By Keith Grabowski
One concept that is universally true in any sport is that if your players have not been prepared for a situation and do not understand how to handle it, it’s not their fault. The coach is to blame.
Head Coach at Rice University Genny Volpe believes that players can be prepared for all they will face in a game by carefully planning practice to teach them how to handle those situations.
Coach Volpe has had a lot of success at Rice and it all starts with practice. She shares her philosophy here (click on image for video):
She points out that up to 60% of volleyball is played out of system attacking. Because of this, opportunities must be created in practice.
One way she likes to create these opportunities are in non-traditional plays/reaction drills.
She explains it in this video:
Working these things out in practice is very important. It develops the communication necessary to handle the different situations that will occur during a game.
As you prepare for the season, be sure to plan all of the “out of system” and non-traditional plays that will occur this season.
As a coach, you can have that peace of mind that you are doing all you can to have them ready for game day!
If you are interested in learning more about How to Implement Game Situations in Daily Practice you can get access to Coach Volpe’s complete here