Illness and injury took its toll on training numbers this week, making it hard to have sessions where team play could be practiced.

We suffered our second loss in a very tight match against Danish opposition. It helped highlight some developmental needs in defense and transition.

Guest players at training was a fairly regular occurrence when I coached in Sweden. There are different types, though, each with their own considerations.

The reaction of my perfectionist players in a defensive drill once reminded me of one of the reasons I like to push the training tempo.

I tend to think of myself from a coaching perspective as more of a facilitator in the player development process rather than a teacher.

The focus of the first week of training was mainly on getting the players integrated and communicating, and laying the foundation for moving ahead.

Parkinson's Law says work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. That definitely applies to planning a volleyball practice.

This training session uses cooperative games to warm-up, then moves to small-sided competitive games. The main idea is to get lots of game-like touches.

It's always a challenge coming up with ways to train small squads in a game-like fashion. A bit of isolation work and some creativity can…

It's a very good idea to observe other coaches in action. Don't limit your learning by only focusing on what the activities they do though!