Game-Like Training for Player Positions

Game-like Training for Player Positions
By Don Burroughs (Ohio Valley Region Director of Coach Education)

One of the questions that coaches always seem to ask during USA Volleyball IMPACT and CAP courses is, “How can we train in a game-like fashion with only eight or nine players on a club team?” I used to ask exactly the same question when I started coaching.

During my first few years of coaching volleyball, I was honestly disappointed with the performance of my teams. I followed the directions for running drills that I found in various books and in my notes from clinics with precision and accuracy. My frustration caused me to give up on the books and look for better ways to train the complete athlete. I was tired of complaining that my teams were great practice teams but seemed to forget everything when it came time for the match. I had come to realize that it was my fault—not the team’s fault.

I used to think that 'game-like training' meant 'scrimmage.' This situation led to keeping 12 players on my first club teams. The natural progression led to later teams having about nine players and doing lots of drills with six on one side and the rest on the other side. However, I still had trouble when only 5-7 players would actually attend a practice—how could I do things “game-like” now?!

Many coaching resources simply define game-like training as learning activities that most closely approximate the target performance environment. For teachers, this sounds suspiciously like teaching to the test. Let’s begin with a simple question: Are your teams able to execute everything during matches that you are teaching and training in practice? If yes, then you are most likely doing a fair amount of game-like training. If no, the problem is not the match - the problem is practice. Who’s responsible for the learning activities during practice? The coach! The performance in the match is not only an indicator of achievement, but more so an evaluation of the effectiveness of the training and preparation.

One of the primary ways I’ve found to be an effective method for developing game-like learning opportunities for my teams is to work backwards from the match itself. Asking questions like, “What is it that I want my players and my team to be able to do in the match?” is an important first step. Once I have determined the 'learning target,' then a practice drill or game can be effectively developed. The more specific the learning target is, the more game-like training can become. If we really want maximum results, it’s important to understand that the individual athlete needs to receive game-like position training as much as the team itself. Let me explain.

For the indoor game, players obviously do not play by themselves; they play with five other teammates in various positions. Specifically, players mostly interact with teammates in adjacent positions. Think about this: how often does your left back player need to meaningfully communicate with your right front in any of your systems of play? Probably not much, if any at all. Most likely because these players are not in adjacent (next to each other) positions. How often does your left back communicate with your left front in any of your systems of play? Probably a lot, if not constantly. Why? They are in adjacent positions on the court. Finally, a primary key to game-like training: train players in adjacent positions!

Why do players tend to play so much better when they are in a drill by themselves? Because the player knows that the decision has already been made; that player is the only one on the court, therefore that player has to play the ball. Why do teams and even small groups of players tend to play worse than individuals? Because they now have to make a decision as to who will play the ball! This latter situation is the one that players consistently find themselves in during the match. Training players in adjacent position situations will improve the team’s match performance.

Court digram showing adjacent players. Consider this diagram. Using the rules of overlap for the serve receiving team, you can easily determine who the adjacent players are. And be sure to also include diagonal zones, too. It is in these pairings that you can make a difference in match performance! When training your left back players, be sure to include drills and games that pair them with outside hitters and middle backs. Drills or games in which the middle blocker is added can greatly improve offensive and defensive reading and positioning understanding. For the outside hitter, be sure to do drills pairing the left back and middle hitter/blocker. For the middle back, pair with the left and right backs and also front row players for various attack situations; use outside hitters for opponent right-side attacks, middle blockers for opponent middle attacks and right-side players for opponent outside attacks.

Again, the key question for coaches to ask themselves is, “How often do my drills have players playing, learning, communicating and seeing each other in the positions that they would be in during the match?” If these are the kind of things that we want our players doing during competition, we as coaches need to be training them to do so in practice.