The Correlation of Effort and Motivation
As a player, it's inevitable.
You are playing against lesser competition.
You get bored. You lose focus. Your effort level drops.
You play down to your opponent's level.
You make mistakes you normally wouldn't.
You don't get to balls you normally would get to.
It happens as an individual. It happens as a team. It happens just because.
Why, all of a sudden, when you normally play at a high level, do you slack off?
Competitive nature is what drives any athlete, in any sport. This innate need to out-perform those around you, to better your own game, to prove to the world that you can lead your team to victory.
And yet there are times when it seems to fade...
Virtues of Consistent Setting
Perhaps one of the most under-rated characteristics of a good team (or maybe I am biased because I'm a setter) is consistency of setting.
You see a lot of setter changes with competitive teams at the juniors level as well as in adult recreational open-gyms/leagues. Sometimes a coach decides to run a 6-2 simply to get more players involved in the game (rather than for proper strategic reasoning.) Other times at a recreational (however competitive) league, teams may decide to run a 6-2 or just rotate "middle setter" to keep more players involved or to "keep it simple."
I need to whole-heartedly disagree with the notion that having two drastically different setters splitting the touches, or changing setters upon every rotation, simplifies the game. I'll touch upon both points (6-2 and "middle-set") in today's post as well as the general concept of how having a good setter can clean up the game.
Coach the Player, Not Yourself
Take a random sample of volleyball players and ask them for a list of what they think makes a good coach. Some will say experience, others will say intellect, and everybody else will list something different. And yet, they will inevitably list many overlapping characteristics.
Depending on their strengths, coaches can be specialized as good team builders, good tacticians, or good technical coaches. It is the latter that I want to touch upon today.
I firmly believe that regardless of what sport you are coaching, there is one defining feature of a good technical coach - The ability to coach for a player's specific style, not to change the player's style to conform to the coach's own playing form.
Basic Attack Timing/Adjusting
For beginning volleyball players one of the hardest things to learn is proper attack timing (and adjusting their approach accordingly.)
Actually, let me rephrase that statement -- For beginning many volleyball players one of the hardest things to learn is proper attack timing.
And as such, I figure I might as well jot down a few quick tips that could help if you are having problems with hit timing and adjusting to sets.