Volleyball Coaching Wizards – Wizard Wisdom (the 2nd book)


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If you could bring more than 40 of the world’s best volleyball coaches together, do you think they might have some interesting things to say? That’s exactly what we’ve done with the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project, and this book shares some of those insights.

In this second volume in the series you will discover what coaches with tens of thousands of combined wins, and hundreds of championships at all different levels think about things like:

– Developing a team culture and good team chemistry
– Making non-starters feel like they are important
– Getting the most out of your best players
– Planning highly effective practice sessions
– Ways to get the most from training games
– Maintaining a confident team
– Managing the team in matches
– Being the best coach you can be, now and as you progress

Who are these great coaches?

We can’t list all 40+ of them, but here are some of the ones whose wisdom, experience, and insight can be found in this book.

Jan De Brandt: Has coached professionally in several countries and internationally for Belgium and Hungary in competitions such as the European Championships. He is a winner of the European League, CEV club competition medals, and domestic league and cup titles.

Sue Gozansky: Winner of 3 National Championships and nearly 700 NCAA collegiate matches in 39 seasons coaching in the United States. An AVCA Hall of Fame inductee in 2006. FIVB coaching course instructor and the author of multiple books.

Giovanni Guidetti: Winner of multiple CEV Champions League gold medals and FIVB Club World Championships. Led the Dutch Women’s National team to the medal round of the 2016 Olympics and Turkey to silver in the 2018 Volleyball Nations League.

Mick Haley: NCAA Division I national championships and 16 conference titles with two different universities. Multiple 2-year college national titles. More than 1000 total victories. US Women’s National Team Olympic coach. AVCA Hall of Fame.

Vital Heynen: 2014 World Championships bronze medalist as German National Team head coach. Four league titles, 5 Cups, and 4 Super Cups in Belgium. Two CEV Cup medals. Additional national team coaching experience with Belgium and Poland. Has also coached professional teams in Turkey, Poland, France, and Germany.

Anders Kristiansson: Winner of 26 domestic men’s and women’s championships in his native Sweden, 15 in Belgium, and 3 in Greece. Reached the CEV Champions League Final Four on four occasions – 2 finals. Coached the Swedish National Team to silver at the 1989 European Championships.

Carl McGown: Over 40 years experience in the USA National Team program; 13 seasons as head coach at BYU, winning 2 national championships; League and cup titles coaching professional teams in Switzerland; AVCA Hall of Fame.

Tom Tait: Father of the Penn State volleyball programs – both men and women. 6 NCAA tournament appearances with the men, including a trip to the finals. Member of the AVCA Hall of Fame inaugural induction class. Professor of exercise science and coaching.

Tom Turco: Winner of nearly 20 state high school championships. AVCA National Coach of the Year in 2008 and NHSCA National Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2012. Teams won a record 110 matches in a row from 2003 to 2007.

Here’s what readers are saying:

“It’s a great resource to prompt you to question your coaching approach and grow your skills.” – Gary Hutt, VolleyScience.

“I like the anecdotal style. Having practical information from coaches and then reflect on the success is a good style for me.” – Steve Santonastaso, University of Rhode Island head coach.

“This is a fantastic read for coaches of all levels. The information presented applies to all aspects of coaching – well past the X’s and O’s. The insights from the Wizards are relatable and great!” – Sean Manzi, college and juniors coach

Take your volleyball coaching to the next level with insights from those who are already at where you want to be!


Or get the print version of the book for $14.99 on Amazon.

Alternatively, for $9.99 get the KINDLE Edition, or your preferred e-reader version from one of these other sellers.


What is Volleyball Coaching Wizards?

The Volleyball Coaching Wizards project is about identifying great coaches from all categories of volleyball and making their experience, insights, and expertise available to people all over the world. We interview coaches from across the globe, all age groups, both genders, all competitive levels, indoor and beach. They share with us their philosophies, their thought processes, and their methodologies. We then share that with you.

This is not about drills and games. There are other great places to get that type of material.

Instead, Volleyball Coaching Wizards is about the thinking that surrounds the technical and tactical side of things. It’s about letting you see what great volleyball coaches have in common, and where they differ despite all having great success over their career.

There are two main goals of the Wizards project. One is to provide both information and inspiration to volleyball coaches everywhere. The other is to help develop a real volleyball coaching literature, one which matches what can be found in other sports.

Praise for Volleyball Coaching Wizards
Stelio DeRocco

Listen to what Stelio DeRocco has to say about the Wizards project. Stelio is a former Australian and Canadian national team coach. He is also a well respected professional volleyball coach of teams in Italy and Romania, and most recently Poland.


Who is behind Volleyball Coaching Wizards?

As is true of the Wizards, the two individuals behind the project have a wide volleyball coaching experience.

John Forman

John Forman is the author of the Coaching Volleyball blog. His experience as a coach includes Juniors and high school, college and university in the US and U.K. He also coached professionally in Sweden. Further, he founded and ran the largest juniors club in his native Rhode Island.

John is the author of multiple books and dozens of articles. He also published the book Inside College Volleyball, which is about US college recruiting. John earned a PhD from the University of Exeter. He holds a CAP III certification from USA Volleyball and is a Level 3 coach for Volleyball England. He is also a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

mark_lebedew3

Mark Lebedew authors the At Home on the Court Blog. He coaches professionally in Germany, with additional experience in Poland, Belgium, and Italy. His teams have won league and cup competitions and have competed in the CEV Champions League, including winning a bronze medal. Mark is also Head Coach for the Slovenian Men’s National Team, having previously led his native Australia.

Mark holds a German DSB A license and an Australian NCAS Level 2 and has been an FIVB Coaches Instructor since 2009. He partnered with his brother and father to publish My Profession: The Game. That’s an English translation of the last book by legendary Russian coach, Vyacheslav Platonov


Or get the print version of the book for $14.99 on Amazon.

Alternatively, for $9.99 get the KINDLE Edition, or your preferred e-reader version from one of these other sellers.

Interested in bulk order or group pricing? Click here.