VolleyCountry posted an interview with former USA national team setter LLoy Ball a while back. In it, Ball shared his intention to coach professionally one day. The article title suggests he will be a combination of all his former coaches. Seeing that headline immediately made me think about my own comments from the Avoiding the “This is how I learned” trap post.
In the interview, Ball talks about his desire to eventually coach professionally in Europe. At the time he coached a lot at the youth level. When asked what his coaching style would be like, Ball’s response was
I would have great energy and passion like Hugh McCutchen, I would be the most prepared coach like Doug Beal. I would manage players well like Alekno and I would demand 100% every moment like my father, Arnie Ball.
Of course this is exactly the sort of approach we all probably want to take as we develop our own coaching style. We want to pick the best of what we have seen from other coaches and combine them. We inevitably at the start of our coaching careers are something of a composite of our own coaches and those we see in action. It’s not always easy to pick out the very best elements of each. This is especially so since not many of us played for some of the top coaches in the world. We can all aspire to it, though. The trick, as I talked about in that prior post, is remaining flexible and adaptable.
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