Are you a new volleyball coach who doesn't know where to start? Instead of looking through more drill books, check out "Coaching Volleyball: A Survival Guide for Your First Season." I explain all of the ACTUAL work you have to do! There's more to volleyball than just running a good butterfly drill.

HOW you teach passing is just as important as the mechanics! This post addresses both, so you know your young players are learning how to pass correctly and to appreciate the foundation of the sport.

If a player knows you will support them through the learning process and their failures, they will reward your trust by exceeding expectations. All volleyball coaches should read this! It will help you develop your coaching philosophy.

No mater how much volleyball experience you have, there's no learning curve steeper than your first year of coaching volleyball. Read about my experience and the three "pearls of wisdom" I share, then add your own to the discussion!

While I "coached" at most of my high school's volleyball youth camps over the summers as a player, my first real coaching experience didn't happen until I was 21. I was given the opportunity to coach a 14 and under team in my hometown for a club that had only just started two years before.

Prior to this club, there were a few sporadic club teams which would pop-up over the years, but players would typically have to drive 45 minutes to an hour away for the closest club team (my 12 year old self included).

Setting can be a difficult task to teach to your entire team. I know when I played, if we were all going to learn to set, we just all found a spot on the wall and did wall sets for 15 minutes, or until we complained too much about our arms hurting. Wall sets are not fun. I'm sure you know this as well as I do.

Keeping drills fun, especially when you are coaching younger teams, is very important. But the drills also need to be game-like and incorporate skills they will actually use in a match. Sometimes combining these two elements can be a challenge, especially with a skill that very few people are naturally gifted at.

While a few of you are just now wrapping up your season (hello, Nationals!), many of us are enjoying our summer break from coaching, either by simply relaxing, watching the AVP tour, or playing in summer volleyball leagues for some much-needed me time. But as we all know, this break ends sooner than we expect, and open gyms and tryouts will soon be upon us!

Even though I know you are probably enjoying your break from the gym, the excitement of a new season is sure to hit you soon. So while you're daydreaming about a fresh start, here are a few tips to save for August.

Often times, the motivation for a practice plan will come from major weaknesses witnessed during a match or even over the course of a tournament. This practice plan, practicing jousting and tip coverage, came after a particularly frustrating match during which my team lost to a team who lacked the power to send us fast-paced hits, yet bested our defenses via wimpy tips. The entire match.

Now, if you read more of my articles and practice plans, you'll see that I am actually a fan of a well-placed and well-timed tip. And if that has to be your main offense to defeat a team, then so be it. However, when you know the opponent is not doing this on purpose, it can be infuriating to watch ball after ball drop in the middle of the court.

Share these quotes at practice and watch how motivated your players become!

One of my favorite ways to find motivation FAST is to read quotes. They fill me with a desire to go out and work harder, be better, and overcome the challenges in my way. This is especially true when it comes to volleyball. But a lot of times when I am searching for new motivation, I reread the same quotes over and over again.

Hey everyone, I decided I'm going to feature regular practice plans for you all, so if you ever need to get to the gym ASAP but didn't have time to sit down and plan out your practice, I've got your back! I'll be adding more regularly, so make sure to check out Get The Pancake often! This practice plan will focus on introducing quick sets to your team, and defending against quick attacks.

This volleyball drill gets your players moving and warmed up, going all out, and practicing actual game-like movements.

Traditional hitting lines just don't cut it anymore. If you're using the old version, you are practicing how to hit from a perfect toss. How often does that happen during a game? Well, zero. Your setter never gets a nice high toss, and they can NEVER complain about a toss and refuse to set it.

This drill advances your team much quicker than traditional hitting lines for two reasons.

Having the right assistant coach is a real lifesaver! Make sure to ask these four questions before you choose who will help you manage your volleyball team for the year.

Moving into the role of head coach is an exciting time. You've likely spent a year or two as an assistant yourself and are ready to put your skills to the test as a head coach!

While you've probably spent weekend tournaments pondering what you would do differently if you were head coach, or jotted down a few notes for yourself when your head coach overcame a difficult obstacle, you've likely got a pretty solid game plan when it comes to coaching.

Some of the greatest overlooked skills in volleyball are the tip and the chip shot. After a beautiful pass and a perfect set, a crowd will go nuts to see the ball smashed to the floor. But a well-placed tip which still results in a kill? It will get applause, but not the crazy jumping up and down from the masses.

And that's too bad. There have been countless matches where my front row will get blocked, dug, and just plain hit the ball out of bounds trying to avoid a rock-solid defense. The trick here is to realize that a great defense for these attacks often has a weak spot, right around the blockers or in the middle of the court. The only way to get to these places efficiently? A tip or chip. 

Volleyball Coaches: Ever find yourself scrambling to come up with a plan for practice just before you begin? Check out my format for volleyball practices and you'll always be prepared!

-

You're exhausted, but it's only Tuesday. Too many things came up throughout the day, which meant you couldn't take the time during lunch to plan out volleyball practice for tonight. You make it to practice on time, but you're scrambling to write down a few drills in order to just LOOK prepared.

All of the drills are drills you've done before, and there's no real rhyme or reason to any of your plan other than you know you at least need to work on serving for a while, and some passing would be good too.

This is the number one drill I recommend to every coach! The Downball Game is a fast-paced, high-energy drill that reduces freeballs, builds a strong back-row offense, and teaches players to attack aggressively. Add this to your practices and see immediate improvements in your team’s offensive mindset!

Before you pick captains for your volleyball team, you need to know the different ways you CAN pick captains! I list four ways, do you have any others?

-

As a player, one of the most exciting recognitions you can receive from your coach is to be team captain. As a coach, one of the most nerve-racking decisions in the beginning of your season is determining who is going to be your team captain.

How are you supposed to decide who is going to be team captain? Are you going to have more than one team captain? What are their actual responsibilities going to be, and who will carry those out best?

My first year of coaching volleyball had its fair share of ups and downs, and despite my years of playing both club and high school volleyball, coaching my first team required an entirely different thought process.

No matter how strategically you were thinking as a player, different components enter the picture as a coach (think motivation, organization, playing moderator, etc.). One major area I overlooked was goal setting.

Two fun volleyball serving drills that will have your team LAUGHING together while COMPETING against each other!

Fun, easy passing drills for your 6th grade volleyball players that get them moving and playing the game.

Volleyball is a tough sport to practice by yourself, but there are ways to make it work. One of these ways is to make best friends with a wall. :)

Work on your approach, passing, serving, and setting, all at home! Check that it’s ok first! You don’t want to break anything!