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Coaching to Learning Styles:

To improve your coaching make an effort to learn your players learning style. Pay close attention to their speaking patterns and you will pick up on clues that will help you understand them.

For instance, if your player is talking to a friend and says something like "I see what you're saying", she is probably a visual learner and as a coach you will need to show her the way you want things done.

Jean Lojko, Greensboro College in Greensboro, NC.

Point of Emphasis:To have athletes learn to focus on bending their knees while approaching and use their speed and arms to help them have an explosive jump.

Drill:Have a Coach or manager stand approximately eight to ten feet off the net holding a swimming noodle parallel to the ground. The height of the noodle and how far from the net you stand will depend on each individual player. You want the athlete to approach the noodle. Using a four step approach, the athlete would step right, then left (going under the noodle) then the right/left plant steps would put them in the optimal position to jump explosively.

Player Praise and Discipline: One way to improve motivation and attitude of players is to recognize their positive contributions and their good play. I learned a long time ago that it works much better to give praise in front of the team or in front of another player. Calling a player into your office or seeing her in the hall and having a brief word with her doesn’t have the same impact on her as praising her in front of her peers. Being very vocal and generous with positive feedback can lift spirits and make someone’s day. Really, this principle...

Rosie Wegrich, Cal Poly Pomona in Pomona, CA. Serving: Serving through the seams with velocity resulting in the middle back (aka prime court area) will create indecision (yours/mine), or create an inconsistent platform angle (angle of deflection), or draw the outside hitter into the seam at LB. This single feature has turned our team into serving aces or one option passes. We also finished second in block assists through our serving and blocking plans infirmity. Good luck.     

Practice Plans: Something I started doing years ago is to write out my practice plan on a 5×9 spiral notebook. I get a new one for the start of each season. I start the season with plans for our first team meeting and end the season with notes of individual meetings with the team members. I’ve felt for a long time that we as coaches need to do a great deal of preparation for practices. Using the spiral notebook helped me incredibly with organization. Each page of the notebook is dated, practice is planned by the 5, 10, 15 minute...