Growing the Game: It’s Not the Drills
What are the magic drills that make some teams so good? Big secret: it's not the drills. There is no magic.
Recently, I spoke to a group at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center about creating a new online coach education course for all sports. It’ll be free with an aim of giving more kids great experiences in sport leading up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As we say in summary of long-term athletic development: decide slowly. Keep as many kids for as long as possible in as safe and positive a learning environment as possible.
I focused on the priorities we as coaches must have in development.
If you develop the player, the skill will develop, too, but the reverse isn’t guaranteed.
Too many coaches focus on the player and not the person or on technique instead of leadership and the mental game. When I ask coaches how much of the game is mental, they answer about 80 percent. But when I ask how much they train the mental side of sport, they respond about 10 percent. This is a big canyon we all must bridge.
I just completed teaching an FIVB Level 1 coaches course for the Jamaican Volleyball Association. Unlike my two months working in Bonaire earlier this spring, this course was online: four hours each evening for two weeks. We focused on creating an optimal learning environment as we all need to win the learning competition over the athletic one. Training in reality, including using the net at all times, is a difficult concept for those who seek to teach through drilling rather than playing. The desire to practice so practice looks good versus the chaos and randomness of the game is also powerful.
I send this blog to USA Volleyball after watching the USA Men come back from 0-1 in the Volleyball Nations League Quarterfinals to win 3-1. Seeing my son walk off the team bus in Italy and be one of the game-changers on the bench cheering on his teammates….it is a dream come true for him. That all started with playing doubles and lots of other sports and giving him a love of the game.
I thank all who read this Growing the Game Together blog over the years for always learning and sharing your wisdom with players of all ages.
More from John Kessel
Ancora Imparo Redux: Tips to Keep Learning at Home
In his latest blog, John Kessel offers suggestions about how to keep learning and improving while at home.
Stats for Parents and Players
I oft speak of the impact a Discover magazine article long ago had on me, on how we are fooled by randomness, in helping me be a better parent and coach.
Standing in Line
Despite IMPACT, CAP, VCT, and all that we know about teaching in a way that kids learn to love sport, coaches still don’t know that learning is done by doing, and not by watching.
STOP Teaching Technique
… and start working much more on improving what you can control as a coach to increase your players learning of volleyball skills.
Mikey Makes the Serve
I often talk about variance and bell curves in coaching and player courses, as being aware of this fact of life, including in sports, is important.
Sunlight or Shadow Coach?
At the 2014 Sitting World Championships in Poland in June, I watched a wide variety of coaching styles and while there are over 20 nations and their cultures competing here, the styles fall into basically two different camps...
LIMIT Your Coaching…
As I have found, some of the coaches most needing to read the science and ideas in this blog are simply not reading the ideas in their entirety.
Need a Coach?
As we grow the game together, there are three places we need to create for kids to get a chance to make volleyball their lifetime sport...