A Quick Note: These newsletters have been written around 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.
This newsletter is Part 4 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 4:
- Players will explore learning curves and how they relate to offseason development.
- Parents will use that information to help their daughter build a great offseason.
- Coaches will learn new ways to expand their volleyball knowledge and improve for the coming year.
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 4: Consolidate Your Gains in the Offseason
In high school sports, there are three distinct phases to the year:
- High School Season
- Club Season
- Off-Season.
The structure of your high school season is largely determined by your high school coach. It’s likely that you will practice or play games 6 days/week while taking Sundays off.
During club season, you practice 2-3 days/week and participate in a larger number of single and multi-day tournaments. Again, this schedule is determined by an outside party consisting of your club director and club coach.
That leaves your offseason as the period where you hold the most control. You are completely responsible for your development during that time. To maximize skill acquisition over the course of the year, it is important to continuously exercise the skills you learned during club season.
The Forgetting Curve: Retention decreases sharply in the time immediately following a learning experience.
In Part 1 of this newsletter series, we explored how athletes learn. Now, we will focus on how athletes FORGET. As time passes, our retention of knowledge decreases quickly. This is called the “Forgetting Curve.”
Think about the last time you took a vocabulary test. Maybe you crammed the night before, reviewed each word on the bus the next morning and took the test. You might have performed well. But what would have happened if your teacher told you that the test would be delayed by a week? Or a month? Without additional studying, you would probably not do well.
The key factor for long term retention is REVIEW. By reviewing a given piece of knowledge, we increase our retention and create a positive learning curve where we can maintain knowledge over a long period of time.
Review positively impacts our Learning Curve
Fortunately for our athletes, the power of review applies to motor learning as well. If we review a given skill, our chance of retention increases dramatically. Let’s explore three different scenarios for offseason training to expand on this point:
Scenario 1 – No offseason training
This is not an ideal offseason plan. Skill development from the club season will steadily regress as the player moves down the Forgetting Curve. If that is not readily obvious to you, please re-read the section above.
Scenario 2 – Offseason training without applying previously learned skills
Playing volleyball in the off-season is definitely a step in the right direction. However, we are looking to maximize skill retention. This requires an athlete to be mindful of the way she is playing.
For example, hitters should look to apply correct footwork and arm drive. Passers should attempt to pass with straight arms using angles. Setters should hold their finish after the set. Servers should focus on a good toss (height & placement) while approaching in a straight line.
Scenario 3 – Offseason training with dedicated focus on previously learned skills
This is the best possible scenario. Here, the athlete is diligently applying the keys learned in club season for each skill. This approach will maximize retention and strengthen the foundation of skills.
For a complete breakdown of what we consider a great off-season, you can check out the “Parent Corner” section below.
Win the Off-Season: Reinforcement Events Help You Retain Skills (1m video)
Win the Classroom: Learning Principles Don’t Just Apply to Volleyball (7m video)
How to Practice: Optimize Your Offseason Training with Better Practice (4m video)
PARENT CORNER – Part 4: Help Your Athlete Maximize Growth
As club season comes to an end, the most common question we get is “What’s next?” That’s an important question. Your daughter has just dedicated five months to improving as a player. However, like academic knowledge, motor learning skills are susceptible to a loss of retention.
How can we, as parents, support our children in the offseason and help them maximize skill development?
STEP 1: Talk to your athlete
Here are a few tips to help guide a productive conversation:
- Wait 1-2 weeks after the end of the season before approaching your daughter. She may need time to decompress and reflect on her season before looking forward. You will be surprised how often a player will initiate the conversation if given space. As it turns out, most players truly love volleyball and don’t need prompting to play more!
- Start the conversation with a simple phrase from Part 1 of our newsletter series: “I loved watching you play this season!” This item is extremely important. Do not forget it.
- Ask what (if anything) she would like to do in the offseason.
- Listen to your daughter’s responses. If she needs time off, then respect her wishes. Kids that are pushed to play NEVER succeed. Please, do not make this a job for your daughter. You will be stealing her enjoyment of the sport and setting her up for failure.
STEP 2: Build in Recovery Time
Make sure to structure time off to let the athlete recover from the season both mentally and physically. We recommend 2-4 weeks. The athlete should stay active, but focus on low-impact activities like yoga and stretching.
For cardio, stick to uphill walks (maximum incline on the treadmill) or high intensity interval training for short explosive bursts. Avoid long distance running to give knees and other joints a rest. Continue lifting weights during this time, but keep it to 2 days/week.
STEP 3: Plan Out Your Summer
It is time to plan the offseason. The goal: Maximize development and prepare for the high school or middle school season. Here are the summer activities that we recommend with explanations for why we like each program.
Summer Doubles
WHO: All Players (regardless of age or position)
WHY: The summer doubles league is a 2 v 2 program held outdoors. Playing doubles allows each player to work on serving, passing, hitting, setting and defense regardless of position.
This comprehensive approach allows our athletes to develop into well rounded volleyball players. We consistently find that our best players at every position train with doubles in the off-season.
The benefits of this training is recognized at the highest levels of volleyball, including Team USA. Women’s Head Coach, Karch Kiraly, identified the development of better all-around players as one of the top needs of the national team in a recent interview.
High School Summer Practice & Open Gym
WHO: High School Players
WHY: It is important for our high school players to reintegrate with their school teams prior to the season. We also recommend that incoming freshmen reach out to their future high school coach to see if there are opportunities to practice with the returning players.
Players should prepare to discuss their goals for the season with their high school coach during the summer. These goals may include the position and level where you wish to compete. Addressing these topics in the summer gives your coach time to plan and sets the framework for conversations going forward.
Local Youth Volleyball Camps
WHO: Grade School Players & Less Experienced Middle School Players
WHY: Camps can be a great summer experience for new or less experienced players. They immerse the player in volleyball for a full week and offer a fun summer activity.
College Overnight Camps
WHO: High School Players being actively recruited or Younger Players who want an overnight experience
WHY: College camps can be a great experience. They offer a chance to build autonomy, spend time on a college campus and play a TON of volleyball over a 3-4 day period. If a player is being actively recruited, she can get a great look at what college life would be like and meet some of her potential teammates.
However, college camps can be far from perfect. Most likely, the head coach at the university will have little involvement. The staff may be filled with coaches from outside organizations or college players which can lead to coaching inconsistencies. Athletes have very little influence on team placement for the camp and may find that the level of play does not suit their individual needs.
The bottom line, make sure you know what you are paying for. If your daughter is being actively recruited, a college camp could be a good idea if the school is one of her top choices. If a player just wants the experience of going away for a weekend, that is ok too.
Optimal Summer Schedule
Now that we have reviewed each program, a comprehensive schedule might look something like this:
High School Players
- Summer Doubles (2x/week June-August)
- High School Practice (2x/week July)
- College Camp (1 weekend) – ONLY IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GO
Middle School or Grade School Players
- Summer Doubles (2x/week)
- Youth Camp – OPTIONAL
Summer is a great time to promote “Free Play”
Last, but not least. You can create an environment at home that promotes unstructured “Free Play.” The benefits of free play in sports are tangible and well documented. From the streets of Brazil to the frozen ponds of the American Midwest, free play has been credited for helping some of the world’s best athletes reach their peak.
To help your athlete reap the benefits, all you need to do is buy a good outdoor volleyball and net system to set up a grass court in your backyard. Hanging a spotlight on a tree or the side of a house allows play to continue well into the summer night!
Unstructured Play: We Think Your Athlete Should Play Doubles…Science Agrees (1m article)
Backyard Beach Court: You Absolutely Should (NOT) Do this at Home (2m video)
Train in Your Backyard: The Best Summer Volleyball Equipment for Practicing at Home (3m article)
COACHES CLASSROOM – Part 4: Put on Your White Belt
As a club, we advocate Growth Mindset with our players. As coaches, we need to practice what we preach!
Summer is a great time to expand your coaching knowledge and find something new to bring back to the gym the following season. Here is a simple task that will radically accelerate your growth:
DO ONE THING EVERY YEAR TO BECOME A BETTER COACH.
Kano Jigoro, founder of judo and lifelong learner, was buried in his white belt
Here are a few examples of how we, as coaches, can get better this offseason:
- Shadow a Good Coach – Reach out to a successful high school or college coach and ask to come in to watch a practice. Spend your time observing and listening. Offer to buy the coach lunch in return for the time they spend with you. Lunch is a great time to ask questions.
- Spend time at Jersey Juniors Skills Training or Youth Programs – Observing and assisting in these sessions will help you get a better understanding of the underlying technical principles used in our practices.
- Consider hosting or attending a Coaching Clinic – Jersey Juniors will cover the fee and housing for any coach who wants to attend a GMS clinic
- Hire an instructor for a Day Camp at your high school gym – Coaches tend to be very generous with their time and you can pick the brain of the instructors after the camp/clinic.
- READ! Or listen if you prefer podcasts and audiobooks. Reading and applying just one good book each year can make a dramatic difference. Check out the Jersey Juniors Coach Orientation Guide for a list of our favorites (along with a few in the links below).
Kano Jigoro: Why a Judo Master Demanded to be Buried in His White Belt (2m article)
Build a Better Library: Top Books from USAV’s Director of Sport Development (3m article)
GMS Blog: Articles, Videos and Podcast from Gold Medal Squared (Blog)
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…)
To our Players, Parents & Coaches, thank you for all of your hard work and dedication! We saw some of the best results in Jersey Juniors history and player development was especially strong this year.
We wish you all a happy, healthy and productive offseason!
Coach Scott