A few years ago, I volunteered to coach a second and third grade
volleyball team through my local parts and recreation department. I'd
never coached before and went into the experience a little blindly.
Don't get me wrong, I've been a pretty serious volleyball player for 10
years, but I'd never coached before, and definitely not such a young
group!
I
checked out coaching books from the library, looked up drills online
and tried to prepare myself the best I could, but in the end, I just had
to go with the flow. I found that second and third graders were much
smaller than I remembered, so many of the drills I had thought of were
just physically impossible. Then there was the added emotional elements
of having all these beginner players together. They got sad when their
teammates had a triumph and they did not. At some times it seemed like
my job was a mix of coaching and babysitting.
As I got used to
coaching these girls, I got better and better. I realized that I had to
listen to them more and adapt to their skill levels and I couldn't come
into a practice with everything planned. They absolutely hated some of
my favorite drills, so I completely scrapped those and adapted their
favorite drill to teach them almost every skill. (If you need a good
drill, they loved "dead fish" - originally designed for a serving drill,
but it can teach accuracy for passing, setting and hitting).
The
season progressed and I started to notice things. During the first game,
all the points were scored from serving, there were no rallies. Then
eventually, they were able to return the ball to the other team.
Finally, a real rally got going. I literally jumped up and down and gave
out so many high-fives at that moment! They were looking like a real
team and I was so proud.
By the end of the season, they had
visibly improved and seemed to genuinely enjoy playing the game. I can
only hope that I was able to instill a passion for the game in my team
and hope that they will continue to play in the future.
I did
learn some major lessons that were not in any of the coaching books I
checked out from the library. Hopefully they will help you out if you
are going to be coaching a team this fall.
Attitude - A
good attitude can be very undervalued. Volleyball is a team sport, so
teammates feed off each other. If one player pollutes the waters, you
can b e sure the others will follow. The same goes for the coach.
Positive reinforcements, the ability to laugh at your own mistakes and
the ability to have fun will create a good team atmosphere. Yelling,
getting angry and overreacting will fuel a negative environment and can
cause your team to lose respect.
Be Vocal - this tip is
twofold. First, any team sport requires communication, so make sure your
players are talking on and off the court. Second, ask for input. Find
out which drills are your players favorites, what drills they don't like
and be willing to adapt. They will learn better if they are doing
things they like.
Plan - It is always a good idea to have a
plan in place before a practice or game. Once you read my next point,
you'll see that I don't mean a strict, minute-to-minute plan, but
rather, have an idea of the skills you want to work on. For example,
plan to spend X amount of time warming up, X amount on serving, X amount
on passing and X amount on their choice. Then you can be flexible with
each activity, but you will not have to spend time trying to decide what
to do next.
Adapt - Your players will come to you with
different skill levels, expectations and commitment levels. This can
make it difficult to plan initially, but be prepared to tweak drills and
practice schedules so they are effective.
Make Mistakes -
This goes for players and coaches, you get better by learning from your
mistakes. Beginning players make mistakes all the time, so
constructively help them see how to correct them. Coaches make mistakes
sometimes too, maybe a drill you had planned was totally ineffective.
This goes back to adapting, learn something and move on.
Have Fun
- Don't work your players so hard that they are not enjoying
themselves. I found that younger kids just like to play around, but at a
more competitive lever, the players like challenging workouts and
conditioning exercises. Make sure you are giving them drills and
activities that match their playing level. Find the balance between
working hard and having fun.
I also think back to the best coaches
I had and they were they ones that truly enjoyed the game and made it
fun. The most memorable are the coaches that we could laugh with, joke
with, but still totally respect and learn from.
And in the end,
remember it really is just a game. After 10 years of playing, the games I
remember are not the losses or the mistakes, but are the challenging
ones, the hard-earned wins and my individual bests.
How to play "Dead fish":
- Split your players into two, have one team on each side of the net.
- Each team sends one member to the other side of the net, where they lay on the floor.
- The rest of the team serves, trying to hit the "dead fish" on the other side of the net.
- If a player serves a ball out or does not make it over the net, they also become a "dead fish".
- Once the "dead fish" catches a ball, they come back to life and rejoin their team.
- The "dead fish" must stay completely on the ground - no jumping up to catch the ball.
- The team left standing at the end wins!
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