Volleyball Training Question

Readers, prepare yourself for the new record holder for the longest and most complete question asked to date (and it is a good one also!):


Hello....
I have recently found your blog and am loving everything I read there. It is great to have such a straightforward resource for many of the questions that arise for volleyball players, parents, and coaches.
I am a club coach, and am hoping you can help answer a few questions for me. I have coached in 4 different states now, under many different styles of club directors. I am starting to get frustrated with the huge differences in teaching some of the most basic skills in our sport. I even see this when I attend camps, clinics, or accreditations. I have attended 2 CAP courses over the last 5 years, and differences were apparent even there.
I have asked many college coaches over the years to tell me what they want out of a player when they look at them. This way I can ensure that I am giving the players I coach the best chance of securing a position on a college team. And yet, many college coaches so far have seemed reticent to elaborate about basic skills and what they hope to see when viewing video or live performances.
So I am hoping you will be kind enough to elaborate some...
Basically, I am looking for a line of sorts to be drawn between the differing approaches to teaching and executing the technical volleyball skills. I have delineated some of the more common ones I have found over the years below...

1) Mid-line or Lateral Passing
2) For the arm swing during the attack: 'grab the tag' 'flip the pony' OR elbow high AND back (main difference here is the hand starts either behind the head, and all movement is at the elbow, or the hand starts beside the head, with the elbow back, and movement starts at the shoulder, then moves through the elbow extension)
3) swing blocking or lateral blocking?
4) Defensive posture: Butt High, shoulders and head low (quad dominant position) OR Hips lower than shoulders (glute and hip dominant position)
5) When Passing (not overhead passing): Facing where the ball is coming from OR where you are passing to?
6) Setters Footwork: Last two steps Left-Right OR Right Left?
7) 3 step, 3 1/2 step, or 4 step approach? (at the last CAP course they made this very clear that this is a starting point, because most approaches include transition footwork, and therefore can be 6, 7, or more steps... but they never came to a defined answer on which to teach as a starting point).

This is a just a small sampling of the many differences I have come across. Currently my only form of education on these subjects is to attend coaching clinics, CAP courses, or player camps. But even there I see a huge range. I understand that we all have different teaching styles, but if we all teach different form, positioning, etc, then how do we expect our players to progress? Where I live now is there is a large amount of coaches who are from other areas, bringing their preferred way with them. So this year, the club team I coach has girls on it who display every variation I have listed above, and many more. I just want to help them get on the right track for college. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you. Loren


Wow - This is a great question(s) and one to which there really is no single correct answer. Unlike something definitive (math, science, my disgust with rally score), volleyball training styles seem to be constantly in flux. As I have written about, I do believe there are two philosophies of training (Asian and Latin), while a third is growing (the Gold Medal Squared folks who lean toward the men's volleyball training styles).

As I work my way down to your specific questions, there are some items I would like to reflect upon in the pre-amble of your e-mail.

It can easily be frustrating to try and find common ground or a general philosophy with volleyball training in the USA (each college coach goes through this frustration when taking over programs) and I believe this may have been the push for the CAP (Coaching Accreditation Program) clinics conducted by USA Volleyball. To hear that there are differences within this system of teaching is disappointing.

As for college coaches not illustrating their preferences in basic skill sets, it could be merely a recruiting function. If they do not define their preferences, they won't be eliminated by a recruit - Think of a drop back quarterback eliminating all the running game offense programs in the very beginning of the recruiting process. I would also think many college coaches don't necessarily have a clear cut idea of exactly what skill sets they want. As silly as this may sound, there are a bunch of college coaches that are not very strong with technique and whose teams don't illustrate a specific style; it is more of a situation where they see a good passer and recruit them or they see a successful hitter and recruit them. The ends justify the means for these types of coaches.

I believe I had written a post in response to a question which provides some insight into what I look for in recruits - I went to find it in the Questions from Readers label, but there are 67!!! It is late, and I am outbound to go recruiting, so I will trust it is there.

Success and failure in recruiting has taught me to very much focus on skill sets and I am comfortable, based on my philosophy, with volleyball being physically and mentally played a certain way. Are my preferred skill sets better than another coach's preferred skill sets - For me, Yes. One thing which I have learned, is 'undoing' skill sets and re-establishing better ones is a big gamble. I have lost this bet a few times and won't take it any more. I am more comfortable taking a shorter or less athletic player, who has the correct skill development (correct as in what my eye sees), versus a tall or physical player who is deficient.

If I had to try and put my basic skill set preferences into a nice box, it would be to label them as organic. I just feel there is a certain way volleyball should be played, a way which yields positive results for individuals and teams, while keeping the players physically (and mentally) healthy. The majority of players which I remove from recruiting consideration have basic skills which I believe will not allow them to be successful within Division I volleyball, along with placing them into a high risk category for future injuries.

I will try to answer your question based on what I want and the reason I want it:

1) Mid-Line or Lateral Passing? The closest I can come for an answer is to say a hybrid of these two. I believe the passing platform should stay within the range of the hips. If a player gets outside of the hips, then the angles become to large (for me, Volleyball is geometry), but to always center the ball leads to a last second arm movement which easily results in a bad pass. The key for me is the feet - I don't care which foot is forward (left or right) only that a player move her feet to beat the serve to the spot, then stop to pass with the arms inside the hips.

2) Arm swing - Those are some interesting terms which you have illustrated. I like a hitter who loads her shoulders and brings her elbow back and high (above the shoulder) which naturally places the hand near the head before starting the swing. Again, I am back to footwork - If a player does not extend her last step, then the non hitting shoulder will not be forward and the hitting shoulder will not naturally load back. When we do camps, we point out to high school coaches when a hitter's last two steps are too close together, her shoulders are flat (parallel) to the net, as opposed to perpendicular to the net. This leads to a loss of power and/or too much stress on the attacking shoulder because a player is trying to hit hard by just using the attack shoulder's muscles instead of her whole body. This repetitive stress will lead to an injury. If a player does not load their shoulders correctly, and then keep the elbow above the shoulder, I won't recruit them.

3) Swing Blocking or Lateral - Swing blocking is like long hair for guys, it comes and it goes and rarely does it look good. I remember seeing swing blocking as a young player in the early 80's, and now it has re-emerged. I don't support swing blocking because it creates a fluid situation for the defenders to try and figure out where the attacker may hit the ball. The men's game brought back swing blocking because the hitters were gaining a higher altitude because of their approaches, versus the blockers; the 'swing' into the block allowed the blockers to increase their vertical touch a few inches. But, what they sacrificed was a solid, consistent block for the defense to play around. The easiest way to beat a swing block is to hit line at 3/4 speed or tip middle. Didn't someone famous say "a body in motion stays in motion"? A blocker cannot stop a 'swing', they naturally rotate through the blocking zone, which if you hit 3/4 speed down the line, you will tool/use the block for a kill. Also, that big swing motion obscures the hitter from the defenders and the instinct for the defense is to wait for the blocker to finish their swing; this hold or hesitation allows for off speed shots to have success. I want my block stopped, tight and penetrating as far as possible - Remember geometry; the easiest way to cut down the angle available to a hitter is to penetrate the zone of the net as far as possible - break the plane of the net. This will clearly define the zones available to hit, which allows the defenders time to make small adjustments in their positioning to best dig the ball. For me, that one great swing block stuff block, is not worth giving up 4 digs per game because the angles are hard to determine.

4) Defensive Posture - Hips low and head high; or as I say, the knees are in front of the toes and the nose is in front of the knees. This places the stress of the defensive posture on your quads and gluts, which are the two largest muscle groups in your body. The first example you illustrated is one we used to call 'monkey arm' defense/passing. Where the legs are straighter and the shoulders lower, this stress is placed on the small muscle groups in the back. Once again, this is not a natural position and I had a few athletes, early in my career, who suffered from back problems because this is how they were trained. It was only after we altered their posture to lower their hips and raise their head, that their back ache went away. Think about how someone would do a squat and how this lift generates power and stability - this is what I look for in defense. If a recruit does it the other way, she is no longer a recruit for me because she will probably develop a sore back. Also, the first example is geometrically bad - the passing/digging platform is almost perpendicular to the ground and must be radically adjusted to lift the ball when digging - This big arm movement while digging is not good. The posture which I support, places the platform more parallel to the ground and a player just needs to absorb or push through the dig to lift the ball to the setter - a much smaller and simpler arm movement to dig the ball.

5) Passing direction - Where the ball is coming from is where I want my players to face. Use geometry to tilt your passing plane in the direction you want the ball to go - DON'T move or swing the arms where you want the ball to go, just tilt the plane and move your arms towards the net; the geometry of the plane change will take the ball where it needs to go. Once again, keep it simple, angle your platform where you want the ball to go. When I see players making big body movements or big platform movements to direct the ball, this is a skill set which will not work in college volleyball. Remember that club volleyball is a like KinderCare serving - the sport courts are small, no distance to bomb a float serve or rip a jump serve like in the college gyms. College volleyball serving is a completely different animal than club and if your technique is not solid and simple, you will get lit up as a passer. I had made the mistake early in my career of just looking at someone pass in club and seeing them passing well, then mentally translating this into future success passing in college - Does not work that way. It was only after having a couple of good club passers get lit up by college volleyball serving, that I realized why this was so.

6) Setters Footwork - Neither right/left or left/right. I don't want my setter to time or step into the set. I want them beating the ball to the spot, get stationary, mostly square their hips to the front setting target and then deliver the set. I don't care about the sequence of steps, only that they get to the spot, get stopped and the set the ball. If they are not stationary, the middles and potential combination play does not know exactly where to set their attack pattern. I also don't like the idea of a setter being in motion, when sequencing their steps to a ball passed off the net, because the ball is in motion, the setter is in motion and then the hitter is going into motion. Three things in motion is not a good thing. This is where setting gets too technical. I want high hands, up early, a stationary body and a quick release. I am not concerned on the foot sequence or exactly how many degrees open the hips are to the seventh sign of Aries or if the ball is landing in the third quadrant in zone 6, with the label facing upside down on the slide. After I see a setter who has the basic movement and release I want, then I look for the decisions being made. Is she setting the go to hitter at crunch time, is she feeding a hot hitter, is she wasting a set early to gain points later, does she apply direction received from the coach, etc. Many players play the setting position and are quite good with their technique which they have been taught, but are they setters? Setters are the ones that manage the hitters and passers to attain victory.

7) Approach Footwork - I like to start with teaching a two step approach. As simple as this sounds, the last two steps in the approach are the most important. Too many players are using their last two steps in the wrong fashion - to adjust to the set. Very good hitters use their last two steps to EXPLODE into the set and attack. By teaching the last two steps, the right left broad jump attack, you can develop this explosive movement. Hitters who take huge broad jumps hit the ball very hard - a big broad jump is a transfer of power from approach, through the attack. If you don't broad jump, then this accumulated energy is dominantly used on the lift or vertical portion of the approach and the power of the attack is generated with the shoulder muscles. As I wrote above, using the shoulder to hit hard leads to repetitive stress injuries. A big broad jump, using the last two steps to develop power will naturally allow for a hard attacked ball - yes, a player will lose a couple of inches vertical jump, but they will gain the ability to hit hard and hit hard healthy. As for teaching, I then add a 3 step approach, then a 4 step approach and then as the CAP course illustrated, with transition or a deep serve receive position, you can easily have a step sequence that is 7 or 12 steps. When I am recruiting, if I see an attacker with a limited broad jump, they will not be recruited by me. Hitters with a big broad jump are hard to block and dig, because they are flying through the air which means their angles of attack are constantly changing. This constant change is much harder to read, than a hitter who jumps dominantly up and down. An up and down attack is a static angle which is so much easier to block and read defensively. I will pass on a taller player who has a small broad jump and recruit a shorter player who flies through the air when she hits.

Volleyball training is a lot like comedy - some people find some things funny while other find something else humorous. There really is no right answer or no wrong answer. I find it important to develop a training philosophy that is logically correct (thus organic) and lends itself towards healthy athletes.

Some of the complaints which I have heard is when a coach or club director jumps head first into a new training philosophy in the middle of a season. First it is was USA Volleyball with the Asian style of training brought by Coach Toshi - Everyone was going nuts doing everything the Toshi way. Now the Gold Medal Squared ideas are being immediately implemented by folks as the greatest thing since knee pads. It troubles me to see drastic changes in philosophy mid-season.

I am open to just about any new idea, as long as it is safe and follows my organic volleyball way of thinking. To this end, I have borrowed liberally from the Latin style, the Asian style, elements of the men's game, along with beach volleyball. There are also skills of each of these mentioned volleyball genres which I have rejected. I try to introduce new things slowly as to blend them into our team's overall training style. This way, if something does not produce the results I want or is not a very good fit, then it can be eliminated with minimal drama.

My suggestion for you is to look at all the different training styles which you have been exposed to via clinics, CAP courses, other coaches or teams and take those philosophies/skills that 'feel' right. Listen to what your inner volleyball coach is telling you (a bit new wave) because you must be comfortable and confident in what you are teaching.

Volleyball in the United States is just too divergent for there to be one dominant training style - too many factors in our geography, our socio-economic situation, our genders, our resources to allow for something for which other countries would say "this is the USA style of volleyball". As coaches, we are influenced so often by so many inputs that changing, accepting and rejecting styles is common place. Guess you could say the same thing about every part of American society?

But, this perceived weakness is also a strength. We can assimilate new ideas, we can adapt new techniques, we can take ideas to the maximum conclusion better than many other countries which tend to be quite rigid in the way they train for volleyball.

Back to Loren's situation with empowering her players to achieve college volleyball. Since coaches are not as open as me (even though I hide behind the Internet blanket of anonymity), you can't really slot your skill development training to enhance college volleyball potential. I suggest you try to eliminate those techniques which can lead to stress injuries, while modifying others into a simpler form. Volleyball has become too complicated in my opinion. Is Logan Tom a complicated player? Is Kim Willoughby a complicated player? I feel the best players tend to be simple in movement, technically simple (and correct) and physically/mentally gifted. Think about how something (movement, offense, defense, hitting, serving, etc) could be achieved successfully in a more simplistic form.

I hope my post was of help. way.

Volleyball Injury Situation and Recruiting Question

I stumbled upon your sight and found it very refreshing and honest. I have to admit that as the mother of a junior who has a passion for the sport of volleyball (she has been playing since she was 4) I am totally lost as to college recruiting. My daughter is a strange case. She is only 5’4”, but a very strong L/DS who has been playing court since she was 4 and beach for the past 3 years. She and her team have won various local tournaments, but as a resident of Puerto Rico, there aren’t a whole lot of coaches who visit us. This is compounded by the fact that her school is much more academically oriented than sports oriented and no one there really knows anything about NCAA college sports. Finally she has been out of play since November due to ACL surgery so the video we were going to make to send out to coaches never got made. The doctor said she would be ready to play in March. What should I do? Will early summer be too late in terms of sending out video? How can I get a realistic evaluation of her possibilities?

Patricia

Thank you for your kind words about the site and I hope you find it useful as you make your way through the craziness of recruiting. Before I answer the questions in the last part of your e-mail, allow me some observations about what you have written.

• 5'4" is small, but great passing has no height requirement and if she can augment her skills by playing in the control demanding venue of beach volleyball, then she will be all the better

• My impression is that many college coaches stay away from Puerto Rico not because it is Puerto Rico or a lack of quality players, but because the professional volleyball leagues allow players to sign contracts and compete with professional players at a young age. Per the current NCAA rules, this makes a young player a professional and one of the quickest ways to lose your job as a college coach is to break rules, especially with recruiting professionals. I understand a number of Puerto Rican players are active in NCAA Volleyball, but not as many as you would anticipate given the level of talent on the island.

• It sounds like your daughter does not play club volleyball, and that is the challenge is - not the high school. There are way too many high schools on the mainland who really don't have any idea about NCAA Volleyball recruiting and rules, so don't feel bad. Club programs and coaches tend to have a bit more understanding of the current trends.
  

• I strongly encourage you to read the Recruiting Plan and NCAA Terms (which I should update soon) on this site to get a feel for what the protocol and process entails. Also, go ahead and visit the ncaa.org website; I have linked directly to the Eligibility and Recruiting section where you can find a comprehensive list of information topics.

• If your daughter had ACL surgery in November, being 'ready to go' in March would be very surprising. With a Libero not having the jumping demands of an attacker, I can see a quicker return than usual, but a 5 month return time would be impressive. The biggest hurdle that player's have to overcome with ACL's is between their ears. In my experience, it takes a full 12 months post surgery to get back to physically and almost mentally where they were pre-injury. Managing pain, gaining confidence, fighting fear, rebuilding muscle support, etc., just take time. Please do not worry if your daughter does not make it back to 100 percent until next fall.

Now, too the questions which you have asked:

1. "What should I do?" First of all, stay positive and relaxed with your daughter. Encourage her to be focused in her rehab and nobody panic. It is going to take time for her to get comfortable in a low position and then to explode out of that position to play. You can't put the cart before the horse - Until she is back physically and mentally to pre-injury ability, then there is very little you can do at an elite volleyball level.
2. "What should I do?" Part Two - Your daughter should be making the best possible grades and taking and/or retaking the ACT/SAT exams to garner the highest possible score. The reality is that the college volleyball recruiting world is full of Liberos - the more you can bring to the table academically, the more you will receive financially from NCAA schools (even DI because of Presidential and Academic scholarships that do not count in the 12 scholarship DI limit).
3. "Will early summer be too late in terms of sending out video?" No, not at all. Liberos tend to be last in line with scholarship offers. We all hear of some super duper Libero getting a scholarship from Giant State University when she was 12, but that is not the rule. College coaches will tend to determine their passing/defensive needs after securing their outside hitter recruits. If a coach gets a couple of hammers, who pass average, then the last scholarship could be spent on a Libero, but that is only late in the process if the coach could not find a hammer who could pass great.
4. "Will early summer be too late in terms of sending out a video?" Part Dos - You should really consider sending out a second video after the fall volleyball season. This will show her post surgery ability and be closer to when the college coaches will be re-evaluating their needs for the next season. Post season (and not the fun kind) December-January is where things 'shake-out' for the next year and college coaches can easily find themselves in need of a specific position that was not on the radar in August.
5. "How can I get a realistic evaluation of her possibilities?" That is a bit of a tougher answer. Since I am not clear if your daughter plays club and because of the professionalism aspect of volleyball in Puerto Rico, it is hard for me to make a suggestion. I would believe the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation would have some type of Juniors or Youth teams, and as such you could pursue tryouts with this team. The Federation may have a coaches which could give you honest feedback and by working through the Federation, you would avoid any problems with the professional organizations.
6. "How can I get a realist evaluation of her possibilities?" Part Two - The other option, should she actually return to form sooner than I would anticipate, is to have her attend a couple of college camps. I suggest attending more than one and would gravitate towards the shorter duration camps - two day camps so she could go to a few. In Florida alone, you could hit a number of camps without having to travel very far - If you approach the coaches before the camp and ask them for honest feedback about your daughter's level, they should accommodate you.

If I can emphasize one thing, it is to stay slow and steady. Don't panic, there is lots of time left in the recruiting process and there are many, many NCAA programs that will have scholarships available for 2010. Good luck!

Division I Volleyball Scholarship Funding Question

Coach -

I hope you can help clarify these situations. Can a non-fully funded program divide up their budget any way they want? This would in essence make it an equivalency sport or must they just give a smaller number of full rides? In general, what is the situation given non-fully funded smaller D-1's. How is room and board handled etc... THANKS Brian

This is a good question which I would think a number of volleyfolks (my new term) may have considered. It lends itself to the reality that many Division I programs are not fully funded with 12 scholarships and are just trading on the DI moniker with their volleyball program to satisfy Title IX concerns.

First of all, we need to review a couple of NCAA terms with regards to sports and how they are supported with scholarships; Head Count and Equivalency.

A Head Count sport is one which only a certain number of athletes may be on an athletic scholarship. NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball, Football, M/W Basketball are Head Count sports (I think there are a couple of others, but I can't say for certain). As an example, DI Volleyball has a head count of 12. If the program is fully funded with scholarships, then 12 players will be on a full athletic scholarship. If a program is not fully funded with scholarships, the team can still only have 12 'heads' receiving an athletic scholarship and it is up to the coach to determine how to spend or divide the available scholarships among 12 players.

An Equivalency sport is one which any number of athletes may be on scholarship, but no matter how many athletes are on scholarship, the scholarship amount total must not exceed the NCAA limit. In Division I, M/W Soccer is an Equivalency sport. In Division II, Volleyball is an Equivalency sport with a total of 8 full scholarships available for use - it is up to the school/conference to determine if the volleyball program(s) will be fully funded. Under the Equivalency scenario, these 8 scholarships could be divided among 10 or 15 or 20 (etc) players, but the total of all the player scholarships must not exceed 8 fulls.

In addressing Brian's questions, we will look at it from the Division I perspective:

• A Division I program which is not fully funded at the NCAA limit of 12 scholarships, can divide their available scholarships any way they want (keeping in mind any institutional protocols or limitations) as long as not more than 12 players are on a scholarship. Remember that it does not matter if a player is getting a dollar or a full, the criteria is on the number of heads receiving a scholarship - 12.

• In a sense, it does make the Division I program a hybrid Equivalency sport - I say hybrid because you can not go over 12 heads, but you can award scholarships which are less than full or just award a fewer number of full scholarships.

• How the "situation" would be handled is up to each coach, who would be working under department/institution guidelines. It would be important to know if the school was public or private, what is the policy with housing (underclassmen required to live on, etc.), are meal plans mandated for all students, etc. From experience, I would guess that scholarships would be applied first to tuition and fees (these are just numbers on paper for institutional book keeping), while room and board would come last because many institutions contract these functions out to other companies who operate on campus.

It was my impression that the number of non-fully funded Division I schools was falling because of the importance of attracting more female athletes for Equity counting, but I now believe this trend will halt while athletic departments manage the current financial crises.

Division I programs that are not fully funded are at a significant competitive disadvantage and this is compounded by the probability of limited budgetary support. It is hard to imagine an athletic department which does not support 12 scholarships, presenting enough funds in travel, recruiting, equipment and salaries to lift a program to prominence.

Hope the information helps.

Coach

Volleyball Training Styles

Dear Coach,

I really enjoy your site and find it very interesting. Thanks for all the work you do on it.

My question is: What is a typical practice like for your teams? Is there something(s) you focus on every single day? Do you do all drills? A lot of scrimmaging? A little of both?

The reason I ask is I coached as an assistant at the varsity level in high school this past fall and we did half drills and half competition/scrimmage stuff and we were very successful. The school made it the farthest in their history. I now coach club and all we do are drills, drills, and more drills without ever really seeing my kids compete in each rotation until we get to tournaments. My current club kids are very frustrated with all the drills and would like to get the competitive juices flowing more with some scrimmages, but I play it by the book and run what the club director has given me. Honestly I don't feel like much of a coach when I am given a practice schedule and don't have any real say in what I run.

I guess maybe this isn't really a college volleyball question but I was curious to know what you think of this. I just wondered what you did and if that would change if you were doing high school age coaching. I know you are super busy and if you don't have time to respond that is fine.

Thanks, Jason

Thanks for the question Jason and I am glad you like the site; never to busy to respond (until camp season!). You have asked a very good question and one that took me some time to figure out as it pertains to my own training styles.

It is my impression that there are two competing styles of volleyball training systems in women's college volleyball - the Asian style and the Latin style. Please allow me to explain my interpretation of each style.

The Asian style, as best illustrated by Japan and China, tends to be typified by drill orientated practices which emphasize technique and improving abilities through maximum repetitions in a very controlled environment.

The Latin style, which Brazil and Cuba have excelled with, relies on scrimmage situations to improve player's skills. The variables of competition, combined with emotional energy, raise the abilities of the players.

With volleyball in the USA, as demonstrated by college volleyball, we tend to vacillate between these two styles of volleyball. In the late 60's to 70's, Japan was a dominant power in volleyball and players were adapting Asian techniques (underhand pass and diving) to improve; come the 80's into the 90's, the Cuba and Brazil were very good and the pendulum swung towards using
'wash drills' and scoring games by college programs; our current period of training has seen the Asian style re-assert itself with our Women's National team being coached by a Japanese and Chinese coach, along with the Chinese Women's Olympic team success, thus the focus comes back to this style (individual technique, group work targeting very specific areas to improve in controlled situations).

By and large, my early coaching career consisted of practices which supported the Latin style of volleyball - scrimmages and wash drills. For a time, I swung over toward the Asian style rather heavily to focus on individual and positional skills. Now, I tend to run a hybrid situation depending on the current status of my team.

What I like about the Latin style is it improves abilities under competition and can develop a killer instinct, since practices have competitive situations (does a player really want to win or not?). What I like about the Asian style, is that it targets the improvement of specific areas of player/group skills which may be a weakness of your program; it also tends to have a lower injury rate because I have found most of my 'practice' injuries have happened under scrimmage situations.

What I don't like about the Latin style is players tend to stick to their comfort zone of skills - they don't take chances to improve because it is a competitive situation. What I don't like about the Asian style is that players can find a certain false sense of confidence when they are in controlled, structured volleyball situations that will not exist during matches.

In terms of how I prepare, it varies depending upon the specific situation(s) of my team. Yet, if I had to quantify how much of each style I employ on average, I would feel a 70% Asian style to 30% Latin style would be accurate. I believe the Asian style tends to be more effective at improving specific weaknesses of a player/team. I use just enough of the Latin style, so the players don't get tired of just doing drills.

Specific situations where I may shift my percentages:

• If I have a smaller roster, either by injury or recruiting oddities, then I tend to increase my Asian style of training. This greatly reduces injury and allows for quick effective training of a smaller group.
• If I have a new setter, early in the season, I will increase the Latin style so the setter can 'see' how each rotation will look and become comfortable with the many side out and transition opportunities.
• If we are in a heavy competition schedule, I will increase the Asian style because playing too much in practice, can lead to being flat in matches.

At the high school level, most coaches tend to be more comfortable with the Latin style because it is easy to just scrimmage and the Asian style can be difficult if a coach is not comfortable or precise in implementing balls for a drill.

Since I am comfortable handling a ball and have found success with a certain mix, I would coach high school age players the same (Junior and Senior age group). If I were working with Sophomores and younger, I would shift more towards the Asian style a bit because skill training during the 11 to 14 age range is just huge for future volleyball success.

Club coaches tend to be more adept at the Asian style and I think this has to do with being a bit more experienced and the efforts of USA Volleyball to promote a certain training philosophy to junior coaches.

By your question, I would think your Club director is heavily influenced by the beliefs of USA Volleyball and their Junior Club training philosophies. Drill, drill, drill and play only in competitions is very Asian style in its regimen. This well may be the advertised Club philosophy and you could be stuck.

If it is not something you are comfortable with, then come next season, I would explore a position with a Club team that does match your training beliefs.

Good Luck!

Collegiate Sand Volleyball

A question from a reader that I cannot and will not (mostly) answer:


Hi,

What can you tell me about the addition of Sand Volleyball to Division II collegiate sports, beginning in 2010? Does this include NCAA and NAIA? Are Div I, Div III, or Junior Colleges a contender for this sport?

Thank you, Sheri

(Sheri, I apologize for the rant that is commencing below and when I say "you", I don't mean you as in Sheri, I mean you as in those coaches and administrators that support sand volleyball as a NCAA sport).

First of all, I can tell you that Collegiate Sand Volleyball is a shell game by the NCAA to double count female athletes to justify the huge roster for football and the unreal financial support for men's basketball and football.

For NCAA Women's Volleyball coaches to support this 'emerging' sport is illogical. The addition of women's Sand Volleyball will do NOTHING, let me repeat just to make sure everyone is clear, NOTHING to help women's indoor volleyball. It will not attract more fans into the arenas, it will not increase the budgets, it will not raise salaries, it will not create more opportunities for female athletes and it will not get volleyball on television more (which has been the mantra of the AVCA as to how women's volleyball will become big time).

The reality is that each of those things which I have listed above will be reduced:

More Fans - Has Misty May (I keep forgetting the Treanor part) and Karrie Walsh's unreal success translated into more fans attending the USA Women's National team matches or NCAA Top 10 matches? No. Which is the casual or new fan going to choose as their destination, indoor or sand volleyball? I think that the sun, the sand and female athletes in bikinis may draw a few fans away from almost empty arenas where there is no energy or buzz because volleyball teams don't enjoy the same promotional protocols which magically appear early November every year (every wonder why a basketball game environment 'looks' so different than a volleyball game's?). It is falacy to think that when a fan sees sand volleyball in the spring, they are going to translate this into going to see indoor volleyball.

Budgets - Now, more than ever, each dollar is precious to the volleyball budget. With the budget cuts that all programs are taking, do you believe that an athletic department is really going to properly fund Sand Volleyball or are they going to throw just enough dollars out there and expect the rest of the funds to slide on over from indoor volleyball? Football and basketball will get cut, but that is like taking away the green peas from the salad bar, while volleyball is about to lose the croutons!!!! I think a few thousand extra 'croutons' are going to be shifted from what should go towards volleyball and they will wind up in the new budget for Sand Volleyball.

Salaries - Along the same train of thought for budgets, are new coaches going to be hired for Sand Volleyball? No, no and again, no. The volleyball coaches will just be expected to become the Sand Volleyball coaches. As those that have ever played beach volleyball at a very high level know all to well there is a huge difference between indoor and beach volleyball - they are very different games. To expect the indoor coaches to coach Sand Volleyball should illustrate that the NCAA (in which rules and proposals are voted upon by athletic directors) and thus athletic directors have no real support or comprehension of what Sand Volleyball means - it is just a way to 'count' more female athletes. So, the college coach is now asked to coach Sand Volleyball - Again to the budgets, how much (if any) will they be paid? My guess is just a couple thousand dollar stipend, since their real job is Volleyball; but, they will be expected to select, train, travel and compete. Their responsibilities have increased more than what their compensation has, thus they are earning less for the amount which they are working.

Opportunities for Females - This is the real joke; it would be funnier still if I were not a volleyball coach. How is this going to 'create' more opportunities for females? Are athletic departments going to fund recruiting budgets? Other than showing up somewhere in south Florida or southern California, how would coaches go find these new female athletes to provide this opportunity? Forget about finding players on campus; if they are good enough to play competitively on the sand, then coaches would have attracted them onto their volleyball teams. What is going to happen, is that a few players from the volleyball team will now become the Sand Volleyball team. How is this creating new opportunities for females? It is not a new opportunity for an indoor player to go play on the sand - players do this all the time. What this is, is a new opportunity for the NCAA (and thus AD's) equity counters to create x number of positive additions to the female athlete count.

Television - Like the illustration with more fans, television will have a choice; what to telecast. The networks have already shown their preference by showing pro beach volleyball quite often. When was the last time you saw the USA Men's or Women's National team on Fox, ESPN or the 3 networks? Never. The same thing will happen when the choice is between indoor or sand women's volleyball. Sand Volleyball a better/easier package to telecast; the ball moves slower, there are only two players per side to focus on, the rallies are longer and the time between plays is longer which allows for more commentary/commercial segments.

Again, this is a shell game by the NCAA to add female numbers to the equity equation. The AVCA only cares about saying, for their own counting systems, that more people are playing volleyball. They have demonstrated that lifting NCAA volleyball to a Flagship status is not their priority. Their priority is to increase their membership total.

Let's look at the undisputed Flagship sports of the NCAA - Football, Men's Basketball and Women's Basketball. Are any of these sports supporting a NCAA emerging sport? NO - They are constantly focused on how they can maximize their own sport and capture a larger piece of the athletics pie.

Now, onto the other sports that are trying to become the 4th Flagship sport - Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball and Women's Softball. Which one of these sports is supporting an Emerging sport? Just Volleyball.

Sure, the popularity of Sand Volleyball is strong; MMT and KW are winning everything in sight (except some dance contest), but so is Rhythmic Gymnastics, Synchronized Swimming, Sand Soccer (yes, it is a smaller playing surface on sand, usually at the beach) and many other hybrid Olympic style sports, but we (volleyball) seem to be the only ones dumb enough to support an Emerging sport.

Women's NCAA Volleyball has so much potential (just look at the world wide support for women's volleyball) and we have such a long ways to go to achieve anything approaching women's basketball (how many head volleyball coaches have their own private dressing rooms with a shower and lounge area?), yet we want to go off on some tangent that will have a negative net effect upon our sport.

The sad thing is that in the end, we will not be helping female athletes or women's athletics. In the end, we will be helping football and basketball.

OK - Now to kinda answer Sheri's questions:

I am unaware of the specifics of NCAA Sand Volleyball being added as a Division II sport - honestly, I thought it was only being considered for Division I. I would suggest you visit the www.ncaa.org site and do a search on Sand Volleyball or Emerging sports. This may give you the information which I cannot.

The NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) is a completely separate governing body from the NCAA. If the NAIA was to support Sand Volleyball, it would be per their own preferences. Same for the Junior Colleges (NJCAA); they will set their own protocols.

As for which divisions of the NCAA will sponsor Sand Volleyball, that is another search question for the NCAA website.

Volleyball Coaching Jobs, Part II

Another version of the "how do I become a college coach" question:

Dear Coach:

I have been a high school coach for 11 years, and I feel that I am ready to be a head coach at the collegiate level. I played club volleyball for about 10 years at a BB/A level, but have now been out of it for 10 years. I am 39 years old, have a wife and 2 children, and am ready for a new challenge.

I work camps in the summer at three different Division II schools in my area and have become good friends with all three head coaches. They have all said that they would give a good recommendation for me to help me land a job. I have successfully built our program that was a traditional losing program (4 winning seasons in 20 years) into a winning program (7 winning seasons in my 9 years here and a 25-4 record this season). I don't know if I could afford to move my family to take an assistant job at a D-2 or lower school, and I also don't really have the desire to be an asst.

1) What are my chances of being hired as a head coach at a D-2 or NAIA school with only high school experience? and 2) What advice do you have for me besides just trying to get an assistant job first.

Thanks, NV


I believe that NV's situation is very common throughout volleyball - Successful coach looking to go to the next level, but how to do it. What makes it a bit tricky for NV is marriage and children. I have known a number of married with children coaches that take low paying assistant jobs for a number of years to get in the NCAA door and wondered how they could afford it - then I come to find out that they or their spouse was fortunate enough to be well off. It makes the financial stress of coaching much more palatable when you have the ability to make ends meet from another resource.

To answer NV's Questions:

1) Chances of being hired at a D2 or NAIA school? Honestly, who knows? I will say that you cannot count yourself out of any potential Division II or NAIA school. These type of institutions tend to have a bit more of an open mind and a bit less salary support than NCAA Division I programs. When I have seen high school coaches make the jump to DII or NAIA schools (or DIII/JC for that matter), it has tended to be when the college position was geographically close to where a coach was coaching high school. Successful coaches in high school can build a solid reputation within their general area and this could well translate into an interview.

The key is to get the interview - this is the opportunity to make an impression. Most times, athletic directors will have a prime candidate who must almost 'lose' the job offer by their interview. Yet, I have known many coaches (not just in volleyball) who landed the position and were not the favorite - they just had a great interview.

2) What advice do you have besides just trying to get an assistant job first? You need to build your resume beyond just high school coaching. For starters, I would encourage you to get involved with a Junior Club team - this is where all college coaches recruit and would provide you with much needed experience about the craziness of college recruiting. In addition, USA Junior Volleyball has a variety of regional and national coaching opportunities outside of a specific club team. Try to attend as many coaching clinics or seminars as possible; not only will you gain more ideas and information, but this will reflect well on your resume. I would also consider volunteering as an assistant coach with a local NCAA program.

Most high school coaches are teachers who get a small (very small) stipend to coach volleyball. This being the case, by volunteering at a NCAA school, you are not giving up too much money but you are adding tremendous value to your resume. Most NCAA programs look at a volunteer assistants as a gift - you can usually set your own schedule, don't have take the crazy road trips, cannot recruit off campus (against NCAA rules), you are not locked into the daily grind, yet you can put NCAA experience on your resume.

You would do well to consider the Junior College head coach eroute - now, JC's can be well paying jobs or part time stipend positions. Yet, my impression is there are a number of programs that pay surprisingly well, have full benefits and can become the stepping stone to NCAA head positions - it is not uncommon for successful JC coaches to make the jump to very good positions, just look at the new Texas Tech coach. Many people pass on applying to a Junior College because they are all chasing the NCAA job market and this could provide a nice entree into collegiate coaching.

My first suggestion is to apply to anything that looks attractive - odds are your resume will end up collecting dust, but a majority of applications are in the same position. I have a very good resume (I think), yet one year I interviewed for a power conference position, accepted an upper mid-major head coach job and was told by a lower mid-major that my qualifications did not meet their requirements. You just never know which school will find you attractive as a candidate.

My second suggestion is to move away from high school coaching - You have taken that part of your resume as far as it will go (save a state championship) and you need to add other coaching ingredients to the mix. USA Junior Volleyball Club coaching, serving on staff for one of the USA Volleyball regional teams, volunteering as an assistant at a NCAA program - find a way to get something more 'impressive' on your resume than high school.

One thing that athletic directors like to be able to do is have a press release that looks good for their new hire. I know of many positions which were not filled by the best coach, but rather the coach that had the resume that would 'sell' the best to anyone that asked. AD's, by and large, are going to hire the 2nd assistant from Ohio State before they will hire the head coach from Division II Columbia College because Ohio State and by inference, the Big 10 will look much better than a successful head coach who just happens to be at a uncommon school.

Apply and Build should be your focus.

Good luck and be careful what you wish for!

Show Me the Money!

I was reading through one of the women's volleyball Internet forums and there was a long thread about why so many head coaches are males. In the 7 or so pages of posts, many reasons were submitted for the discrepancy of more males than females coaching the female version of volleyball.

The reasons ranged from fewer number of female applicants for head coaching positions, to number of hours needed to do the job would take away from family time, to hesitancy of females to uproot and move to new locations, to gender biases by the old boy network of athletic directors and many other valid reasons which would lend themselves towards the skewed statistics.

Yet, for 7 pages of opinions and bickering, not one time did someone say MONEY! The posters referenced how women's basketball had a higher percentage of female head coaches, with the rationale being that females could be head coaches of basketball because they had an additional assistant coach (interesting bias against volleyball when we have 6 starters and now with the Libero, we have 7 full time players, yet we have one less assistant than women's basketball who only start 5 players) and director of operations (this just absolutely kills me - what the heck does a director of women's basketball operations do to justify the position, especially when the program has 3 full time assistants?) which allow a female head basketball coach more family time since the responsibilities are spread out among 4, count them, 4 full time staff (but, they also have a dedicated secretary, so 5 full time staff for the head coach).

7 pages of posts, even bringing up the example of women's basketball having a better female to male ratio, but no direct statement of salary.

It is without complete hesitation in which I say to have more female head coaches in the sport of Division I volleyball, the salaries need to be significantly better. I read that the Iowa State coach, Coach Johnson, is making $130,000.00 per year base. That is great for her. But, while we point to Coach Johnson and say "WOW!", every head coach of Division I women's basketball that comes from barely recognizable institution will make $130,000.00. Salaries which are over 100 grand are the RULE for women's basketball, not the exception like women's volleyball.

If every volleyball program in the PAC 10, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East, WAC, Mountain West, Big West, West Coast Conference, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, Southland, Sunbelt and Conference USA all paid over $100,000.00 per head coach, just like the women's basketball does in these conferences, you would see a majority of the volleyball head spots filled by females.

And let me tell you why - Salaries over $100,000.00 eliminate almost all of the reasons listed for females not garnering head coach positions. If a female is married and wishes to take care of her family, then she has the financial resources to gain quality child care and her husband does not need to have a full time job to keep the family financially afloat - this frees up the husband to be a resource at home for the kids and his wife. When a head coach is making 40K, this is certainly not situation - it is the reverse; quality child care is tough to secure and the husband would need to have a full time position.

100k makes it more comfortable to mentally apply for jobs - I say mentally because you need to see yourself in a position before you can take the position. It would be great to coach in Santa Barbara, but if the salary is 50 grand, then there is no way you could possibly see yourself there (maybe for a week). If U of Miami is going to pay $12o big ones, then it is easy to see moving the family there when you know your monthly paycheck is $10,000.00 gross.

One thing to remember about this dollar equation, with a larger salary comes bigger non salary benefits. It is known within the world of college athletics that women's basketball head coaches all have courtesy cars with insurance paid, memberships at country clubs, well paid assistant coaches (which means you can hire quality assistants), access to deep pocket boosters, charter planes to go in/out same day to games and the recruiting budgets to send assistants out on the road to do the leg work on the never ending recruiting classes. It really is the rich get richer.

Let's step back and take a look at the two pictures that I have painted. You are a talented female coach and you have two positions that have been advertised.

- Position one is paying $43,000 per year with one full time assistant and a graduate assistant, there is no courtesy car and you will be driving the vans to matches or the airport to head out on a 5 day conference road trips.

- Position two is paying $126,000 per year with 2 full time assistant coaches and a dedicated secretary, a courtesy car with insurance provided, country club membership for your family and staff, meal plan on campus for staff and family, all transportation is charter bus or charter airplane.

Tell me which job is Mary Jane going to apply for? Which job is she going to aggressively pursue?

A number of times, female candidates turn down jobs because they discover during the interview process that total package is just not worth the relocation hassles and sacrifice of family - It just does not make sense to work your tail off for an average salary or to take the 'big name' job that in reality is just an eight thousand dollar raise.

The NCAA, the AVCA, the Internet forums can all moan and groan and theorize and hope and fret and scratch their head and then bury it (their heads) in the sand about how come males have a majority of the head coaching positions in women's volleyball but it is all hypocrisy - Pay more money and more females will accept positions.

Time for my monthly dig at the AVCA - Our coaches association should be working their spandex off to make sure that $100,000.00 salaries are the rule, not the exception? Women's Basketball made it a priority and now they enjoy perks that volleyball coaches can only read about.

The proof is in season right now - Women's basketball pays more money and more females are head coaches.