I originally purchased an iPad just to aide my volleyball coaching. Granted, there are so many other things I use it for too, but that’s another article. There are a ton of iPad applications in the iTunes App Store. There are many of those applications that can be used for coaching a sport. The problem is, you have to know the name of many of them in order to find them. In some cases, the problem is that developers just don’t add correct tags to the apps when they submit them. But some apps of use to volleyball coaches don’t have the term volleyball anywhere in the descriptions or title. In this article, I’ll point you in the right direction to those apps I use all the time and some I’m looking at getting in the near future.
Category : Coaching Organization, General, Newly Released, Training Aid Reviews
Category : General
In the spirit of a classic John Kessel article titled “Kessel’s Handy Guide to Ruining a Player“, I’ve decided to write about some things I’ve noticed that high school coaches can do to help run a volleyball, or any sport for that matter, program into the ground. With these tried and true methods, you will succeed in devaluing your program and the benefits of playing the sport to potential student athletes. Continue Reading
Over the last few days, I’ve been doing some reading on leadership and management. I wanted to find something different to write about than the same old-same old leadership in sports post. Today, I found a great TED talk by Simon Sinek entitled “How great leaders inspire action.” Don’t worry, if you don’t have time to watch it now, I’ll break it down for you in this article, but I think if you have 15 minutes, it’ll be something you’ll be glad you watched. I’ll even use some examples that Mr. Sinek used in his talk as I think his examples are great. First, we’ll go over a corporate example, then we’ll see how the principles relate to volleyball. Continue Reading
Category : General
This article is all about raising the IQ level of all players who play the game of volleyball. It starts with an e-mail I received a few days ago:
Dear VolleyballTeacher,
I’m a junior high school girls coach and this fall will be my second season. I always learn a lot from your articles and thought I would send you an email and ask for your opinion.
My boss, the Varsity high school coach, tells me that raising the Volleyball IQ of my players is just as important as improving their skill level. What does she mean? What is Volleyball IQ and how do I teach it.
Continue Reading
In the world of sports, the mission is to develop young people into quality athletes and people. Thousands of studies show that kids involved in sports and other extra-curricular activities tend to have higher GPAs and are more likely to attend college. Sounds great, doesn’t it? What parent wants their kid to hang out with the wrong crowd and get into trouble? I know I don’t. But let’s be honest here, it’s also an opportunity to improve the talent pool in each prospective sport. High school football coaches live for kids who were rock stars in Pop Warner since they were 6 years old. Continue Reading
It’s here! The time of the true start of the season of picnic volleyball. You know, when all the people who get wasted on bad beer and think that a raggedy old “Smiley face” net and a pleather ball constitute the game of volleyball. You know, the group that is about 5 levels below recreational. I really have nothing against them, to each his own. But I don’t like when people say, “You should play, you’re a coach, you could teach us a few things and we’d win for sure.” People in these situations really don’t want a real player or a coach explaining the game to them, they just want to play and break every single rule while doing it and, of course, “have fun”. I’ve tried it before and I’m serious, none of these individuals want your “help” no matter how sincere they seem to be in asking for it. Continue Reading
One of my favorite drill books is Volleyball Drill Book – Game Action Drills written by Bob Bertucci and James Peterson. Why? Because of the subtitle. Simply put, the best drills are ones that simulate game-like experiences. This is where I believe slapping a volleyball has no place in a coach’s bag of tricks in practice. No one slaps a ball in a game, do they? Ideally, every drill should include a pass, set, and a hit. This is what keeps players excited and gives them a sense of accomplishment. If you drill partner tossed passing, or serving all day, your players will have no real sense of how that translates to match play. Continue Reading
Category : General, Volleyball History, Volleyball News
I wrote an article a few months ago about the new 2009-2010 net violation rule changes in USA Volleyball that you can read here. As much as I tried to keep it neutral, it was obviously slanted towards my negative feelings for the changes and my dread for the upcoming season. Now, a few months later and a club season in the bag, I’m revisiting the topic with experience in both coaching and refereeing the new changes for a club season. I’ll handle each topic the way I did in the previous article. Continue Reading
I’ve been meaning to do an article about Regression to the Mean ever since John Kessel mentioned it to me a few years ago in a discussion about getting the most out of my players. After a few years of thinking, I believe I’m ready to write about it with a full understanding of the concept.
The following definition of Regression to the Mean is taken from the Oxford Dictionary of Statistics:
In statistics, regression to the mean refers to the phenomenon that a variable that is extreme on its first measurement will tend to be closer to the center of the distribution on a later measurement. To avoid making wrong inferences, the possibility of regression toward the mean must be considered when designing experiments and interpreting experimental, survey, and other empirical data in the physical, life, behavioral and social sciences. Continue Reading
