Author: Volleyball Coaching Wizards

High school coaches can’t be among the world’s best?

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Volleyball Coaching WizardsSorry if this seems like a rant. We need to respond to a comment that speaks to the very heart of the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project, though. Someone who rated the first 8 cover design options under consideration left it anonymously.

For the cover shown at left they said:

“how does high school .. and world’s greatest coaches make sense – only in usa perhaps”

Firstly, the “High School Greats” bit is just a sample bit of text offered off the top of the head as a placeholder. You can see the “developing the team concept” alternative used in some of the designs. Actual book topics are not decided yet.

Second, and more importantly, why can’t high school coaches be among the world’s best?

Is it because most of the world doesn’t have high school volleyball? Or is it because high school coaches are youth coaches, and youth coaches can’t be considered great?

The whole point of Volleyball Coaching Wizards is to bring to light coaches who excel, regardless of level. This doesn’t just mean those at the very highest level.

We cannot make the assumption that just because a coach spends their career at the high school or youth level they couldn’t be just as successful if they coached college, professional, or international level players. Similarly, we can’t assume high level coaches are just as effective coaching younger, less experienced players.

Certainly, there are Wizard coaches who started their careers in the youth or high school ranks and moved up to higher levels. There are also, however, many coaches out there who either through choice or circumstance found themselves in a niche where they thrived and achieved well above average success.

There are WAY more coaches at the lower levels of the game than there are at the top level. Some will work their way up the ladder. Most won’t. Everyone along the spectrum deserves to not only get to understand what those coaching at higher levels than theirs think and do, but also the actions and thoughts of those with great success at their own level.

That is a major point of Volleyball Coaching Wizards.

P.S.: This same person also made the comment “who knows or cares about the authors names – you are not Grisham – yet … keep it small” for one of the other designs. Seems like someone perhaps got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. :-)

John Dunning on defining team culture

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At the Art of Coaching Volleyball clinic in Fort Worth, TX (held at TCU), John got a chance to sit down with John Dunning, Terry Liskevych, and Russ Rose for a set of interviews. They were not full Wizards style interviews – which generally go 1:30-2:00 hours in length – but they addressed some similar themes. We’ll be releasing clips from those interviews on our YouTube channel over time – five of them this week.

Here’s the first, featuring John Dunning talking about developing and enforcing team culture.

Podcast Episode 23: The qualities of a good assistant coach with John Corbelli

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What are the qualities and characteristics of a good assistant coach? In this episode of the Volleyball Coaching Wizards Podcast we get the views from long-time NCAA Division I assistant John Corbelli and share our own perspectives from both sides.

John Corbelli is one of the most respected trainers of volleyball players around. This is perhaps no surprise given that he assistant for the USA Women’s National Team under legendary coach Arie Sellinger during the 1984 Olympics. John is probably best known for being the lead assistant to his wife Laurie at Texas A&M where the two have spent more than 20 years together. During that time they’ve won nearly 500 matches, made almost 20 trips to the NCAA tournament (including 2 Final Fours), and have had players earn 30 All-American selections.

Fellow Wizards Vital Heynen, Bill Neville, and Jim Stone were mentioned in this episode. Vital was featured in Episode 2 and Bill was part of Episode 16.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Dave Shoji

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A Coaching Institution

Dave Shoji is Hawaii volleyball. For more than 40 years he’s been at the helm of a college program which is always at or near the top of the annual attendance figures rankings, with thousands of people coming out to watch his teams play. How many of us would love to coach in front of crowds like that?

His resume includes:

  • More NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball wins than anyone (approaching 1200)
  • Four national championships and over 30 trips to the NCAA tournament
  • 12-time conference, 10-time region, and twice national Coach of the Year
  • AVCA Hall of Fame inductee and named on of the all-time great coaches by USA Volleyball in 2002

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

– Staying in one position for so long
– The pressure of coaching where there is a lot of fan support
– Dealing with problem personalities in the team
– Remembering that coaching is about the players, not about the coach

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

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

You can also get Dave’s interview as part of the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 22: Jump Counts with Ryan Mitchell

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In baseball, managers use pitch counts to help them make decisions on when they might need to replace their pitchers. Could we do something similar in volleyball? That’s the subject of this episode of the Volleyball Coaching Wizards Podcast.

Ryan Mitchell has been a head coach at a three different high schools in the greater Dallas area, as well as having coached at the Juniors level for three of the area’s clubs. At the high school level, Ryan won five straight Texas titles, earning himself six Coach of the Year selections in the state. He was also selected National High School Coach of the Year by the NFHS. At the club levels his teams have earned national qualification nearly every year.

Fellow Wizards Ismo Peltoarvo and Redbad Strikwerda were mentioned in this episode. Redbad was featured in Episode 7 of the podcast.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard John Corbelli

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Assistants Get Credit as Well

John Corbelli is the first interview of someone who has primarily been an assistant coach through is career, notably being a part of a spouse coaching duo. He is well respected as one of the best trainers around.

His resume includes:

  • More than 20 years as assistant coach to his wife at Texas A&M (nearly 500 wins, and almost 20 trips to the NCAA tournament – 2 Final Fours, 30 All-American selections)
  • Three years as an NCAA Division I head coach in his own right.
  • Assistant to Arie Selinger for the USA Women’s National Team during the 1984 Olympics

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

– The qualities of a good assistant coach
– The culture of Hawaiian volleyball
– Coaching with and against your spouse
– Incorporating structured and game-like training approaches

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

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

John’s interview is also available in the following bundles:

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!

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Garth Pischke

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Coaching as a Continuation of Playing

A lot of people have probably never heard of him, but Canadian Garth Pischke has become one of the winningest colleges coaches of all time during his 30+ year tenure leading the University of Manitoba men’s program. This is after being one of Canada’s best national team players.

His resume includes:

  • More victories in men’s college volleyball than even the legendary Al Scates (more than 1300)
  • 26 trips to the CIS National Championships, winning 9 golds, 9 silver, and 5 bronze medals
  • Head Coach of the Canadian National Men’s Volleyball Team from 1996-2000 and guided them from 21st in world rankings to 10th.
  • Selected to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Volleyball Hall of Fame.

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

– The structure of Canadian volleyball
– The importance of being honest
– Shifting from having a player’s mentality to a coach’s mentality
– Training philosophy
– The use of visualization
– Parenthood and coaching

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

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

Additionally, Gareth’s interview is featured in the first Volleyball Coaching Wizards book. His interview can also be found in the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 20: Training A side vs B side with Arnie Ball

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Playing 6 v 6 games in practice is something we all do. It’s a fundamental part of preparing our teams to play in competitive matches. The question is how best to make those games as productive as possible, especially when it comes to how we split out the players. In this episode of the podcast we have a discussion about that, starting with comments from Arnie Ball about having A-team vs. B-team scrimmages.

Arnie Ball spent more than 30 years coaching the men’s team at IPFW where he won over 500 matches, reached the NCAA Final 4 six times, and was a national runner-up. He also won over 200 matches as the IPFW women’s team coach in the first few years of his tenure there. Arnie was named conference Coach of the Year three times and the 2007 AVCA National Coach of the Year. He has worked in the USA national program in a number of different coach roles and is a member of the AVCA Hall of Fame.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Ryan Mitchell

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Relentless Pursuit of Excellence

USA coach Ryan Mitchell embrace a philosophy of constantly striving to be better, to move from good to great.

His resume includes:

  • 5 straight Texas high school championships between 2008 and 2012
  • 6 Coach of the Year selections in Texas
  • 2012 NFHS National High School Coach of the Year and AVCA National Coach of the Year finalist
  • Over 400 victories and an 87% win rate in 10 seasons as a head coach
  • Consistently sees his juniors teams, no matter the age, earn Nationals qualifications.

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

– Being a continuous learner
– Developing players as leaders from an early age
– Season training progressions
– Try-out philosophies
– Team-building

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

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

You can also get Ryan’s interview as part of the following bundles: