Volleyball Toolbox

Improve Home Court Advantage

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This article was provided by Coaches Network

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

With everything else that’s on your plate as a coach, you may not have thought a lot about how to increase attendance at your games. And in all reality, recruiting fans probably shouldn’t be at the very top of your list of most important things to do.

However, getting more bodies in the stands should be on your list somewhere. It’s important to build support for your team within the community. For one thing, connecting with more fans could eventually develop into financial help, either through a larger budget or fundraising. But the biggest reason to work on game attendance is that a good, enthusiastic crowd creates a great environment for your players.

Obviously, a winning season creates interest, and this alone normally attracts more fans. But not every season is a winning one. The good news is, there are concrete steps you can take to encourage fans to attend your games, whether your team is having a stellar season or not. Try the following ideas.

Invite younger players. Ask middle school or youth teams to attend a game. This has the dual benefit of engaging future players. However, don’t undertake this initiative without the approval of your athletic administrator, and be sure to require parents or coaches to accompany the younger players. One adult for every three to four young people would be suitable.

Honor specific groups. Designate an armed service evening in which any current or former service members will be recognized. With your athletic administrator’s approval, wave the cost of the ticket and ask military members to attend as guests. You could make the game even more inclusive by including first-responders such as police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. If hosting both groups together might be too large, hold a separate, additional evening.

Involve cheerleaders. Enlist the help of your school’s cheerleaders. Have them create and hang posters around the school promoting upcoming games. If your school allows it, these young people can also go into lunch periods in uniform to promote that evening’s contest.

Use daily announcements. Write a message encouraging students to attend the game and have it read during your school’s daily announcements. If your school has an in-school television station to broadcast the day’s news and activities, star in a brief spot to promote the game. Include a minute or two of filmed game highlights in the broadcast to really make it shine.

Go into the community. Ask to visit monthly meetings of your town’s Chamber of Commerce and community service organizations to update them on the progress of your team. Any time you can positively promote your team, take advantage of it.

Work with the media. Always call in game results and provide statistics and comments for your local newspapers and radio stations. This step is important in order to create a good working relationship with the media. Once they know you, your team will be more likely to get promotional coverage of upcoming contests.

Play for a cause. Designate a game in which you raise money for a charity such as the American Cancer Society. Not only will you be teaching your athletes the importance of good deeds, you will attract more fans. This becomes a win-win situation for your team, the community, and the charity. I highly recommend making this an annual event.

Increasing attendance has real value. It takes time and effort, but it can be done. By starting with these steps, you will be on your way to making game night a great environment for your players.

 


Everybody Wants to Be Somebody

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Everybody wants to be somebody. Once this becomes a fundamental way of viewing your teammates, classmates, and everyone you meet, you will become a person of influence.

Dr. Cory Dobbs

Homelessness is a complex problem. Not just because a person without a home needs money and other essential resources—but because the psychological consequences are crippling. A homeless person must confront society’s perception of their worth. When an individual first encounters homelessness they experience a radical shift in their identity. They begin to struggle with basic life questions such as who they are and what the future will bring. The homeless person’s sense of self worth deteriorates quickly.

There isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t want to be someone, to have significance and be considered worthy and valued by others. Everybody wants to be somebody.

“One day I was in Tucson, Arizona putting gas in my car when I witnessed a homeless man asking if he could wash peoples windows for money and people would yell at him and push him away like he was some kind of animal. I felt for that man and even though I’ve never been homeless or put in the position he was in I could relate to him.”
–Steven Lopez, State Champion Wrestler

How do you treat the last person on the bench? Is it different from the way you treat the star player on the team? Why? Is a person’s worth determined by their value on the court or playing field? How do you treat every person you meet?

Everybody wants to be somebody. Once this becomes a fundamental way of viewing your teammates, classmates, and everyone you meet, you will become a person of influence.

As he walked towards me with his head down I was expecting him to ask me if he could wash my windows and I was going to say yes but he kept walking. So as he passed me I asked if he could wash my windows and he said “yes” so he began to do so. After he was done he started walking away not even asking for money which took me by surprise. But I felt he did a service and should be rewarded so I called him over and said I was going to pay him. His eyes opened wide and I could just see the joy on his face. I checked my wallet and all I had was a $10 bill. My first thought was $10 for a simple window wash seems too much but I looked towards the bigger picture; do I need that $10 more than he does? And my answer was no, I felt he needed it more than I did. So I gave it to him and he said that it was too much and he couldn’t accept it but I insisted and the look on his face will be something I’ll never forget.
–Steven Lopez

Almost everyone knows what it feels like to be accepted, connected, trusted—a friend—and what it feels like to be rejected, judged, and outside the group. When people feel disconnected they feel a sense of worthlessness.

He told me it would take about 2-3 days worth of washing windows to make $10 and was very grateful. He gave me a hug and I could see other people staring but I didn’t mind, I helped the man out with what I could. As amazing as that felt what happened after made me feel so much happier. People would go up to him and give him money without him doing anything and some of them were the same people who were yelling at him, so that’s when I realized sometimes all it takes is just one person to start something and I could be that first person.
–Steven Lopez

To be a person of influence you need to truly care about people. Great team leaders are student-athletes that influence teammates by showing others that they care. The high performing team leader knows that everybody needs friendship, encouragement, and help. What people can accomplish by themselves pales in comparison to what they can accomplish working with others. Everybody needs somebody to connect with and help them grow.

I felt for that man and even though I’ve never been homeless or put in the position he was in I could relate to him.
–Steven Lopez, State Champion Wrestler

Everybody wants to be somebody. Today at practice take a long look at your teammates and identify somebody who needs you to build up their confidence and sense of self-worth. Let them know that they are welcome in your house.

Team Discussion Questions

«Do you believe that luck plays a role in your life?

«What do you think about luck? How might a little luck change a person’s life?

«Should empathy be a part of one’s mindset? How can you show empathy through your designated role?

«What role do relationships play in your personal success? Your team’s success?

«What can you do today to invest in the future of a teammate?

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books authored by Dr. Dobbs including a Leader in Every Locker that this post was taken from, Click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books

About The Academy for Sport Leadership 

The Academy for Sport Leadership’s underlying convictions are as follows: 1) the most important lessons of leadership are learned in real-life situations, 2) team leaders develop best through active practice, structured reflection, and informative feedback, 3) learning to lead is an on-going process in which guidance from a mentor, coach, or colleague helps facilitate learning and growth, and 4) leadership lessons learned in sport should transcend the game and assist student-athletes in developing the capacity to lead in today’s changing environment.


Transformational Coaching

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By taking a transformational approach to coaching, you are more likely to get athletes to buy into your coaching style because they will see that you are there to support them. To take this approach ask yourself 4 Key Questions.

This article was provided by Coaches Network

Having a “common language” in your program means that everyone shares the same goals and values when it comes to the success of the team. When you establish clear expectations and get everyone to buy-in, you will put your athletes in position to be their best. Troy Urdahl of the InSideOut Initiative provides a guide for making that happen.

According to Urdahl, it starts with being a transformational, rather than transactional, coach. Having a transformational approach means being a teacher and developer of character, first and foremost. A transformational coach views winning as an outcome, not a priority, and puts the focus on helping athletes grow and reach their full potential, beyond just sports. On the opposite side, a transactional coach is someone who makes winning the ultimate goal and is less concerned about the overall experience.

By taking a transformational approach, you are more likely to get athletes to buy into your coaching style because they will see that you are there to support them. In order to do this year after year, you will have to keep striving to be the best coach you can be. Urdahl points to four key questions that you should ask yourself each season: Why do I coach? Why do I coach the way I do? How does it feel to be coached by me? How do I define success?

Success can mean a lot of things. Winning is a worthy goal to strive for, but there is also a lot more that can be gained from athletics than a number on a scoreboard. Urdahl suggests considering some of the following questions when defining what success means to you and your team: Did you have fun?  Did you learn anything? Did you improve? Did you help a teammate succeed? Did you conduct yourself well? Did you do your best? Did you appreciate your opponents? Did you develop any life skills?

Keep these in mind when talking to your team about the goals for the season. They will help guide your athletes as they work each day to get better and will help them identify what the priorities should be. If they are able to answer ‘Yes’ to all of these questions by the end of the season, then they have certainly succeeded.

Along with defining success, Urdahl also suggests defining character. If you want your athletes to develop as people, it’s important that you articulate the types of traits you are looking for. Urdahl splits this up into two categories: performance character and moral character. Performance character traits are those that will help athletes succeed in competition, which includes grit, persistence, and hard work. Moral character refers to ethical behavior and building positive relationships. This requires qualities such as empathy, respect, and integrity.

Once you know what success means to you, it’s time to start setting some goals. But Urdahl explains that it’s important to distinguish between goals and purpose. Working with your athletes to establish team goals is great and it gives everyone something to strive for, but it’s also worth noting that purpose is the true difference maker. When a team has a shared purpose, they will stick together and fight through whatever adversity comes their way.

As you help young athletes grow, be sure to have a clear understanding of your core values. These are your guiding principles that help you dictate priorities and make decisions. When you are able communicate these values with your words and actions, your athletes and the rest of your coaching staff are likely to follow your lead and speak the same language.

Click Here to read the full article.


The Pressure of Winning

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Does talking about winning help or hurt your team? Does is create additional pressure? Is it better to never discuss winning? Should you be focused only on performing your best? Which philosophy works best?

By Dawn Redd-Kelly

Never mention winning. My idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game.And you can win when you’re outscored. I used to say that when a game is over, and you see somebody that didn’t know the outcome, I hope they couldn’t tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.—John Wooden

I understand this philosophy and I even hold it to a certain extent.  But I’m going to deviate (!) from my man Wooden here and say that I disagree.

Where I agree with his philosophy:

  • You can beat a team that you’re just better than and still play poorly.
  • You can play to the absolute best of your ability and still get beat by a team who is more talented than yours.

Where I disagree:

I used to not talk about winning very much, but rather the process of getting there (hard work, commitment, consistency, good mental mindset) and would always say the rest will take care of itself.  And that works for some teams, especially those that are internally driven to succeed.  But you will have teams, with good skill sets, who are not internally motivated and you will then need to provide the motivation or the pressure.  Whether it’s through punishments for not correctly completing drills or, and this is where I disagree with Wooden, through talking about winning.

There is inherent pressure in talking about winning.  It’s like talking about a diet that you’re on.  Once you start telling people you’re on a diet, then you don’t want them seeing you munching on cookies and sipping pop.  The whole point of talking about it is so that others can hold you accountable…right?  It’s the same with talking about winning.  There’s a pressure associated with talk of winning, with getting picked to win conference, or whatever accolade your team is “supposed” to accomplish.

My question is: what’s wrong with having that level of expectation?  What’s wrong with seeing the pressure, recognizing the pressure, and acknowledging the pressure?  The pressure doesn’t go away if you don’t talk about it!

And what if your team has low expectations?  What if, like in the example I used before, your team is an externally driven team?  What if they need you to raise their expectation level?  It will be uncomfortable, sure, but I believe it’s necessary.  For teams that don’t know how to win or haven’t had a history of success, the coach has to provide that incentive to take the next step.

To me, talking about winning is about holding your team accountable for their goals.  Writing down that you want to win on a poster, but never talking about it doesn’t seem like a good way to accomplish much.  For externally motivated teams, they may not even know what steps to take in order to go down a winning path.

It’s our job to tell them.

 

 

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.


Managing Your Team: MBWA

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By Dawn Redd-Kelly

I used to call this a “stop and chat”, but apparently there’s an actual name for this management technique called Management By Walking Around, or MBWA.

What is it exactly?

  • Stop and talk to players face to face.
  • Get a sense how things are going.
  • Listen to what is on player’s minds.

Why is it successful?

Years ago, I worked with a track coach who said it was his goal to talk to each athlete every day…even if only for a few moments.  Connecting with our athletes is a win-win.  We feel good about where our team’s mindset is and the players feel that we care.

If you do it correctly, you’ve been MBWAing all season, so the team won’t be startled when you stop and chat with them.  This strategy will pay dividends when and if something big happens within the team that you need to get to the bottom of.

How to MBWA with your team

  • Make it part of the routine.  The team should know when they come into the gym that you’re probably going to be talking to them, it shouldn’t be weird or awkward…just part of being on the team.
  • Just you, not the other coaches.  If your whole coaching staff approaches one of your players, I’d imagine they’d start racking their brains, trying to figure out why you were coming toward her with a posse!
  • Chat with everyone.  Seems obvious, but be sure to talk to each person on the team.  Super stud and practice player alike.  That way you can’t be accused of being unfair.  Well, you can, but it won’t be true.
  • Ask for suggestions.  This one is an easy one for a MBWA before a game, because you can always ask for suggestions for places to eat dinner.  It’s super important for them (for some reason) and the team’s gotta eat.
  • Follow up with answers.  If you’re doing a MBWA and one of the athletes asked a question you don’t know the answer to, you’ve got to be sure to get back to him with the answer.
  • Don’t criticize.  There’s plenty of time for that!  Keep it light…this is about relationship building!

If you want to read more about Management By Walking Around, check out this article.  Investing our precious time into our players will reap benefits down the line.

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.