Author: Volleyball Coaching Wizards

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

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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. :-)

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Terry Pettit

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching Wizards2 Comments

A Legendary Program Developer

Terry Pettit is a legend in US coaching circles not just for his success at the University of Nebraska where he built a powerhouse, but also for his work since then in helping coaches develop and grow. Among other things, he is known as perhaps the only poet-coach in volleyball, and his writings present a unique view on coaching and leadership.

His resume includes:

  • Nearly 700 NCAA Division I victories
  • Winner of over 20 conferences championships, six trips to the Final 4, two runners-up finishes, and a national championship.
  • 3-time AVCA National Coach of the Year and 9-time conference Coach of the Year
  • 2004 USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coaches Award winner
  • AVCA Hall of Fame Inductee
  • Author of Talent and the Secret Life of Teams; The Journey to Extraordinary Coaching; and A Fresh Season – Insights Into Coaching, Leadership and Volleyball

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

– Recruiting philosophy
– Developing volleyball in Nebraska
– Situational coaching
– Developing problem-solving situations rather than telling
– Exercising both the cooperative and competitive sides
– 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 Terry’s interview now for just a $4.99 contribution to the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project.

Terry’s interview can also be found in the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 18: Coaching the players as they are with Peggy Martin

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

One of the struggles we can face as coaches is having to work with players who have motivations different than our own. In some cases it’s because they are different types of players than we were. In other cases it’s because they are in the sport for different reasons. In this episode of the podcast we start with Peggy Martin sharing her experience of learning to coach players as they are, not as we wished they were.

Peggy Martin has over 40 years of college coaching experience, primarily at the NCAA Division II level. She’s accumulated more than 1200 career victories and has won more than 20 league titles. Her Central Missouri teams made 25 straight trips to the NCAA tournament, reaching six Elite 8s and a national championship match. Peggy has been named Coach of the Year 22 times, including earning NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year honors in 1987. She is a member of the AVCA Hall of Fame.

A little discussion of blocked vs. random training came into this discussion, following on the subject of Episode 17.

Vital Heynen’s interview came up again in terms of having a coaching style contrary to his prior experience of coaching as a player. Along the same lines, Stelio DeRocco came up in terms of having prior playing experience being useful in understanding player motivation.

We also referenced the characteristics of a great setter episode with respect to showing a lack of doubt to the team.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Teri Clemens

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

A coaching career cut short

USA coach Teri Clemens only had 14 seasons coaching at NCAA Division III Washington University before health reasons forced her retirement after achieving an .873 win percentage (#1 among retired coaches in all the NCAA). Teri’s energy and enthusiasm are obvious in her interview.

Her resume includes:

  • Seven NCAA Division III National Championships, including six in a row
  • Over 500 NCAA career victories
  • 3-Time AVCA Division III National Coach of the Year
  • AVCA Hall of Fame inductee
  • Winner of 3 straight Missouri state high school championships before moving to the college ranks.
  • Author of Get With It Girls! Life is Competition.

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

– Creating a competitive environment
– Developing strong servers
– Season training progressions
– What she looked for in the recruiting process
– Team-building
– The differences in why men and women play sports
– Goal setting

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

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

Additionally, Teri’s interview is featured in the first Volleyball Coaching Wizards book.

Podcast Episode 17: Better results from random training with Tom Tait

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The benefits to be had from incorporating more random or distributed (game-like) training in your practices as opposed to the old-school block style of training (basic repetitive skill execution) are often discussed in coaching circles these days. In this episode of the podcast Tom Tait, who knows a thing or two about skill acquisition, talks about how you can still do skill coaching in a game-like environment and how we need to allow our players to develop their athleticism in that way.

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.

In the discussion a graph is mentioned which shows why random training is superior to the block alternative, based on scientific research. Here it is:

This was presented at the USA Volleyball High Performance Coaches Clinic in 2015. John was there and shared what was discussed in Going beyond maximizing reps.

We also referenced the desirability of being as efficient as possible in our practice planning and implementation. That was talked about in the Jan De Brandt episode.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Arnie Ball

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Coaching to your personality

USA coach Arnie Ball spent over 30 years coaching at IPFW, primarily with the men’s team, though he also coached the women for several years, and prior to that coached boys and girls in high school. He is father of legendary US national team setter Lloy Ball.

His resume includes:

  • Nearly 800 combined NCAA match victories, more than 500 of which came on the men’s side.
  • Six trips to the men’s NCAA Final 4, including a runner-up finish
  • Three-time conference Coach of the Year and 2007 AVCA National Coach of the Year
  • AVCA Hall of Fame inductee
  • Worked for USA Volleyball in a variety of coaching roles.

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

– Being a demanding coach
– Coaching men vs. coaching women
– Developments in and the future of men’s NCAA volleyball
– Having a star player for a son
– Being professional as coaches

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

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

You can also find Arnie’s interview as part of the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 16: The characteristics of great setters with Bill Neville

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

When it comes to the history of the game, few can beat Bill Neville’s experience and knowledge. In this episode of the podcast he shares his favorite setter of all time, Katsutoshi Nekoda, and what characteristics made him so good. Nekoda was the setter of the Japanese team which in the 1960s revolutionized the sport by introducing multi-tempo sets.

Bill Neville has been a fixture for USA Volleyball for decades. He was on the coaching staff when the men won Olympic gold in 1984, has been Technical Director, and National Commissioner of Coaching Education. In the latter role he lead the development of the Coaches Accreditation Program (CAP). Bill coached the Canadian national team in the 1976 Olympics, and also spent over 15 years coaching NCAA Division I women’s volleyball. He authored the book Coaching Volleyball Successfully.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Peggy Martin

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Tried retirement, but didn’t like it

USA college coach Peggy Martin spent 33 years at NCAA Division II Central Missouri before retiring. That retirement only lasted a few months, though, before she was back on the court at a new school with the same level of success.

His resume includes:

  • Winner of more than 1300 college matches (mostly NCAA Division II)
  • More than 20 conference championships and 25 straight trips to the NCAA Division II tournament (6 Elite 8s)
  • 22 Coach of the Year Awards including the 1987 NCAA Division II National Coach of Year Award
  • AVCA Hall of Fame inductee

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

– Early-career coaching development
– Changes in the coach-player dynamic
– Working with and managing captains and team councils
– Recruiting good people
– Hiring good staff
– Dealing with the pressure to maintain a high level of success

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

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

Peggy’s interview is also featured as part of the following bundles:

Podcast Episode 15: Coaching your best players with Joel Dearing

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It is often the case that we, as coaches (and teachers), either coach to the middle of our squad or focus more attention on the weaker players to try to bring them up to everyone else’s level. From the perspective of maximizing gains, this can make sense. As Wizard Joel Dearing points out, though, we cannot ignore the best players in the team along the way. That is the focus of this episode.

Joel Dearing coached at NCAA Division III Springfield College for 30 years and accumulated over 700 wins. That’s good enough for a Top-10 standing in the record books. He mainly coached the women at Springfield, but also coached the men for seven seasons, and in his last had the team end the year ranked #1. Joel was five times selected AVCA Regional Coach of the Year and coached 10 All-Americans. He is a member of the board at the Volleyball Hall of Fame, a long-time part of the USA Volleyball Coaches Accreditation Program (CAP) cadre, and author of the books Volleyball Fundamentals and The Untold Story of William G. Morgan – Inventor of Volleyball.

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

Volleyball Coaching Wizard Bill Neville

Posted onAuthorVolleyball Coaching WizardsLeave a comment

Looking back and looking forward

Bill Neville is one of the most respected coaches in US volleyball coaching circles, and probably beyond as well. His long experience in the game provides him a perspective on the sport and on coaching that few can match.

His resume includes:

  • Olympic coach for both the Canadian and US national teams, including for the 1984 gold medal winning USA.
  • Over 15 years coaching NCAA Division I women’s teams.
  • USA Volleyball Technical Director
  • USA Volleyball National Commissioner of Coaching Education
  • Developer of the Coaches Accreditation Program (CAP)
  • Author of Coaching Volleyball Successfully

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

– His favorite memory for the 1984 US Olympic team
– The qualities of a great setter
– Key factors in good coaching education
– Being an innovative coach
– How the game has developed and where it might be headed

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

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

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