the same thing from us.

There are teams that I know that sit around with their assistant coaches and trainers and ask what kind of mood is coach in today. And there’s one team that can tell when the coach walks in the door what mood he’s in. “Oh, it’s going to suck today. Look at him. He’s pissed about something.” That is not a good thing.

Coaches on consistency… “If I come into practice on a downer, that’s how the players will respond. My job, no matter what’s transpired, is at 3 o’clock is to come in focused and ready to go. They deserve that. That’s what I get paid for. They deserve my best effort and that’s to be consistent. If we expect consistency from them, they have to see if from us.” – Mary Wise, women’s volleyball coach, University of Florida.

“As a coach, yet to be consistent. I haven’t always been that way, but I’m learning that athletes perform better if they know what to expect from their coach.” – Tony Dungy, Indianapolis Colts.

The last thing I want to leave you with is a poem that we’ve adapted for coaches. It’s called “How You Live Your Dash.”

Think about this…

On your tombstone, when you die, you have the day you were born and you have the day you die. Your life essentially comes down to that little dash between those two years.

Same thing with your coaching career, which is obviously even shorter than that… What does that represent.

Here’s the poem…

I heard of a man who stood to speak
At the retirement banquet of a coaching friend.
He referred to the dates of the coach’s career from the beginning to the end.

He noted the first and last day of the coach’s time
and spoke the dates with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That he spent coaching on earth.
And now only those who loved and played for him
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we win;
The trophies … The records … The cash,
What matters most is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way our athletes feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat our athletes with respect,
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last awhile.

So, when your coaching career comes to an end
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things your athletes say
About how you spent your dash?

This poem was adapted for coaches by Greg Dale and Jeff Janssen from “The Dash,” a poem by Linda Ellis of Linda’s Lyrics www.lindaslyrics.com

For more information about Greg Dale, to schedule him to speak to your organization or to purchase one of his books, go to his web site at http://excellenceinperformance.com/drdale/. You can also e-mail him at gdale@dule.edu or call 919-401-9640.

A piece about great coaching written by Former Nebraska Volleyball Head Coach Terry Pettit that was posted in the Lincoln Star Journal.  Coach Pettit will be inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame December 17, 2009.

I have a friend who tells me that in 1953 he could fix about anything on a Chevy with a combination wrench. Those days are gone.

So are the days when organized sport meant the kids in the neighborhood gathering at the end of the block, without their parents or other adults, to negotiate who would play on which team, who would be chosen last, and who would play right field.

Some people argue that in moving to a culture of spontaneous play to a culture of organized sport, we have improved the technical skills of our kids, while stunting the growth of other skills, such as negotiation, initiative, communication, and the ability to solve problems without adult intervention.

To put it bluntly, we are over-organizing our kids’ play and in doing so delaying their ability to develop the skills that will help them the most as adults.

The more our culture relies on organized sport to teach our children how to play and compete, the more expectations parents have for the coaches who work with our kids.

We want the coach to teach our kid how to play.

We want our kid to play shortstop when she’s not pitching.

If our kid gets really good, we want her to be on an elite team where she can travel to other places and develop at a faster pace.

And, most importantly, we want the coach to make the experience painless. We do not want our children to suffer the indignity of being a substitute, a role player, or approach any scenario that might be interpreted as failure.

We want all this for our children despite the fact that success in our adult lives is mostly about developing the skills to deal with bad hops, missed promotions, delayed gratification, and the occasional bounce of good luck.

This is a lot to ask of someone who has been trained as a history teacher, pipe fitter, surgeon or someone who is volunteering to coach because nobody else would. It would be a lot to ask of a professional coach with a master’s degree in sports psychology.

Given the fact that most of the people who coach our kids are not trained in coaching, it might be helpful to identify some characteristics of great coaching that are available to everyone regardless of experience.

Here are some behaviors you might bring forth if you are asked to coach a team, and you might look for these same qualities in evaluating someone as a potential coach for your son or daughter. These characteristics are just as important if you’re coaching the Little Bears as they are if you’re coaching the Huskers.

• All great coaching begins with hope. Great coaching is communicating through posture, language, chalk talks, and intimate conversations the ultimate belief that good things are going to happen.

• Great coaching is being able to communicate to an athlete that she already has the “right stuff” to get the job done. We may need to improve her fundamentals. We may need to work harder. We may need to make some adjustments, but we don’t need a heart transplant. We already have DNA that, combined with hard work, will allow us to be great.

• Great coaching is more concerned with the process and less concerned with the outcome (parents take note). Are we committed to behaviors that will lay the foundation for success? Are we on time? Do we look each other in the eye when we speak? Do we give great effort? Do we maintain the sacredness of the group by not voicing our frustrations outside the team? Do we encourage our teammates even when we are on the sidelines? Are we passionate about our commitment?

Committing to new behaviors is as important to a team’s success as a solid foundation is to a new house. It’s quiet and it doesn’t get much press, but nothing else can move forward without it.

• Great coaching understands the necessity for risk and the value of failure. There is no growth without pain. The surest way to not win a championship is to try to protect your success. If you are in the presence of great coaching, the coach is going to ask you to become a little bit more uncomfortable than you want to be as you risk new roles, new techniques and new expectations.

• All performance, whether individual or team, is based on trust. Athletes have the best chance for performing well when they trust themselves. Teams have the best chance for success when coaches and parents create a climate where athletes feel the the adult’s care for them is not based upon performance. The support is unconditional. Athletes have the best chance to learn what trust is all about if they see it modeled by their parents and coaches.

The days of ‘53 Chevys and pickup games are gone and they are not likely to return unless our culture begins to place more value on neighborhood play and less dependence on mini-vans and organized sport.

In the meantime, my wish would be that everyone’s son or daughter has the opportunity to play for a coach who is hopeful about the team’s future, who believes your kid has the right stuff to get the job done, who encourages your son or daughter to commit to behaviors that will give her the best chance for success, and who creates an environment where kids have the opportunity to risk, rise, fall, and risk again. Then again, these characteristics would make for great parenting as well.

Source: http://www.terrypettit.com/recent/detail.html?news_id=1

I highly recommend his book: Talent and the Secret Life of Teams

I often get into a rut of healthy foods to eat.   The following was emailed to me by Earth Fare Market.  Hope this spurs some ideas for you too.

(Click on the image for full size)

Written by John Kessel, USA Volleyball Director, Grassroots, Disabled, Education & Beach Volleyball.  January 26, 2005  He has volumes of great information.

First off, you should stop working so hard on hitting the ball harder, and instead focus on swinging your arm faster. When players go for hitting harder, they tighten up the muscles in the shoulder girdle and cannot unleash as fast as an armswing as they might have. Swing fast, swing faster. The dilemma is, when you first start to swing faster, or as fast as you can, you are not as accurate.

Speed first, accuracy second. Trying to be successful for a helpful parent, or for the fans of the match, can not only make a player tight, but they know the unwritten law of parents – I must do this right, while they are watching me” The corollary are those coaches who have the same unwritten law. The coach and/or parents have been heard to say the famous spectator line “For gosh sake, just hit it in!” This statement alone has caused hundreds of volleyball players to not reach their full potential. Let them swing away when young, even if they lose, as they will stay fast and be more accurate as time goes on. Andre Aggassi said it best when he was young – “I hit the ball as hard as I could, I found the court later.” Tiger Woods said the same thing when he said “I hit the ball as hard as I could, and found the fairway later.” Be patient, let them miss.

See how fast you can really swing… Swing your arm at the ball against a wall where anything, from floor to ceiling, is “accurate enough” while seeing how fast you can swing your arm. The idea here is to get a feeling of how fast the player can really swing, if accuracy is not a worry. That is the swing wanted, when in the air spiking.

Open the door, slam the door. Much of the power in serving and hitting, comes from torque. That same twist baseball pitchers use to fall off the mound. Only we spikers have to do it in the air. Players need to develop powerful torque, by opening up, sometimes called much to Tom Tait’s chagrin “bow and arrow.” The key is, to open up after take off, and as you swing that fast arm, close off, slam the door, with as much power and speed as you can. Like the armswing, timing is vital and takes a long period to learn for most players.

Jump so the ball is in front of your hitting shoulder.

Hit 3 meter line first and every practice. Right now coaches spend their lives begging the hitters to stay off the net. That is due to the tradition of hitting on the net. Not only is this easier to block for any sized player, it also makes for more ankle sprains and injuries, when the set drifts too close to the net. The BEST way to learn to spike is to first hit 2 meter high balls, from the 3 meter line. You can set it higher if you want (see the impact of higher sets elsewhere in this article), but it should start at the 3 meter line, then move closer as the practice and season develops.

Always follow through. What kind of a tennis serve would a player have, if they stopped at full reach after striking the ball? How many home runs will you hit if you stop your bat after you swing for the seats? Too many kids slow or stop their arms after hitting the ball. Let your arm whip through the ball, and slow naturally down by your waist area. Which side if any, of your body, is determined by the shot you hit.

Remember how hard this is. The Volleyball spike is the ONLY sport where maximum effort, is done unsupported every time. Basketball players do not take jump shots from 3/4 court every time, baseball batters do not have to jump and swing to hit homeruns. This is also the only sport where the maximum effort, jumping, is followed immediately by another max effort, spiking the ball. It takes a LOT of repetitions and good timing to hit that sweet spot in time.

Timing is core to the success of hitting hard. The best way to learn timing, is to hit real set balls, so you can time them. They can be random in pattern after learning the basics from a same set ball. Random training is better for superior learning/remembering. Since we learn best from gamelike things, the ideal hitting drill is a pass-set-hit drill, or a dig-set-hit drill. Not off of tosses or a machine. Off of live sets. If you don’t have a teammate, sure, set yourself and hit it over the net.

High sets are the hardest to time and learn from. Yet that is the ball most kids start with, supposedly to get more time to figure out where the ball is falling and give time to get there. The lower the set, the less speed the ball is falling through the sweet spot hitting zone. The high sets come down ripping through this sweet strike zone, and players most often hit them into the net.

Use the wall right. Most players love to bang the ball repetitively against the wall. What coaches have told me is that it develops “wrist snap.” Nope, it is developing the negative error, the bad miss, of hitting into the net or block. Just like our friend pepper does. What they need to get, are reps hitting OVER the net, with wrist snap of course, not into the net. So get them to set themselves and hit above a 7′4″ mark, and grab the rebound to redo that motion, as that is a swing worth knowing, how to hit over the net, or even over the block and in.

Why is it so hard to hit at full extension? Please don’t be a coach who then says, “Reach!,” “Get on top of the ball!,” “Don’t drop your elbow!” and variations on those technique comments. First, check for understanding, by having the player show you their armswing, without the ball. If the player swings with a bent elbow, or down by their ear, they do not understand the technique. If they show you full extension, they understand the technique and what they SHOULD do. The challenge is to do it, up in the air, ball moving one way, player another, as the third hit of the team most the time. They often make errors of anticipation, and judgment, and by the time they are ready to rip on the ball, it has fallen, for the ball cannot hover like a golden snitch…it keeps falling. The end result, players drop their elbow or swing low. The solution? Swing sooner, or swing faster. It comes back to timing.

Jump serve. This lets you set yourself, develop an over the net armswing, and unleash a lot of power. It is a closed motor program, so you will time things better than when someone is “surprising you” with their set variations. You control the set, the height, distance, etc. You likely will get better faster with the jump serve, than your spike. Even if young, jump serving lets you crank on the ball, so never give up, just keep swinging.

Stop always hitting the way you are facing. While this is not just about hitting hard, it is about being a great hitter, and great hitters can hit all directions, not just where they face. Practice hitting cut and line, from warm up to finish.

Learn how to hit roll shots and control with your non-dominant hand. Misjudging the ball is more common than timing it right. When that error in ball/jump/hit it means the ball is over their non-dominant shoulder most players lean over, to put the ball as much in front of their dominant shoulder as they can. The end result, they land on their opposite leg (left leg for a right handed spiker in this predicament), and they too often injure that knee on landing. You need to have an ace up your sleeve, and be able to roll shot or control a ball with your non-dominant hand. Practice this in short court warm up games, and hit some sets as well, so you can do it. This is NOT at full power, unless you get a lot of practice, it is with control.

Play doubles. Let them love the game and get lots of reps in the fun of playing the Olympic game of doubles, on or off the sand. In doubles, if you are the weaker hitter, you should get every ball, so you will get lots of training on your passing, and hitting if you can pass. Over and over again.

Play monarch/queen/king of the court. Let them love the game. They know it is the best way to learn to spike hard, by playing this game. Just make one rule – if you give the other team a free ball, they can set it on the net. If you make it hard on them with a deep court spike or a good standing spike, they have to stay at the 3 meter line hit.

I hope this helps you see the many parts and ways to become a more powerful spiker. Good luck and have fun as a better terminator.

Read John Kessel’s Blog.

The other night I was watching ESPN and they were showing the greatest NCAA sports teams of all times.  I was amazed at the success of Kenyon College’s swimming program.

Kenyon College Ladies’ NCAA Championship History

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has never had a women’s program, in any of its divisions, reach the same levels of success that the Kenyon College Ladies swimming and diving teams have reached.

Since the 1983-1984 season, the Ladies have won 21 of 24 NCAA Division III national championships. No other program, in any sport or any division of the NCAA, can even come close to that remarkable feat.

Each year, the Ladies rewrite the standards for superior performance and they are standards that, quite possibly, may never be attained by another NCAA women’s program.

On the Kenyon College Men’s side, the Lords swim team rang up their 29th consecutive NCAA Division III national championship.  Since 1980, Division III men’s swimming has known no other swimming title-holder.

There are other remarkable teams that have great success like North Carolina women’s soccer team has won 19 National Championships since 1981.  I’m sure you can think of others, but it made me think of what the athletes, coaches, and entire programs’ frame of mind must be when entering a season.  They must think of nothing else but the best…nothing else but the top…nothing but winning another championship.  There must be awesome team spirit and such a great focus on a common goal.  It’s the goal of the team that ultimately matters…nothing else.

As a new season begins, here are some questions for teams to ponder:

What is your mind set when coming into this season?  Do you think it is the same as Kenyon or UNC?  How can you get your mind there?

What really are your expectations for the season?  Can you raise your level of that expectation?

When coming into the locker room…are you thinking about mundane daily tasks or can you focus on the ultimate goal?  What do you think these Championship teams think about the second they leave the locker room?  Can you get your mind there?

What do you think the ultimate mindset of a team is when they have 28 consecutive national championships?

We need to get our thoughts in this direction.  I honestly can’t expect us to go out and win a National Championship this year (although it would be nice), but I do think we can take strides in the right direction towards that ultimate goal.  Look at great teams that have consecutive NCAA Championship births -

Alabama gymnastics has 25th consecutive national championship berth
Arizona Men’s Golf has 21 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances
Tennessee Women’s Basketball has 24 consecutive tournament appearances

Twenty-six years ago Alabama gymnastics was in the same position we are in.  Twenty-two years ago Arizona golf was in the same position we are in.  Twenty-five years ago Tennessee basketball was in the same position we are in.  Those teams did not have the same recruiting pool as they do now.  Those teams did not have the top recruits in the country.  What they did have was determination, desire, heart, and gave blood, sweat, and tears to make the TEAM great.  They decided to make a difference for their team and their program.  They made history for their schools.

What mark are you going to make on this school?  Are you going to make history?

At the University of Minnesota, Mike Hebert introduced me to the works of Dr. Paul Arrington. Dr. Arrington is a humble man from Hawaii that has been around volleyball for many years.  He has coached juniors for over 25 years in Hawaii, much of his work has been published by the AVCA, he is quoted in countless books, and he is now an Assistant Coach at Dartmouth University.  He chose Dartmouth because he prefers to live in a small town.

Dr. Arrington spends countless hours studying and researching top programs.  He compiles a wealth of data to come to factual conclusions that often proves or disproves common volleyball theory.  Dr. Mike Hebert believes Dr. Arrington’s work is consistent with the late, great Dr. Jim Coleman, one of the early revolutionary strategists of volleyball.  That’s a lot of volleyball doctors :)

I have been fortunate to get a glimpse of Dr. Arrington’s philosophies and his great volleyball mind.  He has been gracious enough to let me reprint some of his work on my little corner of the web.  Please enjoy.

Thinking Critically About Serving Strategy, Part III

In volleyball, accurate serve reception passing is definitely the key to an effective offense.  Coaches spend considerable time developing serving strategies that will counteract the opposing teams serve reception ability and force the serve receive team out of their offensive game plan.

There are many factors the coach needs to consider in developing an effective serving strategy. A few of these are: the opponent’s serve receive formation, the presence of poor passers in the formation, the presence of a dominant attacker in the formation, how well the opponents pass different types of serves, and perhaps most importantly the skill of the servers or his or her team.

In Parts I and II of this series, the impact of different types of serves, service velocity and serving angles were explored.  In this study, the impact of serves that force the passer to move will be evaluated.  One of the things in this era of jump serving that seems to have been forgotten is the impact of the accurate placement of serves.

Statistics for three hundred and sixteen serve receptions in top 25 NCAA Division I women’s matches were evaluated.  Serve receptions were evaluated on a traditional 3-2-1-0 basis, and on whether the passer had to move one or more steps right, left, forward, or backward to pass, or made a forearm pass or two hand face pass without moving.  Serves that hit the net and ace serves with no real attempt at making a pass were not included in the study.  The different type of serve (floater, jump float, or jump top spin) was not taken into account.

The following results were obtained:

Passer                              Serve Receive Average
Did not move (forearm)              2.65
Did not move (facepass)            2.10
Moved right                              1.57
Moved left                                1.81
Moved forward                          1.79
Moved backward                      1.73

It can readily be seen that simply forcing the passer to move is very effective in forcing serve reception errors.  This will subsequently result in an ineffective serve reception offense and an advantage for the serving team.

The most effective serves were those that forced the passer to move to her right.  These were followed closely by those that forced the passer to move backward, forward or to her left.  Forcing the passer to move backward is not as simple as it used to be.  This is largely due to the recent rule changes that allow serve reception by the overhead two hand face pass with the relaxation of ball handling calls on first passes.  High serves that in the past would have forced the passer to back pedal are now passed with a two-hand face pass with a high degree of accuracy. There are individual players and teams as well, who choose to backpedal and use a forearm pass instead of face passing high serves. For these players who chose to back pedal and use the forearm pass instead of taking the high serve with two hands, their serve reception average was significant less (1.73 as compared to 2.10 for those passing with face passes).

Taking all of this into account perhaps coaches should reconsider very accurate serve placement as a significant part of their serving strategy since simply forcing the passer to move to either side or forward decreases significantly the chances of having to defend against the opponent’s 3 option offense on every serve reception.

Assuming a three person serve receive formation, the passers occupy less than 9 of the 30 foot wide court to say nothing of the 15 or more feet between them and the net.  It should not be that difficult at these high levels of competition, paraphrasing Yogi Berra, “to serve them where they ain’t.”   Yet in this study, fully two-thirds of the serves were on a direct line to the passers-they either didn’t move, or moved forward or backward only.  Even worse on over one-third of the serves, the passer did not have to move at all.  Even if the serves were directed into the court in a random fashion only one-third of them should be in a direct line to the passer, and certainly much less than one-third would be directly to the passer.  It would therefore seem that the servers might be focusing on the passer instead of the holes in the passing patterns.  The servers must learn to focus on the empty spots not the passer.

Obviously it is probably counter productive if “lollipop” serves must be utilized to be accurate.  However, if the servers can continue to serve with the velocity and trajectories they presently use and improve even slightly on making the players move right, left or forward, the impact on the opponents serve receive offense will be significant. This will in turn result in more points for the serving team.

Since this study shows the significant impact of making the passer move at high level NCAA Division I competition, one would expect that the this impact would be even more profound at the club and high school levels and also at lower levels of collegiate competition.  Coaches need to use a serving strategy that forces the serve receive passers to move, and they need to instill this importance upon their players during practice sessions.  The coach’s mantra needs to be “Make the passer move!”

I have been fortunate to have great mentors in my volleyball life. Al Stern is one of them. Al is now 73 years old. He holds two gold medals and one bronze medal in the Master’s Division at World Championships. His Bluffton High School Team was a runner-up at the state championship in the second year the high school was in existence, and followed it up with a state championship two seasons later. In eleven years of coaching club, he has four junior Olympic club regional championships (the club has a total of only three or four teams each season). Most notable is his competitive fire that continues to burns brightly inside to become a better coach. Al is always trying to learn, always trying to be a better coach. Awesome!

Following is an excerpt from Al about what he has learned while coaching over the past 11 years:

I have attended a lot of coaching clinics and in every one I’ve gone to there are common threads that are woven throughout. They are:

1. All drills should be competitive unless there is an overriding reason to make them co-operative. Competitive drills should either keep score or make the players reach a specific goal to achieve success (e.g., you must pass 50 balls on target out of 100 serves to be successful). If the player(s) lose or fail to meet the definition of success they must pay a penalty (e.g., frog jumps, pushups, etc.).

2. Any drill that is co-operative must have a time limit attached in order to avoid boredom or spending too much or too little time on a skill.

3. All drills should be run at a high level of intensity where repetitions are fast and the demand on the players is as game-like as possible.

4. All drills should be as game-like as possible and should include the net in the drill. For example, when introducing the ball into a drill, do it from across the net because that’s the way it will be in a game.

5. All drills should be designed to make sure that the players spend the minimum time standing around waiting to do something and that they repeat a skill many times in succession rather than with a lot of time in between. For example, if you are practicing spiking do not have anyone standing around waiting to hit. Instead have 1 setter, 1 hitter, 1 blocker, 3 back row defenders, and everyone else shagging balls. Then set the hitter 5 straight sets in rapid succession and rotate players.

6. All drills should involve a lot of movement so that the players get conditioning work while they practice instead of just running laps. The only running, not part of a drill, which the players should ever do, is suicides if they are doing something poorly.

7. Don’t give the players long water breaks. It is much better to give them more frequent breaks of 3 minutes each (the time between games in a match). And during those 3 minutes they should drink liquids and talk to each other about volleyball, just like they would in a match. NO CELL PHONES MAY BE USED DURING PRACTICE EXCEPT TO CALL PARENTS FOR A RIDE HOME!

8. The girls have to have social time because they are teenage girls. So instead of letting them gossip all practice long, like they do now which is very distracting, we will do the following (and then insist that they concentrate totally on volleyball for the duration of the practice). At the beginning of practice the girls on each team will sit in a circle and each girl will have 1 minute to talk about anything in their life they want except volleyball. No one else can talk during that 1 minute. The coach will keep the time but will not comment. At the end of that time (let’s say 10 minutes for 10 players) practice begins and from that point on it’s all business. This should also help with team building.

9. At the end of practice all the girls on each team will sit in a circle and have 1 minute to talk about what they believe they as an individual player did right and wrong during the practice and what the team did right and wrong during the practice. Again, no one else can talk during that 1 minute. The coach will keep the time and may make comments about the practice after all players have spoken.

10. EASY PRACTICES DO NOTHING TO HELP PLAYERS BECOME WINNERS. HARD PRACTICES ARE THE KEY TO MAKING OUR GIRLS THE TYPE OF COMPETITORS THAT WILL GET US TO THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS.