I mentioned a couple weeks ago on social media that I’d committed to attending this year’s USA Volleyball High Performance coaching clinic next month at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The clinic fee is extremely reasonable when you consider it comes with room and board. The big expense for me is the travel from England. Ouch!

Actually, it was the prospects of developing news contacts that ended up being the bigger factor in my decision to commit to the cost. The educational side of things is important, of course, but right now I’m in the middle of trying to get myself back into full-time coaching, as I’ve been documenting in my job hunt log. Contacts could come in quite handy in that respect. In fact, one of the head coaches whose assistant position I’ve put in for is a clinic presenter (though I would imagine she’ll have finished the search by then).

Anyway, the other day I got the schedule for the event, which covers an evening and two full days. It looks like this:

Thursday (Feb 5th)

18:00-18:40 Welcome and Opening Remarks
18:40-19:40 Flashback to Fourteen Women’s and Men’s national team staffs, Women’s Junior and Girls’ youth national team staffs
19:45-21:30 Welcome Social

Friday (Feb 6th)

8:00-9:10 What Does it mean to Play Well? Blocking Julio Velasco
9:15-10:15 First Things First: The Competitive Power of Serve Receive Laurent Tille
10:15-10:40 Small group topic discussions
10:45-12:15 Game On Steve Shenbaum
13:15-14:15 Promoting More Process: Bingo with the National Team Karch Kiraly
14:15-15:15 Getting the Most Out of Your Practice: Practice Planning and Motor Learning Jamie Morrisson
15:20-15:40 Small group topic discussions
15:55-16:40 Mindfulness and Performance Mark Aoyagi
16:45-17:40 Same Continent, Different Coaches: Playing for Team USA Over the Decades Stacy Sykora, Tracy (Stalls) Insalaco, Christa Dietzen, Kayla Barnworth

Saturday (Feb 7th)

8:00-9:05 Structure and Spirit in Defense Laurent Tille
9:10-10:10 High Performance Championship Team and Technique Training Rod Wilde and Shelton Collier
10:10-10:30 Small group topic discussions
10:45-11:30 A Legacy of Success – Program Development Across Cultures Julio Velasco
11:35-12:20 Volleyball Decision Making: Combining the Art and the Science Joe Trinsey, Nate Ngo, Jesse Tupac
12:25-13:10 Collegiate National Team Training Bill Neville
14:15-15:15 Scouting to Win: Developing Strategies in Match Preparation Jim Stone, Tom Hogan, Lindsey Devine, Brook Coulter, Erin Virtue
15:15-16:15 What Does it Mean to Play Well? Offense Julio Velasco
16:15-16:35 Small group topic discussions
16:45-17:25 The French Touch: Practice Organization the French Way Laurent Tille
17:25-18:10 Empowering Your Staff Karch Kiraly, Doug Beal, Jim Stone, Tom Hogan
19:30-23:30 Attendee Social

Pretty intense, eh?

Along with the official socials and the small group discussions, there are the shared meals and Friday night to spend time with fellow attendees. Should be an interesting couple of days.

Naturally, I will provide a full report. 🙂

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John Forman
John Forman

John is currently the Assistant Volleyball Coach at Radford University, as well as Global Director for Volleyball for Nation Academy. His previous 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. Learn more on his bio page.

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