The following content is provided by Glazier Drive
Coach Adam Mathieson is a football coach and athletic director. We believe that his message is applicable to all programs and all sports.
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The following content is provided by Glazier Drive
Coach Adam Mathieson is a football coach and athletic director. We believe that his message is applicable to all programs and all sports.
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By Tiegan Kirkwold
No practice? No problem. Here’s how players can improve on their own.
All coaches aim to bring out the best in their athletes. But it can be tough to ensure players are making strides in their development from behind a computer screen. So we compiled some of our favorite resources for making progress from a distance.
The only way to improve your serve, swing, set (insert any volleyball skill here) is through commitment, hard work and patience. The same goes for the brain. The most successful players choose a positive attitude, maintain a high level of self-motivation, set high, realistic goals, use positive self-talk, and deal effectively with people. But these skills don’t happen overnight and they don’t always come naturally.
Encourage your players to put in the mental work now, so they can shine technically and physically when they’re on the court again.
Staying active during this time will make the first practice back a little easier, but it’s also crucial for injury prevention. The good news is there are a ton of at-home strength and conditioning workouts on YouTube—send your favorites to players to keep them moving.
You can also find ideas on Twitter and Instagram, from core work and weight training to prehab circuits designed specifically for volleyball players who are hard on their shoulders. Or create your own workouts, record and upload them to Hudl, and have players message you when they’ve completed them.
Playing volleyball is kind of like riding a bike — it’s hard to forget once you know it. But that doesn’t mean you want players to go months without touching a ball. So we rounded up some of our favorite drills they can do at home. The best part? For most of these, all they need is a wall and a ball.
You know how it goes. The first tournament is around the corner and you’re scrambling to train your players on how to keep score, track the libero and be the down referee. Use this downtime to get your team trained up so it’s smooth sailing once matches start.
Not sure how to get started? Here are some ideas:
Now’s also the perfect time for athletes to own their recruiting process. Encourage them to do research on colleges, narrow down their list of schools, reach out to coaches they’re interested in, and compile their best moments into a highlight reel.
We recently sat down with a few collegiate coaches to pick their brains about recruiting, highlights and getting noticed. They all had great insights for both coaches and athletes, so be sure to share these with your team.
If you’ve already nailed the at-home workouts and drills, switch your focus to video review on Hudl and have your players study their craft. Ask them to watch video of previous matches and create a playlist of their top five and bottom five plays. They can add comments and drawings explaining why it was a high or low moment. You can discuss these in a one-on-one call and develop a plan to address their bottom five as preparation for next season.
There are so many ways players can keep improving off the court — whether they focus on prehab, learning a new skill or planning their future. For more player development ideas and resources, check out our Remote Coaching Guide.
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By Tiegen Kirkwold
We’re all adjusting to the new normal this volleyball season. Here are some tips to help you make the transition to remote coaching.
Awkward silence.
Off-topic banter.
Slow internet.
Virtual team meetings can be tough.
“My biggest challenge is keeping my girls engaged. We are doing video calls as a team, but it’s tough to get them to do anything or talk.” Nate Torvik, Team Indiana Volleyball Club
This is uncharted territory for everyone. We’re here to help with ideas for your next team meeting.
There are great books on mindset, leadership and excellence. What better time than now to hone skills like these?
Step one: Decide on a book. If you (or your players) can’t get to a bookstore right now, pick one that’s in stock online or consider an eBook.
Step two: Come up with a schedule for how many pages your players need to read every week and get the first club meeting on the calendar. We also recommend starting a group chat to keep everyone accountable.
Step three: As you read, share inspiring quotes or favorite passages in the group chat to keep each other motivated.
Step four: Have each player come to the meetings with a question or discussion topic. That way, everyone will have something to share.
It can be hard for athletes to find motivation to work out alone. If that’s the case for your team (or even if it’s not), a virtual workout might be a good way to hold each other accountable and give athletes a sense of accomplishment. Just make sure to put a plan together beforehand. If you don’t, the pause it takes to decide what exercise to do next can mess up your rhythm.
Pro tip: Take the pressure off yourself. Have players flex their leadership skills by assigning one of them to lead each workout.
These next two have nothing to do with volleyball, which could be a nice change of pace. Pick a game or two (like Heads Up! or Houseparty) to put your athletes’ competitiveness to the test — and have fun.
Teaching life skills, being together and eating good food? Sounds like a win-win-win. Pick a recipe to cook with your team virtually. Share the recipe and ingredients they’ll need beforehand so your team can schedule a grocery pick-up (or Instacart order).
Matches aren’t happening, but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch volleyball. Search for a collegiate or professional match on YouTube. Have your team pick a player in the same position and write five things about what they’re doing well. How does the saying go, “Monkey see, monkey do?”
You could also pick a match you uploaded to Hudl and teach your athletes how to review film. Remind them not to focus on how awesome the kills and stuff blocks are, but narrow in on footwork and timing as an attacker, or see if they’re releasing too early from base on defense.
For more ways to communicate with your team and suggestions for the best video conferencing, messaging and content sharing tools, check out our Remote Coaching Guide.
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From the Hudl blog
By Lindsay Peterson
Team culture takes the combined effort of coaches and players. In this blog, volleyball coach Lindsay Peterson explains how coaches can start building the right traditions.
I’ll never forget my first collegiate volleyball game. It was the first time I’d been through the actual warm-up with the team. We did all the normal things; warm up our arms, pepper, work on team defense, etc.
Then right before our time was done, the seniors pulled us into the huddle and told us there was a chant we always did before every match. A cheer that started off just a whisper and ended as a scream by the end. A cheer that in few words described just how good we thought we were.
This chant was a ritual — it never changed. Game after game, we spoke those words. It was exhilarating, it made my blood pump, my heart race, and let me know that we were all in this together.
I look back at the moment and realize the complexity of that simple cheer. It was tied to every game in the years I was in that program, including a Division II national title, countless wins and broken records. It’s important to have these positive traditions in your program, whether it’s cheers, chants, dirty sock rituals or the thousands of other things your team could do to get excited about games. I’m a firm believer in positive traditions + positive leadership = positive team culture.
There are two sides to my team’s culture: how the coach and staff build traditions to facilitate positive culture, and how team leaders help establish that culture. In this first blog, I’ll focus on the coaches’ side.
I had a coach tell me once to always work players extremely hard in your first practice of the year, then at the end of that practice ask them what they want to be known for. I tried it and the results were great.
Kids are eager to tell you what they think. Now for us, winning and losing isn’t who we are. The things we stand for and how hard we’re willing to work, that’s who we are. Having my players establish “who we are,” and what we want to be known for, is imperative for us to begin our season.
Most of my teams agree on something close to the same thing every year: tenacious, relentless, competitive, a never-give-up attitude, hard-working, hard to defend, supportive, etc. Every year will be different because each year’s team is different. Even your leadership might change. But you can sustain team culture in your gym by establishing who you are.
As the season begins and then progresses, make sure you’re establishing consistencies. For instance, before every home match, my team comes in early and sets up the nets. Then they spend the next 30 minutes serving and passing.
It’s also a tradition for the team to gather at my house twice a year for “practice.” We play games, eat snacks and watch motivational movies. Other traditions could be team dinners, team-building days, themed practices, program game days. There’s a plethora of inexpensive, or even free, activities for your players to participate in that are beneficial for your team culture.
Make these activities sustainable and worthwhile, and plan them in advance so it’s easy to stick to them.
The end of the year is almost as important as the beginning. To make sure the culture you’ve been building all year will carry on, use your banquet to remind your players of all the things they accomplished throughout the year. You could even use awards to emphasize what’s most important for a positive culture.
At Millard North, we give out the Mustang Award to the player who has put in the work and never gave up during hardships. The best part of this award is that it usually winds up being a kid who doesn’t always get the “clout.”
For example, one year it was a middle who started in the first 25 matches of the year. She replaced an injured Division I hitter, worked incredibly hard, and we went undefeated during the time she started. When it was time for the injured player to come back, she didn’t give up. She continued to give it her all, became a leader on the practice side, and pushed us to be the best we could be. She gave herself completely and didn’t complain one time! That’s why this award is so important to me and to my program culture.
Positive team culture is a direct reflection of the leadership provided by your coaching staff. Find ways to promote culture on your court and in your program. The long-lasting benefits will be worth all your time and effort.
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By: Tiegen Kirkwold
We know what it takes to craft the perfect highlight reel for your banquet.
The state tournament is over. Jerseys are turned in. The next sports season is gearing up, but there’s still time to reflect on the one that just finished. Most teams will host an end-of-season banquet to gather with teammates, families and coaches to celebrate accomplishments.
It’s on you to figure out food, venue, decorations and team awards. But we’re here to help with the end-of-season highlight reel.
Find the best moments.
Start in matches that had a big impact on the success of your season. That five-set thriller where your team squeaked by with a 16 – 14 win in the last set? We bet there’s a 10-foot kill or two you could find.
Show some variety.
The aces are fun to watch but everybody needs some love. After all, there’s no “I” in team. We want to see a great dig, or the lockdown defense from your post player.
Include everyone.
Your banquet reel is also a chance to thank your student-athletes for participating, especially seniors who may have just played their last match of organized volleyball.
Don’t show cheap shots.
It might seem obvious, but don’t highlight a kill that left the other girl with a broken nose. Doing that makes your athletes think it’s okay to put those moments in their reels — and that’s not what recruiters want to see.
Add a sick track.
Every great highlight needs a great beat. We have all kinds of hits in our music library to give your highlight some much-needed swag.
Use spot shadows.
Make it easy for the audience to know exactly what they should be looking at. Put a spot shadow on the key player a few seconds into the buildup play so all eyes are on them.
Break it up.
Use title slides to guide the video and introduce what’s coming next. Focusing on offense for the next minute or two? Put a title slide that says “Top Offensive Plays” with the names of athletes featured.
Now that you know the recipe for a killer highlight reel, let’s talk about how to make one. The process is easy as 1, 2, 3.
Step one: Tag the clips in your library. Create the clip, trim or extend it, and send it to your team’s highlights.
Step two: Head over to your team highlights page by clicking the Highlights tab.
Step three (where the magic happens): Click Create Highlight to get started in the highlight editor. Give your reel a name, choose a theme and customize it with video, music, slides and photos. This is also the step where you’ll add spot shadows title slides. Check out this tutorial to see the process step-by-step.
You spent time crafting the perfect highlight to celebrate your season, so why not share it out? It just might land an athlete a big opportunity, plus it’s a great way to promote your program.
We make it easy to share your reel on Facebook, Twitter or by direct URL. Or take it up a notch by embedding the highlight reel on your school’s athletics website.
Take some time to look back on your team’s season and remember the ride — whether it ended in an early loss in the playoffs or a state championship. We can’t wait to see what you create.