Welcome to 2015!

Ready to make it a good one?

I have to admit, in many ways it will be hard for me to match my 2014, as I wrote about yesterday. In other ways, though, the new year could be really fun and exciting. One way or another it’s going to present new challenges. I will almost certainly be coaching in a different country as my time in England winds down. Not sure yet if that will be back in the States in the collegiate game or perhaps in Europe among the professional ranks. Maybe neither.

The only thing I know for sure is that my volleyball coaching adventure will take a new course and I’m looking forward to it.

As I said last year, I don’t really do resolutions. I do have a few things in mind for the year to come, though. Some of it I would love to get your thoughts on.

Continue my education and development – This is just a given as a permanent state for me. I’m always looking to learn and grow. Formally, I’d like to do the USA Volleyball CAP III course, but we’ll have to see how things work out. Beyond that, I’ll do the usual informal things like reading, watching, and getting out among my fellow coaches to see what they are doing.

Write a coaching book – I’m not talking about some massive text here. More like a practical user’s manual. I’m thinking something that shares ways to get the most out of limited resources (time, space, equipment, etc.). This is something that has been a major consideration for me the last couple years in England, so it’s fresh in my mind. Of course I also think it could be quite useful for a lot of coaches. I’ve written and published books before (like Inside College Volleyball), so know what it takes. Heck! My PhD thesis is basically a book. Your ideas are certainly welcome.

Develop a coaching course – I’d like to create an online course that fills in some of the gaps left open by the traditional coaching certification programs. There’s plenty of good material out there on the subject of teaching skills and countless drill and game resources. I want to focus on the elements of coaching that surround those things – the stuff that’s very important but tends to get little attention. Input in terms of subject matter is definitely welcome.

Grow the readership – As I said, I don’t know where my coaching path will lead, but I intend on keeping this blog going wherever that may be. More than that, I want to see it continue to grow and become even more of a resources of coaches around the world as it did so nicely in 2014. That means I will probably get more active in terms of actually promoting it rather than just allowing things to develop organically as has been the case thus far.

Write Down My Coaching Philosophy – You often hear the advice that you should write down your coaching philosophy and revise it over time as needed. I’ve started writing down my own philosophy, but need to finish doing so. I’ll post it to the website when it’s ready.

There are some other things I have in mind to try to do this year. I like to keep myself busy, after all. 🙂 Depends on where my path takes me and what that means in terms of schedule, finances, etc. Regardless, I hope I get to connect and cross paths with loads of my fellow volleyball coaches.

Happy New Year!

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John Forman
John Forman

John is currently the Talent Strategy Manager (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England, as well as Global Director for Volleyball for Nation Academy. His volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries. Learn more on his bio page.

Please share your own ideas and opinions.