Comments on: Risky (complicated) vs. Safe (easy)

By: Ehb

Ehb — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:06:49 +0000

I coach an open division club team and my own personal philosophy is to play smart and aggressive ball period. What that means is that every point is situational and the team should have a dynamic, living strategy that can adapt on the fly. If your opposite is in a rut, it may be wise to run the safe bet plays to your strong side hitters, but if all hitters are on point then there is no reason not to run the aggressive split block plays (double quicks, reverse x’s, etc.). Playing a conservative style ball makes your team predictable. That can work if you have a monster strongside hitter who can terminate 80 – 90% of the time. Most likely this is simply not the case.

In the above mentioned situation, it seems to me the volleyball IQ of the setter is such that she recognized a situation where she could split the block and isolate with the back slide, so she took a calculated risk which, in my opinion, was the smart aggressive thing to do. The coach could probably learn a thing or two from this.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:38:45 +0000

Anonymous, I totally agree with you. There is a time and a place for riskiness. And while, it’s more fun, sometimes you have to play safe.

Thanks for your comment.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:34:59 +0000

If we go down, we go down swinging. Though many times I recommend to my team to play good (consistent) volleyball as opposed to great (riskier) volleyball. The matches have an ebb and flow many times and I don’t think you generalize one way over the other 100% of the time.

By: Wilmington

Wilmington — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:33:19 +0000

I like the first point you made there, but I am not sure I could reasonably apply that in a productive way.

By: Donnie

Donnie — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:30:17 +0000

My wife is good huh… and we’re so much on the same page.

I actually had this conversation with my 12 year old club team last night. I wanted them to understand that I will never get upset when they are aggressive and just “go for it”, but on the flipside… I will question them when they are playing timid and scared.

My high school team knows this very well… I’m always wanting them to try something more challenging to push themselves. Play faster and more aggressive than other high school teams do.

I believe this is how your players can build confidence and also learn life lessons.