So, I just got back from Milwaukee where I spent a week watching Bond Shymansky coach the Marquette University volleyball team through their first week of practice.

Before I go much further, let me give you some background on Bond. He is the man! Seriously… I have more respect for this volleyball coach than any coach I’ve ever been around and I’ve been coaching for 9 years. He’s funny, witty, a great motivator and most of all… he knows his stuff. He doesn’t teach conventional volleyball. He teaches a unique, efficient style of play which he describes as “no wasted movement.” When I first watched his players, I thought, “What in the world are they doing (passing, hitting, etc.)?” and then when he breaks down strategy behind the movements, it makes sense. Now, sometimes I wonder how people succeed not using his techniques. I love it (don’t worry, you can see plenty of Bond’s drills demonstrated on our site).

Anyway. I had a great week in Milwaukee. What a cool town. So much character and history, not to mention a sweet beach where I played sand volleyball any chance I had! It’s hard to believe Lake Michigan is a… lake. Looks very ocean-y to me.

Well, I could almost write a book on my experience watching Bond coach.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the level of expectation the coaches had for the players. You rarely saw a volleyball hit the floor without a girl chasing it.

Plus, passing is definitely a focus for them. They spent countless hours passing this week. I’ll confess, I get bored as a coach during passing drills for extended periods of time. But now I really have an appreciation for the time it takes to develop good passing habits.

Finally, the biggest lesson for me was that a team needs to learn how to win and it that learning happens in practice. Bond always put his team into drills where they had to reach a certain score. They were always competing against each other or competing with a disadvantage. He challenged them to win in all circumstances. This is a good way to build a mentally tough team, who learn to win even when things may not be going right.

Look for Marquette to be a force this year! They are legit and have the tools to make some noise. Good luck Coach!

Ahhh, I’m back home. And I brought Bond’s expectations and Division I coaching techniques back to my team. It’s going to be a challenging year as defending state champs. My volleyball team knows that hard work pays off and I know that this trip will pay off in the end when my team has the edge to win a tight match down the road.