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The other day I was reading an article in a magazine about Helicopter Parenting—the term given to parents who hover over their child’s every move. The author gave 5 suggestions to avoid doing for our children what they can and should do for themselves. We coaches can glean lots of good advice that applies directly to how we teach our players.
Perhaps no other skill in volleyball is taught so differently as setting. I have seen many great setting coaches train their setters in completely dissimilar fashion, and as I look at the skill, and some of the world’s best setters, I wonder if we can distill the skill down to a few simple concepts:
At GMS, we believe that an important variable in improvement is receiving feedback. Occasionally we get some feedback from readers comments, but we also know that there are a lot of people who read without leaving a note. We would like to know what the majority of our blog readers think. In an effort to get better at what we do, we would appreciate your feedback about the GMS blog.
Congratulations to GMS advisory staff member Doug Beal for being one of three formal candidates for the presidency of the FIVB. For the last 35 years Doug has been invaluable to the growth of volleyball both here in the USA and internationally. Thanks for all that you have done and will do in the future for the sport of volleyball!
Another post from Dr. Steve Bain, who not only knows a lot about neuro-science, but is becoming quite a good volleyball coach as well. He recently did us the honor of coming to Utah and spending a few days watching practice, talking volleyball, and generally giving us valuable feedback about our coaching as he saw it. We are currently keeping a cauldron and mix our players in practice every day, and needless to say found the content of this article really encouraging.
How’s your team? Are they happy? Do they feel fresh, mentally and physically, or are they run down?
This spring, we’ve added to our our women’s volleyball program at LMU the grueling task of sand volleyball. We’ve set our portable offices by the waters of Marina Del Rey. We’ve toiled amidst the horrific backdrop of sun sand and waves, yet we’ve carry on…
This past weekend I coached my first ever 3 day Juniors Tournament in Las Vegas. I’ve spent many days recruiting this tournament, but have never stayed long enough to see the finals. This year, my club team played well enough to be in the final of the 18 Open Division.
During my tenure as an Assistant Coach with the USA Men’s Team, I often had the opportunity to talk to Hugh McCutcheon about what were the most important skills for our players in our quest to win a Gold Medal in Beijing. Unequivocally, Hugh always said, “The premiere skill is the ability to see and read the game.” Research in this area further substantiates this opinion. “Expert batsmen, like experts from other striking sports, provide the impression of having ‘all the time in the world’ despite performing their skill under several challenging constraints” (Abernethy, 1981).
