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kenoshasquid

Teching Young Players To "want" The Ball

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I am coaching fifth grade girls who have never played before. I can teach the technical aspects (technmique, rules etc) but how do you teach them to want the ball, to not be afraid to "go for it" when it is near them. It's frustrating as a coach to watch them staring at each other in a game as a serve drops inbetween them that could have been easily returned had someone made a move to get it. Any suggestions, or wil this "desire" just come in time as we work on drills and play more games?

Tim

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This is a hard aspect of the game to "teach." I have found that it comes with time. I think that what helps best in this area is confidence. Most girls who let the ball drop do so because they think "well, i'll let someone else get it because if i do it i'll just mess up." The problem is that when it is between two girls and they both have that mentality the ball will always hit the floor. I tell my young girls that i do not care if the ball hits the floor every time, as long as they were on the floor too, trying to get there. It sort of takes the pressure to perform away and makes them feel good about trying, and at least getting to the ball, even if they miss it. Confidence take time and practice.

There is a drill i do that helps. It is pretty basic and you have probably heard of it but if not here it is.

Put two or three girl on the back line and toss the ball between them. This teaches them that they have to move to the ball and it helps get them used to being more aggressive. They have to call for it and get there. After a while of doing this drill they should get used to it. If they are still not motivated add another rule----If the ball drops and no one went after it those two or three girls run a lap. That usually gives my players that extra motivation to try.

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Thanks Juniper! That's exactly what I've been doing so thanks for making me feel like I'm doing the right thing. We did that type of drill all last week at practice and they did much better in the game Sunday. Thanks for the input!

Tim

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Given players a "consequence" for not going after the ball, while frowned on by some, is certainly the right approach. After all, there is definitly a consequence on a point if they don't do it in a game. I would recommend that you try having them run "lines" as opposed to laps, as it is better conditioning for the game, and they will see it that way. "Running lines" for my team is starting in the middle of the court, in a line facing the net, back to the endline, and at the signal, running to the left sideline, touching it with their left hand, then running to the right sideline and touching it with their right. They then run back and across the left sideline, completing 1 line. It is also a really good conditioner too.

I am sure that you have taught you players how to sprawl or pancake prior to requiring that they hit the (deck) floor in pursuit of the ball. Actually, I've found that if you teach it well, they enjoy it almost as much as kneepad sliding :)

My experience has been that part of the real problem players have, aside from motivation, is a lack of understanding as to just how much of the court they should cover. A possible solution might be using blue painter's tape to mark off the areas you want each position to be responsible for. Depending on how many receivers you use - my 8th graders use 3 - using the "high back left, low front right" coverage might work. The one major recommendation I would give for taping is that it helps prevent one player from "taking over" move area than you want her/him to have.

Sorry for being long-winded. hope something of this might work for you.

john

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John

Thanks for the info. This is my first coaching experience in about 20 years,

so some of the terms you are using I may have forgotten. "Pancaking"

for instance. What do you mean and how do you teach it? Also, what do you mean by low back left, high front right? (Or vice versa).

I'm trying to keep the confusion to a minimum by pretty much making the back row responsible for all serve receives except for those that just barely make it over. To do this I have the front row right up on the net. The thinking being that it's much easier to run up to receive a serve than to receive one back peddling, especially at this age when serves are coming over at a rather

slow speed and higher trajectory. Plus with just three girls thinking "receive", all they have to worry about it if it's on their side, and not think too much about how deep it is. If it's on their side, then it's automatically their responsibility.

Your thoughts?

Tim

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Tim,

I was about 3/4 of the way through an answer when I must have hit the wrong key, as it all disappeared. So if this turns out to be a repeat, sorry.

By the way.. I was a GreatLakes squid once, is that anything like a Kenoshasquid :)

For me, a "pancake" is the last ditch technique to stop a ball from hitting the floor. Essentially, the player trys to put their hand - palm down- on the floor to let the ball rebound off it. Getting to that spot generally requires a long lead step to a low, bent knee. The player also uses their "non-pancake" hand to break their fall and "ease" them down to the floor. The "sprawl" on the other hand is really a very low forearm pass that then leads to the player meeting the floor. This is usually done be again using a long lead step that uses the bending knee to lower the player into a passing position, then using their hands -or bottom side of their forearms- to get them on to the floor. Quite often this turns into a flat-out dive and slide, but probably better left for older players. I do teach both of these techniques to my 7th & 8th graders, starting them out on gym mats. We have also done them outside on soft grass and in the sand. My experience is that not all players are excited about doing it at first, but after one or two of their teammates give it a shot, most will at least try. If you let them work at it mostly at their own pace, and let their teammates share their "secrets" about how to "really" do it, most of them end up thinking that it's right up there with kneepad sliding.

"High back left, low front right" or "deep left, short right" are terms I've "borrowed" from the McGown-Fronske-Moser book Coaching Volleyball which as Carl says, clarifies who should take served ball. (pg67) While the book explains it much better than I can, what it says is that a player should pass high balls coming to his/her left and low balls coming to her/his right. Of course this works best for three player receiving formations, but I have also used it as a guideline for a four player receive. Anyway, have you receivers stand facing the net, then have them turn 45 degrees to their left and put their arms straight out from their sides. Anything in front or their arms(up to the line drawn by the player in front of them, if there is one) is theirs to play.. as long as its a high ball to their left arm or low ball to their right. Seems a lot simpler in real life.

I certainly agree with you that the simpler ,the better. But from a game situation you may find that having your frontrow players right at the net puts a real strain on your receivers ability to move forward fast enough to get the balls that fall on or inside the attack line. For some teams I have had my front row play a "deep front" which moves them back to just inside the attack line for the receive. As soon as they decide that they will not have to play the ball, they can move to wherever their base defensive position is. This also allows your back row to play deeper if needed.

(however, with the new interpretation of the first touch/double hit rule, I am inclined to have my back row play at about 20 ft and use their hands to overhead pass more balls)

I must add that I still like to use a four player receive pattern for my JO team and middle school team from time to time. It can allow you to give the opposition quite a few different looks, and makes it very easy to hide a player.

Well, before this takes on a life of its own... hope it helps some. john

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