The Southern Kentucky Elite Volleyball Academy is growing, and Hudl is helping every step of the way.

When Caleb Sheffield and his wife Lindsey decided to create the Southern Kentucky Elite Volleyball Academy in Bowling Green, Ky., last year, they knew they’d need a way to incorporate video and stats to legitimize their club and help their teams win. They just weren’t sure what it would look like.

About one-third of the way into their inaugural season, it became abundantly clear Hudl was the solution.

Caleb, who also coaches the club’s 14 Blue team, found Hudl helped with every aspect of his job — statistics, developing players, winning games, getting athletes college attention and communicating with parents.

“We probably ended up working more when we got Hudl, but in a good way,” Sheffield said. “Had we not gotten Hudl, we would’ve invoked a different form of keeping stats and video. If we had taken a more traditional approach with a recording device and do all that stuff manually, it would have been horrendous. Hudl saved us a ton of time.”

Sheffield used statistics like passer rating and the performance of certain rotations to find inefficiencies in his team’s play. A self-proclaimed data geek, Sheffield found areas where his team needed some help, then watched the video associated with that statistic to find solutions.

He was pleasantly surprised to find he wasn’t the only one embracing the numbers. The players looked into their own numbers linked to video for ways to improve.

“To be able to just literally click on the stat and watch the play… that was something that our kids used,” Sheffield said. “If you’re a hitter and you had six hitting errors in a game, you’re wondering, ‘What the heck am I doing wrong?’ You go and you click that stat and it’s going to tell you. You’re going to see what you were doing in that game that was causing you to have those errors. It’s huge for them to be able to learn.”

The players were so taken with the video, they would grab an iPad and rewatch their performance between games at tournaments.

“They were putting two and two together from what I’m saying to them during the game,” Sheffield said. “When I say something to them during the game and they don’t understand it, if they go two or three days or even a day without seeing what I was talking about, they probably won’t remember it. But after the game if they’re confused, they can go back and see exactly what I was talking about. It really helps them to understand.”

As much as Hudl helped SKEVA on the court, it was arguably just as effective off it. The new club needed a way to attract local talent, so Sheffield crafted highlight videos from SKEVA’s first season and promoted them on social media as a way to get the word out. The program’s first meeting this season was kicked off with a promotional video.

And while SKEVA’s players aren’t yet old enough to be heavily recruited, they’re already drawing the eyes of college coaches. The players created highlights of their best plays, then sent them to schools they’re interested in. And those schools are paying attention — Sheffield said coaches from Ball State checked in on one of the club’s 13-year-olds last year because of her highlights.

“It’s simple and it’s easy,” he said. “I don’t have to know professional video-editing software to make a quick highlight video. I don’t think a college coach cares if it’s professional. They just need to see it.”

SKEVA may just be getting off the ground, but Sheffield has high hopes for the club. It has already made a large impact in southern Kentucky, a footprint Sheffield hopes will continue to grow. As SKEVA continues its ascension, Hudl will be there to help.

“I don’t have any data to give you hard facts about how it affects our numbers, but I’ll say this–we were the popular club this season and coming into registrations,” Sheffield said. “Our clinics were highly successful. We had an online marketing campaign through our social platforms. We made a highlight video and we put it on Facebook. We pushed it out and tried to get interest from anybody. If you’re like me, you’re way more likely to watch a video than read somebody’s post. It was perfect.”

See how Hudl can attract new talent to your club, develop your players, help your coaches win and get athletes to the next level.

This article was provided by Coaches Network and offers an idea on getting parents involved with your program. 

Working with parents is a major part of any high school sport coach’s job, whether they like it or not. Often times the parents of student-athletes can become a source of stress and anxiety for coaches due to the pressures on performance and playing time. It can also be easy for coaches, especially if they are young or new to the job and lacking confidence, to avoid communicating directly with parents. All of this can become overwhelming for a coach when coupled with their other responsibilities, but there is a solution: embracing parents and using them as a positive resource.

Karin Keeney, Head Volleyball Coach at Hebron (Texas) High School, has learned how to productively work with parents throughout her 29 years of coaching. Instead of shying away, Keeney has partnered with parents and developed lasting relationships that have helped to strengthen the entire volleyball program. “What I’ve learned over the years is that parents are a huge hidden asset and a resource,” she says. “Sometimes their not so hidden but they are a huge resource.”

“For us here at Hebron High School, our parents are very invested in our program,” she continues. “They work everything at our matches, from the clock, to the book, to the gate, to the scorekeeping, and they volunteer their pay back into our booster club so it becomes a kind of fundraiser for us.”

When Keeney first started at Hebron it was extremely difficult for her to find parents that could commit to working the matches. Out of necessity she contacted all of the parents on the team and that’s when they offered to take over the responsibilities of organizing and running the matches. At first Keeney thought this was simply a way to get part of the workload off of her shoulders, but it soon transformed into something much greater.

“I didn’t realize at the time how invested parents were getting because they worked just as hard as the coaches and the kids in the program,” she says. “That’s been huge for us. I get more parents that come back 10 or 15 years later, their kids have already graduated and have kids of their own and they’re still coming to watch Hebron Volleyball because they are as invested as we are in the program.”

Before the start of each season, the parents have a training session with officials who teach them about proper scorekeeping and officiating. Once the season begins, the parents use their own sign-up system to schedule all of the people needed to work the matches for Hebron’s five different volleyball teams. Whenever a parent can’t make a match they are scheduled for, another parent on the sign-up sheet quickly takes their place.

By collaborating with parents, Keeney has not only been able to lessen her workload and focus on her primary coaching responsibilities, but she has also helped to strengthen the volleyball program as a whole. Having parents take an active role in their kid’s athletics has made them much more invested in and committed to Hebron High School volleyball. Keeney encourages other high school coaches to embrace the parents of their athletes and to use them as a positive resource instead of viewing them as a source of stress.

“When I tell parents, ‘congratulations your child has made the program,’ I’m really in essence saying they have to. And at first they giggle at me until they realize that they really have,” she says. “It’s really proven to be a very positive thing here at Hebron.”

This article and other helpful coaching tools can be found at Coach Dawn Writes

By Dawn Redd-Kelly, Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College.

The reason we’re all so impressed with coaches like Russ Rose, John Wooden, and Phil Jackson is not just that they’ve been tremendously successful in terms of wins and losses.  It’s more that they’re able to navigate the normal ups and downs of teams and seasons, seemingly without missing a beat.  There is a great article at the Harvard Business Review’s blog called, Let’s Talk About Culture Change, and it talked about things that can be done to create the culture that you want.  After reading it, I brainstormed a list of common problems on teams and ways to solve them.  Check it out!

7 solutions to problems most teams will encounter at some point

Problem #1:  Your team has the dreaded “girl drama”.
Solution: Well, this one is tricky, because I’m not a big fan of that phrase…but I know that you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say it.  I’m talking about when your female team is fighting, talking behind each other’s backs, not willing to work together, gossiping amongst members…all of that stuff.  Drama generally starts when players have a conflict, but refuse to actually speak with each about it.  Then they go about building alliances with their other teammates, forcing everyone to choose sides.  Coaches must insert themselves into these situations and force the two athletes to talk it out.  It’s really that simple, because it’s probably just miscommunication.

Problem #2:  Your team is losing…all the time.
Solution: Ouch, this one is painful.  Not too many professions have to live out their successes and failures in public like coaches.  Chronic losing is touchy because it’s generally the culmination of a lot of things going wrong.  I would go back to my coaching philosophy and share it with my team.  The purpose of a team is more than getting together to play games, it’s teaching teamwork and leadership and goal setting…get on the same page with your team and things will get better.

Problem #3:  Your team leaders haze newbies.
Solution: So, your captains and leaders are picking on your young players in the name of team chemistry, eh?  In the words of Dr. Phil, how’s that working for ya?  I think we all recognize that the excuse “it was done to me, so I’ll do it to others” is weak and flawed, right?  I think it’s difficult to burden newbies with grunt work and then say we’re all in this together.  I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be perks to putting in your time on the team…but that’s a different conversation than saying there should be liabilities associated with being new.

Problem #4:  Your players don’t take being on the team seriously.
Solution: We sometimes see this on middle school teams where everyone’s forced to be on a team and also on teams at all levels with their non-starters.  They know they’re not going to play or it’s just not that important to them, so they don’t eat appropriately, they don’t get enough sleep, or they stay up all night before the big game doing homework.  Coaches have to give every player a legitimate role, even if they’re not getting court time in games.  We’ve got to give each player a reason to invest their time and energy into the betterment of the team or we’ll lose them.  Your bookworm players can break down stats, your future coaches can track opponent tendencies, your extroverts can make sure you guys are the loudest team in the gym.  There’s something for everyone…get them invested.

Problem #5:  Your team isn’t competitive.
Solution: I’m not talking about not competitive against opponents, I’m talking about them being adverse to competition itself.  I’m sure you’re wondering why anyone would want to be on a team if they don’t want to compete.  Well, there are many reasons.  They may want to get in shape, their friends may be on the team, they may enjoy the sport…but not the competitive aspect of it.  Coaches of these teams should find out what motivates the players on their team.  Once you find out what it is, you can start to incorporate competitiveness into the mix and show them that competition isn’t negative, but very positive and fun.

Problem #6:  You and your assistant coaches aren’t on the same page.
Solution: Ugh, this one is no good…especially if your players can tell.  You guys don’t want to be like feuding parents, being played against each other by your team.  When you hire your assistants, you’ve got to let them know what your coaching style and philosophy are…that way, they can support you even if they don’t agree with everything.  Weekly meetings will help everyone stay on the same page and being a head coach that’s open to new ideas will keep your assistants focused and upbeat.

Problem #7:  Your players don’t connect with you.
Solution: I’m certainly not saying that you’ve got to be homies and Facebook friends with your team…I actually think that’s a bad idea.  Coaches are in a power position, so there’s no real way to be friends with your athletes.  That doesn’t mean we can’t be intentional about connecting with each of the players on our teams.  The best way, in my opinion, is to connect with things outside of sports…then they’ll be more willing to listen to you when it’s athletically related.  Talk to them about their classes, their boyfriends or girlfriends, the clubs they’re involved in on their own time.  Even better?  Go to their performances or competitions, they’ll appreciate it!

I’ll bet you can think of other situations, or problems, that need solutions…let me know and I can write about those too!

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do??

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

Comes with a FREE PowerPoint presentation called Guarantee Your Success: Using John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success To Increase Your Team’s Cohesion.