Playing the court position game

In volleyball, as in football and rugby, sometimes it makes sense not to go for the score, but instead to put your opponent in a bad position.

Trying to hide setter signals or make fake calls

How much does hiding your team's play calls from the other side or trying to fake them out really make a difference? Probably not as much as you'd think.

I made a coaching mistake the other day

Reflecting on the match I coached one day while I coached in Sweden I realized I made a mistake in how I thought about and handled my subs from a couple perspectives.

Coaching Log – Jan 4, 2016

After a 10-day break, it was back to training for the team, though the New Years holiday and player availability caused some limits later in the week.

Coaching Log – Dec 14, 2015

For a second week in a row we avenged a previous 3-2 loss. In doing so, we secured a Top-2 seed for next month's Gran Prix.

Coaching Log – Oct 12, 2015

The second week of the regular season ended with a fairly easy win. There were definite improvements in our main areas of focus.

Is blaming the hitters really the right call?

One commentator blames hitting errors against key opponents for the failure of the US women at the 2015 World Cup. But what caused all those errors?

Play conservatively to win, redux

Sometimes the highest probability of match success comes from taking a more conservative approach to how you go at attacking the opposition.

Book Review: Volleyball Systems & Strategies

Volleyball Systems & Strategies is a book/DVD combination (at least in the print edition) which offers a thorough discussion of offensive and defensive systems.