This article is for those of you reading this that are thinking about getting into volleyball coaching. This isn’t volleyball specific either, but I’ll talk about it that way. Each sport is literally the same, you just have to substitute specific skills. Coaching is not really about the sport, but rather the people who play it. Of course, skills involved in each sport need to be taught, but at the heart of it, it really is all about the people, and motivating them to do great things.

5. Volleyball, especially boys, is not what I call a “Friday Night Lights” sport. If coaching a large sport that gets a lot of attention is a big deal for you, then volleyball coaching might not be for you. Unless you are very resilient and can work extra hard, within the rules of your state association, with passion to get “butts in the bleachers”, you won’t see a ton of people coming to your matches to root your players on. What I mean by within the rules is that, for instance, a lot of the rules put in place to stop football and basketball games in Wisconsin from getting too rowdy have hurt smaller sports like Volleyball and Soccer. High Schools are also reluctant to put a break in between the 2nd and 3rd set for things like giveaways and prize games that bring kids to games.

4. Coaches, especially volleyball, don’t get paid a lot of money. Division I College coaches do, but they don’t make nearly as much as say, an NCAA division I basketball coach. If you think you’ll be a Division I volleyball coach one day you might be disappointed. There is no shame in coaching  middle school, high school and/or club. There are some amazing coaches that never coach a college team. Division II and III schools also have quality coaches on staff. I think its a good goal and it will always be a dream of mine to coach Division I volleyball, but I wouldn’t consider myself a failure if I don’t get there. I still have a ton to learn and prove. So do at least 80% of us in the profession.

3. If you expect your team parents to tell you how grateful they are to you for spending your time coaching and to receive a ton of accolades for the work you do even though you don’t win a state tournament, you might want to look elsewhere for fulfillment. It happens, but it is not very common. Kudos to those parents that do though. I think Politics is the only other profession where everyone thinks they can do your job better. Every decision is second-guessed and when good things (wins) happen everybody is your friend, while you might think you have the H1N1 when bad things (losses) happen. If you do it for the accolades, you’re doing it for the wrong reason.

2. Players are the main reason why coaches coach. However, especially in high school, teenagers are not very likely to understand your decisions. They can make assumptions and can even feel isolated and hated in situations where the exact opposite is true. Communicating well to avoid these situations is paramount to your success. Just like parenting, if you stay in coaching long enough, you will get a player once in a while that will return to watch a match a few years later and thank you for affecting their life, but they are few and far between. The real reward in coaching is watching your players grow as people while they are in your care. If you can concentrate on that, you’ll do very well.

1. The volleyball world needs more quality coaches. When I say quality, I don’t mean coaches that can win 300 matches in 6 years, although that would be great. I mean coaches that are into idea sharing, and learning from every coach they come in contact with. This may mean spending your own money on some quality clinic in your area like USA Volleyball’s CAP program. Whatever you do, do not coach like your coaches coached you. That is the biggest problem that we face. Times have changed, what motivated players when you were young and playing, does not motivate today’s young people. These tactics and training ideas must be learned. If you think that you’ll be a great coach because you won a state championship or two in high school, then you might be in for a rude awakening. I know some great volleyball coaches that just learned the game less than 5 years ago. It has been said that a great player does not always make a great coach and that is true. Coaching is about people. For instance, I believe that John Wooden could have been a great volleyball coach if he wanted to and would probably only need a couple of years to learn the game in order to do so. He was a great coach of people, knowing the game is secondary. His “people management” skills are a big reason why his books are often seen in the laps of business management professionals.

The list above is just five things to think about when you consider becoming a volleyball coach. The most important thing to remember is that you have to be passionate about what you are doing. Coaches often talk about player burn-out and the same holds true for coaches. If you’ve read the above 5 things and you think I’m full of garbage and that you’ll be a coach that will receive awards and do all the right things and everyone will applaud how great you are and you’ll climb the ranks in a few years to a division I school, than more power to you. These are made up statistics, of course, but I think anyone in coaching would agree, that %99.9 of all volleyball coaches in the USA never coach a division I program and I think at least %75 of them are completely happy with that.

If you are on the other side of the spectrum and think you might be able to coach, but don’t think you know enough yet, I say “jump in!” It is perfectly fine to learn on the job. Become an assistant for an established coach and be a sponge. Remember, it is not important to work with a coach that has 1,879 drills in a binder, it’s a coach that can motivate their players and get them to do extraordinary things that is a great resource for learning how to coach.

Finally, it is always about personal networking too. Get to know other coaches. Most players think that coaches from rival schools don’t really like each other. Most of the time, that is not the case. When the matches are over, all coaches share a very common passion for their sport, so it’s inevitable that they would become friendly. Learn names, exchange cards, ask questions. All that extra effort will help you later on in your career.