Tag: team psychology

Keeping non-starters engaged

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Keeping players who are not in the starting team happy, or at least not causing problems in the team dynamic, is a key factor in coaching success. In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Paulo Cunha talks about how he manages the psychology of non-starters and how he deals with professional players who find themselves watching things from the bench.

From 1987 to 2007 Paulo was a coaching education lecturer and course director for the Portuguese Volleyball Association and Portuguese Volleyball Federation. He coached his nation’s Junior National Team from 1986-1992. His club teams in Portugal’s 1st Division won 8 national titles, 7 Portuguese Cups, and 6 Super Cups. Paulo’s coached in 12 European Cups and in 1998 became the first Portuguese coach to reach a European cup final four. Three times he was awarded Coach of the Year by the Portuguese Association of Volleyball Coaches.

The psychology of training

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In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Swedish coach Anders Kristiansson talks about the psychology of training. Specifically, he discusses the need to consider the mental impact on players of focusing on things they aren’t doing well or where they have developmental needs.

Anders Kristiansson, who currently coaches in Japan, is a coach who influenced other top coaches. He coached teams to 26 combined men’s and women’s championships in his native Sweden, then went on to win 15 titles in Belgium and 3 more in Greece. His teams played in four CEV Champions League Final 4s and twice reached the final. Anders also coached the Swedish national team during its strongest period of international performance. He lead the team to a silver medal at the 1989 European Championships, the nation’s best ever tournament finish.

You can hear further discussion of this concept in Episode 21 of the Podcast. It also features in the Wizard Wisdom book.

The concept of the team – another view

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In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching WIzards interview, Vital Heynen shares his concept of team and how he looks to develop that in the volleyball squads he leads. It is worth comparing his views to those shared by Sue Gozansky.

Vital led the German National Team to a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, then Poland to gold in 2018. He won numerous league and cup titles coaching in his native Belgium, and has also coached professionally in Germany, Poland and Turkey.

Post-Match Team Talks

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In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US high school coach Tom Turco shares his approach to speaking with his teams after the match.

Tom Turco has won 18 state high school championships in Massachusetts, where he has coached for over 30 years. His teams won a record 110 straight matches between 2003 and 2007. Tom was selected as the AVCA National Coach of the Year in 2008 and the NHSCA National Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2012.

You can hear more on this subject from John & Mark in Episode 14 of the Podcast.

Winners vs Whiners

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In this excerpt from her Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US college coach Teri Clemens describes the two types of athletes – the winners and the whiners.

In only 14 years as an NCAA Division III coach at Washington University, Teri Clemens amassed more than 500 victories and won seven National Championships (at one point, six in a row). Her .873 career winning percentage ranks tops among non-active coaches in all of NCAA volleyball. Teri was selected AVCA Division III National Coach of the Year three times. This is after winning three straight state high school championships. Had health issues not cut her coaching career short, who knows how far she’d have gone! As it stands, she is AVCA Hall of Fame inductee and has authored and/or contributed to multiple books.

Avoiding cultural or clique splits in a team

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In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Ismo Peltoarvo shares his views on avoiding splits in a team caused by cultural differences or the development of player splits. One of the things he uses to that end is the team goal development process.

Ismo Peltoarvo is one of the most respected Swedish volleyball coaches. He has won more than 20 domestic and international titles in Sweden. He has coached at the international level for both the senior and junior national team. He currently directs the Swedish national volleyball training center.

Developing the team concept

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In this excerpt from her Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Sue Gozansky discusses the development of the team concept.

An AVCA Hall of Fame inductee, Sue Gozansky won nearly 700 matches during a 39 year career coaching at UC Riverside. That tenure includes 3 national championships and a record 20 straight NCAA tournament trips. She is author of the books Championship Volleyball Techniques and Drills and Volleyball Coach’s Survival Guide. Sue travels the world as a coaching instructor for both the FIVB and USA Volleyball.

This topic is something John & Mark expand on further in Episode 1 of the Podcast, and is also a topic featured in the Wizard Wisdom book.

The importance of consistency

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Stelio DeRocco talks in this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards project about how important it is for the coach as leader to be consistent in their demeanor, attitude, effort, and character.

Stelio was the Australian National Team coach during the 2000 Olympic cycle. He later lead the Canadian National team to a NORCECA championship and coached in a World Cup. As a professional coach, he won 2 Euro Cups with Montichiari (Italy) and 2 leagues and 3 cups with Constanta (Romania).

Note: This discussion of consistency is something John & Mark expand on in Episode 4 of the Podcast. It is also a feature topic in the Wizard Wisdom book.

Podcast Episode 21: The psychology of training with Anders Kristiansson

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Player psychology is an important consideration for coaches at all levels, and in all sports. How much does it factor into how you put together your practice plans and how your address developmental needs in training with your team? Probably not enough. In this episode of the podcast, Anders Kristiansson starts off the conversation with some observations from his interview on the importance of keeping the psychological aspect in mind when developing training plans and talking with players.

Anders Kristiansson, who currently coaches in Japan, is a coach who influenced other top coaches. He coached teams to 26 combined men’s and women’s championships in his native Sweden, then went on to win 15 titles in Belgium and 3 more in Greece. His teams played in four CEV Champions League Final 4s and twice reached the final. Anders also coached the Swedish national team during its strongest period of international performance. He lead the team to a silver medal at the 1989 European Championships, the nation’s best ever tournament finish.

This is the second time Anders has been featured in the podcast. You can hear his thoughts on keeping things simple from Episode 11.

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

Podcast Episode 19: Avoiding being the scapegoat for losing as a coach

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This episode of the podcast actually takes a different course than most in that it features a question submitted by a listener. He basically asked the question how as coaches we can avoid having all the responsibility (blame) dumped on us when the team doesn’t perform as expected – whatever that might mean. It’s a really interesting thing to think and talk about.

Mark’s blog post with the quotes from NBA coach Gregg Popovich mentioned in the conversation can be found here.

John’s blog post on the subject of proving ourselves as coaches.

We also mentioned the episode with Tom Turco about post-match talks.

Feedback, questions, comments, etc. are always welcome! As this episode proves, we actually do pay attention to them and you might even make your way into the show. If nothing else, you let us know people actually listen. :-)