The Volleyball Coaching Wizards Project
Follow the links below to find out more about the project, who is involved, and how you can help.
About the Project
Sharing thousands of years of accumulated volleyball coaching knowledge and experience. That’s what we’re after! Sound ambitious? We hope so. We want something truly spectacular – something that will help volleyball coaches at all levels for years to come! How? We Read More ...
Who’s Doing This?
John Forman and Mark Lebedew are the two main movers behind the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project. They do, however, get lots of help from their friends, colleagues, and contacts in the global volleyball community. John Forman first thought up the Read More ...
How you can help?
Making Volleyball Coaching Wizards the ultimate resource for coaches is a major undertaking. There is a lot of work done. Here’s part of what we have to do.: Identify and communicate with prospective Wizard coaches. Conduct numerous interviews. Arrange translation Read More ...
Looking at jump counts like pitch counts
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US high school and juniors coach Ryan Mitchell explores the idea of volleyball coaches evaluating player jump counts in ways similar to how baseball managers use pitch counts.
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.
In Episode 22 of the Podcast this is a subject John & Mark expand upon.
The off court demands of coaching
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US college coach Bob Schneck discusses the administrative and other off-court demands of coaching at the collegiate level which most new to the occupation don’t quite realize.
In a 36 year career, all spent at the University of Rhode Island, Bob Schneck amassed over 600 NCAA Division I victories. His players included 32 all-conference honorees, 6 conference Rookies of the Year, and 2 Players of the Year. Bob was twice selected as NCAA District I Coach of the Year. He is a long-time member of the USA Volleyball CAP cadre and prior to his college career was a very successful high school coach in Pennsylvania.
The most important skills for a coach
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Australian beach volleyball coach Craig Marshall shares his views on the skills that are most critical for successful coaching.
Australian coach Craig Marshall is a fixture on the world beach volleyball circuit. He has coached teams on the highly competitive World Tour for nearly two decades, with eight podium finishes and a World Championships medal. He has also coached multiple medal wins on Continental tours, including a historic clean sweep of medals at the 2016 Asian Championships. He coached the Australian men in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympics tournaments, and was on-hand in 2012 as well.
John & Mark expand on this subject in Episode 25 of the Podcast. It is also a feature section in the Wizard Wisdom book.
Post-Match Team Talks
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
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.
Breaking the game down in to manageable chunks
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Mike Lingenfelter talks about breaking games down into sub-games to give players more immediate goals. He shares what he calls his “high five” of team objectives for each set.
Mike Lingenfelter is co-director and 18s Samaurai coach for the Munciana Juniors volleyball club. His teams have won four national Juniors championships, reached the finals four other times, and finished third on three occasions. As a high school coach he won three Indiana state titles and was select Coach of the Year three times. Mike started his coaching career in NCAA Division I volleyball. He is a frequent coaching clinic presenter.
You can hear more on this topic in Episode 13 of the Podcast.
Coaching players as they are
In this excerpt from her Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US college coach Peggy Martin shares her view on adapting yourself as a coach to the personality and motivation of your players rather than expecting them to be like you.
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.
This topic is one John & Mark expand upon in Episode 18 of the Podcast.
Team building and developing the team culture
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, US college coach Terry Pettit answers the question what he would do in terms of team-building and developing a team culture if he took over a new team.
Coaching legend Terry Pettit developed what became a powerhouse University of Nebraska volleyball program during the course of his 23 years. While at the Corn Husker helm, Pettit’s teams won nearly 700 matches and more than 20 conference championships. They reached the Final 4 on six occasions, winning one national championship and finishing runner-up two other times. Terry was selected conference Coach of the Year nine times and AVCA National Coach of the Year three times. He received the USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coaches Award in 2004 and was selected to the AVCA Hall of Fame. Terry has written three books: Talent and the Secret Life of Teams; The Journey to Extraordinary Coaching; and A Fresh Season – Insights Into Coaching, Leadership and Volleyball.
The characteristics of a good setter
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, Bill Neville talks about his favorite setter of all time and shares the three characteristics he thinks made him so great.
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.
In Episode 16 of the Podcast this topic is taken up further by John & Mark.
Coaching beach vs indoor volleyball
In this excerpt from his Volleyball Coaching Wizards interview, German coach Axel Büring answers the question as to what he took from indoor coaching to working with beach players and what he took from beach coaching to working with indoor players.
Axel Büring spent more than 20 years coaching the women’s team at USC Munster in the German Bundesliga. During that time his teams won four titles, 5 cups, and a European Cup. He also coached a world Top-20 ranked German women’s beach team for most of a decade.