The Art of Coaching Volleyball

Since it was introduced nearly two decades ago, the libero position has changed the game of volleyball and offered more playing opportunities for smaller athletes with good passing and defensive skills. Here, Oregon State head coach Mark Barnard reviews the key rules that you need to know about the libero position, including what they can […] The post Libero rules you need to know appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Cassidy Lichtman | former U.S. national team player, AVCA All American at Stanford When I first joined the national team, Karch had each player write a job description for our position that answered this question: What are all the responsibilities for a player in that position during a match? At the time I was an […] The post Writing a job description for your position makes you a better player appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Purpose: To practice blocking, hitting, setting, digging and transition skills in a chaotic environment. How it works: Set up with 5 players on one side — an outside, a middle, a setter and 2 back-row players — with lines feeding into each position. Place one coach and 2 defenders on the other side. The drill […] The post Transition depth two ball drill appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Lindsey Berg | 3-time USA Olympic setter, captain of the 2012 London Olympic team Many coaches seem to continually be searching for a setter with the “so called” prototypical volleyball body and height. Here’s my question for them: Wasn’t having a 5-7 or 5-8 setter for 4 of the last 5 Olympics enough to prove […] The post Hey, coach… stop looking for a tall setter appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Purpose: Interactive hitting and digging drill to practice proper hitting form and location. How it Works: Two players are self-tossing and attacking from left front. Two players stand diagonally from the attackers in left front on the opposite side of the net: these two players are digging and then catching the attacks coming from the […] The post Diagonal drill for youth attacking appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Purpose: Simple serving progression to practice deep, clean-contact float serves. How it Works: Two players stand on opposite sides of the net at the end line of the court. Serve back and forth to one another, focusing on sending the serves deep and clean (within several feet of the back line). The first stage of […] The post Short-hop serving warm up appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

When recruiting, some coaches find the best talent in multi-sport athletes. One of those coaches is Christy Johnson-Lynch of Iowa State University. But in order to honor those other sports, recruiting coaches should encourage players to not give up their other sports for volleyball, and to keep doing what feeds them and fuels their passion. […] The post Recruiting: Multi sport athletes appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Mike Sealy of UCLA shows two different methods of hand position for setting: one that generates power from the wrist, and the other that generates power from the forearm. The first method is using the wrist to power the set, and the position for the hands allows the fingers to turn in and down. Most […] The post Setting: Touch on the ball appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Jamie Morrison, Head Coach of the Dutch National Team, gets into the psychology of coaching during practice - and how to maximize information retainment. To maximize the amount of learning in practices, it's critical to learn how to effectively communicate with players - and sometimes this takes thinking outside of the box and simplifying information. […] The post Coaching tip: Don’t overload a player’s working memory appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Smart teams will target the setter and force her to dig balls, eliminating the setter and putting the team out-of-system. Luka Slabe, Head Men's Coach at Brigham Young, says that liberos need to be comfortable setting if the setter digs. In order for teams to adapt to having the setter taken out of the equation, […] The post What plays do you run when the setter digs? appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Kenneth Bentley, Head Coach at Manitoba, shares three of his most important tips for better volleyball: For hitters and servers, always approach with a sense of urgency. In this case, being late to an approach or serve will urge players to explosively attack the ball. Resist players' urge to leave early, which can take away […] The post 3 tips for playing better volleyball appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Keeping stats on teams at a high level is crucial to isolate your team's weaknesses and strengths. Terry Liskevych of the Art of Coaching shows a simple equation to calculate a hitter's efficiency. How to calculate hitting efficiency: Kills - Errors/Attacks. Sometimes, only looking at the average number of kills can cover up inconsistencies or […] The post Calculating hitting efficiency appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Leisa Rosen, Assistant Head Coach at the University of Michigan, shows how hitters follow the ball until contact. A middle hitter's eyes should always follow the ball, starting with the passer and then following the ball to the setter's hands. Once the ball crosses the middle hitter's shoulder, then allow them to chase it down […] The post Quick tempo attacks: Gathering information appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Sometimes you just don't know what's going on with your team. You know something is off, but you can't put the finger on the problem. Here are some possible reasons a team is fairing poorly: Confusion. The team lacks a coherent vision. Let team members know what they are supposed to be doing at all […] The post 5 common team problems appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.

Momentum shifts occur often in tennis matches and most other sports for many reasons. How you react to momentum shifts will determine if you are able to maintain the momentum when it’s positive or change it when it is negative. First, let’s examine some of the causes of momentum shifts. One of the common causes […] The post Better ways to handle momentum shifts appeared first on The Art of Coaching Volleyball.