Coaching the Human Animal
An advance heads up to start this blog, it is going to cost you the price of buying a movie, which you likely have not seen and which has become one of my favorite movies ever – documentary really – as it teaches huge lessons to all those wanting to be a better coach, teacher, or…
The Randomness of the Bigger Game
This guest blog is by Eric Hodgson, chair of the USA Volleyball's Grassroot's Commission and full time Director of Outreach for the Arizona Region of USA Volleyball.
What Can a Player Control?
his week my son Cody is playing in his first ever college matches for Princeton.
The Evolution of the Butterfly Drill
Been thinking about one of the drills that most volleyball coaches and players, with a little bit of experience, known around the world – “Butterfly.”
Specialization is for Insects
A long talk last week with a writer from Volleyball Magazine, got me contemplating some principles that are important on the topic of “specialization.”
Jim Coleman Impact & Immediate Feedback Video System
On October 22, 2012, Jim Coleman would be turning 80 years old. His passing a over a decade ago, in August of 2001, meant heaven picked up one of the best volleyball minds in the world to ever walk into a gym. At our USA Volleyball offices, all our historical material is in a large library area
The Evolution of Pepper
This second in a series of sharing the evolution of popular drills – into grills or even games, takes on perhaps the most hallowed of traditions… “pepper.
USA Volleyball Skills Contest
The YMCA of the USA updated this skills contest with USA Volleyball staff help for use during their volleyball centennial celebrations.
Perpetually Dissatisfied
I was looking back as my previous blog posts and comments, as our website is soon to be moving to a new provider and taking on a new look, while wondering if the comments would be lost. One comment caught my eye, that brought this blog to life – related to the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius. Here is part of the exchange, found under the blog about changing from club to beach/high school volleyball seasons “A Change of Seasons.”
We Hire the WORST Coaches
No matter where a parent looks, every club program will state something to the effect of “We have the BEST coaches…” They then usually add next a list how a coach “played at college” - D1/2/3/NAIA/JC …it does not matter, they were a COLLEGE player for gosh sakes. The list then mentions that the coach coached at school levels - mostly junior high or high school – and sometimes even college, and, in time, they also, or only coached club.. My question is – what certifies that they are “the best?” In this ever expanding world of marketing and hype, do you think any program would proclaim “We have just average coaches!” …or “Our coaches are learning how to coach by trial and error on your child, please come join us!” ...or "We hire whoever will apply even if we really don't know them".... or the title of this blog, "we hire the worst coaches!" Do you think that the fact that the program has a winning record, means that the coaches are skilled? More likely in club volleyball, the record is due to the recruiting work of the club, taking the best players from the smaller clubs, with promises of superior training, and even the magic word…”scholarships.”