My good friend Ruben Wolochin posed me a challenge. As you may have seen, Ruben was a guest on my Coaching Conversation about Maximizing Performance from Limited Resources. Also Organizing the Reception Phase.

Anyway, here’s the challenge he presented me.

Ruben has long used the term “global exercise” to describe a type of practice activity he uses (and you probably do in some form or another). It’s 6 v 6, or some variation of that involving game play. In other words, it’s set up like you’re playing a game. There’s no scoring, however. Oftentimes, these exercises involve a multi-ball sequence. For example, it might be something like a reception ball, a perfect pass ball, and a ball passed at the 3m line.

The idea of these sorts of exercises is that the team is simultaneously working on both team offense and team block/defense. Thus the term “global”.

You can actually see examples of this in the Pro Volleyball Training package I put together featuring a bunch of Ruben’s practices (with some others as well). It’s from his 2019-20 season coaching a men’s pro team in Hungary.

Ruben wanted me to come up with a better, sexier name for these exercises for coach education purposes. After giving it some thought, I came up with tactical solutions training. After all, the whole idea is that you’re working on tactical solutions to different situations.

What do you think? Good term?

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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.