Coaching Management 19.11

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> New Ideas for Tryouts > Florida’s Strength Program

DIGGINg IN The start of sand volleyball

POSTSEASON 2011 | VOL. XIX NO. 11 | $7.00

VOLLEYBALL

Circle No. 100

CONTENTS | VOLLEYBALL Edition | POSTseason 2011 | Vol. XIX, No. 11

Coaching Management

24

18 COVER STORY 12

DIGGING IN

LEADERSHIP 18 MAKING THE CUT

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING 24 ON TOP OF THEIR GAME

This spring marks the start of NCAA sand volleyball. We talk to coaches about how they are forming teams, reconfiguring their staffs, and recruiting future athletes for the sport.

Way before any games are played, coaches have the difficult task of choosing which students make the team, and which do not. This author offers a process that ensures fairness.

The University of Florida’s off-season strength training program has players jumping higher and hitting harder.

3

Q&A 10

STEPHANIE MARTIN

3

POSTSEASON

BULLETIN BOARD

Junior colleges debate roster limits for foreign athletes … Raising funds through media guides … Kansas State goes high-def … Three questions for Navy’s Larry Bock … High schools on notice due to Title IX complaints … NCAA Division II looks to loosen recruiting rules.

On the cover

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 30 VOLLEYBALL COURT 32 BOOKS & DVDS 33 COACHING AIDS

Head Coach at Fort Myers (Fla.) High School, Stephanie Martin talks about goal setting, connecting with alumnae, and celebrating second place.

35 MORE PRODUCTS 34 ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY 36 COACHING GUIDES

Pepperdine University’s Caitlin Racich is the school’s first recipient of a sand volleyball scholarship. Our cover story, beginning on page 12, details the official start of the outdoor sport.

PHOTO BY BRIAN WHITE/SOS-PHOTOGRAPHY

Publisher Mark Goldberg Marketing Director Sheryl Shaffer Editorial Dept. Eleanor Frankel, Director Abigail Funk, Dennis Read, R.J. Anderson, Patrick Bohn, Mike Phelps

Business Manager Pennie Small Art Director Pamela Crawford Production Dept. Maria Bise, Director, Natalie Couch, Neal Betts, Trish Landsparger Circulation Dept. Dave Dubin, Sandra Earle

Mailing lists for Coaching Management Volleyball are provided by the Clell Wade Coaches Directory.

The Coaching Management Volleyball edition is pub­lished in April and November by MAG, Inc. and is distributed free to college and high school coaches in the United States and Canada.

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Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011 1

Circle No. 101

BULLETIN BOARD Postseason 2011

CONTENTS

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3 Debating

roster limits

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4 Kansas State

goes high-def

Rules Changes

mark rein

NJCAA May Limit Foreign Athletes Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, rosters for National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) volleyball teams could receive a new level of scrutiny. This past March, the NJCAA’s Board of Directors voted, by a 30-21 margin, to move forward with a proposal that limits the number of foreign players on all sports teams to no more than one-fourth of the total roster.

The proposal, which would allow volleyball squads three international athletes, expands on a rule introduced about a decade ago that states teams can award no more than 25 percent of their scholarships to non-American student-athletes.

The proposed rule would apply to NJCAA Divisions I and II, but not Division III. “Community colleges have been trying to balance opportunities for foreign athletes for a number of years,” says Joe Tubb, Athletic Director at South Plains College and NJCAA President. “A foreign student can inject a unique learning experience into a campus for our young men and women. But at the same time, we’re community colleges, and we don’t want to totally shut out local American men and women.”

“I do understand where they’re going with it, but I have mixed feelings,” says Giovana Melo, Head Coach of 2010 NJCAA Division I national champion Western Nebraska Community College and a native of Brazil. “If I was still in Brazil, I would have a completely different life right now. So I feel it’s important for international students to have some opportunity to come to the United States.

If the association ever completely cuts out foreign players, I would be upset.”

Western Nebraska currently carries the proposed limit of three foreign players, all from Brazil, a practice that dates back at least as far as Melo’s playing days at the school a decade ago. “The rule really won’t make much difference for us, because we normally have those three internationals on scholarship,” she says.

“We don’t have other players who are coming in and paying their own way.”

The Board of Directors’ vote in favor of the rule was the first step in the passage of the roster limitation. Throughout the fall, the NJCAA’s 24 regions have been conducting meetings for discussion, with CoachesNetwork.com

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4 Money-making media guides

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6 3 Qs for Navy’s Larry Bock

any proposed changes to the rule being sent to the national level by January. Any alternative proposals will be distributed among the members and then voted on at the spring convention.

“At that point, the rule could either be strengthened with some additional restrictions, stay as is, or go away,” Tubb says. “The vote was pretty close, so I can’t predict what will happen going forward.

Once everyone has had a chance to study how this will affect them, there will be much more input. I think it’ll be the hot topic for the next year.”

A roster limit is just one piece of the NJCAA’s discussion surrounding foreign athletes. Age limits and amateurism are on the agenda for the near future.

“We’ve also labored with what to do about older foreign athletes who come to our campuses,” Tubb says. “They get out of high school and play on club teams, and we’re left to try to decide whether or not they have been paid to play and thus are no longer amateurs. We don’t have a clearinghouse like the NCAA does or the support staff to send people all over the

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8 Title IX targets high schools

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9 D-II revisits

recruiting rules

world to find out whether someone was paid for their play.”

These issues have forced the NJCAA to walk a fine line between keeping a handle on competitive equity and being welcoming to foreign students. “I think the majority opinion is that we don’t want to shut the door on foreign athletes,” Tubb says. “But we’re against teams being totally foreign and against older athletes with a lot of playing experience suiting up.

“It’s pretty easy to grasp our problems, but it’s not easy to grasp the solutions,” he continues. “It’s especially hard to get an answer that’s fair to 500 schools.

That’s why we’re trying to tread slowly enough that we do the right thing.”

A proposed rule currently being discussed would cap the number of international athletes to three on junior college volleyball teams.

Below, Debora Araujo (#8), from Brazil, competes for Western Nebraska Community College.

Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011 3

BULLETIN BOARD Promotions & Publicity

K-State Digs New Network Most coaches and players would give anything to have all their matches broadcast on television. The Kansas State University squad got the next best thing this season, as its home matches were shown on KStateHD.TV, an online high-definition digital channel launched by the KSU athletic department.

The first sports event broadcast on the service was the volleyball squad’s 3-2 victory over Creighton University on Aug. 30. That night, four high-definition cameras were used to deliver action that was as professional-looking to those watching as it was exciting.

“This allows us to show volleyball in a slightly different way, by using a professional-style broadcast and incorporating interesting camera angles,” says Brian Smoller, Director of KStateHD.TV. “We even used an overhead camera to get some shots that you wouldn’t traditionally see in a match.”

Along with high-definition viewing, fans appreciate that they can access the games from almost anywhere. “People all over the world are now able to watch us compete, and that’s important to our players, especially if their families don’t live nearby,” says Head Coach Suzie Fritz.

“Knowing that our players’ families are watching and supporting them is a big part of the environment that we want to foster here.”

The telecasts will also have a major impact on recruiting. “From an exposure perspective, the fact that we are now able to reach any recruit in the country is invaluable,” Fritz says. “The ones watching our matches will be strongly interested in our program, and this provides us with another way to reach them.”

Smoller says the site resulted from the larger goals Director of Athletics John Currie has established for the department.

“He has a five-part vision for a model athletics program,” Smoller says. “One of those goals is providing a world-class student-athlete experience and another is giving our fans the best experience in the Big 12. This network goes a long way toward helping us reach both.”

For the opening broadcast, Smoller teamed with former Wildcat All-American volleyball player Liz Wegner-Busch for a 15-minute pre-game show that previewed the match and included pre-produced video and interviews. During the contest, audio from the existing Kansas State radio broadcast was put over the video, which was shot by students. The telecast also fea-

4 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

tured live interviews with Currie and Head Men’s Basketball Coach Frank Martin.

The network’s impact was immediate.

KStateHD.TV is part of the “All-Access” membership to the school’s Web site and the subscription base jumped dramatically once the channel launched. The telecast was especially popular in Afghanistan.

“Our athletic teams have a great relationship with the soldiers at nearby Fort Riley,” Smoller says. “Each team forms a partnership with one unit, and we had soldiers e-mailing us saying how great it was to watch the match over there.”

Currently, Smoller says the plan is to keep coverage on the network limited mostly to broadcasting games in all sports, profiles of players, archived classic games, and a weekly wrap-up of the school’s 16 varsity sports. It will carry lectures and other academic events as well.

Fritz is pleased that the network has given Olympic sports an avenue to shine while not becoming a distraction for the players. “Our administration has always been supportive of the Olympic sports teams here, and this network is another example,” she says. “And as a team, we’re more than happy to take the time to do additional interviews.”

Kansas State launched its online highdefinition digital channel with the volleyball team’s match vs. Creighton on Aug. 30. Above, former Wildcat All-American Liz Wegner-Busch teams up with Brian Smoller, Director of KStateHD.TV, for the pre-game show.

Fundraising

Media Guide Boosts Budget Moorpark (Calif.) High School Head Coach Brendan Hanson isn’t unique in that he has another job to pay the bills. What is unique, however, is that he has come up with a way for his primary job to help pay the bills for his team—by designing and selling a media guide to serve as the squad’s primary fundraiser.

“At Moorpark, we only get money from the school for coaching stipends for the head coach of the varsity and junior varsity teams,” Hanson says. “That leaves a lot for us to pay for ourselves, from assistant coaching stipends to equipment to jerseys. The guide is a way to cover some of those costs.

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QUESTIONS

“I own a small company that does Web site development, and I have been doing graphic design for years,” he continues. “I had seen club teams and college teams that were raising money by producing media guides, so I thought it was something we could do as well.”

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Most of the money raised through the guides comes from advertising. The Moorpark players are responsible for selling ads by soliciting local businesses and the team’s Web site also has an order form on it. Hanson says the project brings in anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000 a season.

In 40 seasons as a head coach

at Juniata College, including 34 with the

women’s program and six with the men,

Larry Bock compiled a record of 1,352283-4, racking up the most wins of any coach in collegiate volleyball history. Under Bock, Juniata’s women’s team won 30 or more matches in 31 consecutive seasons and appeared in each of the 30 NCAA Division III tournaments that have been conducted, winning national titles in 2004 and 2006.

In January, however, Bock decided to take on a new challenge, leaving the school where he re-wrote the record books to become Head Coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. In addition to adjusting to Division I, the AVCA Hall of Famer took over a team that finished 7-23 in 2010. We spoke with Bock about why he made the move and his plans for turning around the Navy program.

The guides are sold at home matches, but that is a small source of revenue.

Anyone who doesn’t buy a printed copy can view both present and past guides online for free. Hanson says that advertisers appreciate that the old guides are easily available. “It gives their ad an infi-

Larry Bock CM: Why did you decide to leave Juniata for Navy?

Bock: There wasn’t a lot of agonizing about it or anything like that— it was pretty impulsive. When the position at Navy came open, their athletic director asked me for names of good people he might want to consider from the Division III arena. I talked with him several times about the job and possible candidates. In one conversation, I thought, “This is a great job.” So I threw my own hat in the ring, and things went quickly from there.

Had you considered other open positions before this?

Over the years, there have been some really good schools that I’ve said no to, and a lot of that was because of family. I also thought I had a better program at Juniata than these other schools from big conferences. But now my children are all out making a living and happy in their own homes, and it was just my wife and me. Also, everything at Juniata is in place. There’s a strong group to carry on there, and I felt like it was time for Heather [Pavlik, Bock’s longtime assistant] to have the program.

I knew that if I were ever going to leave Juniata, which I still love, there was a very short list of schools that I would’ve considered, and Navy was at the top of that list. Every one of the Midshipmen gets a scholarship—not just the athletes, everyone. So it’s a lot like Division III in that regard. I know the athletes I’m coaching really want to be on the team. I have no financial hold on them, and that feels very healthy.

What is your approach to turning around the Navy program?

Surprisingly, I’ve only made little tweaks. The players are well-trained, and they were very wellcoached. [Former Head Coach] Mike Schwob and I go way back. He’s still teaching here as a tenured faculty member in the physical education department and has been a confidant for me.

We’re not reinventing any wheels. We’re building on the things that he’s already started. That’s actually another reason this job was attractive to me. I knew I would be following somebody I know and trust, and I knew the team would be ready.

Junior Christy Rapp competes at outside hitter for the Naval Academy.

6 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

CoachesNetwork.com

BULLETIN BOARD photo and information such as volleyball awards, most memorable experience on the court, and personal facts, like a player’s favorite food.

Throughout the years, Hanson has found ways to streamline the production process. “I used to type all the information in myself, but now, I’ve set up a Web page where the players can write up their biographies,” he says. “I can then copy and paste it into the publishing software. That has cut back on the amount of time I spend on it—although it still takes me 50 to 60 hours to produce the entire thing.”

But Hanson says the work is worth it, and not just because of the revenue the project brings in. “The players really love the guides,” he says. “When alumnae come back for matches, many of them tell me they still have the ones from when they were players. They view it like their volleyball yearbook.”

At Moorpark (Calif.) High School, the team covers the costs of assistant coaching salaries, equipment, and uniforms through selling advertising in an annual media guide, which also serves as a keepsake for the student-athletes.

nite shelf life, which is a lot more beneficial than something people see once or twice,” he says.

Now in his eighth year as Head Coach, Hanson says the guides have gotten bigger and more detailed over the years. The first guide was 28 pages and featured mostly player biographies and ads. The most recent guides are twice that size. An expansive team history section with career, single-season, and single-match statistical leaders fills much of this additional space, as well as an alumni page that showcases where Moorpark graduates have played in college.

“From my first year as coach, I’ve always had a couple of players on the boys’ team keep track of the girls’ statistics,” he says. “So that became the

natural next step to include in the media guide. It was daunting at first, but once it’s included, it’s easy for me to go in and add any new names.”

Still, the heart of the guide is the player profiles, which include all varsity, junior varsity, and freshman team members. The bios consist of a player

To see Moorpark’s guides, go to: http://girls.moorparkvolleyball. com/media-guides.

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Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011 7

Title IX

High Schools On Notice John Billetz, Executive Director of the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA), believes high school athletic directors in his state have a good working knowledge of Title IX. He has seen them respond well to gender-equity complaints over facilities and equipment, and push for volleyball to be exempted along with football, boys’ basketball, and girls’ basketball from recent schedule cuts.

Still, Billetz—and Idaho athletic directors—had no idea until the middle of July that many of the state’s high schools might be out of compliance with Title IX based on participation opportunities.

Formal complaints named 78 schools in which the ratio of boys to girls in athletics exceeded the ratio of boys to girls in the student body.

For example, one complaint claims that Timberline High School in Boise has a 5.7 percent disparity between the percentage of girls playing sports compared to the percentage in the student body. It states that if the numbers were proportional, 46 additional girls would be participating in sports.

Filed with the Seattle branch of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the United States Department of Education, the complaints request that the OCR inves-

tigate the schools and remedy any inequities. Over the next months, the OCR will evaluate each school’s situation and decide whether to proceed with any investigations.

“The first we heard about it was when someone from Channel 2 [KBOI-TV in Boise] called to say they would be running a report about it that night,” Billetz says. “I really believe that the athletic directors and administrators understand they have to provide quality programs for both groups. They try to make sure they have the same number of activities for both boys and girls, and they’re very aware of being equal in budgets, practice times, pep assemblies, and the like. But I don’t know if any of us ever considered participation numbers an issue.”

Idaho is not the only state facing investigations of this kind. Schools throughout Oregon and Washington were named in similar anonymous complaints earlier this year. And in November 2010, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed complaints against 12 school districts across the country, including those in Chicago, Houston, and New York City.

Proportionality is just one way a school can demonstrate it is in compliance with Title IX’s requirement that schools offer equal participation opportunities for boys and girls. They can also show a history and continued practice of adding participation activities for girls or that they are fully and effectively

accommodating girls’ interests and abilities in sports.

Those second and third measures are more subjective than proportionality, though. For example, even if a school offers all the activities sanctioned by a state high school association, it still might not be accommodating girls’ interests and abilities.

“The OCR evaluates these complaints on a case-by-case basis,” says Neena Chaudhry, Senior Council for Education and Employment at the NWLC. “Schools need to talk to students and coachFor more resources on how es and do to comply with Title IX, assessments go to the U.S. Department that ask of Education’s Web site at: www.ed.gov or the girls what National Women’s Law sports they Center Web site at: want to www.nwlc.org. play. Even if they’re not sponsored by the state association, sports played at other area schools at the recreational or club level might be appealing to girls at your school.”

Both Billetz and Chaudhry recommend that any school receiving a complaint cooperate with the OCR. “The people at the OCR told me they don’t come in with a hammer looking to penalize anybody right off the bat,” Billetz says.

“They want to first determine whether a school is in compliance, and if not, they’ll sit down and help the school district make needed changes.”

In one such case, Federal Way (Wash.)

High School will provide the OCR with participation data over the next school year and if the OCR is not satisfied that the school is in compliance, it could ask for remedies. The OCR might direct the school to offer new sports, add sub-varsity teams for existing girls’ varsity sports, or establish intramural or club sports for girls.

Chaudhry says there is no reason for an athletic department to be caught by surprise—“Schools should regularly evaluate their programs,” she says—and Billetz says his state association is working on new educational efforts. “Looking back, one area that possibly we did fall down on is in the interest inventories,” he says.

“Maybe we needed to do just a little better job of asking our girls what activities they might want us to add.”

8 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

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Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman

Timberline High School, in Boise, was one of 78 Idaho schools that received Title IX complaints this summer. At left, Timberline’s Caitlin Strickling connects on a spike during the team’s season opener.

BULLETIN BOARD Recruiting

D-II Looks to Loosen Rules The recruiting landscape for NCAA Division II volleyball could soon have a very different look.

In January, the Division II membership will vote on a list of proposed changes to recruiting legislation in all sports that would greatly loosen restrictions on contact with prospective student-athletes.

One of the most significant proposals would move the date of the first allowable telephone or off-campus in-person contact to June 15 before an athlete’s junior year of high school. That’s a full year earlier than the current rules allow.

Cody Hein, Head Coach at Chico State University and the Division II Representative to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Executive Board, says that most coaches he’s talked to are in favor of the change, as he is. He does admit to some reservations, though.

“It means we’ll be jumping into recruiting student-athletes earlier, but my feeling is that we have to do it to compete with Division I because their recruiting is going on much earlier now,” he says. “And for us to be able to steal some of the lower-level D-I kids away, we have to be in the same boat. So I think it’s absolutely necessary from a legislative standpoint.

“But from a moral standpoint, I despise it,” Hein continues. “My 22-yearold players don’t know what they want to do in the future, so how can a 15-year-old high school player know? Still, I’m in favor of it, because I want there to be an equal playing ground.”

Also on the docket are large changes to restrictions on the amount of communication coaches can have with recruits.

New proposals would remove limits on the number of phone calls, off-campus personal contacts, instant messages, text messages, and message board posts a coach could initiate. Currently, coaches can have only three off-campus in-person contacts and one phone call per week during a recruit’s senior year of high school. Text messages and other electronic communications are not allowed until a prospective studentathlete has formally committed to the school through a Letter of Intent, other written commitment, or financial deposit.

“Most players of this generation don’t call you back, and they don’t check voicemail any more,” Hein says. “So it would be nice to able to text them, and it would be nice to call them back a second time that week if they’ve called you. Sometimes we have to be rude since we’re not always allowed to call them back.”

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Bren Stevens, Head Coach and Associate Athletic Director at the University of Charleston, thinks starting the communication process earlier and removing contact limits will make for a better recruiting process. “This should help coaches get to know the student-athletes that they’re recruiting a little better,” she says. “Right now it’s difficult when student-athletes are making verbal commitments without having much contact with the school—college coaches have to rely on information they get from high school or club coaches, especially about the intangibles that athletes will bring to your team.”

Loosening the rule should also help simplify compliance. “A lot of the push for these rule changes comes from the idea of deregulation,” says Stevens, who is Vice-Chair of the Division II Management Council. “I think that at the Division II level, where most institutions have minimal compliance staff, this area has been a nightmare. There’s just no way to monitor what coaches are doing, so we’ve basically been on the honor system for quite some time.”

However, there is concern that without any restrictions, coaches could go overboard in their communications with high school athletes. Hein says that contacting athletes too often will be counter-productive since athletes will sour on coaches who abuse the privilege. But student-athletes are not so sure. Stevens says that some of the current college athletes she’s talked with are wary of allowing unlimited contact, especially with text messaging.

“I asked the students in a class I teach how they would have felt about coaches texting them during recruiting and there was almost a 50-50 split,” says Stevens.

“Some thought it would be a great way to communicate with a college coach while others viewed texting as a personal way to

Cody Hein, Head Coach at Chico State University, supports the new NCAA Division II recruiting rules, but is also concerned that they may force high school players to make decisions about their future at an earlier age.

communicate with people their own age.

And the Division II Student-Athletic Advisory Committee seemed split on it as well when we presented the idea to them.”

The proposed rules are scheduled to be voted on during the NCAA Annual Convention in January 2012 and, if approved, could go into effect as soon as June 15, 2012. Coaches with strong feelings on the new regulations are invited to contact the AVCA or members of the Division II Management Council to express their views.

Hein adds that high school coaches should be aware that, if the rules are approved, Division II college coaches may be calling their athletes far sooner than ever before. “High school coaches need to know that there are different rules for Divisions I, II, and III,” he says. “They tend to remember the Division I rules and forget they don’t always apply to us. I’ve made calls on June 15 and had coaches tell me, ‘You’re not supposed to call my kid until July 1.’ But that’s not true in Division II, and now we might be able to call a full year earlier.”

In Division III, there are also a few similar rules changes on the table. One would allow all electronic correspondence, including text messaging and contacts on social media sites, between recruits and coaches at any time, just as telephone calls are treated. The other would allow unlimited use of text messaging, but would still bar coaches from using social media sites to contact recruits.

Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011 9

Q&A Fort Myers players block a spike vs. Bishop Verot in a game early this season.

The Green Wave topped its cross-town rivals, 3-0.

CHALMERS PIERCE

WAVE OF GREEN Q&A with STEPHANIE MARTIN | Fort myers (fla.) High school After 16 years as Head Coach at Fort Myers (Fla.) High School, Stephanie Martin already needs another trophy case.

She has received 12 Florida High School Athletic Association District Coach of the Year awards, been named Lee County Athletic Conference Coach of the Year 12 times, won six Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year awards, and received the same honor from the Fort Myers NewsPress on three occasions.

Under Martin, Fort Myers has won 13 district championships, hasn’t dropped a single game in a regular-season league match this millennium, and typically goes deep 10 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

into postseason play. Martin also coaches for USA South Volleyball, and her club teams have appeared in six USA Volleyball Junior Olympic National Tournaments.

But despite all of Martin’s success, high school volleyball’s ultimate prize—a state championship—has been elusive. The Green Wave reached the state championship match in 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2010, but has never come home with the crown.

CM: What has made your teams at Fort Myers so consistently successful?

Martin: We’ve been fortunate to have some talented players come through the school. But it’s also a huge help that all of our girls play volleyball year round. The more they touch the ball, the better they’re going to be.

Your team lost in the state title match each of the past two seasons. What has that experience been like?

It’s frustrating. But the teams we were up against in those championships were awesome. I made sure my players understood the importance of making it to that point, and that they had a good time regardless of the result. Afterward, I told them to focus on the positive things we accomplished. For example, we’re the only team in our area to make it to the state championship two years in a row and there aren’t very many kids who have that opportunity.

What has to happen for your team to win that final match?

Just to reach that point, you need to have some luck and catch a few breaks. Then once you get to the final four it’s a mental game, CoachesNetwork.com

because all four teams are very talented. The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins.

Do you encourage your players to focus just on volleyball or become multi-sport athletes?

I really believe it depends on the athlete.

I don’t think you can generalize and say it’s always better for an athlete to play two or three sports, as opposed to just one. It depends on what the person wants to do. Being a multisport athlete has its positives. But it’s getting to the point now where girls almost have to play one sport all the time, unless they’re just an exceptional athlete, because everybody else is doing that. If they don’t specialize, they’re going to get left behind.

Is there anything you do to prevent your athletes from getting burned out on volleyball?

We don’t do any summer ball at all. I also frequently give them Fridays off from practice so they can be involved with the school and have fun on Friday nights. We play so many matches during the week that we don’t need much more practice time.

Do you worry that the team won’t be as sharp without practicing on Fridays?

For us, practice is more about maintenance than running them really hard in between matches, so it’s not a problem. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure my girls enjoy volleyball. I want them to remember their time on the team as fun and not a struggle. And having some Fridays off helps that.

High school is an important time in a kid’s life and I want them to enjoy it. I want them to look forward to practice, instead of dreading walking into the gym every day. Obviously it’s not going to be fun and games all the time, but it should be a positive experience.

keep them updated on what’s going on. Additionally, the alumnae can interact with each other on the page. It’s been great.

Do you do any formal goal setting with the team?

I think setting goals is very important in anything you do. We always set a main team goal for the season, and the players come up with one or two individual goals. I’ll post them as motivation and to make sure they remember what they’re working toward. We’ll evaluate our goals midway through the season and might change them at that time.

I also try to give them a goal for every game and every practice. Every practice has a theme based on what we want to work on.

Has your program been affected by the budget cuts that are plaguing many schools across the country?

Where do you see yourself in the future?

We’ve felt it a little bit, but Fort Myers is one of the oldest schools in Florida, so we have a lot of tradition and a lot of great alumnae who support the program. I’ve begun using Facebook as a way to reach out to alumnae and keep them connected to the team. I post all sorts of team information on the page, including results from all of our matches, to

When I first started coaching, one of my goals was to move into the college ranks. But it’s a lot of time away from your family and a lot of “go, go, go.” The high school level is so rewarding because you have all kinds of talent levels and it’s a fun challenge to do the best with what you have each year. I think I’m going to finish my career here.

Circle No. 104

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Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011 11

Digging COVER STORY

Pepperdine University’s Caitlin Racich digs the ball during the third annual USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Challenge, held last April and won by the Waves. Pepperdine announced the addition of sand volleyball to its athletic program in August and Racich as the team’s first scholarship recipient. PHOTO BY BRIAN WHITE/SOS-PHOTOGRAPHY.NET

In

J

This spring marks the official NCAA start of sand volleyball. We talk to coaches about how they are forming teams, reconfiguring their staffs, and recruiting athletes for the sport. | By Von Mitchell

ust around the dune, it’s coming! After several years of discussion, sand volleyball makes its official NCAA debut this spring. Fourteen Division I schools have announced they will field a team, with a few more possibly joining the beach party in time for the 2011-12 season. One NAIA squad will also be up and running.

Sand volleyball was granted emerging sport status by the NCAA in 2009, which means it is recognized as a sport “intended to help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women, more sport sponsorship options for institutions and help that sport achieve NCAA championship status.” Now, it is up to schools and coaches to get the sport off the ground and make it a success.

“There are a good number of schools committed to doing this right now, with or without scholarships, and I think once other schools see the intensity of these athletes and the interest in the sport, they will jump in,” says Mick Haley, Director of Women’s Volleyball at the University of Southern California.

As programs continue to make preparations for the inaugural season, there are still a lot of question marks, though. How are

schools funding the sport in this era of shrinking budgets? How will teams be formed? Will recruiting change? What will happen to the nontraditional indoor season? And how will the game grow?

CALCULATING COSTS

One of the primary considerations for any school looking to start a sand volleyball team is the cost. The NCAA estimates annual operating expenses at $35,000 to $50,000, with start-up costs in the range of $100,000 to $150,000, which is on the low end for NCAA sports. But this can vary greatly depending on if a school chooses to offer scholarships (up to three are allowed in 2011-12), allocates additional funding for coaches, and needs to construct a sand volleyball court. Another variable cost is the amount of travel to road matches and tournaments.

COVER STORY

“As much as sand volleyball is a relatively inexpensive sport to start, it’s not free,” says Kathy DeBoer, Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). “Even the schools that aren’t adding new scholarships still have expenses for competitions, travel, and officials. And coaching staff salaries can vary a lot.”

For example, at Southern Cal, Haley is overseeing the entire volleyball program and continuing to serve as Head Coach of the indoor team, while Anna Biller Collier

ing to build a facility for $600,000 and some for $2 million. It depends on the cost of land, the cost of sand, the number of courts you’re putting in, and so on.”

Even if your school is located near a beach, most programs want an on-campus facility, since practicing by the water means dealing with the wind, changing sand conditions, the public, and the commute. “All the teams, whether they’re in the Midwest, on the East Coast, or on the West Coast, want to have facilities on campus,” says Haley.

“If we were fully funded, we would have people absolutely lining up to get in here.”

Matthies echoes that sentiment.“Recruiting has been great,” she says. “It’s exciting to be in the beginning stages of an emerging sport. Most of the high school kids and most of my kids here are fired up about it.”

What are coaches looking for in sand players out of high school? At Florida State, Head Coach Danalee Corso has some very specific qualities she’s seeking in recruits. “I want players with good all-around skills,”

“We have a scholarship or two for the sand program, but we also are getting a ton of walk-ons ... It’s easier to recruit for this sport because so many women are interested in it. If we were fully funded, we would have people absolutely lining up to get in here.”

Mick Haley, Southern Cal was hired in July to serve as Head Coach of the sand team. The school promoted an assistant coach, Tim Nollan, to Associate Head Coach for the indoor team, while indoor assistant Cookie Stevens will also be an assistant for the sand team. Nollan will oversee recruiting for both squads.

Other schools, like Pepperdine University, are not altering their staffing at all.

Head Coach Nina Matthies will serve in the same role for the sand team, and Assistant Coach Marcio Sicoli (who has extensive experience coaching beach players) will join her. Pepperdine’s other Assistant Coach, Tim Jensen, will stay indoors in the spring.

A third option is elevating an assistant indoor coach to become head sand coach.

Tulane University has followed this path, offering Associate Head Coach Amy Williamson the Head Coach position for the outdoor team.

The cost of building sand courts is also a major consideration. Tim Edfors, Head Coach at Webber International University, an NAIA school in Florida, got outside funding to construct four courts at his school.

“It’s a ton of money for the sand alone,” Edfors says. “We got a lot of it donated because one of our alumni owns a sand mine. The school bought the nets, and I paid for the poles out of my own pocket.”

Edfors shares that the cost of the sand is roughly $200 per truckload plus an $80 delivery fee. He says it took between 60 to 80 truckloads of sand to complete the courts at WIU. Southern Cal is in the process of securing donations to build its courts. “The costs vary a lot,” says Haley. “Some people are try14 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

Mercer University is building three sand courts as part of a new athletic complex that will also include fields for baseball and football. “All of our athletic facilities will be in one location, which is really convenient for us,” says Head Coach Noelle Rooke. “The location will be key for us being able to draw people to our games. It will be very visible.”

At Florida State University, the school is constructing a five-court facility on campus, which is slated to be completed by the end of this fall’s indoor season. The squad used a local two-court facility last year.

DeBoer suggests that building courts on campus is not that tough of a sell to administrators. “The beauty of sand courts is that they’re almost indestructible, so you can play on them 24/7,” she says. “I think you’ll see a tremendous amount of recreational play on the courts as well.”

FORMING A TEAM

Another potential big expense is scholarship money. But to start, many schools are putting together their teams without handing out a lot of tuition dollars.

“We have a scholarship or two for the sand program, but we also are getting a ton of walk-ons,” says Haley. “That’s amazing considering it costs about $62,000 to go to school here, with tuition being about $43,000. We’re getting a lot of fifth-year students, a lot of transfers, and a lot of incoming freshmen who are willing to walk on to try to make the sand team. It’s easier to recruit for this sport because so many women are interested in it.

“We think we’re going to have 14 to 17 players training this spring,” he continues.

she says. “I want kids with an ultra-competitive personality and a great volleyball IQ. I want smart players.”

Florida State announced its first sand recruiting class in April, bringing in two junior college players and one high school athlete. All three have extensive experience with the beach game.

Most schools, though, are seeking players who can contribute to both the indoor and sand teams, at least to start. “We strive to always recruit well-rounded athletes,” says Matthies. “For the past couple years I’ve told all our recruits that we are going to be doing both indoor and sand. All of the kids we’ve recruited in that time have known that this day was coming and have embraced it.”

“I feel that the more athletic girls we get, the better off we’re going to be in getting them to play a position indoors as well as being a sand player,” says Rooke. “The bottom line is that not all of us are getting a lot of scholarship money, so we need to utilize as many dual-sport athletes as we can.”

At Southern Cal, Haley is mixing and matching. “We have one coach serving as recruiting coordinator for both our indoor and our sand teams so we don’t get in a tugof-war over athletes,” he says. “If a player comes in on an indoor scholarship, she can also play on the sand team, but her obligation is to provide her best effort for the indoor team. If you come in on a sand scholVon Mitchell is a freelance writer as well as business teacher and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Delta (Colo.) High School. He can be reached at: vandmmitchell@aol.com.

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arship, you have to play sand only [according to NCAA rules] for the first two years.

“We have looked at kids who play both when we’ve recruited for indoor because we thought it would really help our sand team.

But you’re only allowed 12 indoor scholarships,” Haley continues. “I would guess that in five or six years you will not have many dual-sport players. You’re going to have a strong contingent of sand players training for nine or 10 months.”

Matthies has a very clear idea of how players will be divided among her two teams down the road. “My vision is to eventually have six kids on sand scholarships [when rules allow it], 12 on indoor scholarships plus walk-ons, and six ‘hybrids’ who will play on both teams,” she says.

In the meantime, she will choose players from the indoor team for the sand squad.

“We’ve been doing some of our off-season training on the sand for the last couple of years in anticipation of this emerging sport,” she says. “At this juncture I have 18 kids on my indoor team. We will take our best 10 to 12 kids to train for the sand team. My sense is that this spring we will have six kids training indoors and 12 training outdoors.”

SCHEDULING THE SPRING

With so many indoor players wanting to play sand, how will a team mesh the nontraditional indoor spring season (when athletes are allowed 20 hours a week of practice) with the new spring sand season? And how will coaches find time to also focus on recruiting during the spring?

“Every school that is starting a sand volleyball program in the Southeast has been communicating with each other,” says Rooke. “Our sand season will run from the first Thursday of March to the last weekend in April. All you need in those eight weeks is eight competitions, with three being dual matches. I plan on getting our eight competitions done in four weekends.

“The struggle is that we’re not only running our nontraditional indoor season and the new sand season, but we also need to recruit,” she continues. “So, after talking with the other coaches, I think a lot of us are going to run our nontraditional indoor season during January and February and run our indoor “off-season” during the sand volleyball season in March and April. I just don’t see any other way to do it when you coach both teams.”

On the West Coast, Southern Cal will follow a somewhat similar schedule. “We’re going to train for half of January, all of February, and half of March indoors for the 20-hour part of our nontraditional season and then we’ll go to the eight-hour off-sea16 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

son,” Haley says. “Anybody we allow to play sand will do so beginning in the middle of March for six to eight weeks.”

“There are some folks experimenting with the possibility of playing a nontraditional court date on a Saturday and then playing a sand event on a Sunday,” says DeBoer. “The coaches will be creative in figuring this out.”

WILL IT TAKE OFF?

By receiving emerging sport status from the NCAA, sand volleyball gains the advantage of needing to have only 40 sponsoring institutions within 10 years to become an official NCAA sponsored sport. The designation won’t mean much, though, if the sport doesn’t gain traction and grow. Haley is confident that will happen.

“It’s the first nontraditional women’s sport that a lot of women actually want to play,” says Haley. “If you think about synchronized swimming, badminton, rowing, or any of the sports that have been added for women— how many women really wanted to play those sports? But I would say 70 percent of all women want to play some form of sand volleyball. It’s the first time in a long time that the NCAA has added a sport that really has the support of the female athlete.”

Statistics from the most recent Sporting

Good Manufacturers Association survey are encouraging. It shows participation in sand volleyball grew by 25.8 percent from 2006 to 2008, with more than three million participants. There were 240,000 female participants in the sport under the age of 18 in 2008, with 64 percent reporting playing only the sand game and not indoor volleyball.

Although Division II schools have been slow to come aboard—none have announced starting teams yet—the list of Division I teams is continually growing. Along with Pepperdine, Southern Cal, Mercer, Tulane, and Florida State, other schools announcing the formation of teams includes: Long Beach State University, University of Hawai’i, College of Charleston, Stetson University, Jacksonville University, University of North Florida, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Florida Atlantic University, and Florida International University. Georgia State University will field a team in 2012-13, and Arizona State University, University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara, Florida Gulf Coast University, and University of Louisiana-Monroe have indicated interest.

“From a university standpoint, I think it’s a great way to give female athletes more chances to compete,” says Matthies. “And from a training perspective, it’s a great strength workout. It takes players off the hard

GAMETIME Two-on-two sand volleyball is a very different game than the six-on-six indoor version. The structure of its competitions will be different, too.

“We hosted a dual match with California-Santa Barbara last spring just to try out the NCAA rules,” says Nina Matthies, Head Coach at Pepperdine University. “We set up our five doubles teams versus their five—just like college tennis. Our 1’s played their 1’s, our 2’s played their 2’s, and so on. The winner of the dual competition is whoever wins three out of the five matches.

“Eventually, it appears that we will have a national team champion, which will be the team that has the best 10 players—the most depth,” she continues. “And we will also have a doubles tournament where they seed it out in brackets and crown the best two-person team.”

Kathy DeBoer, Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, relays more specifics on a national tournament in 2012. “We are in the process of working with a group of coaches to put together the fundamentals of the first sand volleyball national championship,” she says. “It will take place the first weekend in May. We are still looking at different sites, but one of the places we’ve got our eye on is the University of Southern California because that would be the same weekend that the men’s indoor national championship is there. We like the synergy of having two championship volleyball events in the same location. This is not yet set in stone, though.”

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COVER STORY surface and gives them a chance to get out of shoes, socks, and kneepads. I’ve found that when our kids come back indoors after a couple of days in the sand, they’re jumping out of the gym. They’re strong. They’re refreshed. They’re very enthusiastic about doing both sports.

football team can train there and a sand team can play there.”

But can the game catch on in colder climates? “The barriers to this sport growing are exactly the same as were faced by softball, tennis, golf, and baseball,” says DeBoer. “All of these sports are better suited to climates

have done for years with tennis.”

There is optimism for good fan support, too. “I think this will be one of the most popular sports we’ve ever put on a college campus,” says DeBoer. “It’s an easy game to understand in terms of the team format and how it’s played.”

“I’ve found that when our kids come back indoors after a couple of days in the sand, they’re jumping out of the gym. They’re strong. They’re refreshed. They’re very enthusiastic about doing both sports.”

Nina Matthies, Pepperdine “I also like that it puts them in a different environment and helps them learn how to play the game by reacting with only two people on the court,” she continues. “It’s beneficial for the development of all the skills of volleyball.”

Haley has another selling point for coaches trying to convince their schools to add the sport. “All the football programs want to use sand for low-impact training,” he says. “If a school puts in four or five sand courts, the

where there’s good weather. Costs are lower because you don’t have to deal with indoor facilities.

“But if you compare sand volleyball to golf or softball or baseball, you’d have a much easier time playing this sport indoors,” she continues. “It’s more like tennis where without a great deal of space and investment, you can put a sand court into an indoor facility.

You can move your matches indoors just like folks in the Midwest and Upper Midwest

Starting the NCAA game during an Olympic year may also help. “Our sport is growing because of the success that our American teams have had in the last few Olympic games,” Rooke says. “As we add the game as an NCAA sport, I think it’s just going to continue to grow.”

“I expect strong local support,” says Corso.

“We haven’t added a new sport since the early 90s, and our community is really excited about coming out for sand volleyball.” CM

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LEADERSHIP

AP PHOTO/messenger-inquirer JOHN DUNHAM

making the cut Way before any games are played, coaches have the difficult task of choosing which students make the team, and which do not.

This author offers a process that ensures fairness and consistency. By Randy Gilzean You’re a coach walking down the hall of your school with an extra lift in your step—your season has just started. You see a student you recently cut from the squad. She gives you a dirty look, then turns and walks away.

For any coach who has posted a list of cuts, this is a familiar story. One of the most difficult things a high school student can 18 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

experience is searching in vain for their name on a sheet of paper publicly announcing a team they were hoping to join. The anger over being cut is often directed at the coach, and the resulting resentment can last a long time.

The biggest problem with the traditional roster selection process is the time-honored method of posting a list of names, which can feel impersonal and embarrassing for teenagers. It makes someone’s failure available for everyone to see. There is no opportunity for discussion or for the student-athlete to learn why he or she did not make the team. There is also no closure for cut student-athletes.

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Circle No. 108

It doesn’t, however, have to be this way.

Cutting athletes should not be a quick preseason drill, but rather a well thought out process that is recognized as having a major impact on young people.

In my first few years as a head coach, I posted a cut list because that was all I knew.

I saw the student-athletes being hurt and felt their resentment on campus. So I began to consider other options.

The process I now use is very detailed

nesses and what he needs to do to make the team. If the student-athlete played last year, there is a detailed evaluation of his skills, along with a review of his academic progress and the position he might play next season.

We talk about how the spring and summer are excellent times to improve weak areas.

During the spring we have four weeks of open gym, two nights a week. There is no coaching, but the coaching staff watches and evaluates players, looking at both individu-

tion, or attend individual sport camps. As the Athletic Director for 15 years, I always encourage multi-sport participation, so I want to be sure the basketball players have time to commit to other sports.

OFFICIAL TRYOUTS

The week before tryouts I send an evaluation sheet to all school staff asking for their opinion on students trying out. There is room to rate the student-athletes in the

Starting with the second day of tryouts, each of my assistants and I take a 3x5 card and put either two or three names under a heading of “keep” and two or three names under a heading of “cut,” before sealing the card in an envelope. We do this every day for the next three days. and avoids public embarrassment. It entails year-round evaluations of athletes, taking into account many factors. And most importantly, it involves talking to every student-athlete individually. While the process I describe below is specific to basketball, it can be used in many sports.

YEAR-ROUND PROCESS

My evaluation process starts when freshmen first enter our school. I assess potential players in all their athletic endeavors as well as in the classroom, and I also look at their behavior around school. All those elements factor into whether students may eventually be chosen for the varsity squad.

Deciding on who will make the team for the upcoming year begins at the end of the previous season. The first thing I do is to make a three-column list based on what I know at that point about who will try out.

The first column includes those players I would keep. The second column includes “on the bubble” students I have some questions about, which might include grades or behavior in addition to skills and athleticism. (See “Many Factors” on page 22 for a look at all the characteristics I consider.)

The third column includes those I would cut at that point. That doesn’t mean I will cut them after tryouts. It just indicates my assessment at that time. I seal that list in an envelope and do not look at it again until official tryouts eight months later. This process helps me determine how students have progressed over time.

Following our spring sign-up meeting, I talk with every student-athlete who expresses an interest in playing varsity basketball.

We discuss the player’s strengths and weak20 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

als’ skills and intangibles, such as competitiveness and teamwork.

The next part of the process is our summer program. We have an internal summer league where we play two nights a week for five weeks. All freshmen, sophomores, and juniors (whether they played the previous year or not) who want to play the next season are split as evenly as possible into four teams. Returning juniors are made the captains of the teams to give them a chance to work on leadership skills. We add two teams of alumni to the league, which helps keep the level of play up.

We also compete in five summer tournaments, and players are asked to choose the two or three events they want to go to. I promise every player that he can compete in at least one tournament. While the final scores are sometimes frustrating from a win-loss perspective, these games are crucial to our evaluation process.

By allowing everyone to be involved, all student-athletes receive an extended look and we get a glimpse at who the real competitors are. The student-athletes get opportunities in different game situations, from blowouts to nail biters. This tells us a lot about the character of a player—who wants the ball at the end of the game, who makes a big mistake when the pressure is on, and who does or does not act appropriately in a given situation.

Except for one tournament in mid-July our summer program ends the first week in July. At this point, I make another list of three columns based on the players’ performance in the spring and summer.

The student-athletes then get time to enjoy their summer, play other sports, go on vaca-

areas of attitude, behavior, and work ethic as well as space for general comments.

No one person’s comments will determine an athlete’s fate, but the overall picture is extremely telling. The athletes are aware of this part of the process and we constantly talk about their need to positively represent themselves as well as their family, school, and community.

Our official tryouts take at least a week.

Starting with the second day of tryouts, each of my assistants and I take a 3x5 card and put either two or three names under a heading of “keep” and two or three names under a heading of “cut,” before sealing the card in an envelope. We do this every day for the next three days. This helps narrow our focus for future practices so we can concentrate on those athletes “on the bubble.”

After the fourth practice, my coaching staff and I meet to discuss the players. On a white board, we list three columns: definite keeps, borderline, and definite cuts. We take out our 3x5 cards, which we have not shared with each other up to this point. Any player appearing on all coaches’ cards in the categories of keep or cut are put in those categories. Any choice that is not unanimous or a player not listed goes into the borderline category.

We then look for any players who appear out of place in the three columns we have RANDY GILZEAN has been Head Boys’ Basketball Coach for 18 years and teaches world history at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, Calif. He has also served as Athletic Director, Assistant Boys’ Basketball Coach, and Head Girls’ Volleyball Coach at the school. He has led the basketball squad to seven league championships and five section titles, with an overall record of 330-149.

He can be reached at: rgilzean@chicousd.org.

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LEADERSHIP

created. Sometimes seeing the lists causes us to notice a player who does not belong in that particular column. We can move athletes into any other column based on our discussions.

We use the fifth day of practice to verify the keeps and cuts. At this point, my three column lists from March and July come out and we look to see who may have changed their status over time. Often during tryouts, a player really impresses me or disappoints me and it is helpful to see my thoughts on this individual from the previous eight months.

Starting with the sixth day things really change from the traditional cutting process.

We start making cuts, but it is done through personal conversations with each athlete.

Every day we ask anywhere from three to six players to stay after practice for a faceto-face discussion, which is kept completely private—no one knows who is cut unless the player chooses to tell others.

For players we cut, the discussion is gentle but honest, focusing on why we won’t be able to keep them. We talk about the factors which caused others (without naming

names) to be chosen ahead of them. We try to explain our position and then give them time to ask questions or express their feelings. If they are juniors we tell them things they need to work on if they want to try again the next year.

ONE-ON-ONE TIME

The discussions with the individual athletes at the end of tryouts involve the whole coaching staff. They can last anywhere from five to 15 minutes. The following are some paraphrased situations from past years.

Names have been changed.

Billy was a member of the team as a junior and had played basketball since he was in grade school. He was the starting quarterback on the football team, also played baseball, and his father was a district official. I started the conversation by telling Billy he was a great leader, he had a wonderful work ethic, and I appreciated everything he had done for our program. I told him I had the greatest respect for him, but that I could not get him enough playing time to keep him happy as a senior.

While I hated to jeopardize the good relationship we had, I felt it was in his best interest

not to keep him. He asked several questions about the team and the situation, and we had a good discussion.

I told him I felt he would enjoy his senior year much more if he had time for other things, rather than becoming bitter over the lack of playing time on our team. Seniors are often okay with sitting on the bench until later in the season when friends and family continually ask them why others are playing ahead of them. Over time they become resentful and no longer work hard in practice. From my perspective, Billy understood my reasoning, there was no animosity, and we continued to have a good rapport.

The next situation involved Tom, who played a lot in his first two years on the freshman and j.v. teams. During his sophomore year he was in my world history class.

His classroom behavior was not very good.

One day, I told him he was making a poor impression on me considering I may be his coach in the future. He replied that he was not going to play basketball as a junior. I said I was sorry to hear that, but his behavior still needed to change.

He made no commitment to basketball

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LEADERSHIP

that spring, summer, or fall although he was a football player and track athlete.

When football players tried out after their season ended, Tom was in the group. In our meeting at the end of tryouts, I reminded him of our discussion in class and the lack of commitment to any activities or meetings since the last day of his j.v. season. I told him we would be unable to keep him.

be happy in that role. Even though he was disappointed about being cut for a second time, he thanked me for taking the time to explain it all to him. We are still very cordial when we see each other.

The worst situation I have had was with Fred, a junior who had behavior problems.

An example was when we stayed overnight in a motel at a summer tournament. Fred

him. It was tough, though, as he would have been our eighth or ninth player on the team as a junior.

MANY POSITIVES

One big factor that has reinforced my decision to use this system is the number of players who try out again after being cut. We see between two to eight seniors at

It is tough for me to tell players face-to-face that

their dreams may be over, but it is the right thing to do for the growth of the young person. They learn the real reason they were let go. There is no conjecture or guessing. They have privacy during a tough juncture in their life and time to process what has happened.

We felt it would not be fair to the other players who committed to the off-season program and positively represented our team through good behavior. While he was surprised, I think he knew what we told him was true.

Tom’s story does not end there. He decided to make a commitment after the season and try out his senior year. Unfortunately, we had eight returning seniors who were ahead of him. When I told him we could not keep him, I explained he was talented, but he was around 11 or 12 on the depth chart and I did not think he was going to

took his roommate’s backpack from their room and threw it in the sprinklers outside “as a joke.” I talked to him four times between the end of his sophomore year and beginning of tryouts about changing his behavior to no avail.

When it came time to cut Fred, I reminded him of our discussions along the way and the lack of change. I told him he was not representing what we wanted from our players and that I could not trust him when we traveled out of town. He stormed out of the gym swearing at the top of his lungs.

This further supported our decision to cut

MANY FACTORS The following is an alphabetized list of the characteristics we deem important when deciding who does and does not make our boys’ varsity basketball squad.

Aggressiveness Athleticism

Grade point average

Plays well with others

Attitude

Heart

Clutch

Height

Positioning on the court

Coachability

Honesty

Position

Commitment

Intensity

Size

Common sense

Knowledge

Skill

Communication

Listening

Team player

Dedication

Maturity

Track record

Grade in school

Motor skills

Work ethic

22 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

tryouts each year who were cut as juniors.

I believe this is a direct reflection on the feedback they receive in the process. They understand what they need to work on and do so, instead of thinking, “The coach just doesn’t like me.”

Another positive result is the lack of parent conferences after cuts. In my first five years of coaching when I posted a list, I was involved in more parent conferences than in all the years since. Giving the rationale for not making the team means student-athletes and their parents don’t need a conference for an explanation. In addition, parents have rarely taken any concerns to upper-level administrators since I’ve begun this system.

Sometimes, though, I set up a conference myself with the parents when there are unusual circumstances. I have found that anytime you are not sure of a situation, it is always better to err on the side of over-communication.

It is tough for me to tell players face-toface that their basketball dreams may be over, but it is the right thing to do for the growth of the young person. They learn the real reason they were let go. There is no conjecture or guessing. They have privacy during a tough juncture in their life and time to process what has happened.

When our discussion is over, I make sure to wish them luck in whatever they do. I shake every student-athlete’s hand and thank them for coming out. Instead of dirty looks in the hallway, I get nods of appreciation, and that feels good. CM This article was previously published in other editions of Coaching Management and in our sister publication, Athletic Management.

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Circle No. 110

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Freshman outside hitter Noami Santos Lamb goes up strong during an early-season match against Jacksonville University.

jim burgess/university of florida athletic media relations

On Top of Their Game

The University of Florida’s off-season strength training program has players jumping higher and hitting harder. By Matt DeLancey The University of Florida volleyball program has posted some pretty impressive results over the years. Head Coach Mary Wise has led the team to more than 700 victories in her 21 years at the helm. During that time, the Gators have never been

24 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

ranked outside the top 15 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association final poll.

In 2010, the team became the first to finish the Southeastern Conference regular season with a perfect league record since double round robin play started in 2006.

In the postseason, the Gators won their 19th SEC championship and qualified for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship round of 16 for the 19th time, before being upset by Purdue. To top it all off, the team produced three AllAmericans.

While these stats may be the envy of most coaches, there’s another, less publicized one that we are proud of: In 2010, not one player missed a practice or match due to injury. I have no doubt that our training program has a lot to do with both the team’s on-court CoachesNetwork.com

Circle No. 111

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

performance and keeping everyone healthy and ready to contribute.

VOLLEYBALL TESTS ONLY

When working with the volleyball team, I base the squad’s training program on its initial off-season baseline test results. This data reveals where our players are deficient and allows me to design the most effective training program possible.

Because this data is so crucial to the program design, what I test for is the most important part of the equation. My main goal is to help the athletes perform better in

the cone on either their right or left. After reaching that cone, they change direction into a crossover sprint to the far cone on the other side. From there, they shuffle back to the middle cone, which finishes the drill.

The goal is to complete the test in 2.9 seconds or less.

Overhead press: This is a simple test of shoulder strength. I expect each player to perform at least three reps of 95 pounds.

However, this is just a starting point. The ultimate goal for each player is to overhead press 75 percent of their body weight three times. If a player can complete five reps

over and back at 10-yard intervals, and other times we run it 15 yards out and back, then 10 yards out and back, and finally five yards out and back. In both scenarios, the goal time is 12.5 seconds. The goal time for the 100-yard shuttle is 21 seconds, and for 300 yards, it’s 55 seconds.

Pavel sit-up: The perfectly executed Pavel sit-up means keeping the heels on the floor and not using momentum. This movement is a great indicator of core strength, and I expect our volleyball players to perform 75 sit-ups in 90 seconds. Core strength is especially important for volleyball players

Volleyball players have to change direction every three to five steps, and our agility drills reflect this demand. They include combinations of shuffles, back pedaling, and short sprints, with multiple changes of direction. their sport, so the tests I choose must be volleyball-specific. And they must be specific to volleyball played at the top rungs of NCAA Division I. At this elite level, long rallies are not the norm. The average rally lasts only 14 to 20 seconds. An ace lasts one to two seconds depending on if there was a touch on the ball. And a serve, pass, set, and kill sequence averages about four seconds. The ball is usually on each side of the net for only three to five seconds. The point here is that the physical tests employed with volleyball players should mirror the short bursts of energy needed on the court.

In addition to the initial test day at the start of the off-season, the players are also tested midway through, and a final time before two-a-day practices begin in August.

Here are the dozen physical tasks our volleyball players perform on test day: Approach jump: We strive for our players to reach 10 feet, three inches on their approach jump. This height gives our players a great chance to hit over a block or have high hands on the other side of the net. We use the Vertec apparatus to measure approach jump height.

Box jump: I expect our athletes to jump onto a 44-inch box from a quarter-squat position. Being able to reach this height guarantees a great static jump at the net.

Agility: Volleyball players are forced to change direction every three to five steps, so agility is very important for performance development. To test this, we use an oncourt volleyball-specific pro agility test. I set up three cones, each three yards apart. Starting at the middle cone, the player shuffles to 26 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

of 95 pounds, then at our mid-season test she will try to lift 10 pounds more weight.

As the players’ overhead press weight and reps increase, we’ve documented an increase in hitting speed and decrease in shoulder injuries.

Front squat: I expect our athletes to front squat 135 pounds five times. As with the overhead press, this is just a starting point. The goal is for the players to be able to front squat their body weight five times.

When a player is able to squat their body weight, we’ve seen great jump performance and a significant drop in reported nagging aches and pains.

Overhead squat: The overhead squat isn’t tested with leg strength in mind, but rather sport-specific mobility to give us insight into lower body weaknesses. The seven things I look for in the overhead squat are heels down, feet straight ahead or slightly turned out, proper hip and knee relationship, proper knee and toe relationship, shoulder mobility, flat low back (not arched), and proper head alignment.

Plate pinch: I expect that our athletes are able to hold a 25-pound plate in each hand for at least one minute. Grip strength is important for volleyball players for several reasons, the biggest being that stronger grip strength means stronger fingers, which translates to fewer jammed fingers. And when a player does jam a finger, having a strong grip typically lessens the severity.

Shuttles: I have the athletes complete shuttle runs of three different distances: 60, 100, and 300 yards. We test the shuttles at various distance intervals. Using the 60-yard shuttle as an example, sometimes we run it

because when an athlete jumps, the only way they can control their body in the air is via their core. Great trunk strength also helps a server or hitter follow all the way through when striking the ball, which translates to a more powerful hit.

Single-leg stadium hop: In volleyball, single-leg landings occur 50 to 70 percent of the time, so working on single-leg strength and landing technique is essential for a safe landing. In this test, I have the players aim for 30 steps in less than 10 seconds, one leg at a time (not alternating).

PROGRAM DESIGN

Armed with this information from the team’s test day, the first thing I do is analyze how the players did overall. The biggest deficit areas usually emerge in the single-leg hop test and overhead press test. Then, I take a simple general training template and fill in the blanks depending on which areas need the most work. Here’s what I start with: n Monday: Quickness and speed work, agility, and jump school n Tuesday: Strength and prehab work, and volleyball-specific conditioning n Wednesday: Weak links n Thursday: Quickness and speed work, agility, and jump school (single-leg focus) n Friday: Strength and prehab work, and volleyball-specific conditioning.

Quickness and speed work: We utilize MATT DELANCEY is Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic Sports at the University of Florida, where he works with the volleyball team. He can be reached at: matthewd@gators.uaa.ufl.edu or through his Web site at: www.purepowerathlete.com.

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Circle No. 112

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

six yards, turning 90 degrees to the right and sprinting six yards, backpedaling six yards, turning 90 degrees and shuffling six yards, again turning 90 degrees and shuffling six yards, turning 90 degrees and sprinting, backpedaling six yards, and so on. The athletes run a pattern of four squares—lines can be drawn like a four-square court. This drill is performed between two and five times in each direction.

Jump school: Every volleyball player I’ve worked with has wanted to be able to jump higher. Approach jump height is a measuring stick among the players, and they take pride in their personal best, so we spend a good chunk of time working on jump height. But more importantly, because volleyball players land on one leg so many times during competition and practice, I make it a point to work The following table shows how the University of on single-leg landings once Florida volleyball team progresses through singlea week. leg work between January and August. An athlete Teaching and reinforcadvances to the next skill in the progression only ing landing technique as after mastering the previous movement. Box the players perform agilheights used vary by athlete, depending on their ity ladder work has proven athleticism, and if I see poor technique, then we to be a big help in avoidlower the box height. ing injuries. The key is to make the athletes aware of what their bodies are Single-leg skills IN Surface doing when they return to ORDER of progression the floor. I keep coaching 1. Linear hops Flat ground cues simple: foot flat, knee soft and in line with the 2. Lateral/medial hops Flat ground middle toe, butt back, and 3. Linear box jumps 4- to 30-inch box chest forward. (See “Sin4. Lateral box jumps 4- to 30-inch box gle-Leg Focus” at left for the team’s progression of 5. Medial box jumps 4- to 30-inch box jump work.)

6. 90-degree box jumps 4- to 30-inch box Strength and prehab work: In the weightroom, 7. Stadium linear jumps 8- to 14-inch box the volleyball team per8. Lateral medial hops 8- to 14-inch box forms Olympic lifts, power lifts, and lifts for general strength. We also employ prehab exercises that conjump performance, so this is an especially centrate on the core, rotator cuff, ankle, knee, and hip since these are generally the important area for the team.

Agility: Because volleyball requires so weakest and most injury-prone areas for many quick direction changes, I put a big volleyball players.

I use the scale of perceived exertion to emphasis on agility in the off-season even for players who tested well in this category. determine the amount of weight players lift As mentioned earlier, volleyball players have during our training cycles, and athletes are to change direction every three to five steps, stopped on an exercise if they reach techniand our agility drills reflect this demand. cal failure. Most of our weightroom training They include combinations of shuffles, back would be classified between light-moderate pedaling, and short sprints, with multiple and moderate-heavy. For our Olympic lifts and power movements, I have them perchanges of direction.

For example, in our “attack and retreat” form between one and five reps. For general drill, the players follow a pattern of shuffling strength movements, we strive for two to six the agility ladder, jump ropes, and dot drills for developing quickness. Each activity is relatively low intensity, making them excellent warmup drills. They also prepare the athletes to progress into the more intense portion of the upcoming workout. When crunched for time, being able to warm up the athletes and train quickness at the same time is very helpful.

The team’s speed work consists of track sprint drills during the warmup phase like skip drills and bounding, plyometric drills like box jumps, Olympic lifts that include clean and snatch variations, and both resisted and non-resisted sprints. Sprint performance has been positively correlated to

SINGLE-LEG FOCUS

28 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2011

reps. For prehab, depending on the type of exercise, players perform between 10 and 20 reps per session.

The following list doesn’t include everything we do in the weightroom. These are just some of our favorites: n Olympic and power lifts: Cleans off blocks, hang snatch, power jerk, linear jammer, rotational jammer, box jump variations, med ball throw variations, and weighted jumps. n General strength: Back squats, front squats, single-leg squat variations, step-up variations, Romanian deadlifts (both single- and double-leg), Good mornings (both single- and double-leg), overhead presses, and pull-ups. n Prehab: External rotation, balance board work, scapular retraction, clam shells, reverse clam shells, bridging variations, Pavel sit-ups, and reverse hypers.

Volleyball-specific conditioning: We use a 2.5-3:1 rest-to-work ratio for all non-lifting exercises, such as the shuttle runs when used for conditioning and the agility drills mentioned earlier. This means that for every five seconds a player works, they get 12 to 15 seconds of rest.

When testing, the athletes only run each shuttle once for time. But during conditioning sessions, they run 10 to 15 sets with rest times of 2.5 to three times the goal time between sets. I have the players do this so they are conditioning metabolically in a way that mimics their sport.

Weak links. This part of the program is completely dependent on the athletes and is different for each of them. We identify their most significant weaknesses and then put in some extra time working with them on improvement. For example, if a player is poorly conditioned, we consider that a weak link and they’ll do extra conditioning drills.

If we can take a weakness and turn it into a strength, we’ve made a better athlete.

The key to developing this program is tailoring it to the demands of the sport.

For example, figuring out that a direction change occurs every three to five steps during a game made me see that agility and quickness needed to be big parts of our program. A similar assessment can be made based on seeing how much jumping the athletes are required to do. There’s far more to volleyball than hitting a ball. These athletes need to be very athletic, and that’s what our training plan strives for. CM This article has been previously published in our sister publication, Training & Conditioning. More articles from T&C can be accessed at: www.Training-Conditioning.com.

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Circle No. 522

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Circle No. 523

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Circle No. 507

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Circle No. 505

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Circle No. 520

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Circle No. 506 CoachesNetwork.com

Volleyball Court Great Systems, Great Prices

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Circle No. 503

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Circle No. 500

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Circle No. 528

To The Next Level

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Circle No. 526

PROTECTION FROM INJURY

Circle No. 527

Coaching Management POSTseason 2011 31

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32 Coaching Management POSTseason 2011

Coaching Aids Jump Serve Simulation

If handling the jump serve is the problem in your game, the Attack Volleyball Machine is the solution. The newly designed throwing head provides extreme ball control at international-level speeds. National, college, and club teams can all benefit from the Attack’s powerful game-simulating repetition delivered from a realistic over-the-net (men’s) release point. Take advantage of the precision and speed of the Attack Volleyball Machine, and take your game to the next level.

Sports Attack • 800-717-4251 www.sportsattack.com

Circle No. 508

At Your Service

Both the Gold and Silver models of the Volleyball Tutor can vary ball trajectory and speed to produce any desired set or pass, while delivering serves at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. The Silver model’s 5.5-foot-high release point is perfect for sets, and it features a separate dial to control the amount of topspin and underspin on serves. The Silver model can also be angled down to practice dig drills. The Gold model can automatically throw six volleyballs at intervals ranging from five to 20 seconds. The unit is completely portable, and is available with either AC or battery power. Volleyball Tutor models start at under $1,000.

Sports Tutor • 800-448-8867 www.sportsmachines.com

Circle No. 509

Reach New Heights

Virtually all professional and college sports teams and the NFL Scouting Combine use the Vertec jump-training system, distributed

by Sports Imports. It is one of the best ways to evaluate and improve jump reach and lower-body explosive power. The Vertec jump-training system challenges athletes to improve their vertical leap through instantaneous feedback and recognition. The process is simple, offering a true vertical target, visual motivation, and an immediate, accurate measure of success and growth. A wall-mounted version is now available.

Sports Imports 800-556-3198 www.sportsimports.com

Circle No. 525

Coach from Above

The Coaches Box from Sports Imports is a lightweight but sturdy coaching platform that puts you or your athletes at volleyball net height to isolate specific skills and game experiences. You can deliver the ball from the top of the net to simulate game-like blocks and kills, or focus on hitting or blocking skills without worrying about jumping. The Coaches Box has a large platform, a non-skid top, and rubber feet, and it weighs only 28 pounds. It folds to a closed position of three inches for easy storage.

Sports Imports • 800-556-3198 www.sportsimports.com

Circle No. 510

The Tool For Realistic Practices

The new throwing head on the Attack II Volleyball Machine provides complete ball control, unlimited spins, and professional-level speeds.

The machine can help with all types of drills, from floaters to jumpserve receiving to digging, spiking, passing, and setting. The Attack II serves the ball from a realistic over-the-net (women’s) release point and at non-stop game tempo, making every minute of every practice effective. Call or go online to learn more.

Sports Attack • 800-717-4251 www.sportsattack.com

CoachesNetwork.com

Circle No. 511

Web News The Site To Visit For Coaching Certification The American Public University System’s online home is the place to go for high school coaches in need of certification. The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) works with more than 30 state high school associations and numerous school districts in certifying high school coaches. Each association has a unique portal page containing specifics on its coaching education requirements, and ASEP courses that meet the requirements. In addition, athletic directors, association executives, and coaches can verify coaches’ certifications through the ASEP National Coaches Registry, as well as access free resources and register for ASEP webinars through the site.

www.apus.edu

Stay Up-To-Date Gold Medal Products is constantly updating its Web site to provide the most up-todate information. The site has an events calendar, a news section, and a new products section to help keep you current. It also features all of Gold Medal’s equipment and supplies, showing you the item number, a picture, and a brief description. You can sign up to receive a free catalog and specific newsletters pertaining to your industry or special offers that may be going on.

If you are new to an industry, Gold Medal’s site has a section that lists products and setups that would be a perfect fit. The site is a great resource for watching demonstration videos and finding out more about the company’s quality products. Log on today to see for yourself.

www.gmpopcorn.com

Coaching Management POSTseason 2011 33

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from

LEADERSHIP

Throughout these discussions, let your leaders know how important they are to the program. Don’t be afraid to tell them how much you will rely on them to set the standards, keep the team focused, and handle conflicts. You may even want to tell them that it is “their” team. You will be there to help them, but ultimately it’s the athletes— particularly the leaders— who determine how far the team will go.

JOB DESCRIPTION

_____ _____ Provide Opportunities

While talking about their responsibilities is important, your captains need continual opportunities to make real leadership decisions.

It often works well to start small and build up to more complicated tasks.

For example, let them oversee warmups before practice and make any team announcements. Have them contact teammates to inform them of schedule changes. You can even let them lead some practice drills, or take it a step further and let them plan a practice from time to time.

It’s also key to solicit your captains’ input on team decisions. These can be minor

LEADERSHIP

Here is a sample list of responsibilities coaches can give to team captains: depend on you for leadership, Lead warmups andasdrills: guidance, and support they We expect get your They step up to you theirtochallenge. teammates organized and keep rely on their coach to create a everyone in line, literally and positive and productive environfiguratively. ment that is conducive to helping Set the right tone for them lead. the team: We expect you to In other words,offgreat capstart practices with team the right attitude, work ethic. tains are focus, madeand when both roles Youthe must also refocus the team of coach-captain equation when practices get sloppy, create are tended to. What can easa positive momentum goingone into ily occur, however, is that competition, and recharge the side becomes frustrated with the team when needed. We expect you other. to be the mental and emotional catalystcoaches’ for the team.

Some frustrations stem from that the athletes Keepa belief coaches informed: of seem Wetoday expectdon’t you to keeptoushave the strong leadership skillsthat they did informed about issues impact thethe success psyche the in past. and I often hearofcoaches team. We“Kids want today to know whounlament, don’t might be in conflict with whom, derstand what it means to be a whetherThey players are nearly accepting leader. aren’t as votheir roles, if anyone’s social life cal as they need to be.” Another is getting out of control, and so frequent complaint is, “They forth. Of course, we don’t need aren’t willing stand up You’ll and to know everytolittle thing. confront their teammates have to use your discretionwhen to necessary.” decide which issues might have a negative impact on the team. Be And captains don’t always feel careful to respect the trust of your they have the necessary guidteammates as well. You don’t want ance or support from their to be viewed as a tattletale. coaches. A recent poll I conductProvide input on revealed team ed of student-athletes decisions: We will ask your that over 60 percent of captains opinion on a variety of decisions felt coaches to do a thattheir will affect the needed team. This better job of working with them. could include minor decisions In essence, captains complain like what warmup gear to wear that too many coaches preach or where the team prefers to eat. the athletemore leadership Or itneed couldforinvolve serious but don’t teach it.

issues like how to best discipline a teammate who has broken team rules. Whatever the case, we will challenges are a normal part of page and leading together expect you to add your insightas to leadership. Most importantly, let a unified front, great things can help our decision making. them know that you will be there happen in your program.

Talk with struggling to support them through thick teammates: We expect you to and thin. talk with teammates who might be struggling with their performance From there, ask your captains or role on Starting the team. It ison your to describe what they think it job to understand them, support the Right Foot means to be an effective leader. them, challenge them, and figure Their ideas of leadership might out how to get them back on be quite different than yours. Ask track. them to talk about the leaders Spending time at the very start Handle conflicts: mayyour whom they respect in their lives of the season workingWe with ask you to get involved with team and why, and the ones they don’t captains builds the basis for conflicts when they arise. If a respect and why. This will give this leadership team. To be on small problem crops up, we may you insight into their model of theyou same page, need to is ask to find outyou exactly what Great include great But it doesn’t happen magically. coaches leadership and can leaders. start great talk through what being a teams team always going on and develop a workable thatroles, get you both on opportunities, and giving feedback. captain means and must how to be an invest timediscussions in explaining providing solution. the same page. effective one.

Plan team activities: By Jeff Janssen We willnumber ask you one to plan It can be helpful provide Step is toand clarifyJeff Janssen is also director of the to Janssen Sports Leadership center, in cary, N.c., coordinate various events so your captains with an assessment your expectations of them. Many and a former athletic administrator at the University of arizona. This article is your teammates getcapto of their leadership Just as Team captain’s Leadership Manual. coaches simplycan saybetter to their an adapted excerpt from hisstyle. book, The know other.our Weleader. will relyI expect on each athlete has certain physical tains,each “You’re you to initiate these events and you to step up and lead.” But this strengths and weaknesses, so do make sure everyone is invited and alone is too vague to give proper leaders. I use a two-part evaluinvolved. ation that rates how a person direction.

Your team captains Be loyal: Understand that we leads by example and vocally, in Rather than assuming your can make or break are putting a tremendous amount several areas, from composure their duofcaptains trust in understand you. For example, your season. to team building. (Click here ties, astell well asthings your philosophy we may you that we for a Web link to the survey.) will tell your teammates. andnot expectations, sit downInand f that sounds like an overstateThis type of analysis can help return, we clarify expect what you toyou respect carefully need ment, think back over your make the captains aware of their and support decisions from them.the Create a jobwe descripcoaching career. during your strengths and weaknesses in their make forthe theeight team.toYou tion of 10may priorities most successful seasons, I bet leadership qualities. disagree with them behind closed you expect them to handle. (See you had great team leaders. Now doors, but we will expect you to Encourage your captains to uti“Job aDescription” nextteam. page.) consider your most frustrating show united front on to the lize and maximize their strengths Clarification of their roles and years. did they include poor leadWe also will insist on your loyalty and acknowledge areas to responsibilities onbad themouth front end and that you never us ers? improve in. For example, some prevent misunderstandings towill your teammates.

There must be and not only do your captains have of your leaders might have a aas sacred trust between us. the season goes on. hard time confronting their team- a huge impact on your team’s sucNext, discuss the risks and chalcess, but also on your sanity and mates when necessary. Or, some Rather than both sides blaming lenges of leadership. Let your your satisfaction as a coach. You’ll of your leaders may be too blunt the other, they must make the captains know that this new reusually remember a year you had and lack the necessary tact to effort to work together and forge sponsibility might be difficult and fantastic team leaders with a smile, get their messages across well. a strong coach-captain partdemanding at times. They will regardless of the final record.

Whatever the challenge, encournership. I like to think of it as a encounter many gray areas and age them to make sure that their You rely on your captains to help leadership team. When coaches bumps along the way, and they weaknesses are not a leadership set and uphold the standards of the and captains are on the same should understand that these liability as they work to improve squad, monitor team chemistry, and be your voice in the locker room and on the weekends when you’re not around. You need your captains to consistently reinforce the team’s standards and hold their teammates accountable.

LeaderShIP

them.

_____ Leader _____ Of The Pack

I

at the same time, your captains

Get your FREE sample guide. Go to page 36 Circle No. 114 34 Coaching Management POSTseason 2011

CoachesNetwork.com

More Products Best of Both Worlds

For athletes looking for the best of both worlds, Excel lace-up brace provides the comfort and mobility of a lace-up with the support and security of a “tape job.”

With its circumferential strap that helps stabilize the brace and lacing system that tightens all the way around, Excel provides a conforming and comfortable fit. Excel is also lined with neoprene for maximum comfort and fit with nylon eyelets for reducing pressure points.

Active Ankle Systems, Inc. • 800-800-2896 www.activeankle.com

Circle No. 512

Enhanced Hydration

Original G, part of the G Series, is a sports drink designed to enhance hydration during prolonged training and competition when fluid and electrolyte losses can be significant.

It delivers a unique formula of sodium, potassium, and essential carbohydrates to your muscles and mind during the heat of a battle.

G2 is a low-calorie thirst quencher option that delivers functional hydration, but with less than half the calories of Gatorade Thirst Quencher.

Gatorade • 800-884-2867 www.gatorade.com

Circle No. 516

Nature’s Recovery Drink

Help athletes refuel with “nature’s recovery drink”—lowfat chocolate milk. It has what it takes to help tired muscles recover after a hard workout. Low-fat chocolate milk offers high-quality protein and key electrolytes like calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium, which is found naturally in milk and which most sports drinks add in the lab. Low-fat chocolate milk provides the right mix of protein and carbohydrates to refuel exhausted muscles.

What’s more, milk has nine key nutrients, including some not typically found in sports drinks, like calcium and vitamin D—to strengthen bones and reduce the risk of stress fractures—and B vitamins for energy.

MilkPEP • 202-737-0153 www.milkdelivers.org/refuel

Circle No. 514

Maximum Protection

The VOLT is maximum protection for the maximum athlete. Engineered for performance, the Volt features a carbon fiber reinforced plate, molded bearing hinge design to provide a smoother range of motion, strengthening ribs for a thinner profile which fits better in your shoe, fabric-backed EVA foam pads for durability and comfort, and a single webbing strap with dual fastening option for a customized fit.

Active Ankle Systems, Inc. • 800-800-2896 www.activeankle.com CoachesNetwork.com

Circle No. 515

Help Jump-Start Recovery

G Series Pro Protein Recovery Shake provides balanced nutrition after exercise to help jump-start recovery. G Series Pro Protein Recovery Shake acts as a nutrition bridge between an athlete’s workout or competition and their next meal, with 15 grams of highquality protein per eight-ounce serving and 33 grams of carbohydrate. Athletes should consume one eight-ounce serving within 30-60 minutes after training and competition and an additional serving later for maximum benefit.

Gatorade • 800-884-2867 www.gatorade.com

Circle No. 513

Ideal Icing

The ZAMST IW-2 Icing Set for shoulder and back provides easy wrapping and immobilization of up to three ice bags. The ZAMST icing set is ideal for the R.I.C.E. procedure since the dual strap design enables accurate placement of the ice bag and adjustable compression of the affected body part. Easy to apply and adjust, this product is perfect for elbows, back, and shoulders, and can be used on other joints. The ZAMST IW-2 Icing Set contains two large ice bags (replacements sold separately).

ZAMST • 877-926-7887 www.zamst.com

Circle No. 517

Functional for Females Pro Taco is not a brace, but instead the first functional ankle product for female athletes. The Pro Taco applies topical pressure to the neuroreceptors in the ATFL, CFL, and peroneal muscle group with teardrop and tacoshaped buttresses to enhance proprioception and reduce the stretch of the peroneal muscles.

Topical Gear, LLC 512-659-9373 www.topicalgear.com

Circle No. 519

Optimal Fit and Support

ZAMST shoulder wrap provides added stability to the shoulder.

ZAMST’s unique cutting and stitching techniques combined with state of the art materials create a 3-D shape that delivers optimal fit and support while enabling free, natural movement. Sleeve-style support is simple to use, and the fastening system enables precise adjustments to arm compression. The ZAMST shoulder wrap can be worn directly on the body, and is washable.

ZAMST • 877-926-7887 www.zamst.com

Circle No. 518 Coaching Management POSTseason 2011 35

COACHing IS MORE THAN X s ANd Os SPORTS MEDICINE

intrOduCing new COACHing guides from

For every decision about offenses and defenses, there is another one about dealing with parents, developing leaders, and handling budgets.

That’s why Coaching Management is producing a series of Coaching guides addressing these important off-the-court topics. Topics will include strength training, leadership, nutrition, management, and sports medicine. Read advice from experts and other coaches about handling these vital, yet often overlooked, areas.

For a limited time, we are offering a sample guide that will include articles on each of these important subjects. You can get your e-version by submitting the form below or going to coachesnetwork.com

COACHES NETWORK

GUIDE Use this form for your free sample guide.

LEADERSHIP

Throughout these discussions, let your leaders know how important they are to the program. Don’t be afraid to tell them how much you will rely on them to set the standards, keep the team focused, and handle conflicts. You may even want to tell them that it is “their” team. You will be there to help them, but ultimately it’s the athletes— particularly the leaders— who determine how far the team will go.

Here is a sample list of responsibilities coaches can give to team captains:

School: _______________________________________

issues like how to best discipline a teammate who has broken team rules. Whatever the case, we will expect you to add your insight to help our decision making.

Lead warmups and drills: We expect you to get your teammates organized and keep Talk with struggling L E A D E R S H I P teammates: We expect you to everyone in line, literally and figuratively. talk with teammates who might be struggling with their performance Set the right toneon for depend you for leadership, pageItand leading together as or role on the team. is your the team: We expect you to guidance, and support a unified front, great things can jobastothey understand them, support start practices off with the right them, They challenge happen them, and step up to their challenge. in figure your program. attitude, focus, and work ethic. howato get them back on rely on the theirteam coach toout create You must also refocus track. positive and productive environwhen practices get sloppy, create ment that is conducive to helping a positive momentum going into Handle conflicts: We may Starting on them lead. the competition, and recharge ask you to get involved with team Provide team when needed. We expect you conflicts when they arise.

If aRight Foot the In other words, great team capOpportunities to be the mental and emotional small problem crops up, we may both catalyst for thetains team.are made whenask youroles to find out exactly what is of the coach-captain going equation on and develop a workable Keep coaches informed: are tended to. What can easSpending time at the very start solution.

While talking about their We expect you to keep us ily occur, however, is that one of the season working with your responsibilities is important, informed about issues that impact Plan team activities: becomes frustrated with the captains builds the basis for the success andside psyche of the We will ask you to plan and your captains need conthisevents leadership team. We want other. to know who coordinate various so team. To be on tinual opportunities to make the might be in conflict with whom, your teammates can same betterpage, get to you need to real leadership decisions.

Some coaches’ frustrations stem whether playersfrom are accepting each other.talk Wethrough will rely what on being a team It often works well to start a belief that theknow athletes their roles, if anyone’s social life captain means you to initiate these events and and how to be an small and build up to more of today don’t seem to have the is getting out of control, and so make sure everyone is invited effective one. and complicated tasks. strong leadership skills they did forth. Of course, we don’t need involved. thething. past.You’ll I often hear coaches Step number one is to clarify to know every in little For example, let them Be loyal: that we of them. Many lament, “Kidstotoday don’t un- Understand your expectations have to use your discretion oversee warmups before are putting a tremendous amountsay to their capderstand what coaches simply decide which issues might haveit ameans to be a practice and make any of trust in you. For example, negative impactleader. on theThey team.aren’t Be nearly as votains, “You’re our leader. I expect team announcements. Have we may tell you things that we careful to respect trustneed of your cal the as they to be.” Another to step up will not tell youryou teammates.

In and lead.” But this them contact teammates teammates as well.

You don’t want is, “They frequent complaint alone is too vague to give proper return, we expect you to respect to inform them of schedto be viewed asaren’t a tattletale. willing to standand up support and the direction. decisions we ule changes. You can even confront their teammates Provide input on team makewhen for the team.

You than may assuming your let them lead some pracRather necessary.” decisions: We will ask your disagree with them behind closed tice drills, or take it a step captains understand their duopinion on a variety of decisions doors, but we will expect you to further and let them plan a captains ties,toasthe well as your philosophy that will affect And the team.

This don’t always show afeel united front team. practice from time to time. they have the necessary and could include minor decisions We guidalso will insist on expectations, your loyalty sit down and ance or to support fromand their carefully clarify like what wearmagically. that you never bad mouth uswhat you need It’s teams also key to solicit your great leaders.

Great always include But itwarmup doesn’tgear happen coaches coaches. recent conductfromThere them.

Create or where the team prefersA to eat. polltoI your teammates. must be a job descripcaptains’ inputinon team de- roles, providing must invest time explaining opportunities, and giving afeedback. ed ofmore student-athletes revealed Or it could involve serious sacred trust between tion of us. the eight to 10 priorities cisions. These can be minor that over 60 percent of captains you expect them to handle. (See

By Jeff Janssen felt their coaches do a “Job Description” on next page.)

Jeff Janssen is director of the Janssen Sports Leadership center,needed in cary,toN.c., better job of working them.

Clarification of their roles and and a former athletic administrator at the University of arizona.

Thiswith article is In essence, captains complain responsibilities on the front end an adapted excerpt from his book, The Team captain’s Leadership Manual. that too many coaches preach will prevent misunderstandings the need for athlete leadership as the season goes on. but don’t teach it.

Next, discuss the risks and chalRather both sides blaming Yourthan team captains lenges of leadership. Let your the other,make they must the captains know that this new recan ormake break effort to work together and forge sponsibility might be difficult and your season. a strong coach-captain partdemanding at times. They will nership.

I like to like think it as a encounter many gray areas and f that sounds anofoverstateleadership team.

When bumps along the way, and they ment, think back overcoaches your and captainscareer. are onduring the same should understand that these coaching your

_____ _____

_____ _____

LeaderShIP

Name: _______________________________________

JOB DESCRIPTION

Leader Of The Pack

I

most successful seasons, I bet you had great team leaders. Now consider your most frustrating years. did they include poor leaders?

Title: _________________________________________ challenges are a normal part of leadership. Most importantly, let them know that you will be there to support them through thick and thin.

E-mail: _______________________________________

From there, ask your captains to describe what they think it means to be an effective leader.

Their ideas of leadership might be quite different than yours. Ask them to talk about the leaders whom they respect in their lives and why, and the ones they don’t respect and why. This will give you insight into their model of leadership and can start great discussions that get you both on the same page.

Phone: _______________________________________

It can also be helpful to provide your captains with an assessment of their leadership style. Just as each athlete has certain physical strengths and weaknesses, so do leaders. I use a two-part evaluation that rates how a person leads by example and vocally, in several areas, from composure to team building. (Click here for a Web link to the survey.)

This type of analysis can help make the captains aware of their strengths and weaknesses in their leadership qualities.

Encourage your captains to utilize and maximize their strengths and acknowledge areas to improve in. For example, some of your leaders might have a hard time confronting their teammates when necessary. Or, some of your leaders may be too blunt and lack the necessary tact to get their messages across well.

Whatever the challenge, encourage them to make sure that their weaknesses are not a leadership liability as they work to improve

SPORTS MEDICINE

them.

Would you be interested in receiving a complimentary copy of An Athlete’s Guide to Nutrition?_____________ Fax to: 607.257.7328 Mail to: Coaching Management, 31 dutch Mill Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850 COACHES NETWORK

GUIDE

and not only do your captains have a huge impact on your team’s success, but also on your sanity and your satisfaction as a coach. You’ll usually remember a year you had fantastic team leaders with a smile, regardless of the final record.

You rely on your captains to help set and uphold the standards of the squad, monitor team chemistry, and be your voice in the locker room and on the weekends when you’re not around. You need your captains to consistently reinforce the team’s standards and hold their teammates accountable. at the same time, your captains

36 Coaching Management POSTseason 2011

X

You can also request your FREE sample guide by going to www.coachesnetwork.com

X X

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delIVered by the AttAck VolleybAll MAchIne

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toP sPIn: A type of serve that puts a large amount of forward spin on the volleyball causing it to dive suddenly.

3

keeping your players focused on contact and developing a strong defense.

If Perfect Is your keyword, the AttAck & AttAckII VolleybAll MAchInes delIVer.

6 7 8

0

9 T OP

10

WHEEL SPEED

Perfect. With the Attack Volleyball Machine you can practice against settings serve the perfect top spin from high school to professional levels,

5

2 1

high repetitions of precise top spin serves. Simple adjustments to the dial

4

3

4

5

6 7

2 1

8

0

9 BOTTO M

10

Top Dial 8±1 Bottom Dial 5±1 Top wheel should always be faster.

P.O. Box 1529 | 2805 U. S. 40 | Verdi, NV 89439 | tf 800.717.4251 | ph 775.345.2882 Circle CircleNo. No.126 115

Circle No. 116