Well, we’ve been in club volleyball season for a little over a month. Some of you may start to feel the pressure of the road trips. Sure, you travel during a school season; but in club, the driving usually lasts longer and so does the day.
Here are some tips to help your volleyball team play better on the road from Beverly Oden, a former Women’s USA Middle Blocker. Who would know more about playing well on the road than an Olympic Athlete?
Heed Beverly’s advice or it’s going to be a long 2-3 months until it’s over. Good luck!
You’ve heard the expression “Any given sunday…” That quote is so true they made it into a movie. And for those of you who don’t know it refers to football – meaning that no matter how good a team is, the game of football creates so much parity that any team can lose or win on any given game day. That’s encouraging right?
But does that apply to Volleyball? Does our favorite sport create the same kind of parity on any and all competitive levels? I will argue yes.
Here’s a high school example (Donnie’s team the other night).
Any given Sunday can explain why a team can end a match with these scores: 23-25, 25-15, 24-26. Donnie’s team was clearly the better team. Better record. More skill. (Better coaching) Scores like these leaves spectators scratching their heads, “So, they barely beat you in the first set and then you annihilate them in the second set… and then, they barely win again in the third?” How does that happen? It’s obvious who the better team is. And yet, they’re not winning every match.
How is this possible? What was Purdue’s secret? Was it the packed house? Was it the coaching? Was it the players? The water?
Let’s ask the coach:
Ok. Let’s ask me:
Purdue is a great team but, I think it may have come down to who wanted it more. Penn State volleyball is a dynasty but ask the coach said Purdue never stopped fighting. They had a lot to fight for and nothing to lose (23 years of losing can get pretty old).
When it comes to volleyball, or any sport for that matter, “any given Sunday” is definitely a true statement. Of course, there are many factors to winning volleyball. Strategy, skill, endurance, knowledge… but when it comes down to it, the team who wants it more will come out on top. As Purdue showed in a historical win over Penn State: Anything can happen.
So this article tells me that UNI’s Farokhmanesh started out playing volleyball! In case you hadn’t heard, Farokhmanesh shot a memorable three-pointer in the final seconds of a first-round game last week to beat #1 KU, and sending Northern Iowa to its first victory in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in two decades! (I know KU fans hate UNI right now, but come on! From a volleyball-lover’s perspective. That is sweet!
He still has a setter’s sure hands (the article says) “Only now, they flick lovely-to-look-at, deadly accurate jump shots.”
His dad played for the Iranian National Team and his mom was a D1 coach for a couple decades. What a great story!
PS. Farokhmanesh, would you like to play on a coed team next fall? We need one more guy.
At club tournaments, when my team is officiating, I always watch and listen to other coaches. I like to see their style, strategies and simply how they keep their composure under the pressure. I learn from many and I laugh at some. But, at my most recent tournament, I was watching a coach continually ream her setter until she cried and was pulled out of the game (who really wasn’t playing poorly-just maybe not up to par). There’s more to say about coaches who yell at players incessantly but I don’t want get off topic so I’ll just go ahead with the story.
At one point, she said: “Make the easy set!” (I left out the expletives for your sake)
I may agree with that statement if she’d ridiculously over exaggerated the move and didn’t produce something playable. But, and this is important, she was running along the net toward the outside hitter and she shot the set back to right side pin for slide. We call that “jacking the flow.” And, she jacked the flow with precision. It was beautiful. The opposing team’s blockers had officially been stumped and the hitter had an open net. I even said (from the scorer’s table) “Did you see that? Wow-” But I stopped short, when my voice was drowned by the coach’s awful scream. “Make the easy set!”
Here’s what I wanted to say, “You know. If your right side was ready to hit the ball, that would’ve been a perfect execution.” But, it’s obvious the coach has a particularly conservative style.
Me? I like to take risks. I say, “Jack the flow. Jump set that ball. Jump serve. And another thing, let’s run some new trick plays.”
What do you think? Should she have set the ball straight up to the outside hitter (the easy set – safe) or should she have sent the ball to the opposite side of the court to the right side hitter (jack the flow – risky)?
What’s your coaching style? Play it safe, make the easy plays and hope for the best? or Do you take risks for the ultimate reward?
