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5 Keys to give your team balance and an advantage: Key #1– Positive self-talk The human mind can process 400 plus words a minute, it becomes imperative to have most of that self-talk be positive. We are constantly talking, evaluating, criticizing, and judging ourselves. The little voice inside our head is always talking (if you are asking what little voice, that’s it), we can learn to control it and we must keep it in check. Many of us grow up with negative guidance from parents and coaches therefore we’ve learned many things through negative feedback. As a player you must...

Tip by Kelly Weiler, Hatch Valley High in Hatch, NM. Making the most out of drills: We often don’t have extra bodies around to shag balls so we deplete our 2 carts full of balls when doing repetitive drills, taking extra care that no balls are rolling onto playable area of the court (helps with peripheral vision). Then when the carts are empty coach yells, “pick up all the balls” and the countdown begins. Players then have to work together to shag all of the balls in 5-10 seconds and get back into drill positions. It has become a fun...

Tip by George LeVasseur, Danvers Volleyball Club in Melrose, MA. Practice Tip: Never let a touch at practice be wasted again! Even when someone is a target for a drill, make them push the ball up as if they were setting. After all, there’s no need to teach our kids to catch! Coach Speasl’s May Coaching Tip Always use positive speak when coaching:When processing human speech we see mental pictures of the main topics. Therefore as a coach we need to state our coaching in a positive manner. Example: If I say, “Elephant” you develop a picture in your mind...

Tip by Frank Largusa, of Hayward, CA. Middleblockers: Look at the direction that the opposing middlehitters toes are pointing to indicate the direction of your opponents middle attack. To predetermine the direction of your opponents middle attack, look at the direction of the middles feet are pointed. Right means back one side, straight is front one, left is gap or three. Coach Speasl Here is brief bio of our President, John Speasl. John was a state champion greco roman wrestler in high school. John wrestled in college. After college he started to coach wrestling. He coached the U.S. team at...