Highlights from Omaha AOC Clinic
High school, club, and college coaches from around the area had the opportunity to learn from the elite last weekend at the 2018 Art of Coaching Volleyball Clinic held in Omaha. Six current and former NCAA Division I coaches from…
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Continue ReadingHigh school, club, and college coaches from around the area had the opportunity to learn from the elite last weekend at the 2018 Art of Coaching Volleyball Clinic held in Omaha. Six current and former NCAA Division I coaches from around the country congregated in the Sokol Arena at Creighton May 4-6 to share their valuable knowledge with coaches eager to learn.
The Art of Coaching Volleyball is a foundational community built to produce a flow of ideas from expert sources and offer the tools necessary to be an outstanding volleyball coach. Founded by Terry Liskevych, John Dunning, and Russ Rose, the Art of Coaching (AOC) aims to provide drills, tactics, techniques, and philosophies to make each team successful. Since 2011, AOC has traveled around the country to provide live coaching clinics in addition to their all-access website with further resources.
John Dunning (former Stanford head coach), Russ Rose (current Penn State head coach), Mike Sealy (current UCLA head coach), Jim Stone (former Ohio State head coach), Kirsten Bernthal Booth (current Creighton head coach), and Christy Johnson-Lynch (current Iowa State head coach) were in attendance over the weekend to share their vast knowledge about the game and years of experience as former players and coaches. Each coach highlighted specific skills within the game ranging from defense, attacking, footwork, blocking, serve receive, setting, and offense vs. defense by providing fundamental work and drills for players at all skill levels. They also gave insight to coaching specifics such as game day preparation, communication and feedback with athletes, timeout planning, and tracking statistics.
Here are a few key ideas that were shared by the elite coaches at the clinic:
Start fundamental training early
It is never too early to start teaching correct fundamentals as these are the building blocks of any athlete’s career. Once an athlete develops a bad habit, there is no correcting the bad habit, only implementing a good habit to override the wrong. Teaching sound fundamentals early helps the brain to develop muscle memory from an early stage and make a smoother transition into more advanced play.
Simplify the game
As the game progressively becomes more fast-paced, there is a need to eliminate any unnecessary movement that could cost your team points. This can be as simple as cleaning up footwork or an arm swing. For example: as a middle, transitioning is the key to being successful, therefore, instead of focusing on getting in the 4-step approach in an intense rally, emphasize the last two drive steps to keep the quick offense flowing.
Practice out-of-system ball control
Evolution of the volleyball game has come in the form of large, physical presences at the net and tougher servers than ever before. This results in chaos on both sides of the net as out-of-system plays are inevitable as the game changes. Because of this, practicing out-of-system plays and exposing your players to tough situations can make for a better prepared team in game-time.
Serving is a tool to equalize the playing field
In the last five years, we have seen the emphasis of a game winning strategy shift from killing the other team offensively to winning the serve and serve receive game. In the world of volleyball, it is inevitable that you will match up with a team who is larger and more physical. The key to success in these situations is not by trying to defend them, but rather take away their offense all-together by putting them out-of-system from the start with tough serving. This can be done by hitting zones and developing a wide range of serves on the team: float, top-spin, jump float, jump spin, and bombers (deep float).
Blocking is evolving
Hitters are becoming smarter at all levels in seeing the block. Traditionally, blocking has always been taught with the emphasis on being square and balanced. However, hitters are beginning to key in on where blockers are lining up and are able to hit around them. Now, more emphasis is being placed on reaching away from your body to take a block rather than lining up right in front of the hitter and allowing them to make the easy read.
Communication
This is the all too familiar topic among coaches: the bottom line is that communication makes successful teams. There is no way around it. For a team to be competitive, all members of the team must be in constant communication. This includes the six players on the court, bench players, and coaching staff. Communication helps players find open spots on the court, make reads early, and avoid miscommunication errors.
These are tips players and coaches at all skills levels and ages can use to be successful. Like the Art of Coaching’s motto: “Never stop learning.”
The Art of Coaching Volleyball will continue their tour with eight coaches attending the Boston clinic May 19-20 at the Clark Athletic Center on the campus of University of Massachusetts-Boston.