Daniel Silvestri

John - thanks again. Appreciate your help. We have lost all but our first match, but the kids played great a couple of games ago. Tho we lost they were excellent and had over 20 3-hitters the match - it ws nice. I have emphasized the fun part, and that we are not afraid of making mistakes - but don't let the ball drop to the floor with no play on it. We have another match monday evening. We may have an opportunity to consolidate our 22 girls into one team for another leage in april. Have to see. Thanks again - MUCH appreciated! Dan

Ugh - moved we played a so-so team tonight and lost the first game 25-7. It was frustrating for all - nobody to the ball, called the ball, responded to subs, served well etc etc - it was as if it was the very first time they saw a volleyball! We shaped up a bit in the 2nd game but lost 25-21, and play a 3rd for fun and lost 25-21 We stress in practices, before the games, in scrimmages - CALL the ball, move to the ball, etc etc. I just think we should be doing better because the teams we have lost to (1-4 we are), have not been that good - we were just worse. I'm working hard on this, but feel a let-down here for the kids and the parents watching - we should be doing better. We play again Monday the 28th and the nit eof Mrch 1st too - no practices in between. Any ideas welcomed

Hi John - I'll look for the email. We always have at least 2 on the floor who don't move well to the ball and one who hopes the ball never comes her way! I'm not worried about our win record even tho there is a chance for playoffs etc. We are trying to teach them 3 hit vb and many of the teams we play smash it over the net on the first hit and celebrate. But I know that if we can consistently get it to our setters, we will be hard to stop - we have 2 good setters and when we get them the balle, we get the 3 hits and the other team is never ready for it. I'm hoping we can get more consistent getting our setters the ball one way (W) or another (4 receivers?). I really appreciate your help here Dan

John - thanks for the email - we have had our first practice, since your suggestions, last night. . In the meantime, one team (the one I am coaching) played our 4th match on Sunday. d so far - We lost the match, but the girls played the best that they played so far, and even the winning coach came over afterwards to comment on how well they played. They went after the ball, tried 3 hits etc. while the other team pretty much just hit the ball over the net on the first hit. I was very pleased. But our biggest hurdle was still passing to the setter - whenever we did, it was poetry in motion! For our practice last nite, I borught the T-Bars that I made of the pvc pipe a you suggested and had both teams practice for about 40 minutes receiving serves and passes and attempting to visualise and bump them over the t-bar to our setter. I have to say, that on my team, about 3 of them really latched on to the idea and improved. In our scrimmage, they slipped back into some errant passes, but some (more than before) were very nice. I'm going to use the T-Bars again for our Saturday practice. Then we have a game Sunday, Monday and Tuesday! then another before any more practices. We still need to work on MOVING to the ball better, setting our feet and then passing. But improvement for sure - THANKS for the suggestions - any more, send them along please!! Dan JOHN -I wanted also to ask you about a 4 receiver set up as an option. We are using a 4-2 now with a W set-up with setters playing opposite each other. Maybe we can alleviate some of the receiving problems (not moving to ball) if we use a 4 receiver formation. I'm not that familiar with it. We have tried moving the front row players ahead of the 10 foot line and letting the 3 backrow players receiver - worked ok but not great. Any insight is apprecaited - thanks again! Dan

John - thanks for the email - we have had our first practice, since your suggestions, last night. . In the meantime, one team (the one I am coaching) played our 4th match on Sunday. d so far - We lost the match, but the girls played the best that they played so far, and even the winning coach came over afterwards to comment on how well they played. They went after the ball, tried 3 hits etc. while the other team pretty much just hit the ball over the net on the first hit. I was very pleased. But our biggest hurdle was still passing to the setter - whenever we did, it was poetry in motion! For our practice last nite, I borught the T-Bars that I made of the pvc pipe a you suggested and had both teams practice for about 40 minutes receiving serves and passes and attempting to visualise and bump them over the t-bar to our setter. I have to say, that on my team, about 3 of them really latched on to the idea and improved. In our scrimmage, they slipped back into some errant passes, but some (more than before) were very nice. I'm going to use the T-Bars again for our Saturday practice. Then we have a game Sunday, Monday and Tuesday! then another before any more practices. We still need to work on MOVING to the ball better, setting our feet and then passing. But improvement for sure - THANKS for the suggestions - any more, send them along please!! Dan

I coached 5th grade girls' vb last year, and am coaching some of the same kids this year for 6th grade. We have 22 kids, so we had to split into 2 teams, and I am coaching 11, and we practice simultaneously in the gym. We have done lots of passing drills, scrimages to simulate game conditions and more. If I graded us, I'd say we are a C passing team. We have a 14 match season, have played and are 1-2. Our passing to the setter is inconsistent, across all players. 2 are very bad at passing always, serveral tend to pass it over the net on the first hit (on purpose) and the rest just irradic. We lost yesterday and today to teams I believe we could have beaten. So, I am looking for some insight We also let about 5+ serves from the opponents (per game) drop to the floor without even a touch - confusion (tho we stress MINE and even used the Finding Nemo seagull MINE suggestion - which they liked. We use a 4-2 (we have 2 very good setters) How can we get they to pass better? How do we cross the chasm of them not going for the ball sometimes on server receive? I've read a couple of books, incorporate some drills etc. but we still have problems - when we get three hits in a game it has been successful, and they see this! So, if your have some ideas, please send them our way! We have 11 more games to play, but have only about 5 practices slots left!