This is a piece I wrote many years ago for my own use, but never posted on my blog. It’s interesting for me to read some old pieces to see how my coaching philosophies have changed and developed over the years. In some ways they’re very different, yet still the same. My blog is a place of reference for my own knowledge throughout a season. I post this information for others to enjoy too. So Enjoy.
The beginning part of a season is typically the time a coach focuses on the development of individual skill work, offensive strategies (playsets), defensive alignments (blocking and defensive systems) and line-ups. We (me included) often unintentionally overlook the “before fundamentals” that result in losing a couple easy points in a set. When I first started coaching, my focus of fundamentals was the six skills of volleyball: serving, passing, hitting, blocking, setting, and digging. But there are fundamentals before these fundamentals that are often overlooked and not addressed with teams: communication, posture, and movements. Continue Reading
What do you do after you land the job and actually arrive on campus? Hold your breath and hang on for the ride.
Is it the journey or the destination? I sometimes ponder this question when recruiting players. Is it simply their goal to earn a college scholarship and be satisfied with that achievement or does that player truly want to succeed on the collegiate level? I have found that some high school players have reached their goal of getting to college and are almost distraught when they realize getting to college was the easy part, excelling in college will take a lot of hard work.
When you finally land that new assistant coach job, is it about the journey or the destination? For me, it’s always been about the journey. I’ve often referred to the Chinese proverb, “The journey is the reward” throughout my blog.
What’s the first month like on a new job? Awesome, overwhelming, crazy, time consuming, flattering, humbling, and all that I could have imagined and more. Here’s is what to expect, at least from my perspective… Continue Reading
At the AVCA Convention in San Antonio, I enjoyed dropping in on a session by Russ Rose and Terry Lyskevych. As fascinating as it was to listen to two fellow Chicagoans give their perspective on the lay of the volleyball land, I enjoyed as much watching the crowd. John Cooke sat in front of me (although he looked as if he was sleeping…as he sometimes does) to take in their words. I wondered if he were there to enjoy the conversation, to learn new ideas for their own team, or to take a nap. In any case, I found it fascinating that the elite of the elite coaches were present.
This is a piece I wrote for the Art of Coaching Volleyball…
The Next Coaching Move
Terry Liskevych asked me to contribute to The Art of Coaching Volleyball to provide my perspective, from a younger coach’s vantage point. This post is about my decision making process to move from an assistant coach position at Winthrop University to an assistant coach position at Miami University. Continue Reading
This is a piece I wrote many years ago for my own use, but never posted on my blog. It’s interesting for me to read some old pieces to see how my coaching philosophies have changed and developed over the years. In some ways they’re very different, yet still the same. My blog is a place of reference for my own knowledge throughout a season. I post this information for others to enjoy too. So Enjoy.
