Volleyball Toolbox

How Attack Tendencies Can Help Every Kind of Coach

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See how our newest report for volleyball teams can help you teach, scout, plan and analyze more effectively.

You may have heard about our new attack tendencies report for volleyball teams on a Silver subscription or higher. This report unlocks a deeper understanding of your team and your opponents to give you confidence come game time.

Whether you tag matches yourself, or you let Hudl Assist handle the stats, this report will help you see what’s happening below the surface. But we know every coach is different. Here’s how you can use attack tendencies, no matter what kind of coach you are.

You coach because you’re passionate about helping your athletes get better. The wins are great, but what lights your fire is seeing players improve. Consider attack tendencies the newest accessory on your coaching toolbelt.

Maybe you have an outside whose attack percentage is lower than you’d like. They have a solid swing with some power behind it, but the ball just isn’t finding the floor. With attack tendencies, you can sit down with them and review their attacks. If you notice the player tends to attack left back—which isn’t great because most of your opponents put their libero there—you can work on thumb up shots during your next practice so the ball falls deep line.

With the speed of the game, it’s easy for you (and your coaching staff) to miss this. You might catch on by watching video, but that takes time. And looking at stats is great, but it’s not going to give you the full picture. That’s where attack tendencies come in. You see the what, where and why behind every swing and in turn, you can help your athletes improve their game and become greater offensive threats.

You’re bought into the value of video and record your matches from time to time. But data is a little scarier and, if we’re being honest, the word “analytics” makes your blood pressure rise. Let’s go over some of the basics of an attack tendencies report, and you can decide if it’s too advanced for your team (hint: it’s not).

Begin by looking at your team’s attacks. You can find exactly what you’re looking for by filtering by match, set, team or player—and now you can also filter by specific rotation, result or phase (first ball or transition) with this new report.

You know your team struggles to side out in rotation five. Filter by that rotation and first ball to see what’s working and what’s not. Are you out-of-system too much in serve receive? Is your setter not spreading the ball enough? Create a practice plan based on those insights so your team can celebrate more first-ball kills.

You don’t let your team play in a match they’re not prepared for. You spend countless hours watching scout film and planning your practices around what you find. Good news—the attack tendencies report will make this part of your job easier than ever.

You have your biggest match of the year coming up. It’s at home, against your rival who beat you in five sets the first time you played them this season. To get a win, you’ll need to be prepared offensively and defensively. Their middle’s .400 attack percentage catches your attention right away, so you dive into each swing. You notice their attacks are most often falling in the deep corners of the court, so you might switch to a rotational defense when they’re front row. You might even triple block the middle and be less concerned with what the pin hitters could do without a block.

No matter what you decide, this new report will make learning your opponents’ tendencies easier than ever. With the perfect scouting and practice plan in place, your team will be ready for the big match.

You love numbers so much, diving into your reports on Hudl is basically your favorite hobby. But a number only tells part of the story. Attack tendencies will change your view, so you can change your understanding.

Say you’re worried about the outside on the team you’re playing next week, so you dive into your stats report and click on #14’s attacks. You see the video clips that show all of those swings, but your opponent recorded from a side angle, so it’s hard to tell where the attacks are landing and where the hitter is taking off from.

Have no fear, the attack tendencies report is here. See the start and end location of every attack so you can plan your defense accordingly. Notice most of the sets aren’t getting all the way to the pin? Bring your right side and middle blocker in a couple of steps and challenge the attacker to go line—you’ll have a defender there anyway.

TL;DR: the possibilities for using attack tendencies are endless. We’re excited to see how this report will help club, high school and small college coaches and athletes improve, win, teach, plan and scout.


How High School & Club Teams Can Dominate with Data

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The nation’s top volleyball teams are all in on stats and video. Now those same tools are available to high school and club coaches.

Statistics are vital to college and national volleyball teams. Their coaches comb through the numbers, looking for any faults that could be improved upon. They have members of their staffs dedicated to analysis.

But this data isn’t limited to the nation’s best squads. With Hudl and Volleymetrics teaming up, these insights are also available to high school and club teams.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Giuseppe Vinci, the founder of Volleymetrics and consultant coach for the U.S. National teams, said. “We’re trying to take something very complex down to just a few numbers that can really help coaches on that level focus on the right things.

“It’s the question that coaches ask themselves every day—what should they coach today? What should they train today? What should they focus on today? That’s what I’m most excited about and what’s going to make the biggest difference. Not just saving coaches time through Hudl Assist or through our platform, but saving them time and making their practices more efficient, more focused, more on point—we can do that with data and video.”

Vinci advises coaches to mainly focus on their side of the net when it comes to stats, rather than study oppo

nent tendencies. He recommends keeping an eye on reception, serving, side-out percentages and first-ball-out percentages.

Hitting efficiency is also always on Vinci’s radar. This number tells a more complete story than simply looking at kills and errors. By calculating (kills-errors)/attempts, hitting efficiency paints a more effective picture of a player’s performance.

“It’s, ‘How many points am I scoring per swing?’” Vinci said. “It’s an average of how many points I’m scoring every time I take a swing. The higher that number is, the more I’m going to score and the more I’m going to win.”

Many of these stats can be tracked on paper, but they’re taken to another level when linked with video. Statistics are useful on the surface, but the story behind each number is more telling—that’s where video comes in.

“We’re talking about the competitive level of sport where you can just learn and improve so fast,” Vinci said. “You’re learning so much. Learning by seeing is just another level of learning.”

“Everybody says a picture is worth 1,000 words. I’ll say a video is worth a million words. That is a big, big thing.”

How to Boost Team Morale Off the Court

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Being a coach is much more than teaching proper volleyball techniques. See how to stay connected and show compassion to players during uncertain times.

When their playing days are over, athletes aren’t going to remember the box scores or hitting percentages. They’ll recognize who was there for them during the most vulnerable times of their lives. Here are a few tips for keeping team morale high from a distance.

Check in on your team

Your players’ health and well-being should always be a priority, but especially in times of crisis and isolation. Set a reminder in your calendar to reach out to them. Ask how they’re doing physically and mentally and let them know how important they are to you.

Avoid phrases like “you’re a hard worker” or “you’ve been a great asset.” Instead, choose affirmations that are specific to who they are and the unique impact they have on your team. “I love the way you cheer for your teammates,” and “I appreciate how you always take the extra time to shag balls between drills,” are great examples.

Create space for socializing

While virtual position training and at-home workouts are important, your players are probably missing the casual conversations and team time. Facilitate these by hosting coffee or tea breaks for your players to get together and talk about life outside of volleyball.

Have fun together

By now, you’ve probably seen the team pepper challenge on platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. But there are so many other ways to keep your team connected and break up the monotony. At VCNebraska, teams made their own versions of popular songs and got to know each other better through virtual talent shows.

You can also challenge players to come up with the best trick shot. Or host a Netflix watch party. No matter what you decide, just remember that teams with chemistry off the court, perform better on it.

Send a care package

If your budget allows, send players something to let them know you’re thinking about them. Tailor it to each individual’s interests and hobbies, or keep it general with a mix of fun and useful trinkets. Items like hand sanitizer (if you can find it), masks, snacks, scrunchies and card games are all great contenders.

Or send a handwritten note to let them know you care.

“I sent each of my players a handwritten note to not only let them know that I was thinking of them, but to encourage them as they were about to head into their finals week. Each note made them feel special and they know that I care for them as more than just volleyball players,” said Ruth McGolpin, head volleyball coach at Westmont College (Calif.).

Celebrate your players

Last but not least, keep everyone focused on the positive by celebrating wins at the team and individual level. Create highlights of your team’s best moments or make one for each player to applaud their successes. This might sound time-consuming, but it’s a breeze with Hudl’s highlight tools.

Not all celebrations are about in-game moments. You can also throw a virtual party or award night to recognize your team. If you have the budget, send pizza or another treat to your players’ homes so it feels like an end-of-season banquet. Create the awards you normally would and play that highlight reel you made. Most importantly, enjoy being together and give your players a small sense of normalcy.

We’re all missing being on the court right now. But rallying your players and boosting team morale can still happen. For more ways to keep your team happy, healthy and engaged, check out our Remote Coaching Guide.

 


Is Building a Relationship with Your Athletes on Your Preseason Checklist?

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Long story short, it should be. Head volleyball coach Lindsay Peterson explains the structure she uses to get to know her players.

Here we go again. The high school volleyball season is upon us. Like every good coach, you’ve meticulously planned out your season…right? Actually, if this is you, then I’m impressed—and also jealous!

As I began laying things out, getting my thoughts and ideas together for the next year, I’m reminded of one of the most important things I have to plan for: getting to know my players and building these relationships.

Let me stress to you that, even though I know this is very important for our players, there’s always a part of me that’s wondering if our time would be better spent in the gym, getting ready for our first match. But I also know building a team begins with building bonds between players and coaches.

So I thought I’d share with you something I’ve found helpful over the years, something I make sure to do every year with every player on my team.

Set up role meetings

I like to do these individually with my players. I sit each one of them down and ask them what role they see for themselves for the year.

Do these several times a year

My cadence is usually three meetings a year, but I meet with some players even more. I like to hold them at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, and at the end of our season. That way it’s easy for them to see how they’ve changed and grown over the year. We look at what we wrote down last time and whether it looks the same or has changed dramatically.

Here’s an example

This is a role meeting my assistant and I had with a former player. (Her name has been changed.)

——————————————–

Name: Leanne
Position: Rightside

Name three positive things about yourself as a player:

  • See the court well
  • Defensive right side
  • Organized

Three downfalls you have as a player:

  • Impatient
  • Offense
  • Poor facial expression

Three things you want to improve before you graduate:

  • Stronger
  • Faster
  • Communication

Three things you’ll bring to the team:

  • Leadership
  • Energy
  • Calmness

Where do you see yourself in your position?

As a right side, second in line behind Emily

What do you need from us as coaches?

  • Feedback
  • Encouragement

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My takeaways

Player’s mentality

It’s so interesting to sit with each kid and go over these questions with them. Like many of us, it’s hard for them to articulate their own positive impact. But when it comes to their downfalls, they seem to have a list a mile long!

Creating relationships

These questions enable us to have an open dialogue about where they see themselves, and more authentic conversations about where we, as coaches, see them.

Documentation

Writing down the details of these conversations has also been helpful when speaking with parents and players about playing time. An added bonus!

 


Club Athletes Use Hudl to Develop Skills and Navigate Recruitment with Confidence

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The Oregon based club invests in industry-leading performance analysis platform to help players maximize their potential and reach the next level.

Club volleyball is as competitive as ever, with top clubs looking for ways to separate themselves on the court while providing players with a path to the next level. Oregon Junior Volleyball Academy (OJVA) invested in Hudl to help athletes develop these skills on the court and in recruiting.

Some coaches, like 15s coach Juno Cruz, bring iPads into training to show clips or film on Hudl. He believes integrating technology accelerates the learning curve while helping players buy into their development and take ownership of their future. 

“As I’m showing them [videos and stats] you can see that they’re getting more confident,” Cruz said. “With confidence you get better play, and with better play you build more confidence. And as a coach, I want to build more confidence.”

This past season, Cruz challenged one of his middle blockers to play a new position: outside hitter. Although she agonized over the change at first, Hudl enabled Cruz to pinpoint her growth via film and analyze her statistical performance.

“When you move a player, they’re uncomfortable. They don’t want to believe they’re going to be good at something they haven’t done yet,” he said.

After only a few matches, Cruz said the athlete saw a future for herself playing outside.

OJVA athletes have bought in on using these tools to improve their performance. Not only to quicken their growth, but also as a means to play collegiately.

Sophie Scott is a middle blocker who is committed to play for the University of California-Berkeley. Scott started playing club volleyball in sixth grade and joined OJVA for the higher level of competition and training. She uses Hudl at her high school as well and believes that having video and data has helped her to study and improve her play as well as get recruited.

Speed. Efficiency. Impact.

These skills translate into everything volleyball players must do, whether that’s reacting on defense, transitioning to the attack, or punishing an opponent that’s out of system.

The same can be said for the recruiting process. With an abundance of student-athletes competing for limited spots, finding ways to stand out and earn a roster spot at the next level requires fast, adaptable tools that meet college coaches and recruiters where they are.

During the pandemic, recruiters relied almost exclusively on video to evaluate up-and-coming talent. As the world evolves into a more hybrid recruiting environment, combining in-person and online evaluation, today’s student-athletes must take the initiative to market themselves and capture a recruiter’s attention.

With Hudl’s comprehensive recruiting profiles, athletes on Hudl can feature their academic and athletic achievements, along with highlights and match film in a single resource that recruiters want. Players can even message verified recruiters to express their interest in a school while providing a glimpse into their potential.

Emily Warmenhoven, a senior outside hitter, joined OJVA as a freshman in high school. Now she’s committed to Belmont University. She said Hudl makes it quick and easy to create highlights and share them with recruiters.

“It’s been super helpful, not only to improve our own game, but also getting committed,” Warmenhoven said. “It’s super nice where it cuts out your own clips, so I can see just the film of me and create highlights reels.” 

For a club that’s regarded as the best in the region, OJVA uses Hudl to stay ahead of the game. Their innovative training technique leverages cutting-edge technology to help athletes reach their potential and blaze a trail to the next level.