Anyone that is everyone with volleyball in the United States is here at the AVCA Convention.  I had a great time presenting to the AVCA Convention First Time Attendees.  Presenting for the second time gave me a great opportunity to provide better advice for this year’s AVCA Class and it was much easier on the nerves.  Following the presentation, Brian Swenty, Kyrsten Becker, and Mary Leventis did a great job with the post First Time Attendees reception.  Bravo to them. Continue Reading

As many of you know, I had the privilege to spend time with Head Coach Mike Hebert while at Minnesota.  People still ask what I learned most from my experience…and I have a journey full of ideas.  Much of what I learned was through listening, watching, small talk, and brainstorming.   The times I appreciate most were those brainstorming sessions – bouncing ideas around.  I recall a time talking about what makes an ordinary person extraordinary and coming up with a list of things great players do.  This list was ranked and separated into levels.  The levels were used to recognize the number of items on that list an extraordinary player accomplishes during their volleyball career. 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

Let me preface this blog: this is not a political blog, this is purely marketing.

Fast Company Magazine, March 2009 issue, ranked The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. #1 wasn’t Google, not Apple, nor Hulu (and if you don’t know Hulu, this blog’s for you), it was Team Obama. The headline reads, “The year’s most successful start-up took a skinny kid with a funny name and turned him into the most powerful new national brand in a generation.” The headline hits a soft spot; I’m a skinny kid, without the funny name. Maybe I’ll be President yet! Continue Reading