This drill was provided by Coaching Volleyball

 By John Forman

Coach Forman is currently the assistant volleyball coach at Midwestern State University. Before that he was the Head Coach of the professional women’s team at Svedala Volleybollklubb in Sweden

How do you create pressure situations in your practice?

That’s a question coaches ponder a lot. Especially when they see their team crumble in intense match situations.

The fact of the matter, though, is that there are different types of pressure. Some are mainly individual, while others are more team.

Individual pressure

In the case of individual pressure, we’re talking about a situation where one player must execute. That could be at the service line. It could be in serve reception. Or it could be as a hitter. These are situations where the individual player feels the pressure to perform well. Actually, it’s probably more a “not screwing up” type of pressure in terms of their self-talk, but that’s a different subject.

Creating individual pressure requires putting a player in a position where they have to execute. There’s an example of this in John Cook’s book, Dream Like a Champion. In it he describes a hitter vs. defense game where one attacker must win a game against a full defense. If they lose, they play again. They repeat the game until the player wins.

Now, that’s an example of individual pressure in a very individualized situation. There are also ways to create individual pressure in a more team situation. The run-and-serve drill is an example of this from a serving perspective. If we think of serve reception, though, we can create a situation where one player receives every ball. Their team cannot execute the offense if they cannot provide a good pass. Alternatively, flip things around and say that only a specific hitter can score.

Team pressure

While individual pressure is about putting the spotlight on a specific player (or position), team pressure is about the collective. This is about the team needing to come back from behind, or perhaps to close out a set when ahead. It’s about them staying focused and connected when the pressure is on, and not falling victim to fear and doubt.

One interesting game you can play from this perspective is 25 or reset. I’ve also seen it referred to as “slip and slide”. Basically, if a team gets to 24 and does not score they have to reset back to wherever you started the score (e.g. 19). This combines the pressure to close a team out with the drive to keep fighting if you’re the losing team.

On a smaller scale, wash games are little pressure situations. The team must, for example, win two rallies in a row. That increases the pressure on the second ball – for both sides.

Consequences

A lot of coaches use some kind of punishment for losing to create pressure, like sprints. I’m not a fan of this, as I’ve discussed. Further, research suggests it actually may not improve motivation. If the desire to win is intrinsic, then losing should be enough of a punishment. You don’t need anything else. If your players aren’t naturally competitive, then you need to tie something they care about in terms of playing the game to winning. That, though, is a different topic of discussion.

Similarly, if a player cares at all about the quality of their play, then failing to execute at an individual level will leave them feeling disappointed. Why, then, is anything extra required? If your players are not worried about their quality of play, then you may have some other problems to address before worrying about how they do under pressure.

 

This post is provided by Coaching Volleyball

By John Forman

Coach Forman is currently the assistant volleyball coach at Midwestern State University. Before that he was the Head Coach of the professional women’s team at Svedala Volleybollklubb in Sweden.

When coaching beginners, youngsters, and anyone else where retention is an important consideration we want to design sessions that leave them happy and wanting to come back for more. Motivation is important for committed teams of more senior players too, though. We want them just as eager to come back. That’s something we should keep in mind when planning our practices and training sessions.

Start with the finish

I previously wrote about building practice from the finish. In that case I talked about thinking first about the last exercise you wanted in your session, then working backwards so you have a progression toward it. When thinking in terms of having players eager to come back for the next session, a similar mentality is appropriate.

There is what’s known as a serial-position effect which tells us we remember the last part of a sequence best. Psychologists call this the recency effect. What this means to us coaches is that if we want our players to think positively about our training sessions we should end them on something they will enjoy or otherwise find fulfilling.

Flipping back to the start

The other thing the serial-position effect tells us people remember best is the first part of a sequence. This is the primacy effect. This tell us that we should make sure the first thing we do in a practice session is engaging.

The muddle in the middle

So if the end and the beginning are best remembered after the fact by players, what should we do with the middle part? Obviously, you do what you need to do. If we follow the psychology, though, we realize this is the part of the session where you can put in the less intense, less exciting parts. Need to slow things down or lower the intensity to do more teaching? This is the section in which to do it.

Understanding their motivation

Before I leave you to go out and structure your next practice based on these principles, there’s one last important consideration. You need to have a good grasp of what your players find engaging and fulfilling. These thoughts from a former player of mine provide one player’s thoughts to that end. You need to think about your own group of players, though.

In my experience, competition tends to motivate male players (Kathy DeBoer backs this up). Many female athletes, however, like to feel they’ve had a good workout. This is a very general perspective, though. Level of play and type of team are influencing factors. It’s important that you, as the coach, understand what gets your players’ juices flowing most.

 

This article provided by Coaches Network

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

An experienced teacher would never walk into the classroom without a well-developed lesson plan. This document spells out the details, timing, and methods that will be used to successfully teach the day’s lesson, and creating the plan often takes twice or three times as long as actually teaching the class!

As a coach, you are also a teacher. Your practice plan is your lesson plan, and it needs to be just as well thought out. Where and how do you start to develop a plan that will allow you to arrive organized and prepared to make the most of the day?

Offseason Overhaul:

The summer and off-season are great times to rework your approach to practice planning. The first step is to clearly define your coaching philosophy. This means establishing what offenses, defenses, and special situations are important to you and which ones you will use next season. You can’t create practice plans without first knowing what systems you are going to use.

Once you have done this, prepare a list of all the skills that are needed for each offensive and defensive package you will use. While each sport has universal skills, particular offenses and defenses may use specific skills or adaptations. Create a list of exactly what you need to teach.

Once you know what your players need to learn, establish a timeframe and schedule for introducing it. Your state association dictates the dates when you can start practicing and when the first games can be played. Using these dates, determine how many practice sessions you will have before your first scheduled game. Considering also that you may be limited by your district to two hours for each practice session, you can determine exactly how much total time you have to install your systems.

It’s important to realize that you may not get everything in by the first game. Therefore, you may have to make decisions as to what is absolutely essential in order to play that game and set priorities accordingly for your early-season practices.

Anatomy of a Practice:

With your overall roadmap in place, it is time to start creating individual, daily practice plans. It helps to break the session down into distinct parts and think through each, starting with the warm up. A good warm-up allows athletes to break a sweat and gets them physically ready to perform the skills and movements that are part of the sport. It’s also helpful if the warm-up drills replicate skills they will actually use in a game.

A second specific segment of your practice plan should involve teaching new skills and installing new offensive and defensive sets. Try to do this type of teaching early in the practice session, while athletes are still physically and mentally fresh.

Consider using the whole-part-whole method of teaching offensive or defensive systems. With this approach, you first demonstrate the offense, and then break it down and teach the individuals skills and movements involved. Lastly, you bring everything back together and practice executing the offense.

A third part of practice is drilling and refining existing skills. All skills need repetition, assuming that they are performed correctly, in order for athletes to perfect them.

Lastly, don’t forget to schedule water breaks strategically throughout the practice session. For outdoor sports, you want to consider the weather conditions for the frequency and spacing of these water breaks.

Build In Efficiency:

You have a lot to teach, and you want to use the time you have in practice to its fullest. A thorough plan can help you achieve this.

Be sure to organize drills so that athletes avoid standing around and waiting for their turn. It is important to keep everyone active and involved. Consider utilizing your assistants to run additional groups, which also has the advantage of providing more repetitions.

When you write your practice plan, be sure to include an established time frame for each activity—and stick to it. If a drill isn’t working well, avoid the temptation to extend it in the hopes that extra time will bring success. Learning a new skill takes repetition over several days, and it will take some athletes longer than others. End each drill at its planned time and move on to the next activity.

Communicate the Plan:

Now that you have drafted a great practice plan, it’s time to share it. To get everyone on the same page, provide your assistants and head manager copies of each daily plan. Everyone should know what their responsibilities are and what is coming next. Your head manager, for example, should help you follow the plan and remind you of how many minutes remain in any drill or segment of practice. Whether you post and share the practice plan with players will depend upon your individual philosophy.

Looking Ahead:

Once you have used a practice plan, keep it on file for reference. Year to year, these documents will help you gauge your pace and provide reminders of what you have done in the past. Also, if there is ever a question relating to an injury or similar problem, you will be able to document what skills you covered in practice and when.

Effective practice planning requires looking at both the big picture and the smallest details. The more time and effort you invest in preparing for each day’s workout, the more success you and your athletes will experience.

 

David Hoch retired in 2010 after a 41-year career as a high school athletic director and coach.  In 2009, Dr. Hoch was honored as the Eastern District Athletic Director of the Year by the Nastional Association for Sport and Physical Education.  He was also presented with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Distinguished Service Award, and in 2000 he was named the Maryland State Athletic Director Association’s Athletic Director of the Year.  Dr. Hoch has authored over 460 professional articles and made more than 70 presentations around the country