I just finished answering a challenge from a friend to blog about my summer with the Canadian FISU games women's volleyball team. It was a great challenge that I am glad I accepted. I found that writing and blogging about the summer forced me to look at my coaching practices and how to implement them.
My friend Sandy McDonald explained to me the benefits of keeping the blog going. He is a PHD in educational technology and has many great ideas that I have implemented into my team already. So I made the decision to create another blog. This blog will center around the Brandon University Women's Volleyball Team. I am the head coach of this great team of athletes. I have decided to leave the Accidental Coach blog for my National team experiences, which I hope will occur again one day, thus Coaching Bobcats was formed. It can be read at
http://coachingbobcats.blogspot.com
I hope that those of you that find this link will enjoy reading it as much as I will writing it.
It is the start of the Bobcats 7th season so everything is fresh. We have what looks like a tremendously committed group of athletes and coaches. We can't wait for the season to start, tonight at 5:30 is our first chance to see the group together. This will be another good challenge for me personally and professionally.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Thank You
Well I have been back in Canada now a week. The jet lag was incredible the first three days. I was surprised at how hard it hit me. I talked with Barnaby Craddock, from Silver Medal men’s basketball team, and it has hit him just as hard. So this is good news I am not a wimp.
After a week of resting and explaining the experience I feel the need to thank some people. First Sandy McDonald, A friend of mine from Grande Prairie. He was the actual person who kept the blog going while we were in China. Since it was virtually impossible to get on any social media in China, I had to write the Blog and email it to Sandy. I gave him access to the blog so he could post the writing for me. For those who know Sandy, you know he wouldn’t just cut and paste, he found pictures and links to information that was mentioned on my blog. I think he actually did a better job with it than me
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Second, the coaching staff. It was a great experience. Thanks Alain for agreeing to work with me. With out that I wouldn’t have been able to have this great learning and life experience. I als o want to thank Alain for being a tolerable roommate. 6 Weeks Sharing a room is tough on anyone, but add the demands of competition and training it brings everything to a peak. I had a couple of meltdowns that Alain listened too and rationally talked me back from the Proverbial ledge. Joely, was the fun maker. She always was upbeat and found a way to connect with the team to keep them upbeat when things got mundane, not the easiest job. Joely really showed her positivity when we had a hiccup with her accreditation and she found a way to contribute and keep things positive. That was a great role model for our players who were having doubts with their roles. Joely also got the Karaoke night rolling which was one of my favourite memories of her. Christine our therapist, she deserves two thanks u’s. 1. for doing her job over and above. Making sure everything was great. As mentioned in a previous blog, she absolutely loves her job and it shows in her work. 2. Not for killing me when I tried to be funny on the buses. One day I will make you laugh out loud.
Third, the athletes, all of you truly are champions. I have so many memories that each of you contributed too. From our fun rock paper scissors, evolving to Princess, Hunter, Bear. To just sitting and listening to your stories, I had an opportunity talk a little with each of you one on and one and discovered your passion for life. I have to admit I am jealous of the opportunities that are lying ahead for all of you. I hope that I have the opportunity to work with all of you again. But if not the saying goes teams that win together are bonded for life. Our 11 place trophy will bond us all for life.
Good luck to all of you this upcoming season, except when you play the mighty Bobcats...then its jinx jinx jinx Know that I am cheering for all you.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Thoughts From The Games
I just arrived back in the dorm from watching the Bronze medal game and the Gold medal game.
Russia won bronze over Japan. Russia is a big physical team that controlled the net and swung hard.
Brazil beat China easily in the final. The crowd was loud and awesome trying to encourage their side but Brazil was too strong everywhere for them. Brazil has speed and strength with great belief in defense. Hard to ask for more than that. The word in the gym is this team is expected to be the core of their 2016 Olympic team. All of the top 6 teams used this FISU as a way to prepare for the Olympics.
Lessons I will take back from the games.
Russia won bronze over Japan. Russia is a big physical team that controlled the net and swung hard.
Brazil beat China easily in the final. The crowd was loud and awesome trying to encourage their side but Brazil was too strong everywhere for them. Brazil has speed and strength with great belief in defense. Hard to ask for more than that. The word in the gym is this team is expected to be the core of their 2016 Olympic team. All of the top 6 teams used this FISU as a way to prepare for the Olympics.
Lessons I will take back from the games.
- Very few people call serves. It is all game planned. Also with this most teams screen. They move their blockers to a section of the net and switch to their positions from there. It just happens to be where they are serving over every time.
- Most free balls are extremely high, using the height of the gym to allow them to get in place and get ready to block. Forcing the opposition to pass a ball coming straight down. If they don't do this then they either free ball short to 2 to take out the rightside from their attack pattern or they freeball short to 4.
- Libs try to take as many freeballs as possible.
- There is no such thing as a standing downball. The teams either pass it high or set it short. Most of the time they find a way to jump and get a swing on it. Just to make the angle different.
- All of the top 4 teams started their position 6 player just a little behind the middle middle of the court. They would back up to 1 meter in front of the end line if the block was closed.
- Quick dynamic player with a quick arm can be any size to score. Brazil had a 5'10" leftside who dominated the game.
- Midline passing is still the way to go, the top teams players are able to move their body to get behind the ball. They don't rely on their arms, but do understand angles that are necessary when the ball is slightly outside their midline.
- Most teams bunch block, but don't do this continually they will adjust their block based on who the attackers are.
- Teams have some servers jump float from deep in the court, keeping other teams off their passing rhythm.
- I want to do this again.
Hong Kong
Well our last match at Fisu finally came, we were playing for 11.
We found out before the match that the top 12 automatically get into the next FISU Games. So that no matter what Canada has a spot if they want! We started what has become our starting group with Jaki, Krista, Tricia, Jaimie, Marie-Sophie and Shanice, with Noe as libs. We wanted to see if we can still find a new level as if this was our bronze if we were on the A side. The packed gym was definitely cheering against us tonight.
The team came out firing on all cylinders and had no problems with the Hong Kong team, winnig the first set 25-16. Alain decided that it was chance for our role players to get some quality court time. These athletes had worked so hard this summer to be part of this team and contributed greatly when called upon. We had depth in all positions. We started Beth and Alicia in the middle with Alex setting, Kristi and Shanice at leftside. It took them a little while to get some rythm, but when they got comfortable they played close to flawless, Beth ended up with 7 kills 3 stuff blocks and one ace in the two sets she played to lead the team in scoring.
Beth was impressive this summer. She, like all the athletes was the go to person on her university team. She was looked upon to be the one to get the ball in pressure situations. This summer she was asked to accept a role of serving a defense once the tournament started. She followed through with the role and made some big plays for us. Every athlete would want to play more, Beth is no different. She didn't once complain or show frustration she was always up and trying to find ways to contribute and motivate. So it was great to see her end the FISU being successful as a main player.
Once the match ended both teams lingered on the court, they poised for pictures together some athletes traded jersey's. No one really wanted it to end. In the team room after we had the chance as coaches to thank the athletes for trusting us and allowing us to be a part of this experience. It is something I will never forget. Alain said you are responsible to make your own memories and we did.
We then went out as a team to the cultural center for dancing and meeting with other athletes and coaches. But had a great chance just to sit and talk one on one as a coaching staff and to some athletes that would come over to reminisce about funny things that happened this summer.
Ok just one last add on. It is Sunday now and we just got back from cheering our basketball guys on to a semi-final win. They are headed to the final. A real good friend of mine Barnaby Craddock is part of the coaching staff, so to see his face after and be able to celebrate this win with him was incredible.
We then went out as a team to the cultural center for dancing and meeting with other athletes and coaches. But had a great chance just to sit and talk one on one as a coaching staff and to some athletes that would come over to reminisce about funny things that happened this summer.
Ok just one last add on. It is Sunday now and we just got back from cheering our basketball guys on to a semi-final win. They are headed to the final. A real good friend of mine Barnaby Craddock is part of the coaching staff, so to see his face after and be able to celebrate this win with him was incredible.
I love this event!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Dream fulfilled.....Almost
When I first started coaching volleyball I wanted to be able to coach at the Western Midget Elites. Too be able to say I was part of the provincial team was something amazing. I remember getting into a fight with a friend over my team Alberta sweat shirt that was given to me.
After I had the opportunity to coach in the Elites, I wanted to coach at the NTTC's. When we won gold as an assistant coach I wanted to coach at the Elites as a Head coach, then at NTTC's as a head coach and finally at Canada Games as a coach. All of those things were fulfilled, just keep trying hard.
When I was coaching the elite's I met Nando Covelli, he would always talk about watching the Italian team. They are constantly top 8 in the world and have many World championship medals. So I had this dream of coaching against them one day.
Well today was that day!! Italy is a really physical team with good ball control. They had a tough pool, probably ours and theirs were the two toughest. After their loss to Brazil (another world power) they ended up on the B side with something to prove. They handled Norway in their first match without any problems. I felt after they watched our video they probably felt we were going to be a push over as well.
We had prepped the team very well, Alain laid out a very specific game plan and the team was very focused on this. Again we started Jaki, Krista, Marie Sophie, Shanice, Jaimie and Tricia was inserted back into the line up as a middle.
We came out strong and were ahead at both technical timeouts. But then Italy's rightside took over the match. She scored hard down the line or high off hands. We struggled to slow her down losing the set 25-21. But we played respectable.
The second set we followed the instructions to the letter. We served really tough taking more risks on that end, a few more errors but kept them out of system and we were able to then get our block defensive game going. Noe and Shanice passed the bulk of the balls and were solid for us. We even played our setter out of six a couple of times after her serve because they were running the slide and attacking back cross court. This worked in our favour, Jaki actually hit a solid pipe on a set from Noe and we won the rally. You then realize everything is going well. We won that set 25-21, putting a really different feel in the gym.
The crowd of 1500 was definitely on our side and really encouraging the girls to play their best by celebrating for/with them. But Italy was the more consistent team the next two sets. Our team battled hard and made them earn points. There was some amazing defence and rallies happening. We subbed Alicia in for Jaimie in the fourth set and she had an immediate impact with a stuff block and a good run of serving. Beth was always a factor , she has a great serve and always brings a ton of energy when she plays. Even though we lost in four it felt like we played well and they were just a better team tonight.
We earned their respect.
I think this past two weeks will pay off in spades for our National team program. These athletes realize they can compete with the best. They understand why fitness is so important for playing this length of tournament. World championships are a longer competition than this tourney.
Tommorrow is our last match here against Hong Kong. It will be interesting.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Sweden
Ugly. But good.
Well we just finished playing Sweden. We ended up winning in four, but really didn't play all that well. We started Jaki, Krista, Marie Sophie, Shanice, Jaimie and Alicia, with Noe at libero. We came out a little flat and were down 8-4 at the first technical time out. But then we had a good run of serving and won going away 25-17.
Now you would like to believe that everything would be fine after that, but our wheels fell off. In the last 3 sets we committed 40 unforced errors. Which means serving, hitting or being aced by Sweden. Almost enough for 2 full sets of points in the match. Basically in the second set Sweden had to serve the ball and then get out of the way.
Luckily we learned that we don't need to be perfect to score. We need to learn to play well when things are weird. If we get a bad pass still try to find a way to score instead of being upset we got a bad pass. Do something that betters the ball rather than getting frustrated. I knew if we could keep the third set close when we hit 20 we would be fine. Which worked out well for us winning 25-21. Considering we were down 20-19 that is a good comeback.
The fourth set started out rough again with Sweden up the whole way through. Our English translator brought me a phone call from Joely at 21-19 for Sweden. Joely went to watch the Italy Norway match so we would have imformation on the winner for tomorrow. Heidi the translator couldn't understand what she wanted so she thrust the phone into my ear. It is funny now, but at that time it was pretty intense in the gym.
We really played focussed the last points and won 25-22. We were excited because we advanced, we are also excited because it brings us to even in win loss categories, but we are disappointed in the focus the team showed. Effort is never a question with this group of girls, but being able to change their focus and play with confidence after errors is the hardest thing for us right now. Winning after winning is tough. It takes special athletes to maintain the focus after a successful outing. Ask the last four Stanley Cup champions.
But we advanced, and tomorrow is Italy. They are a traditional volleyball power. I expect us to have no problems getting up for the match.
We are due to play flawless.
Look out Italia
A little highlight video of a set against Sweden.
Well we just finished playing Sweden. We ended up winning in four, but really didn't play all that well. We started Jaki, Krista, Marie Sophie, Shanice, Jaimie and Alicia, with Noe at libero. We came out a little flat and were down 8-4 at the first technical time out. But then we had a good run of serving and won going away 25-17.
Now you would like to believe that everything would be fine after that, but our wheels fell off. In the last 3 sets we committed 40 unforced errors. Which means serving, hitting or being aced by Sweden. Almost enough for 2 full sets of points in the match. Basically in the second set Sweden had to serve the ball and then get out of the way.
Luckily we learned that we don't need to be perfect to score. We need to learn to play well when things are weird. If we get a bad pass still try to find a way to score instead of being upset we got a bad pass. Do something that betters the ball rather than getting frustrated. I knew if we could keep the third set close when we hit 20 we would be fine. Which worked out well for us winning 25-21. Considering we were down 20-19 that is a good comeback.
The fourth set started out rough again with Sweden up the whole way through. Our English translator brought me a phone call from Joely at 21-19 for Sweden. Joely went to watch the Italy Norway match so we would have imformation on the winner for tomorrow. Heidi the translator couldn't understand what she wanted so she thrust the phone into my ear. It is funny now, but at that time it was pretty intense in the gym.
We really played focussed the last points and won 25-22. We were excited because we advanced, we are also excited because it brings us to even in win loss categories, but we are disappointed in the focus the team showed. Effort is never a question with this group of girls, but being able to change their focus and play with confidence after errors is the hardest thing for us right now. Winning after winning is tough. It takes special athletes to maintain the focus after a successful outing. Ask the last four Stanley Cup champions.
But we advanced, and tomorrow is Italy. They are a traditional volleyball power. I expect us to have no problems getting up for the match.
We are due to play flawless.
Look out Italia
A little highlight video of a set against Sweden.
Day Off
Day off!
With the pool play finished and the rankings set out we had a day off. We really wanted the athletes to have a good mental break. So our therapist Christine took the athletes in the morning for a pool recovery work out.
Christine has been awesome. An athletic therapist is something special. Quite often people get confused between physiotherapists and athletic therapists. There is a difference, both are trained with the same background knowledge of the body anatomy and how to rehab injuries. Just athletic therapists are trained also in preventative work and rehab for athletes.
Christine's day is long and without her we wouldn't have the healthy athletes that we do. She doesn't really have time off. When we are resting or watching video she is performing rehab or pre-hab on all the different athletes. When we are worried about an athlete's shoulder she is a great resource and understands the wear and tear that happens in the course of a two week tournament. Christine goes over and above the call, she has little treats and gifts for the girls. She is an incredible cheerleader and probably the biggest defender of the team culture. Your athletic therapist can help encourage the culture from her training table more than coaches can. I recommend that coaches treat these people with golden gloves and not forget their value.
The rest of the day we let the girls just wander and explore Shenzhen. Most chose to go shopping in a market downtown. Just a chance to get out of the village and interact with other people is so refreshing. The all came back with great stories of different culture, a totally unexpected poopy scooping on the road, bartering for clothes, just meeting different people.
The evening we all met and went to support our guys team as they played Australia in their pool play. I enjoyed the match because I had a chance to watch Brendon and Craig play. Two Aussies who play at BU, they are good guys who battled hard against the Canadians. It also help them explain the level of the CIS league they play in to their teammates.
WE had a tough decision to make about the practice. It was scheduled for 9am and it was a 60min drive away. So the decision is 2 hours of travel worth the one hour practice. Or would we be better suited with allowing training time for Christine and do something active in the morning.
We decided to go with the activity instead of travel. Christine has arranged a photo scavenger hunt which should have our competitive girls running around. One of the things is a picture with five different countries represented in the photo. Another is a picture of them planking somewhere...should be fun.
The rest of us will prepare video for our match against Sweden.
Our goal is now B-side champs.
With the pool play finished and the rankings set out we had a day off. We really wanted the athletes to have a good mental break. So our therapist Christine took the athletes in the morning for a pool recovery work out.
Christine has been awesome. An athletic therapist is something special. Quite often people get confused between physiotherapists and athletic therapists. There is a difference, both are trained with the same background knowledge of the body anatomy and how to rehab injuries. Just athletic therapists are trained also in preventative work and rehab for athletes.
Christine's day is long and without her we wouldn't have the healthy athletes that we do. She doesn't really have time off. When we are resting or watching video she is performing rehab or pre-hab on all the different athletes. When we are worried about an athlete's shoulder she is a great resource and understands the wear and tear that happens in the course of a two week tournament. Christine goes over and above the call, she has little treats and gifts for the girls. She is an incredible cheerleader and probably the biggest defender of the team culture. Your athletic therapist can help encourage the culture from her training table more than coaches can. I recommend that coaches treat these people with golden gloves and not forget their value.
The rest of the day we let the girls just wander and explore Shenzhen. Most chose to go shopping in a market downtown. Just a chance to get out of the village and interact with other people is so refreshing. The all came back with great stories of different culture, a totally unexpected poopy scooping on the road, bartering for clothes, just meeting different people.
The evening we all met and went to support our guys team as they played Australia in their pool play. I enjoyed the match because I had a chance to watch Brendon and Craig play. Two Aussies who play at BU, they are good guys who battled hard against the Canadians. It also help them explain the level of the CIS league they play in to their teammates.
WE had a tough decision to make about the practice. It was scheduled for 9am and it was a 60min drive away. So the decision is 2 hours of travel worth the one hour practice. Or would we be better suited with allowing training time for Christine and do something active in the morning.
We decided to go with the activity instead of travel. Christine has arranged a photo scavenger hunt which should have our competitive girls running around. One of the things is a picture with five different countries represented in the photo. Another is a picture of them planking somewhere...should be fun.
The rest of us will prepare video for our match against Sweden.
Our goal is now B-side champs.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
France
Finally chalk one in the win column.
We played France last night. They are a tall physical team, and play a high ball offense. During our video session we saw that Poland scored a bit on 61's ( Shots directly behind the setter). So our game plan was to run at the seams with the middles early then to go outside after they move their block inside. But for this to happen we need to pass well.
We started Jaki, Krista again at right side, Jaimie , and Alicia got her first start of the tournament, Marie Sophie and Shanice at leftside. The first set didn't start out so well for us as we found ourselves down 5-0 when we had to call our first time out. They were serving jump floats again from the back line and we struggled with that. After a timeout everyone in the world is told to take a little bit off their serve and put it in. Well this helped us as we made a great pass and Alicia got us on the score board. We then settled down and proceeded to work our way back until we even it up at 21. Then proceded to assert ourselves and won 27-25 on a huge stuff block by Marie Sophie.
The second set our passing troubles returned. We had a hard time just getting the ball to go forward...We really let this error enter into our psyche. We started to look down, our body language showed we were in trouble. We made some energy subs late in the match and a chance for some of the team to refocus. Kristi had a huge kill for us and brought some sparkle back into our eyes. But we lost 25-13.
In between sets we talked about not letting errors define you. It is the action you do after the error that defines you. We also talked about how to score or help ourselves score off of 2 passes. Let just get the ball going forward on serve reception. Set the ball 2 meters off the net and a little inside. Give our outsides some angles to play with. Also start using the back row ball, especially our c ball(back row Rightside) to keep their blockers honest. They were just overloading our leftsides.
We were down 8-7 at the first technical but kept it close. Then suddenly we understood the change. 2 passes became shots and high hands for us which put them terribly out of system then they ran the ball back, we dug it in system and bang middles scored on 61's. Jaimie then took control of the match at the net, 3 stuff blocks in a row a kill on a 61 then on a step. Their front row didn't know what hit them. The rest of the set we played with energy and confidence. 25-18 we won.
The fourth set was much of the same as we now were scoring off of some 2 passes and the passers started to find rhythm with the serve and we were in system a lot more. The fourth set was never in jeopardy. We won it again 25-18 Jaimie had 7 kills and 8 stuff blocks, almost all of them the last 2 sets.
I believe this was a huge learning experience for us. At the end of the match I compared us to the movie 8 mile. We found our confidence and our voice, look out now as we are ready to battle.
We are on the B side but want to finish as high as we can, we have a day off to rest and recover, then Sweden tomorrow.
Trinity Western News Release
GAME STATISTICS (pdf download)
We played France last night. They are a tall physical team, and play a high ball offense. During our video session we saw that Poland scored a bit on 61's ( Shots directly behind the setter). So our game plan was to run at the seams with the middles early then to go outside after they move their block inside. But for this to happen we need to pass well.
We started Jaki, Krista again at right side, Jaimie , and Alicia got her first start of the tournament, Marie Sophie and Shanice at leftside. The first set didn't start out so well for us as we found ourselves down 5-0 when we had to call our first time out. They were serving jump floats again from the back line and we struggled with that. After a timeout everyone in the world is told to take a little bit off their serve and put it in. Well this helped us as we made a great pass and Alicia got us on the score board. We then settled down and proceeded to work our way back until we even it up at 21. Then proceded to assert ourselves and won 27-25 on a huge stuff block by Marie Sophie.
The second set our passing troubles returned. We had a hard time just getting the ball to go forward...We really let this error enter into our psyche. We started to look down, our body language showed we were in trouble. We made some energy subs late in the match and a chance for some of the team to refocus. Kristi had a huge kill for us and brought some sparkle back into our eyes. But we lost 25-13.
In between sets we talked about not letting errors define you. It is the action you do after the error that defines you. We also talked about how to score or help ourselves score off of 2 passes. Let just get the ball going forward on serve reception. Set the ball 2 meters off the net and a little inside. Give our outsides some angles to play with. Also start using the back row ball, especially our c ball(back row Rightside) to keep their blockers honest. They were just overloading our leftsides.
We were down 8-7 at the first technical but kept it close. Then suddenly we understood the change. 2 passes became shots and high hands for us which put them terribly out of system then they ran the ball back, we dug it in system and bang middles scored on 61's. Jaimie then took control of the match at the net, 3 stuff blocks in a row a kill on a 61 then on a step. Their front row didn't know what hit them. The rest of the set we played with energy and confidence. 25-18 we won.
The fourth set was much of the same as we now were scoring off of some 2 passes and the passers started to find rhythm with the serve and we were in system a lot more. The fourth set was never in jeopardy. We won it again 25-18 Jaimie had 7 kills and 8 stuff blocks, almost all of them the last 2 sets.
I believe this was a huge learning experience for us. At the end of the match I compared us to the movie 8 mile. We found our confidence and our voice, look out now as we are ready to battle.
We are on the B side but want to finish as high as we can, we have a day off to rest and recover, then Sweden tomorrow.
Trinity Western News Release
GAME STATISTICS (pdf download)
Chinese-Taipei
We just finished playing Chinese Taipei.
This was a very interesting game. They were a prototypical Asian team. Smaller than other team with super defence and lots of motion and speed. The ran an inside out offense. They showed an x play off of most serve receptions and every free ball. They would almost 'i' up ( using the football term).
The leftside would come into the court almost in the 31 zone and then either run the 53 or they would run outside and hit a angle shot. The left handed rightside would run a step infront of the setter or would come in and then hit an inside out approach. This looked very difficult for a lefty, but she was very successful with it against France and us.
We started Alex at setting, Marie Sophie at leftside with Shanice, Krista at Rightside, Tricia and Jaimie in the mids with Noe at libs. There is a new rule starting this summer internationally that a team can dress two libs. They have to follow the same rules as normal libs has to be play inbetween a lib on the floor. But it makes it an interesting use of a defensive player.
The team did a good job moving with the attackers and get positive touches on the blocks. Positive touch for us is a slow down. By slowing the ball down we were able to transition into our speedy offense. The first set we were down 23-19 and battled back for our first set win 27-25. Great serving run to put incredible amount of pressure on their leftside and then some exceptional defending. Beth came in at 25-25 to serve she made two great digs in position 6 for us to transition to Marie for the win.
The next set the Taipae stepped back further and bombed away with jump floats back about 4 meters from the end line. We struggled to pass this type of serve. It came fast and hard and really moved in the gym. Our confindence in our passing dropped and we lost this set 25-16.
We regrouped well the second set. The passers really focussed on moving behind the ball. Alain used the term dancing with it. Allow your self to move with it rather than just reaching for the ball. Once we settled down with this we battles hard. We were close at 20 but just couldn't seem to catch up losing the set 25-22. But had some long rallies and the crowd was very vocal about our effort and play. That made it a really fun environment to play in.
The fourth set we were in control most of the way. We were playing with confidence and really enjoying the calibre of the match. It is fun to play a team that is very unpredictable and run different patterns than we see in Canada. We were ahead 21-20 and Two Taipae players collided and the ball came out with a tremendous amount of spin, but the official let it go. First time all match that ball handling wasn't called. A long rally continued and we ended up hitting the ball just long. Then we just couldn't find away to put the ball away and got stuck in the rotation. We ended up losing 25-22. But we definitely battled and make them earn their points.
This is video of Taipai vs France. I only have the scout video but it will give you an idea of the type of offense the ran all the time.
The team can feel proud about their match. Even though we are now eliminated from the A side of the tourney it is a great experience and one that will pay off ten fold for these athletes in life and volleyball careers.
Tomorrow France for 3rd in our pool!!!
This was a very interesting game. They were a prototypical Asian team. Smaller than other team with super defence and lots of motion and speed. The ran an inside out offense. They showed an x play off of most serve receptions and every free ball. They would almost 'i' up ( using the football term).
The leftside would come into the court almost in the 31 zone and then either run the 53 or they would run outside and hit a angle shot. The left handed rightside would run a step infront of the setter or would come in and then hit an inside out approach. This looked very difficult for a lefty, but she was very successful with it against France and us.
We started Alex at setting, Marie Sophie at leftside with Shanice, Krista at Rightside, Tricia and Jaimie in the mids with Noe at libs. There is a new rule starting this summer internationally that a team can dress two libs. They have to follow the same rules as normal libs has to be play inbetween a lib on the floor. But it makes it an interesting use of a defensive player.
The team did a good job moving with the attackers and get positive touches on the blocks. Positive touch for us is a slow down. By slowing the ball down we were able to transition into our speedy offense. The first set we were down 23-19 and battled back for our first set win 27-25. Great serving run to put incredible amount of pressure on their leftside and then some exceptional defending. Beth came in at 25-25 to serve she made two great digs in position 6 for us to transition to Marie for the win.
The next set the Taipae stepped back further and bombed away with jump floats back about 4 meters from the end line. We struggled to pass this type of serve. It came fast and hard and really moved in the gym. Our confindence in our passing dropped and we lost this set 25-16.
We regrouped well the second set. The passers really focussed on moving behind the ball. Alain used the term dancing with it. Allow your self to move with it rather than just reaching for the ball. Once we settled down with this we battles hard. We were close at 20 but just couldn't seem to catch up losing the set 25-22. But had some long rallies and the crowd was very vocal about our effort and play. That made it a really fun environment to play in.
The fourth set we were in control most of the way. We were playing with confidence and really enjoying the calibre of the match. It is fun to play a team that is very unpredictable and run different patterns than we see in Canada. We were ahead 21-20 and Two Taipae players collided and the ball came out with a tremendous amount of spin, but the official let it go. First time all match that ball handling wasn't called. A long rally continued and we ended up hitting the ball just long. Then we just couldn't find away to put the ball away and got stuck in the rotation. We ended up losing 25-22. But we definitely battled and make them earn their points.
This is video of Taipai vs France. I only have the scout video but it will give you an idea of the type of offense the ran all the time.
The team can feel proud about their match. Even though we are now eliminated from the A side of the tourney it is a great experience and one that will pay off ten fold for these athletes in life and volleyball careers.
Tomorrow France for 3rd in our pool!!!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Poland
Poland.
Our first match was one I think we would love to do over.
We ended up losing in 3. We came out flying in all the sets, building leads at the first technical time out. 8-4 and 8-3 in the first two sets. By 16 we were either ahead or behind by one point.
Then we would get caught in a rotation and they would go on a big run. Passing breakdown and playing too safe were factors.
The third set we threw caution to the wind and came out playing our style of game, speed and power. When we were able to set the ball fast, Poland had a hard time closing their block and it made our outside hitters more successful.
Marie Sophie lead the way with 11 kills from rightside. Tricia Had 5 out of the middle, Krista had five in a double sub scenario. We were successful in the middle and rightside.
When people feel pressure they tend to go back into their comfort zone. That is what we did the first two sets. We started to play just a little higher. Shoots became semi's and semi's became highballs. It is a natural thing. When we focused on playing faster we had more success.
Lesson learned.
Time for Taipei
CIS Women's Volleyball Page: Roster, Schedules, Etc.
Boxscorenews.com Match 1 Summary
Our first match was one I think we would love to do over.
We ended up losing in 3. We came out flying in all the sets, building leads at the first technical time out. 8-4 and 8-3 in the first two sets. By 16 we were either ahead or behind by one point.
Then we would get caught in a rotation and they would go on a big run. Passing breakdown and playing too safe were factors.
The third set we threw caution to the wind and came out playing our style of game, speed and power. When we were able to set the ball fast, Poland had a hard time closing their block and it made our outside hitters more successful.
Marie Sophie lead the way with 11 kills from rightside. Tricia Had 5 out of the middle, Krista had five in a double sub scenario. We were successful in the middle and rightside.
When people feel pressure they tend to go back into their comfort zone. That is what we did the first two sets. We started to play just a little higher. Shoots became semi's and semi's became highballs. It is a natural thing. When we focused on playing faster we had more success.
Lesson learned.
Time for Taipei
CIS Women's Volleyball Page: Roster, Schedules, Etc.
Boxscorenews.com Match 1 Summary
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Episode Three: Opening Ceremonies
Wow!
I had huge expectations for opening ceremonies, but this was over the top. First they declared the day a national holiday and closed the entire highway system. Then the hour trip to the stadium was lined with cheering people.
When we got to the stadium and to the marshalling area, all the different Nations were together posing for pictures and singing songs. Ghana was incredible to watch, they had so much fun waiting to go in.
i will upload pictures later.
The number of volunteers and how it made you feel as a participant was incredible.
The internet is hit and miss so I will try to keep updating this through the help of some great friends. We don't have facebook or twitter access here.
I had huge expectations for opening ceremonies, but this was over the top. First they declared the day a national holiday and closed the entire highway system. Then the hour trip to the stadium was lined with cheering people.
When we got to the stadium and to the marshalling area, all the different Nations were together posing for pictures and singing songs. Ghana was incredible to watch, they had so much fun waiting to go in.
i will upload pictures later.
The number of volunteers and how it made you feel as a participant was incredible.
The internet is hit and miss so I will try to keep updating this through the help of some great friends. We don't have facebook or twitter access here.
Episode Two: Life in the Village
Well, we got settled in our dorm rooms.
They are a small room with two bunk bends in them. We have 3 people in the room. I am lucky I was able to get a bottom bunk. The unique thing about the rooms is that the shower and bathroom are outside on the balcony.
The bureaucracy of the games got to us day one. We had scheduled a friendly exhibition match with Japan, but because we hadn't confirmed 24 hours in advance they cancelled our travel arrangements. Well, 24 hours before we were travelling. So the Canadian Mission staff did a tremendous job of arranging transportation for us so we could make some of the time.
WE were happy with the result. We ended up losing both sets 25-23, 25-23 but considering all the factors, we played well.
The venues are awesome and it has a real elite feeling to everything.
We also found out that our transportation to our practice the next day was cancelled as they needed all the buses to be ready and searched early for the opening ceremonies. So suddenly our nice noon practice is now a match versus Sweden at 8:30 am. Also the venue is an hour away. So we had to be on the bus for 7 am.
The match against Sweden we played with more of a zip we won both sets we played. Our bench came in during both sets and made a huge difference. Alex and Krista brought some great energy and turned the flow around in both sets.
It is a great confidence builder.
They are a small room with two bunk bends in them. We have 3 people in the room. I am lucky I was able to get a bottom bunk. The unique thing about the rooms is that the shower and bathroom are outside on the balcony.
The bureaucracy of the games got to us day one. We had scheduled a friendly exhibition match with Japan, but because we hadn't confirmed 24 hours in advance they cancelled our travel arrangements. Well, 24 hours before we were travelling. So the Canadian Mission staff did a tremendous job of arranging transportation for us so we could make some of the time.
WE were happy with the result. We ended up losing both sets 25-23, 25-23 but considering all the factors, we played well.
The venues are awesome and it has a real elite feeling to everything.
We also found out that our transportation to our practice the next day was cancelled as they needed all the buses to be ready and searched early for the opening ceremonies. So suddenly our nice noon practice is now a match versus Sweden at 8:30 am. Also the venue is an hour away. So we had to be on the bus for 7 am.
The match against Sweden we played with more of a zip we won both sets we played. Our bench came in during both sets and made a huge difference. Alex and Krista brought some great energy and turned the flow around in both sets.
It is a great confidence builder.
Episode One: Thailand Wrap-Up
Thailand is over and we are now in China.
Thailand ended with a fun karoake night with Japanese men and women who were there as well. I was impressed with the hidden talent that we have on this team. We have started to develop quite the singing culture. When one of the Japanese boys was singing a Beiber song and he came over to the team, Shanice grab a mike and jumped up started singing a duet with him. It was priceless to see his face and reaction. After that it was a fun filled evening with the Quebec girls front and center in dancing with the Japanese men.
The next morning we had to get up at 4 am to travel to the airport for our flight to HongKong. The team was very positive during our 12 hour travel time. We had to clear customs in Hong Kong, travel by bus for an hour, and then clear customes at Shenzhen.
Then when we arrived at the village we had to go through the security scan again.
Busy start to the day.
Thailand ended with a fun karoake night with Japanese men and women who were there as well. I was impressed with the hidden talent that we have on this team. We have started to develop quite the singing culture. When one of the Japanese boys was singing a Beiber song and he came over to the team, Shanice grab a mike and jumped up started singing a duet with him. It was priceless to see his face and reaction. After that it was a fun filled evening with the Quebec girls front and center in dancing with the Japanese men.
The next morning we had to get up at 4 am to travel to the airport for our flight to HongKong. The team was very positive during our 12 hour travel time. We had to clear customs in Hong Kong, travel by bus for an hour, and then clear customes at Shenzhen.
Then when we arrived at the village we had to go through the security scan again.
Busy start to the day.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Mums the word
Today started out a bit earlier than usual here for us. We practiced 8:30-10:30 and then went and did a full body maintenance weights workout for an hour. Then we played the Thailand University Champs in an evening match.
So basically three practices in one day. Plus add the fact that it was 40 degrees Celsius with a 90% humidity it made it a day that we have never experienced before.
WE started Beth, Alicia, Alex, Kristi, Lisa, Krista and Noe. Alicia led the way with 12kills and 4 blocks, Krista had 7 kills. But in the end we lost in five.
We had a very positive meeting following up the match and had a great discussion about helping create positive energy in tough times. Then we agreed not to let it go and not speak about it again. Mums the word.
So we move on.
So basically three practices in one day. Plus add the fact that it was 40 degrees Celsius with a 90% humidity it made it a day that we have never experienced before.
WE started Beth, Alicia, Alex, Kristi, Lisa, Krista and Noe. Alicia led the way with 12kills and 4 blocks, Krista had 7 kills. But in the end we lost in five.
We had a very positive meeting following up the match and had a great discussion about helping create positive energy in tough times. Then we agreed not to let it go and not speak about it again. Mums the word.
So we move on.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Getting over the Flu!
We started Jaki, Krista, Jaimie, Alicia, Lisa, Shanice with Noe as libero. We came out firing on all cylinders. The Japanese team looked surprised by the size of the block and the power of our attack. Near the end of the first set they changed their strategy. The came out tipping. I am not sure what it is about tipping but it really takes the air out of a teams tires. The team can attack a ball in the seam of the block so hard that it will bounce to the roof, most athletes are ok with that. Good shot we can give that too them. But when a tip scores it makes a team change they way they look at things. Both score one point but one is more acceptable than the other. So the Japan team tipped their way to Victory in the first set.
The start of the second set is when the flu hit our team. Error Flu! It is where one person starts making errors and it gets contagious and next thing you know the whole squad is mixed up in errors. Everything went wrong, passing went out the window, we started to just play safe offensively and we eased up on our serving. During this kind of flu, athletes battled hard with their own confidence and confidence in the person beside them. It is really tough, but as all elite athletes know the only way to cure the flu is confidence. We need to fight hard to believe in ourself. Back to the back pack analogy, finding times in your past when you have been successful. Dr. Skinner from Brandon uses the analogy of a critic. Everyone is their worst critic and he/she takes over in this time of matches. Players start jumping infront of each other, or worse they run away from ball fear it instead of challenging it. The critic takes over the psyche
We are lucky though, because we have a strong team concept and a tremendous belief in each other. As every coach knows in exhibition matches we tend to let athletes try to battle out of situations. We want them to be able to make adjustments fast without us having to call everything.
In our debriefing we really emphasized that this is still just another Mesocycle within our season. It is a good opportunity to learn. I find that most athletes are pretty aware of what happened. During the after match debriefing we let them talk. I am a big believer in Thumper's dad's rule. " If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all."
I like to start my team meetings always talking about what happened positive. Marie Sophie crushed some big line shots in the 3rd and fourth sets. We scored at will in the middle when the opportunity presented itself. Kristi had 6 huge kills for us coming off the bench. Her high school coach would be proud even the old Roblin roll scores against Japanese teams. In high school Kristi was so powerful in her league that everyone would sit on the end line to defend her, so her coach taught her how to hit this well hidden roll shot to the pot. So deemed the Roblin roll after her town. Shanice is an impressive player to watch, she was our best player on most occasions and has found different ways to score in different situations. She has a great poker face and doesn't show any body language if/when she gets down. I really don't think she ever gets down.
The athletes understand what went wrong, when we asked for their opinions they mentioned all the things we wanted to talk about. We then talked about making adjustments. I like to call them the do overs, or mulligans. At the end of the match athletes should take time to remember their plays, reward what they did well. Then they think of some things that got away and to put them in context where next time this happens I can do this... finding a fix. If we dwell in the negative we will stay there a lot longer. Tony Dicicco the U.S, women's national soccer team coach emphasises in his book titled "Catch them being good". Show the athletes what they do well and only show them the execution of doing it correctly. Everyone's critic will have them replay it enough we don't need to show them the errors form a whole bunch of different angles. I think that is a reason why Canadians are so good in hockey. After Jon Toews makes an incredible move on Saturday night on TV, every Canadian hockey kid has gone out and mimicked that move over 200 times by Monday. Probably have a good opportunity to see someone try it the following weekend in rinks around the country.
So what to take out of today.
We have learned, when we play a smaller team we need to be the aggressor. The block is smaller so there are way more green light balls than red light balls. Overpowering will keep them out of system more than a tip should. We need to fight for our confidence. Too look each other in the eye and give back. We can't only do this during the good time. It is easy then. We need to take charge and let everyone know we are ok. Players who come off the bench need to ooze confidence in that situation. WE learned we have great middles! So lets worry about passing first and everything else will be easier.
We will keep learning, the only thing that happened today is that our undefeated season ended. We will definitely win more than we loose.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Travel and first friendly.
Day one in Thailand has officially ended for most athletes. I know that I am completely exhausted from the last 2 days of our trip. We left at 8:30 in the morning from the residence and headed to the airport. Our first flight was delayed because of cloud cover for 45 minutes. So our lay over in Vancouver was done. The plane was delayed more once after we loaded and we weren't sure when we left if we were going to make the connections to Hong kong in Vancouver.
During the flight the we found out that Air Canada had arranged for the Hong kong flight to wait for us, but we had to hustle. We had 20 minutes to sprint across the entire Vancouver airport. We all made it with myself coming in last by about five minutes from everyone else. Thank goodness for the moving sidewalks in the airport.
The flight to Hong kong was the longest flight of my life. Being cooped up in the seat for over 13 hours was tough on me mentally. Plus the time changed. Then in Hong Kong we had a five hour layover. I finally dozed off on the benches waiting, 30 minutes before we had to check in. Through all of this the team was excellent. They represented Canada well. On the flight to Hong Kong, I walked around the cabin a bit trying to get some blood pumping. During the walk, I saw Noe was watching a movie on TV. and sitting next to her were two young children and one of them had actually fell asleep laying on her lap during the flight.
We arrived at the Hotel just a little before 2am. The hotel we are staying at in Thailand was short 3 rooms the first night. So the coaches had to stay in a different hotel and then move into the team hotel the next afternoon. Before we left last week Tammy and Julie talked with our team and said be flexible because the schedule changes and does it ever. So we were in a nice room with a hard futon bed. It would take some time to get use to if that was what we were sleeping on for the entire trip.
We had a practice today from 10-noon and discovered our gym. It is a ten minute walk in some good heat and humidity. When we get there we are warm. The gym is nice but no air-conditioning and has fans and windows open everywhere. Pretty typical of what you would see in some of the warmer climate.
We played an evening match against one of the University teams in Thailand. Ayutthya University. We were told they finished third in their league last season. Sow e were expecting a prototypical fast asian offence.
We started
Shanice, Lisa, Jaki, Marie Sophie, Jaimie, Tricia and Noe for our first official friendly match. I don't think the Thai team was really prepared to face our size. The first set we cam out blocking and and created a comfortable lead. Alain pulled a double sub at the end of the match with Alex and Krista, then Bethe coming on in a serving role. We held on to win 25-21. That is where the heat and humidity of the gym wore off us. We seam to just take off after that set winning the match in straight sets. The last two sets were of identical scores. 25-11 25-11. WE played the remainder of the team in the third set and they kept the momentum right to the end. Krista led the team with 7 kills. She did this in 1.5 sets of playing time. Another impressive set of stats were Jaimie's 5 kills and 5 stuff blocks. The Thai team had real trouble with our block> In the third set Alex was challenged to be a bit creative and Kristi was on the end of a huge 33 leftside attack. Alex had sent the middle 31 and both blockers bit on the 31 with a quick block just over top Kristi had no one to stop her.
Tomorrow is going to be a good challenge as we play a decent Japanese all-star team.
During the flight the we found out that Air Canada had arranged for the Hong kong flight to wait for us, but we had to hustle. We had 20 minutes to sprint across the entire Vancouver airport. We all made it with myself coming in last by about five minutes from everyone else. Thank goodness for the moving sidewalks in the airport.
The flight to Hong kong was the longest flight of my life. Being cooped up in the seat for over 13 hours was tough on me mentally. Plus the time changed. Then in Hong Kong we had a five hour layover. I finally dozed off on the benches waiting, 30 minutes before we had to check in. Through all of this the team was excellent. They represented Canada well. On the flight to Hong Kong, I walked around the cabin a bit trying to get some blood pumping. During the walk, I saw Noe was watching a movie on TV. and sitting next to her were two young children and one of them had actually fell asleep laying on her lap during the flight.
We arrived at the Hotel just a little before 2am. The hotel we are staying at in Thailand was short 3 rooms the first night. So the coaches had to stay in a different hotel and then move into the team hotel the next afternoon. Before we left last week Tammy and Julie talked with our team and said be flexible because the schedule changes and does it ever. So we were in a nice room with a hard futon bed. It would take some time to get use to if that was what we were sleeping on for the entire trip.
We had a practice today from 10-noon and discovered our gym. It is a ten minute walk in some good heat and humidity. When we get there we are warm. The gym is nice but no air-conditioning and has fans and windows open everywhere. Pretty typical of what you would see in some of the warmer climate.
We played an evening match against one of the University teams in Thailand. Ayutthya University. We were told they finished third in their league last season. Sow e were expecting a prototypical fast asian offence.
We started
Shanice, Lisa, Jaki, Marie Sophie, Jaimie, Tricia and Noe for our first official friendly match. I don't think the Thai team was really prepared to face our size. The first set we cam out blocking and and created a comfortable lead. Alain pulled a double sub at the end of the match with Alex and Krista, then Bethe coming on in a serving role. We held on to win 25-21. That is where the heat and humidity of the gym wore off us. We seam to just take off after that set winning the match in straight sets. The last two sets were of identical scores. 25-11 25-11. WE played the remainder of the team in the third set and they kept the momentum right to the end. Krista led the team with 7 kills. She did this in 1.5 sets of playing time. Another impressive set of stats were Jaimie's 5 kills and 5 stuff blocks. The Thai team had real trouble with our block> In the third set Alex was challenged to be a bit creative and Kristi was on the end of a huge 33 leftside attack. Alex had sent the middle 31 and both blockers bit on the 31 with a quick block just over top Kristi had no one to stop her.
Tomorrow is going to be a good challenge as we play a decent Japanese all-star team.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
ON your mark!
Today we had our last practice in Canada. It is hard to believe that this part of our training is done. We have come along way with our team culture, the understanding of our system and understanding the needs of each other.
At the end of the last practice Alain asked the team to take a few minutes and to think of two or three things that were special to them as individuals. One of the challenges we put forward to the players in the very first meeting was to make this experience memorable. Not to wait for the memories to happen but to go out a create them. So this was our first step in embedding some powerful memories about the experience so far.
Alain's said his moments were when the team had to bust their backs to win a rally or achieve a tough goal. He will always remember they way the sprang toward each other with their hands in the air celebrating each other success. My moments were watching the individual players challenge themselves. There has been some impressive growth with the group. Our middles were flying today and hit some great angles and touched a lot of shots. Their commitment is paying off.
Noe our libs was stranded returning from the long weekend because of thunderstorms in Montreal. So unfortunately she missed the first practice back. But today she was flying, I was really impressed with her fortitude through the learning process.
But more importantly to me it was the one on one conversations I was able to have with the athletes. They are impressive people with lots of hidden talents. Like karaoke Ice Ice baby!!!
So we leave tomorrow morning, bus is picking is up at the res and the adventure begins, we have 27 hours of travel, 18 hours in flights and then 9 hours in airports waiting for connections. Plus a simple 12 hour time change...traveling is not always fun. Winnipeg to Vancouver, Vancouver to Hong kong, Hong Kong to Thailand. Travel advice from the A team athletes was to buy a decent looking book and hope it will tide you over for the trip, plus an mp3 player full of the greatest 80' and 90's hits to sing along too. I might have embellished the last point some.
We also will be presenting the 3 medalists of the Carter List during the flight. It might have to go to overtime...Princess, bear and hunter. Joely's creative way to solve discussions and who gets first serve.
My goal is to review the matches on here after we play each day highlighting the games.. But as the competition heats up, so does my responsibilities. But as most people know I have been know to procrastinate some...
At the end of the last practice Alain asked the team to take a few minutes and to think of two or three things that were special to them as individuals. One of the challenges we put forward to the players in the very first meeting was to make this experience memorable. Not to wait for the memories to happen but to go out a create them. So this was our first step in embedding some powerful memories about the experience so far.
Alain's said his moments were when the team had to bust their backs to win a rally or achieve a tough goal. He will always remember they way the sprang toward each other with their hands in the air celebrating each other success. My moments were watching the individual players challenge themselves. There has been some impressive growth with the group. Our middles were flying today and hit some great angles and touched a lot of shots. Their commitment is paying off.
Noe our libs was stranded returning from the long weekend because of thunderstorms in Montreal. So unfortunately she missed the first practice back. But today she was flying, I was really impressed with her fortitude through the learning process.
But more importantly to me it was the one on one conversations I was able to have with the athletes. They are impressive people with lots of hidden talents. Like karaoke Ice Ice baby!!!
So we leave tomorrow morning, bus is picking is up at the res and the adventure begins, we have 27 hours of travel, 18 hours in flights and then 9 hours in airports waiting for connections. Plus a simple 12 hour time change...traveling is not always fun. Winnipeg to Vancouver, Vancouver to Hong kong, Hong Kong to Thailand. Travel advice from the A team athletes was to buy a decent looking book and hope it will tide you over for the trip, plus an mp3 player full of the greatest 80' and 90's hits to sing along too. I might have embellished the last point some.
My goal is to review the matches on here after we play each day highlighting the games.. But as the competition heats up, so does my responsibilities. But as most people know I have been know to procrastinate some...
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Ending of one kind and a start of another adventure
The last two days the National A team agreed to scrimmage with us. This was a great experience for the B team athletes. A lot of these players have watched some of the A team play for many years. It was a joy to compete with them. A chance to say you had the opportunity to play against Sarah Pavan, Tammy Mahon and the rest of the team is something a lot of them have wanted to do for a long time.
It also reminded me of a conversation I had a while ago one of my mentors Frank Enns. He told me that teams sometime enter into a competition with an idea that they are either 5-7 points better or worse than the opposition. This is a scary thing because when the match score is 16-15 instead of playing with confidence and having a lead, it actually feels like they are down 20-16. This is one of the biggest challenges for teams. Whenever our university team has the opportunity to compete against college or 18U teams we see this happen. It is a tough mindset to get out of. There is a saying in sport "the team that stays in the moment the best will be the most successful". These matches had both ends of that discussion, with our team coming out tentative at times. Also the A team being up on us and the feeling across the net was they were losing. Sport is interesting and challenging all in the same set.
A flu has also taken ahold of some of the athletes on the B team. Everyone of the players with the flu still played their hearts out and contribute to the success of the team. Some of the best stories are when players are so sick that all they focus on is "please don't let me puke during the match". They just perform on automatic pilot. "Don't think just play Meat" as Kevin Costner said in Bull Durham.
We also wrapped up our final presentation for our group of 17. It is posted above. The video was created by two of the athletes. Marie Sophie and Lisa. Just showing some of the other talents we have on the team. The Audio is taken from a Versus channel add. They have great commercials.
Tomorrow we say good by to the 5 athletes who are not travelling with us. WE will have the flag symbolizing their spirit. We are way better because they were there and help challenge us on a daily basis. It is going to have a weird feeling without them...But we will play harder for them.
It also reminded me of a conversation I had a while ago one of my mentors Frank Enns. He told me that teams sometime enter into a competition with an idea that they are either 5-7 points better or worse than the opposition. This is a scary thing because when the match score is 16-15 instead of playing with confidence and having a lead, it actually feels like they are down 20-16. This is one of the biggest challenges for teams. Whenever our university team has the opportunity to compete against college or 18U teams we see this happen. It is a tough mindset to get out of. There is a saying in sport "the team that stays in the moment the best will be the most successful". These matches had both ends of that discussion, with our team coming out tentative at times. Also the A team being up on us and the feeling across the net was they were losing. Sport is interesting and challenging all in the same set.
A flu has also taken ahold of some of the athletes on the B team. Everyone of the players with the flu still played their hearts out and contribute to the success of the team. Some of the best stories are when players are so sick that all they focus on is "please don't let me puke during the match". They just perform on automatic pilot. "Don't think just play Meat" as Kevin Costner said in Bull Durham.
We also wrapped up our final presentation for our group of 17. It is posted above. The video was created by two of the athletes. Marie Sophie and Lisa. Just showing some of the other talents we have on the team. The Audio is taken from a Versus channel add. They have great commercials.
Tomorrow we say good by to the 5 athletes who are not travelling with us. WE will have the flag symbolizing their spirit. We are way better because they were there and help challenge us on a daily basis. It is going to have a weird feeling without them...But we will play harder for them.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Mental side of things
Week four has officially begun. This will probably be the toughest week as a team. It has been a long time since the first week when we have had a chance to fully recover and feel fresh. Our practices started to show it in the first three practices of this week. The positive side of this fatigue is the team keeps battling and working hard. As most elite athletes know, the best way to overcome a slump is with positive work.
In the NHL quite a few teams will look at their schedule and find a time in the season when the travel and practices will become a grind and they will do something special for the team to make it exciting. I believe this is where father son trips started, but only guessing. NHL teams invite the players fathers on a road trip so they can experience their son's life. they also get a chance to meet the other fathers. Since we cannot do something like that for this group, WE keep trying to find new ways to warm-up that will give them some added fun and energy. Today was a fun middle years kickball game with lots of team running. Something most of them have not done for a few years.
On the serious side of coaching, when the team starts to struggle it does give the coaches a chance to work on the mental side of the game. A few years ago when I was coaching at GPRC in the ACAC Leigh Goldie used an acronym with the Wolves to help us with between the rally thinking. The game of volleyball is really circular. So he thought of the game that way. Mentally a bunch of things need to happen. The 4 R's
The first R is react. This is the way the game is played, when the ball is in play the athletes have to react to the situation and play what is in front of them. Yes there is a game plan to follow, but really the game of volleyball is so random that once the ball is in play a person needs to just react.
The second R is respond. Once the ball is dead the athletes need to respond to the situation. If it is a score for your team then you cheer and have a chance to give energy back to the team. A look in someone's eyes and a big fist pump can go along way. If the opposition scores then the athletes have a chance to build confidence back up. Again a look in the eye a bit of advice or a positive comment can be the difference. One of my biggest pet peeves is the tapping of the chest and saying "my bad". No kidding it is your bad, everyone in the gym knows who is responsible for the error. Tell us what you can do to fix it. " I have that seam don't worry". That comment builds trust and keeps the confidence high.
The third R is relax. This is the three seconds where a person takes a deep breath and then centers the body. A chance to get rid of the last error. Some will clap their hands as a physical show of corrections, others will "park" the error by touching the floor or wiping their shoes. These are just physical ways to say, I have moved on.
The fourth R is Refocus. This is usually done by communicating. Getting back into the game, to be totally immersed in the present situation. Reacting to this next rally or winning the next point the only one that matters. If you are on serve reception, then the communication is towards the type of serve the server has or the location that she has been serving so far in this match. It can also be about who has who's seams. When you have the serve, the players usually share the attackers locations, what type of block they will be making against the opposition, is the setter front row or back row and many other points. By saying it verbally to the team it shows everyone that the athlete is ready to go and understands the present situation they are in. One of the biggest struggles for teams is when they get down in the score, they get stuck in the second R and forget about the last two, which are very important.
Another friend of mine from Grande Prairie, Dave Johnson, always used the metal backpack as a way to explain our thoughts during matches. He used this as a way to get out of the second R trap. In life we store our memories in a back pack, and when we get into different situations we reach into the back pack looking for the closest memory to the situation. The memory we choose will help determine our reaction. An example of this could be a situation where someone you know is walking by you in the hall and they walk by without saying hello. There are many ways to interpret this situation. One is that the person is mad at you and you have done something to wrong them. So then you spend the day trying to figure out what was going on. Another way to see the same situation is that something must have went wrong with them and they were so focussed on their own problem they didn't see you. Both could be true or none of them could be. How you deal with that situation is based on your past experiences. Which picture/experience you choose to bring out of the back pack. This holds true in sports. Too often when we get down in a match we fall into our negative thoughts and memories and struggle to get back into the present. A person needs to remember that as humans we gets to choose our thoughts and memories. So if you don't like the picture you pulled out then put it back in the pack and grab another one. I have used that saying a few times in the last few days as we battle through some fatigue and some disappointments.
9 days till we travel...starting to amp it up. Can't wait...
In the NHL quite a few teams will look at their schedule and find a time in the season when the travel and practices will become a grind and they will do something special for the team to make it exciting. I believe this is where father son trips started, but only guessing. NHL teams invite the players fathers on a road trip so they can experience their son's life. they also get a chance to meet the other fathers. Since we cannot do something like that for this group, WE keep trying to find new ways to warm-up that will give them some added fun and energy. Today was a fun middle years kickball game with lots of team running. Something most of them have not done for a few years.
On the serious side of coaching, when the team starts to struggle it does give the coaches a chance to work on the mental side of the game. A few years ago when I was coaching at GPRC in the ACAC Leigh Goldie used an acronym with the Wolves to help us with between the rally thinking. The game of volleyball is really circular. So he thought of the game that way. Mentally a bunch of things need to happen. The 4 R's
The first R is react. This is the way the game is played, when the ball is in play the athletes have to react to the situation and play what is in front of them. Yes there is a game plan to follow, but really the game of volleyball is so random that once the ball is in play a person needs to just react.
The second R is respond. Once the ball is dead the athletes need to respond to the situation. If it is a score for your team then you cheer and have a chance to give energy back to the team. A look in someone's eyes and a big fist pump can go along way. If the opposition scores then the athletes have a chance to build confidence back up. Again a look in the eye a bit of advice or a positive comment can be the difference. One of my biggest pet peeves is the tapping of the chest and saying "my bad". No kidding it is your bad, everyone in the gym knows who is responsible for the error. Tell us what you can do to fix it. " I have that seam don't worry". That comment builds trust and keeps the confidence high.
The third R is relax. This is the three seconds where a person takes a deep breath and then centers the body. A chance to get rid of the last error. Some will clap their hands as a physical show of corrections, others will "park" the error by touching the floor or wiping their shoes. These are just physical ways to say, I have moved on.
The fourth R is Refocus. This is usually done by communicating. Getting back into the game, to be totally immersed in the present situation. Reacting to this next rally or winning the next point the only one that matters. If you are on serve reception, then the communication is towards the type of serve the server has or the location that she has been serving so far in this match. It can also be about who has who's seams. When you have the serve, the players usually share the attackers locations, what type of block they will be making against the opposition, is the setter front row or back row and many other points. By saying it verbally to the team it shows everyone that the athlete is ready to go and understands the present situation they are in. One of the biggest struggles for teams is when they get down in the score, they get stuck in the second R and forget about the last two, which are very important.
Another friend of mine from Grande Prairie, Dave Johnson, always used the metal backpack as a way to explain our thoughts during matches. He used this as a way to get out of the second R trap. In life we store our memories in a back pack, and when we get into different situations we reach into the back pack looking for the closest memory to the situation. The memory we choose will help determine our reaction. An example of this could be a situation where someone you know is walking by you in the hall and they walk by without saying hello. There are many ways to interpret this situation. One is that the person is mad at you and you have done something to wrong them. So then you spend the day trying to figure out what was going on. Another way to see the same situation is that something must have went wrong with them and they were so focussed on their own problem they didn't see you. Both could be true or none of them could be. How you deal with that situation is based on your past experiences. Which picture/experience you choose to bring out of the back pack. This holds true in sports. Too often when we get down in a match we fall into our negative thoughts and memories and struggle to get back into the present. A person needs to remember that as humans we gets to choose our thoughts and memories. So if you don't like the picture you pulled out then put it back in the pack and grab another one. I have used that saying a few times in the last few days as we battle through some fatigue and some disappointments.
9 days till we travel...starting to amp it up. Can't wait...
Friday, July 22, 2011
The good the bad and the ugly.
So this week is almost over and it has been a week filled with some highs and lows. We are starting to get together as a team and have really moved forward in discovering our self. I think this team has all the tools necessary to achieve something special.
The good
The week started with a team meeting and some team building. Fred one of the guest coaches was able to take some great photo's of the team during practice and some different fun situations. So we were able to create a slide show of the team. We used one of Nike's commercials with Michael Jordan. "Look me in the eye" It was perfect because it has been an example of how to portray confidence in each other. In the commercial MJ talks about being afraid of how great we can become.
It was a great starting point for the meeting. If the team gives me permission I might post it at a later date. I really find it coincidental that hollywood creates movies at the time we need something that portrays the message that we want to send. They are better at pep talks than I am. As a coaching staff we were trying to find something that we could use to show positive team self talk. Earlier this year I had DVR many of ESPN's 30 for 30. These are amazing stories about sport. I was watching the one about the Boston Red Sox and their comeback from the Yankees in the playoffs. Down 3-0 in the best of 7 series they never strayed from their message. We were able to show the team how they beat history. No team in the history of baseball had ever come back from down that far. The Sox rally cry became Why not us!!!! It was a perfect message for us to send to our team. The Boston teamed stayed positive in the midst of some amazing diversity. Our team responded well to the movie and even brought it up a couple of times in our individual meetings. Hey Why can't we shock the world. If we train as hard as them and believe in ourself more Why not us.
The Bad
That was the high part of the week, the low part came later in the week. The time in our season had come to select the team. Over my career as a coach this is the time of any team that I dread. This year it was the worst one for me since the Canada Games team I coached back in 2001. Both of these had a large amount of similarities. Usually you have the athletes for a week and then select them. As a coach you really don't have a lot of time to invest in them emotionally. But after 3 weeks we found ourselves emotionally invested into everyone. They all work so hard and train the right way. There wasn't one person who we could say, She has a bad attitude easy choice. I don't know Lupo does it he has athletes for years and then has to tell them it is time to move on. I know he really wants the best for all the athletes he coaches. Same is for us on the FISU team we really want the best for all the athletes.. But unfortunately the rules say only 12 players get to travel to China and we have to break someone's heart. this might be the first time that these athletes have every been cut, and it is a tough time to start. I thought of the movie miracle when Herb Brooks had to cut a player just before the Olympics.
WE met with everyone individually and explained where they fit into our plans. The athletes were very impressive, all of them said they wanted to stay to the end. I have been cut a few times in my life and I understand how difficult it must have been the first practice after. The athletes feel that they can push us to get better and play a small part in achieving our goals. They have bought into the idea of 17 of us will head to China, 12 physically and 5 in spirit.
We borrowed a tradition from hockey and applied it to volleyball. In hockey if one of the players gets injured a lot of teams will hang the injured player's jersey behind the bench. This symbolizes that the player is with them in spirit. We all signed a Canadian flag. This flag is to be put up in the gym at every practice and will be on the bench at every game. It is our symbol for our teammates that we still value their contributions. It is something for us to show each other that we are competing for our country, schools but more importantly for each other.
The Ugly
I really have nothing ugly to point out but it was a catchy title. We are ending our week again with a match, so I guess the Ugly is how bad my team is going to beat up on the other half of the team. It is going to be ugly tomorrow.
The good
The week started with a team meeting and some team building. Fred one of the guest coaches was able to take some great photo's of the team during practice and some different fun situations. So we were able to create a slide show of the team. We used one of Nike's commercials with Michael Jordan. "Look me in the eye" It was perfect because it has been an example of how to portray confidence in each other. In the commercial MJ talks about being afraid of how great we can become.
It was a great starting point for the meeting. If the team gives me permission I might post it at a later date. I really find it coincidental that hollywood creates movies at the time we need something that portrays the message that we want to send. They are better at pep talks than I am. As a coaching staff we were trying to find something that we could use to show positive team self talk. Earlier this year I had DVR many of ESPN's 30 for 30. These are amazing stories about sport. I was watching the one about the Boston Red Sox and their comeback from the Yankees in the playoffs. Down 3-0 in the best of 7 series they never strayed from their message. We were able to show the team how they beat history. No team in the history of baseball had ever come back from down that far. The Sox rally cry became Why not us!!!! It was a perfect message for us to send to our team. The Boston teamed stayed positive in the midst of some amazing diversity. Our team responded well to the movie and even brought it up a couple of times in our individual meetings. Hey Why can't we shock the world. If we train as hard as them and believe in ourself more Why not us.
The Bad
That was the high part of the week, the low part came later in the week. The time in our season had come to select the team. Over my career as a coach this is the time of any team that I dread. This year it was the worst one for me since the Canada Games team I coached back in 2001. Both of these had a large amount of similarities. Usually you have the athletes for a week and then select them. As a coach you really don't have a lot of time to invest in them emotionally. But after 3 weeks we found ourselves emotionally invested into everyone. They all work so hard and train the right way. There wasn't one person who we could say, She has a bad attitude easy choice. I don't know Lupo does it he has athletes for years and then has to tell them it is time to move on. I know he really wants the best for all the athletes he coaches. Same is for us on the FISU team we really want the best for all the athletes.. But unfortunately the rules say only 12 players get to travel to China and we have to break someone's heart. this might be the first time that these athletes have every been cut, and it is a tough time to start. I thought of the movie miracle when Herb Brooks had to cut a player just before the Olympics.
WE met with everyone individually and explained where they fit into our plans. The athletes were very impressive, all of them said they wanted to stay to the end. I have been cut a few times in my life and I understand how difficult it must have been the first practice after. The athletes feel that they can push us to get better and play a small part in achieving our goals. They have bought into the idea of 17 of us will head to China, 12 physically and 5 in spirit.
We borrowed a tradition from hockey and applied it to volleyball. In hockey if one of the players gets injured a lot of teams will hang the injured player's jersey behind the bench. This symbolizes that the player is with them in spirit. We all signed a Canadian flag. This flag is to be put up in the gym at every practice and will be on the bench at every game. It is our symbol for our teammates that we still value their contributions. It is something for us to show each other that we are competing for our country, schools but more importantly for each other.
The Ugly
I really have nothing ugly to point out but it was a catchy title. We are ending our week again with a match, so I guess the Ugly is how bad my team is going to beat up on the other half of the team. It is going to be ugly tomorrow.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Leadership...everywhere.
Leadership is like gravity. You know it's there, you know it exists, but how do you define it?" Former San Francisco 49er Tight End, Dr. Jamie Williams
We had an interesting week that culminated with a discussion about players and leadership. We have the weekend off to rest and recover from the first two weeks of training. While the athletes had to volunteer at Volleyball Canada hugely successful Super Spike event, the coaches took time to review the direction of the team and to talk about the leadership on the team.
Time for my rant... I personally believe that there is too many needs on the team for one or two captains to handle the load. (Especially on a three week trip with a large games at the end of it.) We have seen all kinds of people show different leadership abilities in these two weeks. The interesting thing about leadership is that it needs to be a reflection of our values and culture. As a team we are moving closer towards these values but we are still in a situation where we haven't found our identity yet. I feel that we all are trying to bring our old team's ideals into the FISU team. We have players and coaches from so many different programs that all have their own twist on what the culture of the team should be. As a group we are trying to fit our own ideas into our team instead of allowing this team to have their own identity. Which makes sense because it is comfortable for us and it adds a sense of simplicity, but the question is... Is it the best for this team?
Too often we just select captains and say here you go, good luck and let us know how things are going. I am a firm believer that people are not born with this innate ability to lead, that it is taught. Great leaders usually have the opportunity to be around other leaders and see how they do things, whether it was a family member, coaches, teachers or teammates. I think leadership needs to start with the individual and then manifest itself into the team in general. For this reason I like leadership teams, I think a team needs at least 4 people to help it move through the course of the year.
I think you need your on court leader, formal team captain. This person knows the rules and often is in a position where they can be in contact with everyone. I think it is hard for a middle to be the floor captain when they are off for three rotations. Then you have a lead by example captain, some one you can point too as a person who emulates what you want. In hockey they call them the core value player. This can be any player from any position. In our last practice on friday we titled it the "get through practice" It was a difficult practice where they needed to get through each drill. The length of the drill was determined by the individual group in the drill. An example was the team making 70 serves in a row, and if it wasn't difficult enough we wouldn't count it. To emphasize the purpose of the day at the end of every drill the team was allowed to award points to any players who they felt lived up or went beyond our core values. I privately awarded a point at the end of practice to a player who jumped into a tough defensive drill when another player's hand injury removed her from the drill to get some needed treatment. The athlete didn't hesitate, she jumped right in and the drill didn't lose flow. The next tyoe of leader on a team is the team mom, the organizer, the person who checks in to make sure everyone is fitting in and included in the team concept. We have seen a lot of different people take on this role so far this summer. It is true I am going to see the final Harry Potter! A group of the athletes organized this event. They sent a link to the movie so we could buy our tickets online without really having to think about it. The next leader was one that we discovered a few years ago, the leader of the reserves. A person who can speak on behalf of the bench players in meetings, but more importantly a person who can help keep the bench players focussed on the goal. It is tough sometimes to be a star on your university team and then arrive at the national team and not play very much once the competition rolls around. So this person would help remind players that is an incredible experience and keep them on board. It is more powerful coming from them because they are in the same situation. The Rudy of the team.
The A team players have been great at explaining how things work on the top program in our country and we have adopted some of their own traditions. But each year team needs will change, so with this we need to find our own identity too. Add the pressure of five players who will not make the trip and it leads to some frustration amongst the players. I feel this is because we are all bringing our old teams experiences and assumptions into the team leadership ring. So far everyone on the team has been great with each other, but we need to continue to build on positive and what we have done so far.
I also think that leadership on teams begins with the team self talk. We often teach players individual self talk, you are what you think, but the same can be said for teams. If we spend our days discussing all the flaws in the team we become a flawed team. If we spend our days talking about how great each person is, we become great. This is a big challenge over the course of a university season, everyone is a critic and a coach. Successful teams find ways to limit the negative talk and reframe it to positive talk. This is a skill that needs to be taught.
So the discussion will continue, sooner than later we are required to choose the formal captain to represent us at the games. Tomorrow is the movie then a team meeting that will help set our final two weeks before we leave. I can't wait to see how it ends.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Jumping in sand and game plans
Today marked the half-way point to the second week of training. On Tuesday we experienced the fatigue levels that we expected at the end of the first week. It was interesting to see the group fight the fatigue and try to bring something positive to the gym. Creating positive energy is a strong part of our culture that we are hoping achieve with our team.
When I woke up on Tuesday morning it felt like I was hit by a truck. My body was sore, I hit snooze three times. I thought wow if I am this beat, how do the players do it? We had a great Monday of practices after being off for a day, but fatigue was still lingering in our muscles and brains. When the warm-up ball control started everyone in the gym was a little off. I went around talking to some of the team and they said it felt like they were running and jumping in sand. They were not able to get moving and were jumping lower. We knew once they battled through this everything gets better, this is all part of training your body to expect and sustain the training load. Our athletic therapists and the rest of the medical staff were excellent. They kept the team going, dealing with all their aches and pains and even moved into the role of being a cheerleader for them as they battled the fatigue.
The typical day for these athletes and coaches are 6 hours of practice and weights combined. The athletes who have been around knew that this is a time that trouble can creep in. They were able to identify some of the hotspots that could happen in this situation and have been proactive in making sure these issues don't come up. One example is the setting up and taking down of the nets. The vets made a schedule early. Everyone will have to do their share. Makes it a more positive environment and adds to our culture.
The team chemistry is pretty good, they are all trying to get to know each other. The anglophones are trying to use a few of their french words that they know. One of the Quebec girls was in line for supper in the cafeteria, and a team mate was trying to get her to say a german word for something. She responded that she was trying to learn english, one new language was enough for right now! The team has pulled the tables together in a large group during meal times and really are getting along great. It is a great feeling overall. I know it will be an adjustment when the team goes from 17 to 12. This will be a tough time, excitement that they are going to Thailand and China, but also sadness because our team of 17 needs to split for this event. Our motto from the beginning is that we are a team of 17 and we know that any success we have is because of the help of the 5 who don't travel. As a coaching staff we are still along way from knowing the team, everyone brings something different to the team and they can help us. Plus we are really starting to enjoy all the athletes personalities.
More on the fun side now. WE are having a mini tournament tomorrow, a chance for the athletes to show everyone how they have improved from the start of the training. Also a chance to show the coaches they are ready to compete. At the end of practice today Alain explained the teams and the process. With the A team athletes we are 21 players. So we split into 3 teams and are playing a 3 team round robin. We are playing 4 sets no matter what in order to better control the time. WE are also using this tournament for our plus minus competitive list. If you win the 4 sets out right everyone on that team will get 3 pt, if it is a tie then 1pt each. Then each set is worth 5 points. If the team that wins holds the opposition under 18 they get 5 bonus pts per set. If they hold them under 22 they will get 4 pts and the opposition will get 1 pt. If they win by 3 or less they will get 3 points while the opposition gets 2 points. The idea of this is to keep teams fighting for every point possible. if a team wins the maximum they will get 23 points in that match. OF course I expect my team to win.
The second part of the matches is to get the athletes thinking of game plans and tendencies. I beleive this is one of the weaker things we do as coaches. We need to teach our athletes to look for tendencies more during matches. to remember what has happened before and be proactive to the possibilities. thehe setters needed to come up with a game plan, explain what type/ speed of sets that their attackers like to use. The second was to discuss blocking of their opponents, which blocker they would go after and which one they would avoid. Other questions they needed to answer were; which opposition middle is a read blocker and which middle can you control? Liberos had to talk about the opposition attackers and what are their shot patterns? What do they think would be our best blocking scheme? Who on the opposition is the best server and who is the weaker server? The outside attackers needed to think about serving targets and defensive weakness of the oppositions. They were expected to work together and begin to think about patterns and opposition weakness. All the different groups then were to email their coaches and let them know their ideas. I was really impressed with my teams emails and how thorough they were.
I am excited to watch the teams play. I am coaching team 2, and have begun to trash talk the other coaches and athletes. Hope my team can back up their coaches words. WE will find out tomorrow, tonight we prepare.
When I woke up on Tuesday morning it felt like I was hit by a truck. My body was sore, I hit snooze three times. I thought wow if I am this beat, how do the players do it? We had a great Monday of practices after being off for a day, but fatigue was still lingering in our muscles and brains. When the warm-up ball control started everyone in the gym was a little off. I went around talking to some of the team and they said it felt like they were running and jumping in sand. They were not able to get moving and were jumping lower. We knew once they battled through this everything gets better, this is all part of training your body to expect and sustain the training load. Our athletic therapists and the rest of the medical staff were excellent. They kept the team going, dealing with all their aches and pains and even moved into the role of being a cheerleader for them as they battled the fatigue.
The typical day for these athletes and coaches are 6 hours of practice and weights combined. The athletes who have been around knew that this is a time that trouble can creep in. They were able to identify some of the hotspots that could happen in this situation and have been proactive in making sure these issues don't come up. One example is the setting up and taking down of the nets. The vets made a schedule early. Everyone will have to do their share. Makes it a more positive environment and adds to our culture.
The team chemistry is pretty good, they are all trying to get to know each other. The anglophones are trying to use a few of their french words that they know. One of the Quebec girls was in line for supper in the cafeteria, and a team mate was trying to get her to say a german word for something. She responded that she was trying to learn english, one new language was enough for right now! The team has pulled the tables together in a large group during meal times and really are getting along great. It is a great feeling overall. I know it will be an adjustment when the team goes from 17 to 12. This will be a tough time, excitement that they are going to Thailand and China, but also sadness because our team of 17 needs to split for this event. Our motto from the beginning is that we are a team of 17 and we know that any success we have is because of the help of the 5 who don't travel. As a coaching staff we are still along way from knowing the team, everyone brings something different to the team and they can help us. Plus we are really starting to enjoy all the athletes personalities.
More on the fun side now. WE are having a mini tournament tomorrow, a chance for the athletes to show everyone how they have improved from the start of the training. Also a chance to show the coaches they are ready to compete. At the end of practice today Alain explained the teams and the process. With the A team athletes we are 21 players. So we split into 3 teams and are playing a 3 team round robin. We are playing 4 sets no matter what in order to better control the time. WE are also using this tournament for our plus minus competitive list. If you win the 4 sets out right everyone on that team will get 3 pt, if it is a tie then 1pt each. Then each set is worth 5 points. If the team that wins holds the opposition under 18 they get 5 bonus pts per set. If they hold them under 22 they will get 4 pts and the opposition will get 1 pt. If they win by 3 or less they will get 3 points while the opposition gets 2 points. The idea of this is to keep teams fighting for every point possible. if a team wins the maximum they will get 23 points in that match. OF course I expect my team to win.
The second part of the matches is to get the athletes thinking of game plans and tendencies. I beleive this is one of the weaker things we do as coaches. We need to teach our athletes to look for tendencies more during matches. to remember what has happened before and be proactive to the possibilities. thehe setters needed to come up with a game plan, explain what type/ speed of sets that their attackers like to use. The second was to discuss blocking of their opponents, which blocker they would go after and which one they would avoid. Other questions they needed to answer were; which opposition middle is a read blocker and which middle can you control? Liberos had to talk about the opposition attackers and what are their shot patterns? What do they think would be our best blocking scheme? Who on the opposition is the best server and who is the weaker server? The outside attackers needed to think about serving targets and defensive weakness of the oppositions. They were expected to work together and begin to think about patterns and opposition weakness. All the different groups then were to email their coaches and let them know their ideas. I was really impressed with my teams emails and how thorough they were.
I am excited to watch the teams play. I am coaching team 2, and have begun to trash talk the other coaches and athletes. Hope my team can back up their coaches words. WE will find out tomorrow, tonight we prepare.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
End of week one
Well that is the end of week one. It was a great start to what we are all hoping to be a memorable summer. We had 20 athletes in the gym for the entire time. We have 3 of the A team athletes with us. Tonya, Collette and Julie and they have helped create the culture of hard work and communication. I think in return the have been pretty impressed with the level of play,commitment with the team and fun with the coaches.
From Monday to Saturday we had 27 hours of court time and another 5 hours of foot speed and weight training. So today is a day off and the athletes are in need of a good day of rest. They were very receptive and really pushed through some fatigue. First week is always the hardest.
The main theme for the week was mostly offense. We are trying to have a fairly fast offense, we would like our outside sets to be a second tempo type set. For the non-volleyball people, tempo is basically the speed and timing of the sets. In Canada we teach a three step approach, so when the ball reaches the setters hand how many steps you have left is basically the tempo of the set. A third tempo would mean you would have all three steps left. Second tempo would mean you have only two steps left and all ready into your approach as the ball touches their hands, first tempo means you are just about to jump when the setter gets the ball.
That is the easiest way to explain tempo. So we were trying to get our outside sets to be second tempo when in system and our middles to be zero tempo when in system, they would be in the air before the ball reaches the setter. By the end of the week most of the outside attackers have a good feel for the sets. We are still trying to get the middle shoot to be quicker.
The other offensive idea we are beginning to suggest is the idea of protecting the ball. The game of volleyball has changed some over the past five years. Less and less are the teams trying to score and swing as hard as they can in every situation and see what happens. A couple years ago in Toronto Canada men played Brazil in a world cup match and after the match the two coaches made time for the CIS coaches to ask questions. Bernard Rezende and Glen Hoag both stated that there is a greater emphasis being placed on defence in the sport and that they want their team to make less errors. So deciding when to go after a shot and when to play smart was essential.
For our purpose Alain cam up with the Green, Yellow and Red light idea. Green light we are in system and we have seam, time to swing hard and score. Yellow light we are out of system some, a player needs to decide if they feel they can score, then go after the ball. In the Yellow if they feel the situation is a bit awkard they would protect the ball and try to take out a player or force a bad pass on the other side of the net. By doing this we should get the ball back in a easier situation where it is green light obvious. Brazil did this in the Olympics, the spin serve of the opposition was so tough they only wanted to defend the serve, then they would play intentionally off the block, cover it and hope to be in a better situation. Then they would run fast and go after the ball. Red light means you have no real chance of scoring and you need to be smart with the ball. If the setter is in back row then to make her play the ball so they have to have a second person set the ball. This usually will eliminate a middle attack and give an opportunity to get a solid double or triple block somewhere.
WE worked on these concepts the last few days and I think the athletes are started to understand the different situations. We also continued to work on the culture of communication on our team and set up drills to make this happen. WE keep talking about it every chance we get, we are a self admitted quiet team, but are reaching out of our comfort zone.
The team today is having a great day it is 30 degrees Celsius out and they are outside for sure. Some of them took the opportunity to go to Grand Beach. If you are ever in Manitoba in the summer you need to head there it is an incredible place. Maxim magazine named it one of the top 10 land locked beaches in the world. The rest of the team are having an opportunity to head out to a ranch for a great Manitoba style bbq and a chance to just relax away from sport. Hopefully this will lead to a better understanding of each other and a even more committed group next week. WE hope to make improvements all summer making our last match our best match.
One last note we had our first guest coaches of the summer come out. Sophie and assistant coach from U of Montreal and Fred a high school and club coach from Montreal as well. Both of these coaches have been involved with Alain for a long time and are a great resource for him. It does up the amount of french that I have to talk. I will be close to bilingual by the summer...not! But I will give it an honest try. Now off to get in the sun myself.
From Monday to Saturday we had 27 hours of court time and another 5 hours of foot speed and weight training. So today is a day off and the athletes are in need of a good day of rest. They were very receptive and really pushed through some fatigue. First week is always the hardest.
The main theme for the week was mostly offense. We are trying to have a fairly fast offense, we would like our outside sets to be a second tempo type set. For the non-volleyball people, tempo is basically the speed and timing of the sets. In Canada we teach a three step approach, so when the ball reaches the setters hand how many steps you have left is basically the tempo of the set. A third tempo would mean you would have all three steps left. Second tempo would mean you have only two steps left and all ready into your approach as the ball touches their hands, first tempo means you are just about to jump when the setter gets the ball.
That is the easiest way to explain tempo. So we were trying to get our outside sets to be second tempo when in system and our middles to be zero tempo when in system, they would be in the air before the ball reaches the setter. By the end of the week most of the outside attackers have a good feel for the sets. We are still trying to get the middle shoot to be quicker.
The other offensive idea we are beginning to suggest is the idea of protecting the ball. The game of volleyball has changed some over the past five years. Less and less are the teams trying to score and swing as hard as they can in every situation and see what happens. A couple years ago in Toronto Canada men played Brazil in a world cup match and after the match the two coaches made time for the CIS coaches to ask questions. Bernard Rezende and Glen Hoag both stated that there is a greater emphasis being placed on defence in the sport and that they want their team to make less errors. So deciding when to go after a shot and when to play smart was essential.
For our purpose Alain cam up with the Green, Yellow and Red light idea. Green light we are in system and we have seam, time to swing hard and score. Yellow light we are out of system some, a player needs to decide if they feel they can score, then go after the ball. In the Yellow if they feel the situation is a bit awkard they would protect the ball and try to take out a player or force a bad pass on the other side of the net. By doing this we should get the ball back in a easier situation where it is green light obvious. Brazil did this in the Olympics, the spin serve of the opposition was so tough they only wanted to defend the serve, then they would play intentionally off the block, cover it and hope to be in a better situation. Then they would run fast and go after the ball. Red light means you have no real chance of scoring and you need to be smart with the ball. If the setter is in back row then to make her play the ball so they have to have a second person set the ball. This usually will eliminate a middle attack and give an opportunity to get a solid double or triple block somewhere.
WE worked on these concepts the last few days and I think the athletes are started to understand the different situations. We also continued to work on the culture of communication on our team and set up drills to make this happen. WE keep talking about it every chance we get, we are a self admitted quiet team, but are reaching out of our comfort zone.
The team today is having a great day it is 30 degrees Celsius out and they are outside for sure. Some of them took the opportunity to go to Grand Beach. If you are ever in Manitoba in the summer you need to head there it is an incredible place. Maxim magazine named it one of the top 10 land locked beaches in the world. The rest of the team are having an opportunity to head out to a ranch for a great Manitoba style bbq and a chance to just relax away from sport. Hopefully this will lead to a better understanding of each other and a even more committed group next week. WE hope to make improvements all summer making our last match our best match.
One last note we had our first guest coaches of the summer come out. Sophie and assistant coach from U of Montreal and Fred a high school and club coach from Montreal as well. Both of these coaches have been involved with Alain for a long time and are a great resource for him. It does up the amount of french that I have to talk. I will be close to bilingual by the summer...not! But I will give it an honest try. Now off to get in the sun myself.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Creating Culture
It has been an action pack first four days. It is Thursday already and we have spent a lot of time just getting to know the team and the team to know us. One of the biggest area we have been working on is becoming a great Canadian by overcoming a Canadian.
I know that sounds confusing but for us it is very true. We had an incredible meeting with our sport psychologist, Adrienne Toogood, who did a tremendous job laying a foundation for the team. We had a very emotional and inspirational meeting. In there every player had a chance to talk about how they feel representing their country. All of the athletes are incredibly exited and proud to have this opportunity to represent Canada. They are very respectful of one another and are extremely polite.
Very respectful and extremely polite is what we strive for off the court, now we have to changed that on the court. That is overcoming Canadian. We need to create a culture of competition and challenge. We want our team to fight hard for every point and know they are willing to outwork anyone once the game start. Culture.
Our team is a very quiet team, we have players who come from programs where they are very successful playing this way. In the month we have to train we won't always know what each other is thinking and how they are reacting. Compare this experience to playing along someone for five years, they will know your tendencies and will know what you need for a quick fix if you fall into a bit of a slump.
Another big part of our culture is learning to communicate with each other. One of the players used the term look me in the eyes. Looking in the teammates eyes does so much, and as polite Canadians we are taught to look away when we are in trouble or do something wrong. But a look in the eyes will create confidence in your teammates and will allow teammates to empower you with confidence.
So we set up drills in our warm-ups that create some chaos situations where they need to talk their way out of it. Explain some drills where the answer is figure it out. The more as a group we learn to talk and problem solve the more autonomous we can become. Which would lead us back to the old sit on the bench and let them go.
After our meeting we have a better understanding of each other and that will help people begin to trust each other, which in turns allows people the freedom to communicate freely. The last point on culture that I would like to mention for now is Alain's quote: You are responsible to make this a memorable summer, don't wait for friendships and experience to happen create them! Now for me to take that into my life.
I know that sounds confusing but for us it is very true. We had an incredible meeting with our sport psychologist, Adrienne Toogood, who did a tremendous job laying a foundation for the team. We had a very emotional and inspirational meeting. In there every player had a chance to talk about how they feel representing their country. All of the athletes are incredibly exited and proud to have this opportunity to represent Canada. They are very respectful of one another and are extremely polite.
Very respectful and extremely polite is what we strive for off the court, now we have to changed that on the court. That is overcoming Canadian. We need to create a culture of competition and challenge. We want our team to fight hard for every point and know they are willing to outwork anyone once the game start. Culture.
Our team is a very quiet team, we have players who come from programs where they are very successful playing this way. In the month we have to train we won't always know what each other is thinking and how they are reacting. Compare this experience to playing along someone for five years, they will know your tendencies and will know what you need for a quick fix if you fall into a bit of a slump.
Another big part of our culture is learning to communicate with each other. One of the players used the term look me in the eyes. Looking in the teammates eyes does so much, and as polite Canadians we are taught to look away when we are in trouble or do something wrong. But a look in the eyes will create confidence in your teammates and will allow teammates to empower you with confidence.
So we set up drills in our warm-ups that create some chaos situations where they need to talk their way out of it. Explain some drills where the answer is figure it out. The more as a group we learn to talk and problem solve the more autonomous we can become. Which would lead us back to the old sit on the bench and let them go.
After our meeting we have a better understanding of each other and that will help people begin to trust each other, which in turns allows people the freedom to communicate freely. The last point on culture that I would like to mention for now is Alain's quote: You are responsible to make this a memorable summer, don't wait for friendships and experience to happen create them! Now for me to take that into my life.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Getting Started
So here I go. I wanted to find away to remember this summer. A friend of mine recommended blogging as a way to accomplish this. So again Here I go stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new. As it turns out I have been selected to coach the Canadian Women's volleyball team in the FISU games. Which is incredible if you know the story of how I got here. I never played the game of volleyball and it wasn't until I started teaching middle years that I became involved. Little did I know then that I would end up with it as a full tiem gig coaching at a University and eventually to coaching the National team in a Major event.
The head coach is Alain Pellettier from Universite Laval, we seem to agree on most things dealing with volleyball. The other assistant is Joely Christian from Queens University. I think/hope we will all get along well and make this summer a great experience.
Today was day 1 of the camp. Earlier in May we had the tryout for this team, it started with 40 players and we are now down to 17. We eventually have to get this group down to 12. It will be a good battle in many different positions. I am extremely excited as we have the making of a strong team. the last FISU games team was raided a bit as more of the players were needed on the Senior team. This year though the Senir team is more experienced and so we get most of the top players available.
The 17 players are made up of athletes from both the NCAA and the CIS leagues. But it a lot harder for the NCAA players to take part because of the time frame of their season. We probably would have had two more players if they would have been eligible. The break down of the team is 9 Canada west players, 3 Quebec players, 1 OUA player and 3 NCAA players. By coaching in the Canada West I a familiar with a lot of the players and some of their tendancies.
It is an interesting concept where my goal this summer is to make my opposition's players better. I take that responsibility seriously. Also with a bit of humour in it as well.
We had a meeting to start off the camp, Alain used this as an opportunity to introduce everyone who is involved in the program, everyone from strength coaches, therapists, sport psych, to the day to day grind of admin. (the Admin for Volleyball Canada often go unnoticed but they do a tremendous job coordinating all the different things that are needed in such a short time). In this meeting we laid out some expectations and had a couple of the athletes talk about what the level is like. We only hav eone player who has played int he FISU games last time around. So we are all going in a bit blind. we hope to be fast learners.
My goal with this blog is to keep myself and anyone who finds it updated on our development as a team and are movement to the eventual game is China.
More to come.
The head coach is Alain Pellettier from Universite Laval, we seem to agree on most things dealing with volleyball. The other assistant is Joely Christian from Queens University. I think/hope we will all get along well and make this summer a great experience.
Today was day 1 of the camp. Earlier in May we had the tryout for this team, it started with 40 players and we are now down to 17. We eventually have to get this group down to 12. It will be a good battle in many different positions. I am extremely excited as we have the making of a strong team. the last FISU games team was raided a bit as more of the players were needed on the Senior team. This year though the Senir team is more experienced and so we get most of the top players available.
The 17 players are made up of athletes from both the NCAA and the CIS leagues. But it a lot harder for the NCAA players to take part because of the time frame of their season. We probably would have had two more players if they would have been eligible. The break down of the team is 9 Canada west players, 3 Quebec players, 1 OUA player and 3 NCAA players. By coaching in the Canada West I a familiar with a lot of the players and some of their tendancies.
It is an interesting concept where my goal this summer is to make my opposition's players better. I take that responsibility seriously. Also with a bit of humour in it as well.
We had a meeting to start off the camp, Alain used this as an opportunity to introduce everyone who is involved in the program, everyone from strength coaches, therapists, sport psych, to the day to day grind of admin. (the Admin for Volleyball Canada often go unnoticed but they do a tremendous job coordinating all the different things that are needed in such a short time). In this meeting we laid out some expectations and had a couple of the athletes talk about what the level is like. We only hav eone player who has played int he FISU games last time around. So we are all going in a bit blind. we hope to be fast learners.
My goal with this blog is to keep myself and anyone who finds it updated on our development as a team and are movement to the eventual game is China.
More to come.
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