It’s the second week in the hall, so the division 1 ladies are thumping on those main objectives for the year: decent passing & serving, out of system; while also working off some of the rust from the summer, so we have a few breaks to work through some technique and solutions and also to figure out how the players I’m not familiar with like to play.
For youth, some good stuff out of the gate we covered last year:
Just to get to know the kids and gauge the level of skill you have.
Coaching Chats
I had a great chat with Martin Plessl from Austria yesterday, who I met working on the CEV Schools Project (which just produced this amazing resource for coaches of youth volleyball players: http://campus.cev.eu - sign up for free to get videos and ideas for engaging players with the sport!). Martin recently appeared on Coach Your Brains Out, talking about match prep and all sorts of stuff — the guy knows a ton about the game and puts so much thought into his work, so I can’t recommend checking out his episodes enough:
But we just got to catch up about coaching, strategies and tools he uses, and also just how they do things in Austria. It reminded me that I love learning about how other folks are doing it in their region, and also just chatting volleyball (WebEx issues notwithstanding - my fault, not Martin’s).
So if you ever want to chat volleyball, I’d love to…
Of course, if you want help or anything more in depth, I’m definitely for hire, so also just shoot me a note.
On Friday I head off with some of the other national team coaches in Ireland to England for John Forman’s Coaching Symposium with Jim Stone. Can’t wait!
Dalkey Devils D1W Training - 10/09/2024
Theme: Out of System & In-System Offense
AB Warm-Up - 5-8 minutes
Quick Wrist Warm Up
Wrist rotations
Kneel and stretch out the wrists in all directions
30 sets off the wall
Ball warm-up - 5- 6 minutes
Bagherone
One touch over and out
Variation: 2 touches, second must be an attack
4 Corners Out of System
Two lines at the back line on either sideline
Four on court, two passers, two hitters
Coach (or player) hits a downball at one passer, other passers sets the far pin hitter
Setter becomes hitter they set, hitter chases ball, joins opposite line to previous time
Focus:
Pass to the middle of the court
Sets to the pin at ‘A’ and ‘D’ OoS locations
Hitters get an approach
Variation:
Player hits down ball, replaces coach tosser after hitting, ‘coach’ player chases the attack
Add a defender
Add defenders in 5, 6, 1, rotate around to get out
Frog Hop Setting (all)
Setters at 1, 6, 9 (queues at 3 meter line at each position, if needed)
1 sets 6, who back sets 9, who sets 1
Follow the ball
Run on both sides of the net
Focus:
Hands high
Feet and left-right step
Players giving feedback on set location
Modified Serve and Pass Battle
Two receivers each side, one is front row outside
Simulate R1, R2, R3
Scrimmage
Straight up scrimmage with a focus on running all three options in-system
Dalkey Devils D1W Training - 12/09/2024
Theme: Serving & Passing
AB Warm-Up - 5-8 minutes
Ball warm-up - 5- 6 minutes
Chaos Ball
One server is designated for each team for each rally. Only they can serve the ball back in play.
The FIRST serve must be contacted 3 times by receiving team. After that anything goes.
NO JUMPING
If you lose a ball, your team can retrieve it and get it back in play. (Yes the other team can chuck it across the gym)
When one team has lost BOTH balls that rally is over and a point is awarded.
Thanks, @dan.meske (http://instagram.com/dan.meske)
Serving Progression
Start with a slam and catch with the serving hand
Toss and catch at the wall, standing on one foot, the opposite to the hand you serve with
Step back, 2m from the wall, serve and catch the rebound, standing on one foot
Step further back, serve from two feet
Keys: strong hand, balance, consistent toss
Small targets competition:
Water bottles on the court, two groups of roughly 6…
3 back serving, 3 at the net
1 server serves to try and hit the water bottle, gets to base immediately, then joins the group at the net
As the ball hits the ground, first person at the net chases the ball down, delivers it back to next server, joins the group at the service line
Scoring:
+1 for serve in
-1 for not going to base
-1 for service error in the net
0 for service error out on the other side of the net
Winner is first to 11
Variation: The Karl-edition(tm) (https://www.instagram.com/kgale435/)!
Passing Pillars
Passing to a target with ‘botherers’ on either side
Scrimmage
Scoring: Big point off 1) serve, 2) free ball, 3) down ball
Winner gets the serve