Coaching Volleyball

I had an email come in from Jason, a volleyball coach working with a young team. He asked:

1) How do I teach the girls to read the placement and velocity of the ball on a serve and have them move to the ball quickly enough? I’m finding they tend to keep their feet planted to the floor as if there was lead in them shoes…..and when they do make an effort to get there they end up leaning forward instead of getting “under” or swinging their arm out sideways from their body instead of squaring themselves with the ball.

2)Whats the best system to play with grade 8 girls?

Here are my, thoughts. I encourage readers to share their own via comment below.

Anticipation and moving to the ball on serve receive

In terms of reading placement and velocity, unfortunately a lot of that is going to come straight from experience. The best you can do is to try to get them to look at the server instead of just the ball. They need to think about where she’s facing, how hard she hits the ball, etc. Beyond that, it’s really about each player going through lots and lots of reps. They need to see serves coming at them from different angles and at different tempos. That’s the only way to develop the anticipation and timing. It’s the same as a hitter needing to see lots of sets at different heights and angles to develop their approach and swing timing. Have them pass loads and loads of balls – and more specifically, loads and loads of balls coming over the net. And remember that feedback is important.

Feet seemingly pinned the floor is a problem for any coach dealing with beginning players. The mentality many of them have is “If the ball comes to me, I’ll play it, otherwise I won’t.” We coaches don’t tend to do ourselves any favors in that regard by having players work in relatively static drills. We tell them, “You stand there in this position and I’ll toss the ball right to you.” That’s why it’s important to introduce movement to the ball once the basics of passing mechanics are figured out. Put them in situations where they know the ball is theirs, but they can’t be sure exactly where it will be. Then put them in combinations to force communication and coordinated movement.

Best playing system

My answer would be different if competitive considerations were a big factor (whether they should be for U14s is an entirely different conversation). I am going to take a long-term development approach in answering this question, however. I think it is most appropriate. Volleyball England, as part of their Talent Pathway, outlined a system progression which is aimed at doing a couple of things (I bring up V.E. because I’ve actually seen the documents, though no doubt other countries have similar ideas). First, it tries to develop the most well-rounded players possible. Second, it seeks to identify and develop a large number of setters. With those two priorities in mind, the progression of playing systems Volleyball England favors is 6-6 for young players, 4-2/6-2 for the U16/U17 (Cadet) age group, and finally 5-1 when reaching the U18/U19 level.

As you ponder that system progression, think about the requirements on players. Think especially about FIVB rules which constrain substitutions more than is the case under some other rule systems. It’s fairly easy to think about a 6-6 basically meaning every player does all skills. You start to get partial specialization when shifting to a 2-setter system. The setters are only setting in 3 rotations, however, so they still have the other front/back row responsibilities. Not only does that keep the “well-rounded” aspect of things going, but it also means you develop several setters. You’d want 3-4 in a squad rather than the 2 you could get away with running a 1-setter system. Specialization doesn’t fully come in until the late-teen years when they are running a 5-1. I think that is where the libero is also introduced, though I might be wrong.

All of that said, there are always players you can tell early on will fit into a certain position. There’s the really tall future MB; the short, but quick future libero; and the future setter who can already anticipate play. There is room in system to start specialization in some ways a little early, but the overarching idea should still be to try to develop as much all-around ability as possible.