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

For a Trevian to post an article written by a Titan, the material must be good stuff.  This probably means nothing to most of you unless you grew up on the North Shore of Chicago.  I attended New Trier High School, home of the Trevians.  Rob Beam, Head Coach at Oakland University in Rochester, MI went to Glenbrook South High School, home of the Titans.  Rob is one of the up and coming young coaches in NCAA and wrote a great piece: The State Championship Standard:  How Statistics Can Get You There. Considering I have a brother that also attended GBS, I’ll give Rob the props he’s due ;)  The following is good stuff.  You can learn more about Rob and his Oakland University Golden Grizzlies here: http://www.ougrizzlies.com/sports/w-volley/oakl-w-volley-body.html Continue Reading

I am mighty proud of the USA Volleyball region I started coaching in, the Palmetto Region.  Jimmy Peden, Commissioner of the Region and Founder of Club South Volleyball Club has teamed up with Kudda Video Library to promote coaching throughout the region.  The Kudda website has lots of volleyball drills on video to best demonstrate skills and implement them into your practice plan.  Pictures speak a thousand words and video exponentially more.  Check out the Kudda Video Library:

http://video.kudda.com/coach/Volleyball%20Association

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! Continue Reading

When I first started coaching, I scoured the internet for the best volleyball drills – the drills that would make my team great. I also purchased AVCA’s 101 Winning Drills, Mary Wise’s Volleyball Drills for Champions, and the like. Then I was fortunate to witness practices run by some of the great coaches, Mike Hebert, Mary Jo Peppler, Bill Neville, and Beth Launiere. To my surprise (and maybe dismay), they all ran similar drills! I came to realize there are only so many ways to teach a particular skill. Ultimately, its not the drills that makes a team great, its how the drills are applied by the coach and executed by the players. Continue Reading

When I first started coaching, I was steadfastly focused on two things, fundamentals and drills to coach fundamentals. I’m still a huge proponent of fundamentals, as fundamentals need to become habit, but fundamentals are more than skills. This is another subject. The topic of this blog is volleyball drills.

Mary Wise said it best in her book Volleyball Drills for Champions, “Drills are like recipes. With the right ingredients and directions, anyone can cook, but it takes a master chef – or a master coach – to mix and vary ingredients to suit the needs of different individuals.”  Drills are obviously important, but how the coach structures the drill, runs the drill, provides feedback, and the overall gym culture is paramount to the drill.  A coach can introduce a simple Butterfly Drill (diagram below), explain it to the players, and grab a seat on the bench to watch the drill.  Or a coach can have a whiteboard of the Butterfly Drill prepared before practice that diagrams the drill with a few direct focal points, show a fluid demonstration of the drill with experienced older practice players, pull a player out of the drill for a moment to provide technical feedback, and have the drill end with a particular goal.  Which coach will succeed?  Maybe both. Continue Reading