“Great statistics are the best substitute for judgment.” This is a sticker Al Scates has affixed to the side of his briefcase.

Former Davidson College Head Volleyball Coach, Tim Cowie, is now a distinguished sports photographer. He was our catwalk at the Winthrop Coliseum and snapped this photo of my clipboard. He must have been curious the statistics I was keeping during the match. You can find that exact offensive statistic chart in the presentation/PDF below.

Last season, while out recruiting, I was standing court-side with Shelton Collier and we talked a bit about statistics. He brought to my attention the purpose of bench statistics to help win the next point or next set, versus statistics kept as a summary of what happened in a match. Quite a valid point! I’ve since altered my use of statistics during a match to help my team win, but I must admit, I do take some statistics during a match that provide an overview of a set. Continue Reading

Part of the purpose of this website is to provide unbiased information on volleyball. I’ve had an opportunity to use a number of different statistical programs and each has its pros and cons. There is no perfect statistical system out there, but I don’t think there will ever be a perfect statistical software because each coach has different wants and needs. Just as different players fit a coach’s style better, so does a statistical system. Continue Reading

Editor’s note: This article appears in the September/October 2011 issue of Analytics Magazine.

By: Benjamin Alamar and Vijay Mehrotra

Over the past few years, the world of sports has experienced an explosion in the use of analytics.  In this three-part series, we reflect on the current state of sports analytics and consider what the future of sports analytics may look like. Continue Reading

Tom Black – Women’s Head Coach, UCSD Tritons (now Head Coach, Loyola Marymount University)

Explaining the Cauldron

There is no improvement without intensity. This is what draws us to the cauldron. If we want our players to improve, they have to play hard. If we want them to play hard, we have to get them to compete. If we want to create a competitive culture, then we need to measure things, record them, praise successes, and hold ourselves accountable for results. The cauldron, as created by University of North Carolina’s soccer coach, Anson Dorrance, gives us a foundation. 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

Who’d a thunk it? Who’d a thunk that a brainstorming session with Mike Hebert at Minnesota would turn into a new statistic for volleyball? Really, it’s an old statistic with a positive spin, but it makes sense to players. It’s hard to teach the negative and easy to teach the positive. Thus came ‘In Play Efficiency’ or I.P.E. You can learn more about it on an old blog post: What is IPE? Continue Reading

Consumers often choose products to purchase based on an affinity and trust with a vendor or the developer of a product. StatEasy is a great volleyball software program that has been developed by a passionate volleyball enthusiast, Mike Ressler. This software is going to be the next and best volleyball software on the market…oh yeah, and its FREE (take advantage of it now)! Continue Reading

Rotate 123 is a great volleyball rotation coaching tool that allows you to input numerous line-ups in a variety of offenses (5 – 1, 6 – 2).  Instead of writing down all 6 rotations by hand, crossing-out, and manipulating serve receive patterns, just enter your roster into the system and Continue Reading

After watching the incredible National Championship Match again last night (some incredible offense and defense!!!), I believe the box score tells us why Penn State beat Texas and won an unprecedented third National Championship – in a row!  As with most sports, it comes down to errors.  Texas, especially Destinee Hooker, showcased spectacular kills, but Texas committed the most errors.  Penn State kept the ball in play more (Team IPE).  As is said in the volleyball world, “Teams that win the serving and passing battle, win the match”.  Thus is true in the National Championship.

Following are statistics from the box score: Continue Reading

I had a funny experience at the Monument City Classic Tournament. My Carolina Juniors 16s Team played the early match on Sunday morning. Our team arrived first at the court, chose the bench, and I sat down to sip my tea. On the adjacent court, a father turned around and stared at me awkwardly.  He exclaimed, “You’re Coach Rey!”. I said, “Last I checked.” I was taken aback. He went on, “I couldn’t sleep last night. Our team was playing well yesterday, but we just couldn’t buy a win. I thought, maybe some statistical information would help. So, I started looking up volleyball statistical software online in the middle of the night and came across your blog. And POOF, now you’re here!”. He said it was a bit surreal Continue Reading

The Top 25 teams were taken from the 2008 AVCA Final Coaches Poll. The data shows the averages of each group (Final Four, Top 10, and Top 25).

The data shows statistical improvements in every category from the Top 25 to the Final Four Teams. Continue Reading

In my previous blog, I mentioned Low Country Volleyball Club’s 18s Team winning the 18 Open Division of the USAV Palmetto Region to qualify the team for Nationals in Miami. I received the stats from the team’s championship weekend (we have a parent keep stats), and just for fun compared them with the offensive stats of the 2008 Final Four Teams: Penn State, Stanford, Nebraska, and Texas. I was testing a coaching theory of IPE (read my What is IPE blog if you are unfamiliar with this concept). Here are my findings: Continue Reading

I.P.E. is an acronym for In Play Efficiency. It is simply the opposite of hitting error percentage (IPE = 1 – error %). It’s putting a positive spin on hitting errors. Many coaches tell players, “Don’t make hitting errors”; this focuses on the negative. Instead, IPE focuses on the positive and encourages players to keep the ball in play. For example, Penn State’s Hitting Error % for 2008 was .126. This roughly equates to 1.3 hitting errors for every 10 attempts. The positive spin on Penn State’s error % or what we consider “IPE” is .874 (1 – 0.126). This means for every 10 attempts, 8.7 swings were in the court. IPE is a positive hitting goal for any team. A player can easily recognize an IPE goal of .900 or simply to keep 9 out of 10 attempts in play. An
attainable outcome goal a player can work towards. Continue Reading