With the New Year here, I wanted to express one of my New Year’s Resolutions.  I probably should be working on CoachRey.org website, but I learned that I had to delete all the work put in last week and reinstall, so I’m a little discouraged at the moment.  My mind is wandering…

Quite a few Prospective Student Athletes (PSA) at Winthrop have been sending in their athletic resumes, in hopes of playing volleyball at Winthrop.  Standard information on athletic resumes includes the PSA’s high school GPA.  Recently, I saw a 5.2 GPA and have come to realize that GPAs over 4.0 are now common.  Fortunately, Winthrop’s GPA standards are not quite as stringent as some schools like the Ivy Leagues, Northwestern, Georgia Tech,  Stanford, etc. and we are able to admit many PSAs.  But it makes me question when was a 4.0 considered “not good enough”?  Quite honestly, the GPA scale has gone rampant at many high schools with AP Classes, IB Classes or high school students attending local college classes.  As a college coach, it is difficult to keep up with the different high school’s criteria and scales across the country.  Quite honestly, I’m a bit confused.  What happened to the 4.0 scale?

I’ve watch too many club players completely swamped with school work at club tournaments and their daily schedules are completely booked throughout the week.  These players are losing valuable life skills, such as creativity, balance, and time to be a kid.  We have become a society where achieving (which means to reach your goal) is not enough.  We now must over-achieve.  It is teaching our kids that if we “only” achieve, we are failing.  As coaches, we get players in the gym that are perfectionists because of this over-achieving syndrome and they are never satisfied.  From a coach perspective, this may sound ideal (a player that will never stop working), but it is crushing these players.  They may be great for a short period, but they eventually spiral until we catch them.  We then set them back up, they achieve, then over-achieve, and spiral again.  It’s a vicious cycle.

It was interesting to listen to Hugh McCutcheon, USA Volleyball Women’s National Team Coach, talk about the challenges he faced with the Women’s Team.  One challenge he mentioned was teaching his players how to fail.  Yes, to fail.  One simple mistake a player made crushed their own psyche, and he witnessed a great player spiral into becoming a good player.  Something Hugh mentioned stuck with me about working with these athletes.  He tells his players, “It is ok to fail; we won’t let you be a failure”.  Hugh is cultivating an environment of risk taking for the players, but with the safety net of the coach.  One could argue, a player is diverting accountability for negative actions to the coaches, but I think this is the first step in the growing process.  Accountability can be step 2

Admittedly, as a coach, I’ve fallen into a similar trap as these players that has caused me to over-achieve.  I’ve come to the realization that I have lost my own sense of balance.  I happened to run into Erich Hinterstocker at this past AVCA Convention.  Erich is the ex-Head Coach of a very successful North Dakota State University Volleyball Team.  I believe the season before he stopped coaching, his team was undefeated in conference and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the third season in a row.  Midway through his last season of coaching, he quit.  His over-achieving burned him out.  Erich is now working for Scoutware (a recruiting software company), has normal working hours where he can spend time with his family on the weekends, and is happy.  I asked him when he was going to get back into coaching, of which he replied, “I’m not…ever”.  He’s happy now.  I’m glad he found his peace and balance, but the volleyball coaching world has lost a great coach.

I am not close to burnout, but I believe I have come to a point in my collegiate coaching career (5 seasons) that I can meaningfully reflect and reevaluate.  Thus one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to be satisfied with Achieving and not feel the impulse to Over-Achieve.  Even as I type this, I feel as if I need to add explanations about why I am not going to “over-achieve”.  I feel as if I may be failing or as if another team will pass me up.  But the realization is that I have started to lose balance in my life.  I am starting to become less creative.  The things I have done in the past, be it through my marketing career, or visiting with friends, or going to church regularly, or going to concerts, or traveling for a purpose other than volleyball, are key contributors to my creativeness (I believe one of my strengths).  I need this balance back in my life.

It is my belief, just as it is Terry Pettit’s, that multi-sport athletes are more valuable volleyball players because they learn from a variety of stimuli that positively contributes on the volleyball court.  I need to be that “multi-sport coach” that is learning from life.  Ironically, my motto is “Teaching Life Lessons Through Volleyball”.

So now that it is 10:30pm on a Sunday night, I’m going to stop over-achieving with my volleyball blog and start achieving with creativity.  I’m going to be satisfied with a 4.0 on a 4.0 scale.  The next chapter: Volleyball 4.0.

Nice to see University of Minnesota’s Lauren Gibbemeyer in a USA Volleyball uniform!

Today, I listened to an audio recording of USA Volleyball’s Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon’s Q & A presentation at last December’s AVCA Convention in Kansas City.  A question raised to Hugh was, “How does the world perceive the success of USA Volleyball when it does not have a professional league?”.  Hugh’s response was based on the United States’ culture of “fighting until the end”, competitive advantages, and coaching methodologies.  Of which I agree, but these are small pieces of a larger puzzle.  An Open Source puzzle.

I am reading a book on motivation called Drive by Daniel H. Pink.  The author describes motivation in two ways: Extrinsic and Intrinsic.  Extrinsic motivation is derived from external forces (reward or penalty) to complete a task.  We work, we get paid.  The fundamental culture of the United States has been based on an extrinsically motivated society.  Intrinsic motivation comes from the pure enjoyment, challenge and passion towards a task.  Purely successful parts of our society are intrinsically based.

Example:  The task of creating the world’s online encyclopedia was undertaken by one of the wealthiest corporations with the highest paid programmers, Microsoft (extrinsic), versus a non-profit “Open Source” organization with a bunch of volunteer programmers, Wikipedia (intrinsic).  Who wins?  Have you heard of Microsoft’s Encarta lately?  You could be one of the 200 million people reading this blog on Firefox, an “Open Source” web-browser developed by volunteers.  Your computer network at work is possibly running on Linux, an “Open Source” software running on one in four corporate servers world-wide, or likely on Apache an “Open Source “Web-based software solution that is on over 50% of corporate servers.  Our culture is moving towards an intrinsic based, open source society.  USA Volleyball is already there.

Open Source is a free sharing of ideas.  Wikipedia describes an “Open Source” culture as the creative practice of appropriation and free sharing of created content.  This is exactly what volleyball in the United States has evolved into naturally: a culture as the creative practice of appropriation and free sharing of ideas.  Without a professional league as an external motivator, the culture of USA Volleyball has inevitably become intrinsically motivated to achieve.  The history of USA Volleyball, especially on the men’s side, is this culture.  Jim Coleman, Doug Beal, Marv Dunphy, Carl McGown, Bill Neville, to Hugh McCutcheon have all openly and unselfishly exchanged ideas for the benefit of the good.  When the AVP was in existence, maybe the Top 10 players were able to sustain a living on volleyball alone.  The hundreds of thousands of beach players across the country are a great example of this “free-will” culture.

John Kessel is the epitome of Open Source.  Check out his blog http://usavolleyball.org/blogs/growing-the-game-together-s-blog and look under the “Grassroots” category too.  The amount of information available is overflowing.  All in the name of volleyball, “Growing the Game Together”.

When I speak of USA Volleyball, I am not only speaking of the USA Volleyball organization.  Check out what the AVCA has to offer at the Convention.  Granted there is an entry fee, but the great coaches presenting their ideas and “secrets” are presenting on a volunteer basis.  At one time or another, I have emailed great coaches and they are always open to providing feedback and an open exchange of ideas.  At the last AVCA Convention, Executive Director, Kathy DeBoer, asked members from the audience to stand up that were involved in AVCA committees.  About a third of the audience stood up.  All participants in AVCA committees are volunteers.

At the end of Hugh McCutcheon’s presentation he invited everyone to come to his gym where he always holds open practices to explore and exchange ideas.  Most collegiate team practices are open to the public.  Ex-Ohio State Head Coach, Jim Stone and his for-profit Volleyball Training Solutions is proof that collegiate and club gyms are willing to freely exchange their ideas (these colleges and clubs are not getting kickbacks for allowing Jim to film training sessions).

Not to toot my own horn, but I am one of those volunteer “programmers” disseminating volleyball information through my blog to help expand the game’s reach.  I’m not alone.  Check out Texas Tech Professor Alan Reifman’s blog: VolleyMetrics; Jimmy Peden, USA Volleyball Palmetto Region Commissioner has voluntarily posted a slew of teaching videos on Kudda, and there are hundreds of volleyball association websites that have loads of great content.

As much as we may want a professional league in the United States, without one, it has accidentally forced an intrinsic, open source culture upon United States Volleyball that has made us purely successful.  There are no ulterior motives, but the pure enjoyment, challenge, and passion to play this great game.

This past week in Kansas City at the AVCA Convention and Final Four was thoroughly enjoyable.  It was 24 hours of volleyball.  Blissful.

Even though volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, we, in the United States, are fortunate it has not blown-up yet (it will).  It provides us the accessibility for legends to roam amongst us mere mortals.  I had the opportunity to chat with Karch Kiraly while watching Misty May Treanor played a sand coed 4 vs 4 tournament with convention attendees.  How awesome is that?  I’m certain Michael Jordan isn’t attending any basketball conferences nor is Kobe Bryant playing any pick-up games with convention attendees.  We are lucky.

Furthermore, we are fortunate to have the greatest coaches in the game wanting to help us all to be better coaches.  There were incredible educational sessions where we learned from Hugh McCutcheon, Carl McGown, Terry Liskevych, Russ Rose, John Kessel, Terry Pettit, Bill Neville, Mick Haley, John Dunning, Beth Launiere, Anne Kordes, and many more

On top of all this fun, there were great Final Four matches played and I was fortunate to also speak to all the first time attendees of the convention.  What a great honor for me.

If you are a volleyball enthusiast, this is a highly recommended event.  There is so much volleyball going on.  It makes me realize how lucky I am to be doing what I love.

At the last AVCA Convention, I listened to Hall of Fame Coach Terry Pettit’s seminar on Program Building: The Part They Didn’t Tell You About. Terry’s message in the seminar was about telling a story.  I also read an article written by Kathy DeBoer AVCA Executive Director on USA Men’s Olympic Team Gold Medal Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon in the AVCA Coaching Volleyball Magazine, June – July 2009 issue, Building a Sustainable Model of Success (click here to read the article).  Hugh’s message, “Coaches are sales people first, then change agents.  We define principles as absolute truths, and work from there to as oppose to coerce thoughtful dialogue is the key”.

I am continually developing my story and learning how to be a better salesman (although, 10 years in the business world certainly helped), to this audience of 18 – 22 year old college women.  Beyond traditional volleyball sources like AVCA Coaching Volleyball Magazine, I enjoy insight from marketing gurus like Seth Godin.  Following is one of Seth’s blog’s about a bottle of soap and how someone makes an extra $17 on a bottle of soap.

Here’s a $20 bottle of soap. Functionally identical to a $3 bottle, so what’s the $17 for?

Let’s assume the people buying it aren’t stupid. What are they paying $17 for? A story. A feeling. A souvenir of a shopping expedition or perhaps just a little bit of joy in the shower every morning. Let’s dissect:

1. The hang tag. It’s special because most soap doesn’t have a hang tag. Hang tags come on things that are a little more special than soap. And hang tags beg to be read. This one says a lot (and nothing, at the same time.) It reminds us that it doesn’t contain SLS. What’s SLS? Is it as bad as SLES?

2. This isn’t soap. It’s mineral botanic. Both words are meaningless, which means the purchaser can attach whatever feelings they choose to them. In this case, the marketer is hoping for old-time, genuine, down-to-earth and real.

3. It’s not made by a soap company. It’s made in a Dead Sea Laboratory. Laboratories, of course, are where scientists work, and the Dead Sea is biblical, spiritual and really salty. The company has a name (Ahava) that is onomatopoeic and reminds you of breathing. Breathe deep and find calm. [Even better, I'm told it means 'love' in Hebrew].

4. My favorite part is that it’s made from bamboo and pansy. At least a little. Bamboo because it’s fast growing and Asian and gentle and wood and grass at the same time. And pansy… well… pansy is for girls.

5. Two really good things here. First, it’s for very dry skin. This is brilliant. If your skin is dry, you don’t want to hear that it’s sort of dry, kind of dry, not as dry as that guy over there… No, you want to hear that it’s extremely dry, really dry, so dry it’s like sand. That kind of dry. This bottle understands how very dry your skin is, and it’s here to help.

Also, it’s in French! I love that there’s the language of love and sophistication and diplomacy right here on the bottle. I can imagine that models for Chanel are using it on the Rive Gauche as we speak.

6. Did I mention the part about velvet?

It took guts to take this packaging so over the top. It doesn’t match my worldview, but it might match yours. There’s not a lot of room for slightly-out-of-the-ordinary.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/03/telling-a-story-on-the-label.html

Marv Dunphy wrote a great article in the January 2009 Coaching Volleyball Magazine on how the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team won the Gold Medal.  Much overall praise goes Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon’s vision and system.

Following are coaching points of interest by Marv Dunphy:

• How a coach says “no” is more significant than how a coach says “yes”.
• All teams strive to be good in all phases of the game, but the great teams usually have one or two things that they are fabulous at doing.
• The U.S. players individually, or by position, seemed to take turns playing well.
• For the U.S. offense, they scouted and studied every server technically – what kind of arm did he have, how much heat did he have, did he have heat with range, where was the primary location of that heat, did he change depths, did he keep the speed up and did he cut it, did we need to save our timeouts for this server (the smart teams did that with Clay Stanley), what did he do when we adjusted our serve receive pattern (show and take), could we take a jump float with our hands or did we need to pass with our arms, what did he do after any kind of delay, who was their first server, did we need to stay out of our rotations one and two against a certain server, did we need to cover the tape, was it a true spin or did it tumble, etc?
• For offensive tactics, the coaches analyzed what every blocker and defender did on a perfect pass, good pass, medium pass and bad pass.  Mostly, they wanted to know what the opponents tended to do on a perfect pass, and we made tactical plans accordingly.
• The U.S. had a great error-to-block ratio – the team committed 56 hitting errors and was blocked 70 times.  You always want the number of blocks to be higher than the number of errors.
• The U.S. had 12% serving errors, which is very good by international standards.  In collegiate athletics, a good number is 10%.

Marv Dunphy is one of the few coaches with the privledge to coach Karch Kiraly and 2008 Olympic MVP Clay Stanley.  Karch brought the whole game to the court, as he passed, where Clay did not.  But I would like to know from Marv’s point of view the similarities and differences between Karch and Clay.  It’s gotta be an interesting perspective.