Happy new decade!
Hope you had a good 2019 and are looking forward to a fun 2020.
Last year was a mixed one for me in terms of how things went. I was back in the juniors realm for the first half of the year, which I documented in my coaching log entries. The second half of the year was more transitional.
Travel & Education
I definitely made my most ambitious trip in 2019, spending nearly two full months in Europe visiting a variety of teams and clubs. You can read all about that in my post about it.
Of course I also attended the 2019 AVCA Convention in Pittsburgh. It’s the third I’ve attended since starting this blog, and the second time I’ve presented. You can read my report on that experience starting here.
I also read and reviewed some books. The Brain Always Wins and The Little Book of Talent are two I recommend.
The blog
Somewhat surprisingly, the blog experienced another year of growth in 2019. I say surprisingly because the readership definitely took a hit in the first quarter of the year thanks to hacking-related issues. The last quarter of the year was quite strong, though. That seemed to make the difference.
If I remember correctly, the blog hit 1,000,000 lifetime page views in August. Not bad for something that started off as a resource for coaches in the Southwest of England, which is not exactly a big audience!
The final tally for 2019 ended up at about 275,000 page views, up a bit over 10,000 from the 2018 total. There were over 130,000 visitors, also up about 10k year-over-year.
As you can see here, visitors came from all over the world.
Of course, as always, the US dominated. I always like to see what other countries show up in the Top 10, though.
Not a big surprise that English-speaking countries dominate the first five places, though it’s interesting to see that the Philippines slipped ahead of the UK this year. Last year they were 6th. Also interesting to see that Malaysia made the Top 10. Visitors from there bumped Belgium off the list.
And here are the posts most often read by visitors in 2019.
- How to teach the overhand serve to volleyball beginners
- Volleyball Set Diagram
- Volleyball Try-Out Drill Ideas
- Putting together a starting line-up
- Volleyball games for training and fun
- The qualities of a good team captain
- Pin hitter in volleyball – what is it?
- Volleyball Game: Winners (a.k.a. King/Queen of the court)
- Volleyball Tip: Scoring Serving and Passing Effectiveness
- Volleyball Camp Drills and Games
Basically, it’s the same list as last year, just in a different order.
The blog crossed the 1100 post mark in 2019. Last year was actually the least active for me in terms of posting. For the first time ever I came in under 100, which surprised me when I saw the figure.
In terms of 2019 posts, here are the most read.
- To call the ball or not to call the ball, that is the question
- The Society of World Volleyball Coaches
- Teaching setters good distribution
- The DAP: Something new to stat
- Fixing a goofy-footed approach
Looking ahead to 2020
Honestly, as I start 2020 I don’t have a strong sense of where things will take me. I have a lot of projects in mind. Too many, probably. I’m going to need to make some priority decisions in the first part of the year. Don’t worry, though. I’ll keep you posted!
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