During their 2016 Olympic semifinal, the USA men got out to a huge lead over Italy in the third set. I wrote about the idea of coaches on the losing end of blowouts like that subbing out players to give them a break. Italy did exactly that. The likes of Zaytsev and Jauntorena were pulled out midway through the set.
This sort of strategy is something you see in high level professional volleyball. You also see it at the international level.
Interestingly, though, you don’t see it very much (if at all) in American volleyball. I’m talking about college volleyball and about the national teams.
Maybe that reflects an American mentality to always keep fighting. Maybe it’s just a certain lack of sophistication.
I’ve already written about the reasons for following this kind of substitution pattern. Here I want to focus on the other side. By that I mean the dominating team. I’m not talking about when you are clearly the much better team. I’m talking about when you’re in a match with a roughly equal competitor.
Countering the substitutions
If you watched the Italy – USA match, you saw Zaytsev rip off a string of service points at the end of Set 4. Did sitting out the latter part of Set 3 contribute to that? Perhaps. We’ll never know for sure.
The question I have is whether it would have been good for the Americans to sub out players like Anderson. You’re up 10+ points and cruising. Is it a good idea to give your top players a breather? You know your opponent is probably going to play better in the next set. Would sitting someone a few minutes improve their level of play in the future, or will it slow them down?
I don’t know the answer to that question.
My feeling is that coaches leaving players in in that sort of situation are making the conservative call. They don’t want to risk losing the set or allowing the other team to develop momentum for the next one. Clearly, the amount of drop-off there is between starter and sub is a factor.
Still, often the conservative call isn’t the right one.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on the subject.
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One Response
At a lower level, I think it is critical for program development to use non-starters in those moments. That gives them game experience. It gives a break to starters. It’s also a reward for hard work in practice–and depending on things, it could also show the coach that the athlete is deserving of more playing time moving forward.
With younger athletes–I’ve found it useful, too, because it reminds starters that their job is not automatic and it reminds them of perspective of being on the bench as well.