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.
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