Let me reflect on what you need to do to achieve your best performance.  Some of these thoughts should help you approach your athletic potential.  As a coach, I burn with the desire to help an athlete accelerate the development of a personal philosophy.  The ideas which follow accumulated during decades of helping players achieve personal excellence.
The Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" guides our efforts as staff and athletes.  "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."  To win, we must push ourselves, giving all we can for as long as we can, and then, if possible, beyond.  The motto does not translate as "Swiftest, Highest, Strongest" even though the medals are awarded for those attributes.  Rather, Olympism is the pursuit of excellence in yourself and of personal improvement every day, on and off the court.  Remember this about your pursuit, "If it is meant to be, it is up to me...."  Read The Full Article...

While it is important to work out physically to condition your body, you can also become a better player at home by practicing mentally. Championship athletes have known for years that mental practice can help performance. Mental imagery or visualization is the name given to this type of mental practice. It can be done externally observing volleyball players or a videotape, or imagining watching yourself from outside your body. (Golfer Jack Nicklaus calls this "going to the movies") It can also be done internally (feeling" yourself doing the action).  Read The Full Article...

Blocking is the attempt by one, two or three players to stop an attack at the net and deflect it down into the attacker’s court.  All blocks are timed to the attack of the opponent.   Touch blocks or controlled deflections into the player’s own court can be converted to good passes and lead to an effective attack to score points.   The block is the first line of defense in volleyball.  Read The Full Article...

Indeed, there are millions of people who enjoy volleyball at the basic level. But even the casual observer will notice how the game favors those who deploy even basic tactics and team strategies.   This is the point where the game changes most: when the smart can defeat the strong.  Read The Full Article...

Training Without A Net or Partner What if you have no partner or net?
When this situation occurs, you need not take up solitaire, but you need to watch out that you do not teach yourself “bad”, non-game-like habits or reactions. Sure you can bump the ball to yourself but would you ever do that in a game? Not a likely desired action, as you most often send the ball to a teammate or an opponent. So what can you do? Read The Full Article...

If you want your child to come out of her youth sports experience a winner, (feeling good about herself and having a healthy attitude towards sports) then she needs your help! You are a vital and important part of the coach-athlete-parent team. If you do your job correctly and play YOUR position well, then your child will learn the sport faster, perform better, really have fun and have her self-esteem enhanced as a result. Her sport experience serves as a Positive model for her to follow as she approaches other challenges and obstacles throughout life. If you "drop the ball" or run the wrong way with it your child will stop learning, experience performance difficulties and blocks, and begin to really hate the sport. And that's the GOOD news! Further, your relationship with her probably will suffer significantly. AS a result, she will come out of this experience burdened with feelings of failure, inadequacy, and low self-esteem, feelings that will generalize to other areas in her life. Your child and his coach need you ON the team. They can't win without YOU! The following are a list of useful facts, guide-lines and strategies for you to use to make you more skilled in the youth sport game. Remember, no wins unless every-one wins. We need you on the team!  Read The Full Articles...

Far more than the winning and losing are the lessons learned in process of tournament play. To quote Socrates, “ I believe that we cannot live better than in seeking to become still better than we are.” The sport of volleyball is unique in its core cooperative nature and its strength in building character. The ability to cooperate is far more important to human survival than the ability to compete. Success is a journey, not a destination. Winning and losing are temporary, but friendships last forever, is a Chinese proverb of great truth. We ask that your role from the sidelines and stands match that which we are developing through our coaching education programs and training. -Thanks for working as part of this program by conducting yourself within these guidelines.  Read The Full Articles...

As I watch parents and coaches agonizing over defeat, and in the rapture of victory, I think two key things are missing.

1. The parents need help in enjoying all matches, losses as well as victories.

2. We are good at the lessons of winning but we simply do not teach enough how to gain/learn from losing.
The fact that so many seem to forget, but an essential, key fact that is true in the hundreds of thousands of volleyball matches played world wide each day…is simple. Half the teams playing..…LOSE!  For those wanting percentages, all matches result in 50 percent of the teams in each contest ending up as the loser. Every day, for over 100 years, this has been happening…  Read The Full Articles...

Team Defense vs.Coach by Hugh McCutchen, USA Men's National Team

Objective: This is a controlled drill that allows for excellent teaching of exact defense situations. Proper positioning is required on each play and gives the coach the opportunity to repeat exact situations.     Read Complete Drill...

Outside Hitter Exchange by Matt Shubin, ACHIEVE VOLLEYBALL
Objective: To get a lot of ball control reps and practice connecting on the bic and Hut set.

Error Correction by Paul Arrington, M.D., Waimea High School, Waimea, Hawai’i
Objective: To practice handling errors in a controlled scrimmage that fosters focus on perseverance.

Please read the following actual email from a dear friend, whose daughter plays volleyball. The names have been changed, and some sentences deleted, but none added/created by me, to make it be more of a generic version of what I see at USA Volleyball on a weekly basis: Read The Full Article...

Rules for 2-4 Player Games
USA Volleyball has a full rule book annually updated – called Domestic Competition Regulations - which follow the rules of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). This set of rules is designed to simplify these regulations for youth play for 5-12 year old teams who should be playing less than the six person game.  Read The Full Article...

Volleyball is a complex, fast-paced game. In fact, few other team sports require such intricate individual skills to be performed at such a highly reactionary level, all the while forcing six individuals to cooperate within a confining perimeter of 9x9 meters. As a result, volleyball continues to evolve into a game boasting the ultimate combination of speed, coordination, efficiency, teamwork, synergy and simplified complexity.  Read The Full Article...

Spiking is a complex motor skill. The approach, jump, armswing and landing are all important parts of this whole skill. Yet, there is one piece of the puzzle that determines a spiker’s overall greatness. Good footwork is often undervalued as a coaching emphasis, with more time spent on jump and swing mechanics. However, we (the U.S. national team coaches) believe strongly that the correct biomechanical foot patterns significantly improve the ability of our hitters to be more effective at the net. Read The Full Article...