I’m currently working on a new team building presentation for our Volleyball Coaching Foundations Clinic.  While doing some research online, I found some very interesting information on positive coaching.  After collecting some information from a swimming website, and adding some thoughts of my own, I’ve come up with a Top 10 list of things not to do when coaching club or high school volleyball.  The intent is not to sound negative.  I think these are all very common mistakes, and if they are brought to our attention in an organized way perhaps it helps us?  So, here we go….

My first overseas volleyball experience was bitter-sweet. The sweet parts for me were the opportunities to get to know a new culture, the chance to learn a new language, and the chance to get to make some amazing friends. Even better was getting paid to improve at the sport that I loved. In contrast to these sweet memories, it is hard to forget the bitter aspects that pervaded my time there. My team didn’t respect the coach and the club was poorly managed. As a result, that season my team was an incredible waste of talent. We had the talent to win the league. Unfortunately, these bitter aspects ultimately led my teammates to disengage from the team and none of us performed anywhere near our potential.

“Some coaches don’t have the energy or willingness to make the emotional commitment to motivate people to attain the standard required of them to compete successfully at the highest level (We could also say some coaches don’t have the energy to require their athletes to make changes every day). Coaches sometimes are not willing to make that commitment because it is so exhausting. They are not willing to confront players when they are not exerting maximum effort and achieving maximum performance (or when they aren’t making changes) because it’s a stressful, uncomfortable situation. To constantly motivate players, you have to be a driving force and make personal investments for which you can pay dearly. There are times when it might not be an easy or popular environment for you to challenge them, but there are times when they are just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. And, trust me, the standards most players set for themselves will usually be in a comfort zone that is well below their potential.”

In our coaching clinics we often talk about change, as we are trying to talk many of our attending coaches into changing the way their teams are playing and training. We want teams to play “GMS Style.”