Podcast Episode 11: Keeping things simple, with Anders Kristiansson

There have been a lot of things taught to volleyball players over the years, especially when it comes to body position in the ready phase of play. Much of it, though, has seen players put into uncomfortable positions where they struggle to move efficiently. Often this lead them to “revert” back to old habits, which usually means comfortable body posters and motions.

This episode of the podcast focuses on that, not from the perspective of how to make these things permanent, but rather in terms of the desirability of avoiding burdening players with too much complexity. The focus, instead, is on making things as simple as possible.

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.

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

Podcast Episode 10: Captain selection and responsibilities with Jenny McDowell

The process of selecting a captain and the responsibilities they are assigned are the subject of this episode of the podcast. Audio from the interview of Jenny McDowell in which she shares her philosophy on the subject as the starting point. We then take the discussion into the areas of the importance of the captain role in European volleyball, characteristics of a good leader, development of the captain as a leader, and more.

Jenny McDowell is the head coach at Emory University, which plays in Division III of the NCAA. She has won over 600 wins in her coaching career. Her teams have made 19 straight trips to the NCAA tournament, with four appearances in the Final Four, and a national championships. Jenny has coached 40 All-American player selections and two National Players of the Year.

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

Podcast Episode 9: Practice plan development with Jan De Brandt

In this episode of the podcast we take a look at the philosophy of developing a good training or practice plan. In his interview, Jan De Brandt expressed his view that coaches should always be looking for ways to reduce the amount of time in training through effective and efficient use of that time.

Jan De Brandt has coached professionally in Italy, Turkey, Spain, Azerbaijan, and Germany, as well has his native Belgium. He is currently the Women’s National Team Coach for Hungary, having also coached Belgium. Among his coaching accomplishments are winning the European Volleyball League, silver medal in the CEV Champions League, bronze in the CEV Cup, plus league and cup titles in Turkey. Jan started his career coaching men, but switched to women after a few years.

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

Podcast Episode 8: Coaching from the bottom up with Giovanni Guidetti

The focus of this episode of the podcast is on managing our team. It starts off with comments from Giovanni Guidetti’s interview where he talks about the importance of how you deal with the players on the bottom end of your roster. Our conversation expands the theme to how we should manage our relationships with everyone involved in our teams and organizations.

Giovanni Guidetti is currently the head coach of the Dutch women’s national team and of the Vakifbank club in Turkey. Internationally, he also coached for Germany and Bulgaria. At the club level, he has won two CEV Champions League titles (plus a runner-up) and has won gold and silver at the World Club Championships. In his native Italy, he was twice named Coach of the Year.

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

Podcast Episode 7: Coaching vs Training with Redbad Strikwerda

Back to our regular programming with this episode!

The thoughts of Redbad Strikwerda feature in this show – in particular, on the subject of whether it is more important to be a good training coach or a good match-day coach. Comments from the likes of Hugh McCutcheon and Vyacheslav Platonov are included in the discussion.

Redbad Strikwerda currently coaches with Landstede Volleybal in the top men’s division of his native Holland. He has won 6 titles, 6 Cups, and 6 Super Cups in Dutch volleyball. He has coached in the CEV Champions League, CEV Cup, and CEV Challenge Cup. He has also coached in the European League and European Championships with the Dutch National Team.

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

Podcast Episode 6: Being a Humble Coach and Coaching Education, Ruben Wolochin

This episode of the podcasts is a continuation of our discussion from Episode 5 with Ruben Wolochin from German men’s team TV Bühl (then in the 1.Bundesliga, but relegated after Ruben left). We continue to talk about what Ruben saw and heard in the big coaching conference he attended in his native Argentina. The conversation here turns to coaching mentality and coaching education. You will hear the term “humble” used several times!

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

Podcast Episode 5: Cultural Differences in Volleyball, with Ruben Wolochin

The main underlying purpose of the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project is coaching education. This episode is the first of two based on a conversation between John and Mark and Ruben Wolochin following Ruben attending a coaching conference in his native Argentina. That conference featured some of the most accomplished and renowned of that nation’s coaches, including the likes of Julio Velasco and Daniel Castellani. In this part of the discussion the focus is on cultural differences in volleyball and coaching.

Ruben Wolochin is the head coach at German Bundesliga men’s team TV Bühl. Along with having coached in Argentina, he coached professionally in Denmark and Finland before moving to Germany.

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

Podcast Episode 4: The Importance of Coaching Consistency, featuring Stelio DeRocco

During his interview, Wizard Stelio DeRocco took one of Mark’s questions in a different direction than Mark had intended. It ended up being one of the most interesting and insightful bits of conversation we’ve had thus far. In it Stelio talks about how important it is for the coach to be consistent in how they present themselves and work with the team.

Stelio DeRocco was the head coach of the Australian National Team during the 2000 Olympic cycle. He later went on to coach the national team for his native Canada, leading them to a NORCECA Championship and to compete in the World Cup. His coaching career followed almost immediately on the heels of his career as a player in Italy. He lead Italian side Montichiari to two European Cups and was multiple league and cup titles in Romania with Constanta.

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

Podcast Episode 3: Three Wizards on Copying What Others Do

There are some standard themes which come through from the Wizards interviews. One of them is the subject of this episode of the podcast. The subject is copying from other coaches and/or coaching gurus. Tom Tait, Iradge Ahrabi-Fard, and Giovanni Guidetti all shared their thoughts on the subject during their interviews, some of which we’ve excerpted from this show.

Actually, we apparently were going for some kind of coach name-dropping record, as at least seven different Wizards were mentioned somewhere along the way! Mark tossed in a Big Bang Theory reference as well. :-)

Tom Tait is basically the father of Penn State Volleyball. He was the first coach for both the men’s and women’s teams, having handed the latter off to Russ Rose. He developed the men’s program into a consistent NCAA championship contender before eventually also handing that off. Since then he’s been focused on coaching education, working with the US national team program, and continuing his work as a professor at Penn State.

Iradge Ahrabi-Fard is Iranian-born, but has sent the majority of his career in the US. Like Tom, he too has primarily been a university professor. His views on coaching have been widely published in both academic and coaching circles. Iradge is a member of the AVCA Hall of Fame, won over 500 NCAA Division I matches as a head coach, and consults with the USA national team program.

Giovanni Guidetti is currently the head coach of the Dutch women’s national team and of the Vakifbank club in Turkey. Internationally, he also coached for Germany and Bulgaria. At the club level, he has won two CEV Champions League titles (plus a runner-up) and has won gold and silver at the World Club Championships. In his native Italy, he was twice named Coach of the Year.

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

Podcast Episode 2: Building a Coaching Staff featuring Vital Heynen

If you are a head coach, then building and managing a quality staff of assistants is likely to be a major factor in your success – or at least your enjoyment of your work. In this episode of the podcast we talk about putting together a staff from the starting point of Vital Heynen’s philosophy, which he shared in his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview.

Vital Heynen is the current German Men’s National Team head coach. He led that team to bronze at the 2014 World Championships. He has coached at the professional level for a number of years, having won a bunch of silverware during his time in his native Belgium. He has also coached clubs in Poland and Turkey. Vital also had a lengthy career as a player in his own right.

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