Coaching philosophy

Are they actually not trying? Or is something deeper going on?

What ages will you have come to your camp? And when will camp be? Are the courts even available? How will you check players in? Read through this extensive list of questions to help you plan the best summer volleyball camp!

What will your team do if your setter goes down with a rolled ankle mid-match? What if your libero gets sick the night before regionals? Prepare for these scenarios before they happen so that your team remains calm during an emergency!

Leaving the gym after a less-than-stellar performance is one of the worst feelings for a coach. But don't get hung up on what went wrong! Give yourself a day for your pity party, then it's back to work! These 4 steps will have your team back on the right track in no time!

New Year’s resolutions are a fantastic way for volleyball coaches to review what worked for them, identify where they struggled, and create a plan to get better! But New Year’s resolutions don’t have to all be about self-improvement where you’re hunched over a notebook. There are plenty of activities where you can get up and out of the house, while still bettering yourself as a coach!

Do you need a crash course on the basic rules of volleyball, what skills young volleyball players need to know, and what concepts you need to teach them? Let me walk you through how to coach beginner volleyball step-by-step!

Y’all know by now that I promote communicating with your players in a positive manner whenever possible.

Well… now I’ve got (more) evidence to back up my thinking!

While hunting down research I sited in Episode 23 of the Get The Pancake Podcast, I came across another study that seemed worth reading! Of course after I read the paper, I realized this information NEEDED to be shared!

The phrases for offensive systems used in volleyball aren’t exactly beginner friendly. If you’re here because you’ve been wondering, “what the heck is a “5-1” and what does that even mean…?” you’re in the right place!

While volleyball terms can be tough to grasp for new coaches, some of the most difficult to handle are when someone asks you if you’re going to run a “5-1”, a “6-2”, or a “4-2”. Once you understand the basics of what these numbers mean, you’ll feel confident in talking shop with other coaches in your program.

One of the most popular systems is a 5-1. This system, along with a 6-2, are the most commonly used systems in intermediate to advanced middle school teams, most high school teams, and most club programs.

If you’re a new coach, you’ve probably heard the terms “6-2”, “5-1”, “6-3”, etc… And if you’re like most new coaches (and most new volleyball players), you probably thought to yourself, “ummmm…. what??”

These are all terms for offensive systems, which sounds intimidating at first but is rather simple… AFTER you understand what the terms mean.

Today I’m going to break down a 6-2 offensive system for you, which is basically a fancy way of saying what your players do when they’re standing in different spots on the court.

Coaches have a lot to say when it comes volleyball parents, but we’re not always able to share those feelings. And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we’re not as heartless as you think!

Here’s a list of nearly 50 responses from volleyball coaches on what they wish volleyball parents knew…

Summer is almost here, and this is ALWAYS the time of year when I am asked what players should do to prepare for school volleyball tryouts.

There are plenty of options out there….

• Summer camps

• Private lessons

• Skill clinics

• Open gyms

While all of these will likely improve a player’s skill level, physical fitness, coordination, and mental understanding of the game, there’s one big opportunity that many families tend to overlook: beach volleyball.

Recently, I posted a question on the Instagram Story for my account for volleyball coaches, @getthepancake. I asked: 

“Players: What’s something you wish your coaches or parents knew?”

The range of answers highlights just how unique our athletes are, and I think the players provide some great insight. 

When reading this article, please keep in mind the following: “Perception is more important than reality. If someone perceives something to be true, it is more important than if it is in fact true.”

The hesitation. The apprehension. The questions. The tears.

These are all fairly NEW to me as a coach, despite beginning my coaching career over a decade ago.

Nearly all players can handle being told how to correct their form without bursting into tears and making you feel like a horrible person.

But there’s a shift happening. I’m not entirely sure of the reason WHY (though I have some guesses), but once I started making adjustments to my coaching style, I was able to see players settle into the comfort of learning and actually contribute to their team.

I couldn’t WAIT to start coaching volleyball when I was in school. I had helped with camps throughout high school and wanted nothing more than to just finish school so I could coach. I guess I’m obsessed.

But once I finally GOT a coaching job, a wave of incompetence seemed to rush over me.

I literally had no idea what to do. Now, as many of you know, this specific feeling is precisely what led to me writing Coaching Volleyball: A Survival Guide For Your First Season.

And while I obviously recommend my book for new coaches looking for actionable tasks and guidance in their first season as a volleyball coach, I wanted to share my thoughts on the first book I bought when I was looking for how to get started coaching a decade ago.

Coaching volleyball is an amazing experience that many players look forward to having once they leave school. Whether you played high school volleyball, college volleyball, or maybe you only played in PE, you CAN get a job coaching volleyball if you prepare well enough.

There are many challenges that come with being a coach if you are not prepared to do your homework. Even experienced players will need to stay up-to-date on the latest teaching strategies in order to impress directors and get the job.

This article includes tips on how to prepare for an interview to coach volleyball and lists possible questions you’ll be asked during that interview.

Volleyball stats offer a (mostly) objective look at player and team performance, and can be vital to helping determine appropriate areas of focus for future training, determining optimal rotations, and providing a broad look at team performance overall.

Looking at individual stats can help players understand their strengths and weaknesses, analyze match performance, and in some instances, even help them get recruited.

Although stats SEEM intimidating… they don’t have to be! Coaches and parents new to volleyball should not be intimidated by the overwhelming spreadsheets, computations, and volleyball jargon common when discussing volleyball stats.

I’m going to break down some of the more basic statistics for you, so you can feel more confident coaching volleyball, watching volleyball, and talking volleyball.

Tracking volleyball stats is one of those tasks which feels overwhelming to start, but once you get the hang of it, you find that you can actually learn a lot from them.

However, one of the disadvantages to tracking stats during a game (particularly hand written) is that you don’t get the see the MOMENTUM of the game. Volleyball matches can be determined by a simple run of points at just the right time, and those critical moments are impossible to track simply by looking back through your stats sheet.

Enter: The Game Graph.

Let’s face it…. Playing poorly all day, whether it’s an important match or a big tournament weekend, takes its toll on even the most confident coaches and players.

It’s no fun to watch a meltdown happen right in front of your eyes.

Although you may not be happy with how your team performed, there are a couple of things you can do to get your team back on track.

No matter what our team’s normal skill level is, sometimes there are just games (or even full days!) where our athletes are just…. off.

It is probably worthwhile for you to dig into those reasons in an attempt to stop this situation from happening in the future. However, since it is usually a large, variable combination of things that may or may not have a possible solution, today I want to talk about what to do after you recognize this in your team!

I want to talk about visualization in volleyball, especially because it helped me when I was playing and still helps to this day. It’s likely that not EVERYONE will buy-in… And that’s ok!

But I want to make sure your athletes have the right tools in their toolkit to pull themselves out of a slump if possible.

Before your first tournament of the season, you’ll need to identify leaders on your team.

This can be a challenge because in the beginning of the season, EVERYONE is on their best behavior! Everyone hustles to shag, they’re all clapping for each other, and when you ask them to come in… they run.

But in order to find one or two players who will own the role of leader, there are a few things we as coaches can keep an eye on at practice. Noticing these characteristics early on will help you in more ways than you can count, as you’ll be able to focus attention towards guiding these players, who in turn will help steer the rest of the team for you.

After your players have developed their serving accuracy, it’s time to put their skills to work!

Depending on your team’s age and skill level, there are plenty of serving strategies to consider. We’ll review a few basic strategies, plus consider a few more to get your brain muscles flexing!

If I had to name my top three favorite aspects of coaching volleyball, it would be:

1) Helping young players develop into volleyball athletes with confidence and self esteem;

2) Constantly being challenged to out-strategize our opponents; and

3) Creating new volleyball drills.

I guess number three, creating new drills, is BECAUSE of my top two. I like to get creative at practice and create drills specific to my team’s age, level of play, potential, strengths, and weaknesses.

There’s an ART to creating a good volleyball drill!

A new volleyball season is upon us, and I’m sure many of us are heading into our first week back on the court with gusto and optimism. But there’s a lot of pressure on us all to perform at the highest level, so we all want to make sure we show up prepared!

Having gone through the whole “new season” thing QUITE a few times, here are my own personal tips for conducting a GREAT first practice of the year.