A Quick Note: These newsletters have been written for volleyball, but the concepts discussed apply to any sport. Feel free to substitute the word “volleyball” with “basketball”, “field hockey”, “curling” or any other sport of your choosing.
Part 3, Section 2 (Parent Corner) is extremely volleyball-heavy and we go over volleyball statistics in detail. However, the “Disclaimer” portion of that section is worth reading regardless. Feel free to read the disclaimer and then move on to Section 3 if you aren’t that interested in volleyball stats.
This newsletter is Part 3 of a four part series. The goal of this series is to help our players, parents and coaching staff maximize their club volleyball experience and build a better understanding of the game.
In Part 3:
- Players will learn how to train their bodies off the court and become stronger, faster athletes.
- Parents will build a deeper understanding of volleyball strategy and how coaches use statistics.
- Coaches will develop team culture by learning to set and communicate high standards.
Each section is accompanied by videos or articles that expand on the concepts presented. You should definitely read the section targeted to your group, but I encourage players, parents and coaches to read all of the articles (together if possible)! They will help us create a great experience for our athletes, families and our coaching staff while providing a framework for our discussions throughout the year.
Let’s get to it!
PLAYER PERFORMANCE – Part 3: You Are What You Eat (and How You Train)
In 2019, Stanford won its 3rd NCAA Championship in 4 years. You do not play for Stanford. Why? Possibly because all of Stanford’s players are 6’4″+ athletic freaks of nature with 30+ inch vertical jumps.
That may seem overwhelming, but let’s break this statement down. The main difference between college players and high school players is NOT skill related. Volleyball skills plateau as you get older. Every girl playing college volleyball is a good passer. Every girl is a good hitter and blocker. As you get older, separation between players can be attributed mainly to ATHLETICISM.
So how can you become an athletic outlier? While we can’t make you 6’4″, we can teach you how to jump 4-6 inches higher in one club season by focusing on nutrition, weight training and recovery. If you make improvements in these areas, you will have a solid foundation for your volleyball career.
*DISCLAIMER*
WE ARE NOT DOCTORS
If you have any questions or concerns about what you eat or how you exercise…
TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR
STEP 1 – NUTRITION
We’re going to start by examining nutrition to make sure we are getting the proper fuel for our workouts. The goal is to eat well so we can build lean muscle, get stronger and jump higher. Here are some basic principles that we find universal:
- Eat more healthy protein/fat and fewer carbs in the morning
- Do not drink sugar (this includes gatorade…which is basically un-carbonated soda)
- Eat carbs after you work out to aid in muscle recovery
Don’t believe us? Check out a recent quote from Lebron James on the Tim Ferriss Show:
“Yeah. I think right now, what we try to stay away from…what we haven’t had in a long time…is artificial drinks, artificial sugars, and fried foods.” – Lebron James
STEP 2 – STRENGTH TRAINING
Before we start, it is important to note that our high school players are already lifting weights through the club. DO NOT LIFT ADDITIONAL WEIGHTS DURING THE CLUB SEASON. The concepts presented below can be used during the summer to prepare for the high school season.
Now that you have straightened out your diet, it’s time to hit the weight room. First things first, you should NOT be lifting weights until FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL. It’s never too early to start eating well, but you should save the weights for after you finish the majority of your growth. For girls, that will be around age 14/15.
So what constitutes a great workout? It’s important to note that volleyball is an “anaerobic alactic” sport, which means that you use fast twitch muscles for power.
The average play in volleyball is 5-10 seconds with 20-30 seconds of rest in between points. Training should reflect this. Exercises that last less than 10 seconds with a full recovery period will carry over best to the volleyball court.
There are two different ways to increase a vertical jump:
1) Increase Muscle Fibers: When lifting weights, you will engage 100% of your muscle fibers by lifting 80% of your maximum weight for each exercise.
We want to complete 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps/set with an exercise that focuses on the lower body like the trap bar deadlift. We want to stimulate the muscle fibers, not destroy them. Lifting until you are so sore you cannot move is not a good thing when it comes to training for sports.
2) Become More Efficient: Becoming more efficient means better utilizing the stretch shortening cycle. When a muscle is stretched violently, it will contract harder. This is exactly what happens when you jump: You stretch the muscles of your legs and then reverse very quickly. This type of training is commonly called “Plyometrics.”
To improve your jumping, you need to influence this reaction in a positive way: Fast movements with a lot of recovery. Stepping off an 18″ bench and, on landing, jumping up as high as you can is a good way to train. Something important to remember is that more is not better. More causes injuries. Less is best with this type of training.
SAMPLE WORKOUT
- Trap Bar Deadlift – 80% max x 3-5 reps
- 18″ Plyo Jumps x 3-5 reps
- REST 5 MINUTES
Repeat 5 times and do the workout twice a week. You should feel “charged up” after your workout, not tired. That’s a sign that you’ve stimulated your nervous system rather than fatigued it.
REAL TALK
As far as I see it, there are only two legitimate reasons to miss a workout:
1) I am sick or injured – NEVER lift weights if you have an injury. Get healthy first, then train hard.
2) I have an academic requirement – School comes first. I have coached over 1,000 athletes and only ONE has played professional volleyball. Academics will get you where you want to be in life…
BUUUUUT you also need to be honest with yourself. Did you really spend all of your free time studying? During the season, you probably spend 18+ hours/week with your team. I am only asking for 8 hours: 6 hours of practice and 2 hours in the weight room for our high school players.
Log out of TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, [insert your favorite app here], turn off your computer, stop texting your friends and put your phone on silent. Then, get some real studying done.
If you still don’t have time, go to the library during your lunch period. And if you STILL don’t have time…okay. You did everything you could and you have your priorities straight. Plus, you can make up your weight room sessions after your test or project.
EXCUSES, EXCUSES
This is the time when the excuses start rolling in. I can’t lift weights because:
- Our weight room isn’t open…
- I don’t have anyone to supervise me…
- The football team is lifting and said I can’t use it…
Did you try asking politely? You may be shocked at how many people in your life are willing to help you. As for the football team, stop by your principal’s office and ask why you are being discriminated against as a female athlete. I GUARANTEE that you will be granted access to do all the deadlifts and box jumps your heart desires.
Or, if you prefer, you can buy a used trap bar online and work out with your friends in your garage. Problem solved.
STEP 3 – RECOVERY
When you are done your daily volleyball or strength training workout, eat a meal that is high in protein and good carbohydrates (rice/potatoes/pasta). After a workout, your body needs carbohydrates to build muscle tissue and replace glycogen.
Now we need to focus on sleep. To let your body (and your brain) recover, athletes require between 8-10 hours of sleep depending on their age. Sleep helps your brain consolidate motor patterns and gives your muscles time to grow.
Sleep also reduces inflammation in the body and regulates hormones that burn fat and help you stay lean. Here are some key points to maximize your sleep:
- Get 8-10 hours of sleep each night depending on your age (younger = more)
- Set a scheduled bedtime and wake time. Adjust until you feel great when you wake up.
- Make sure it is very dark and a little cool in the room.
- No Cell Phones, Laptops or TVs in the bedroom. PERIOD.
So that’s it. Eat well, train hard and recover fully to be the best athlete you can be!
Breakfast of Champions: How Team USA’s Kelsey Robinson Starts Her Day (3m Article)
Trap Bar Deadlift: Learn This and Jump Higher (30s Video)
The Science of Sleep: Stay smarter, stronger and fitter with sleep (3m Video)
PARENT CORNER – Part 3: Understanding the Game Through Statistics
High school volleyball was introduced to South Jersey in the early 1990s. If you are an adult who grew up in South Jersey, there is a good chance that you did not come in contact with the sport until your daughter started playing.
While the recent explosion of televised volleyball has made high level play more accessible, our players typically have a better understanding of the game than their parents. The aim of this section is to help parents build a better understanding of the sport and how our coaches make decisions using statistics.
UNDERSTANDING VOLLEYBALL ROTATIONS
***Feel free to skip this section if you already understand rotations***
First, some background on the basic rules regarding rotations. There are six starting positions on the court, three in the front row and three in the back row. Every time the team earns a side-out (scoring a point when the other team is serving), the team rotates clockwise and a new player becomes the server.
GMS INTRO TO ROTATIONS (3m video)
Here is the most important part: If a player comes into the game as a substitute for another player, they are locked into that position on the court.
For example, if PLAYER A starts in position 4 (front left) and PLAYER B subs in for PLAYER A, then PLAYER B must rotate around the court in that position.
If PLAYER B comes back out of the game, they are not allowed to substitute for another player playing another position. They can only go back into the same spot.
Why does this matter? This rule prevents coaches from substituting their best hitter out of the back row and then immediately subbing them into the front row again.
HOW WE USE SUBSTITUTIONS
Now that we understand HOW coaches can use substitutions, we can look at WHY coaches make the decisions that they do. Every team is allotted 12 substitutions per set. With this limit in place, coaches need to use their substitutions wisely to optimize team performance.
Coaches will construct lineups keeping two things in mind: Player Development and Competitive Success. In reality, these things are not mutually exclusive, but for illustrative purposes, we can view these goals as opposite extremes on a spectrum:
Player Development <————————> Competitive Success
To maximize overall player development in games, the team could be constructed with six players who do not specialize. In this scenario, all of the players would get an equal opportunity to develop individual skills at every position.
Conversely, a coach can try to maximize competitive success by training players in specialized roles and making substitutions that play to their individual strengths.
We try to balance these two approaches. Practices are geared toward player development and matches are a mix of individual development and competitive success depending on the age and ability level of the players.
WHAT “WINS” IN VOLLEYBALL
Since we discussed player development in previous newsletters, this section will focus on competition. To maximize competitive success, we need to identify what makes a team successful in volleyball based on their ability level:
- Level 1: Lowest Levels
- Whoever can SERVE in will win
- Level 2: Moderately Experienced
- Whoever can PASS will win (everyone can serve at this point)
- Level 3: Experienced Teams
- SETTING and HITTING take prominent roles
- Level 4: Highest Levels
- BLOCKING and DEFENSE separate good teams from great teams
Generally, a team will be successful if they establish a strong foundation of passing and serving. The team can build on that success if they develop setters and hitters who help the team side-out more effectively. High level teams will have great defenders and efficient blockers who make it difficult for the opponent to score points.
In the end, our coaches try to use their roster to maximize the team’s output in these phases of the game while adhering to the substitution and rotation rules. There are a lot of factors to consider.
To help our coaches make better decisions, we track statistics during matches on a volleyball statistics app that was developed by former USA Volleyball coach, Joe Trinsey. That data is aggregated across our entire club and used in conjunction with practice data to optimize lineups, make personnel decisions and construct teams.
DISCLAIMER
We track performance data over an entire season and across multiple seasons of a player’s career. If you don’t have a solid understanding of statistics as a discipline, here are three crucial principles to help you avoid making false conclusions:
- Sample Size Matters – Please do not watch one match and say that a player is a “good server” because they made all six of their serves. We like to observe at least 50 attempts to gauge a player’s ability level, but prefer 100 or more attempts before we are confident that the data accurately represents the player’s ability.
- Regression is Real – All players experience variance around their average performance. That means a player will have “good days” and “bad days” when compared to their baseline ability. Nobel Prize winning psychologist/economist Daniel Kahneman outlines this phenomenon in an entertaining anecdote about Israeli Air Force pilots who were unjustly rewarded and punished based on their performance in routine flight maneuvers.
- Context Counts – Scientists use control groups to increase the reliability of their results by isolating the independent variable under observation. Volleyball doesn’t work that way. We can’t always play against the same team with the same players starting in the same rotation.
Consequently, the level of your competition matters and must be accounted for when examining player statistics. One way we can reduce the impact of competition is to focus on a player’s error percentage to judge improvement. For example, when a player makes a serving error, it has little or nothing to do with her opponent’s skill level.
SERVING
Our general guideline is to serve in aggressively at a high percentage. By serving aggressively, we are trying to make it difficult for the other team to side out by forcing a bad pass. Examine the statistics for these two players:
- Player A: Serves in at 96%, Opponent’s Sideout rate is 55%
- Player B: Serves in at 72%, Opponent’s Sideout rate is 45%
Who would you rather have on your team?
Player B misses more serves, but she is actually the more effective player. Her opponents are earning a side-out only 45% of the time. Don’t be fooled, it is easy to see when a player misses a serve, but harder to observe how often the other team is able to side out.
To illustrate this point, we could teach all of our players to serve underhand to the middle of the court. Our players would make very few errors, but the opponent would find the serves easy to pass and their side out rate would be extremely high. This strategy is far too conservative and would result in losses at every level of organized volleyball.
PASSING
We grade passing on a 3-point scale:
- 3 = Good Pass (In front of the Attack Line near the middle of the court)
- 2 = Medium Pass (Setter is setting the ball with her hands)
- 1 = Bad Pass (Non-setter has to take second ball or setter has to bump set)
- 0 = Error (Reception Error)
An average passing score of 1.8 or better would indicate a strong passer. We generally like our players to pass 40% good with an error rate under 15%.
It is worth mentioning that out of 20 received serves, we expect good passers to be aced 2-3 times. Passing in serve receive is the most difficult skill in volleyball. Judge it accordingly.
HITTING/SETTING
Hitting % is a measurement that shows how effective a player is when she attacks the ball. Simply put, we want our players to get more kills than errors.
Hitting % is calculated as follows:
(Kills - Errors)
_______________________Total Attempts
If a player has 10 attempts, earns 4 kills and makes 2 errors, then they are hitting .200 (if you aren’t a fan a decimals, you can also call it +20% or +2/10).
In scale, it is similar to a baseball batting average. In baseball, a lifetime .300 hitter is probably in the Hall of Fame. In volleyball, a .250 outside hitter is also a GREAT player at the top of her game.
The benchmarks we set for our players vary slightly by position. Middle hitters tend to hit a higher percentage because they get better quality sets on balls that are passed well. Outside hitters get a higher volume of sets which include more low quality out-of-system sets when the pass is not good.
As always, the level of competition can directly affect hitting percentage. To reduce the effect of this variable, we can use error percentage as an indicator of player development because it is not controlled by the level of our opponents.
Here is an example of one player’s hitting % from a 13U team in 2019:
| Atlantic City | Richmond | |
| Hitting % | 27% (+.270) | -10% (-.100) |
| Kill | 60% | 22% |
| Error | 33% | 32% |
Did this player get worse in the two weeks between Atlantic City and Richmond? Not likely. But she did play against much better competition.
In Atlantic City, the team played in the 14 Club Division against local teams from South Jersey. Their opponents were not very sophisticated defensively resulting in an astronomically high kill percentage of 60%.
In Richmond, the opposite was true. Playing against teams that were very good and highly experienced, her kill percentage dropped to 22%.
Now look at the error percentage. The player actually posted a 1% decrease between the two tournaments, showing a tiny bit of improvement.
The lesson…context matters!
BLOCKING/DEFENSE
We’ll keep this section simple. As a rule, we want to have a positive BLOCK/ERROR ratio, meaning we block more balls for points than we commit net faults or get “tooled” (when a player hits the ball off our block for a kill).
How often should a blocker generate a point? That is a tougher question. On average, our hitters are blocked around 3% of the time (remember, the ball must be blocked for a point, sometimes referred to as a “stuff block”). This percentage will increase at higher levels of play where athletes are more physical and attack the ball more often.
On the defensive side of the ball, we like to see our players digging at 70% and above. Again, the level of competition can affect this threshold, but it serves as a good rule of thumb.
ONE FINAL NOTE
Volleyball statistics are essentially the same at every level. If you hit .250 (25% positive) at 13s you are a great outside hitter. If you hit .250 (25% positive) at 18s, you are also a great outside hitter.
As players get better at any one skill, their opponents also get better, thereby imposing an upper limit on what is possible statistically.
The Stat Wizard: Joe Trinsey with more info on volleyball stats than you would ever want/need (blog)
Regression is Real: Don’t Let it Fool You (10m article)
The Undoing Project: How Two Israeli Psychologists Changed Our Minds (Book)
COACHES CLASSROOM – Part 3: Culture is King
CREATING CULTURE
In 2018, author Daniel Coyle examined how the most successful groups in the world work together in his New York Times bestselling book, The Culture Code. In the book, he identifies three components at the core of great teamwork:
- Establishing Purpose
- Building Safety
- Sharing Vulnerability
Establishing Purpose
Every great team must be able to answer the question “WHY”. Pursuit of a common goal bonds teammates together. Without purpose, teams lack the focus and aim required to make true progress. The goal can be simple and straightforward or more complex and abstract.
At Jersey Juniors, our purpose is to develop our athletes into the best volleyball players in New Jersey. We try to realize our purpose by continuously improving our training environment and establishing youth programs to bring in new players at younger ages.
Coaches can establish purpose with their individual teams. Here are a few examples that could be appropriate for various age groups:
- Grade 6 & Under – Love the Game & Learn the Basics. Ignite a passion for volleyball and learn basic skills
- Grade 7/8 – Learn to Compete. Play in high level tournaments and connect our training with competitive outcomes
- Grade 9/10 – Compete at the Highest Level. Improve individual skills so that all players practice or play at the varsity level the following year
- Grade 11 – Train to be Leaders. Develop leadership skills so athletes go back to their respective schools and promote a positive team culture
- Grade 12 – Prepare for College. Refine skills and prepare to play at the next level
Building Safety
At Jersey Juniors, we value a culture that promotes learning. Our staff understands that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process and provide opportunities for growth. This understanding is the basis for a Growth Mindset, which the players learned about in the first newsletter of this series.
Be consistent! It is imperative that the coach reinforces Growth Mindset on a consistent basis. If a coach encourages aggressive play at practice, but at tournaments, yells at players for making mistakes, they have jeopardized the feeling of safety in the group.
Sharing Vulnerability
To build trust between players and coaches, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. One of the most damaging traits in a coach/player relationship is the coach’s inability to admit fault when things aren’t going well. Everyone makes mistakes, even coaches. That does not mean you are a bad coach or a bad leader.
If you make a mistake as a coach, don’t hide from it. Talk about the mistake and what you are doing to make it better. This behavior will encourage your athletes to be open and honest with you when they make mistakes.
SETTING STANDARDS
Once you establish the culture of your team, you can begin to set standards for on-court and off-court behavior. On-court standards define how we behave during the game:
- Players are Organized: All players know their rotations and set up correctly in both serve receive and defense.
- Players Play Hard: Every volleyball must be relentlessly pursued on EVERY POINT whether it is the first or last point of the match.
- Players Support Unconditionally: Things may not always go the way we plan, but we support each other through success and failure.
Off-court standards are equally important:
- Players are Responsible: Players make sure they have the proper gear for practice and matches. They are in charge of their schedule and do not rely on their parents to facilitate their club experience. They reach out directly to coaches with any questions.
- Players are Respectful: Players show sportsmanship on the court and they are respectful to officials. Players show up on time. Punctuality shows a mutual respect for teammates/coaches and shows that the time we spend together is a priority.
- Players are Great Teammates: Team unity is vital to create a great club environment. Players sit together when they are off or during work assignments. Social media and group chats should be positive. Players strive to create an inclusive atmosphere.
Players should take part in developing team standards and agree to uphold them. It is important to note that standards are not rules. Rules are a set of strictly defined regulations that legislate what players should and should not do. This is not ideal for two reasons:
- It is impossible to anticipate all of the potential scenarios that could come up in a given season. Therefore, there are an infinite number of special circumstances that will not be covered. This allows players to circumvent and contest the team rules.
- Players view rules as negative. Instead of working to achieve high standards, they may be content to do the bare minimum to abide by the rules.
ACHIEVING GOALS
Once you have established the culture of your team and set standards for behavior, you can implement team goals. In this context, goals will be defined as benchmarks for team progress. They can be internal (developmental) goals like serving over 90% as a team or external (competitive) goals like finishing in the top half of a multi-day tournament.
One of the most effective types of goals is an Effort-Based Goal. For example, we make a defensive move for every ball that hits the floor on our side of the court. Jim Thompson from the Positive Coaching Alliance champions Effort-Based Goals because “Setting a goal for specific efforts you will make leaves you in control over whether or not you achieve those goals.” By setting effort goals, the team can still see progress regardless of negative outcomes or other setbacks.
If the objectives change for different tournaments, make sure both your players and parents know that. Over-communicate to make sure you are getting your message across. When setting goals, having your team on the same page will eliminate potential issues and create a positive experience for your players.
Finally, be realistic. Team goals should align with the experience level and skill set of the players. For example, some teams may compete at the Open level at multi-day tournaments or in the GEVA Power League. It is possible that these teams will choose to prioritize competitive success more than other teams in our club.
When setting competitive goals, make sure that your players and parents clearly understand the team’s objectives. If you have a younger or less experienced team, intrinsic and/or effort based goals tend to be more appropriate.
Get Some Culture: Blog of Culture Code Author Daniel Coyle (Blog posts)
Magical Feedback: How the Spurs Create Great Culture with 19 Words (3m article)
Legacy: How the All Blacks Created the Most Revered Team Culture in the World (Book)
BONUS LINK
All or Nothing: New Zealand All Blacks (6 episodes if you aren’t a fan of reading)
THANKS FOR READING!
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter! If you have any feedback, please send me an email or grab me after a practice or game. Which article or video is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Have a better name for this newsletter? Other suggestions? Let me know! (Just make sure your feedback is Radically Candid…)
See you on the court!
Coach Scott