Month: January 2017

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Gerry Ford

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Volleyball Saved His Life

Gerry Ford is the head coach of the Northern Ireland men’s national volleyball team. He grew up during the Troubles in that country. Volleyball brought together people from both sides of the political and religious divide and gave them a whole different perspective on each other.

His resume includes:

  • Coach of the Northern Ireland Men’s National Team
  • Head Coach at Queens University Belfast
  • Coach of the Year

Here’s some of what Gerry discusses in his interview:

– Making the player to coach transition
– The challenges of being a small sport in your country
– Working with limited resources
– Non-volleyball influence of coaches
– Working when you’re the underdog

Play this excerpt for a taste of the sort of insights and ideas you’ll get from the full interview:

Get access to Gerry’s interview now for just a $4.99 contribution to the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project.

You can also find Gerry’s interview in the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 31: Observations from the 2016 AVCA Convention

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First of all, if you have not already seen our In Memorial post about the passing of Wizard Carl McGown, please check it out. We are making the text of Carl’s interview freely available. Be sure to pass it around to your friends and colleagues. The whole volleyball coaching community should be aware of Carl’s influence and impact on volleyball training and player development.

Now back to the podcast. In mid-December, John attended the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) annual convention. He presented a session about the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project, which he talks a bit about in this episode. John also attended a number of other sessions. We will probably talk about some of those in future podcasts, but in this episode the focus is on some stuff USA Men’s National Team coach John Speraw discussed in his presentations.

Feedback, questions, comments, etc. are always welcome!