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Zanners, Here is an e-mail that was sent to me about playing the children fairly. I used this approach and it worked out really well with my team as well. I know that mine are only 4th graders but it's a suggestion. kenoshasquid Posted: Sep 22 2005, 05:22 PM All Star Group: Members Posts: 11 Member No.: 144 Joined: 19-September 03 Holly-Marie, Good for you! It's always fun watching them make progress. Two years ago I was in your shoes struggling to teach them to get underhand serves over. Now, just two years later, all but two of my girls are getting it over overhand and doing other wonderful things like setting and attack hitting now and then. We had a team vote and I asked them to decide their fate: Do things they are comfortable with in games and win more, or take some chances and work on and try new things in games and make mistakes as a result but maybe win less. They voted to focus on learning and trying new things rather than just worrying about winning. I explained this to the parents. It's the girl's team, not mine and not the parents'. SO now we can have fun and learn without the expectation and pressure to win every time out, although that will always be a goal regardless of what we are trying. But fun and learning are still #1 priority at this level. Tonight it's ice cream bars after practice for the winning 3-girl team in a game we play at the end of practice called "Queens of the Court". With positive reinforcement, fun and games, and organized practices it's amazing how much they learn in the process! Keep up the good work! Tim

Tim, Thanks for the feed back... Just to keep you updated. I've done a similar thing by letting my girls lead the stretching and drills during the practices, because as you stated, it's their team. We've even invited the parents to play against the girls this coming week. I'll let you know how that goes. The girls are all excited to be able to play their parents. My girls also decided that winning is nice but they want to learn how to play and be able to take chances on things and maybe not win. Things have been going really well. We played in a tournament the past couple of weeks and we finished 3rd place out of 8 teams. I'm very proud of them. We had several volley's in all the matches we played over the weekend and that was an accomplishment in it's self. Please let me know how to play this "Queens of the Court" sounds like fun. I've played a few other games like "Dead Fish" and "Centipede" with the girls and they just love it (they beg to play those games) and it get's them motivated and relaxed. Also, I've utilized Ron's suggestion a bit with not making them run laps around the court, when they make a mistake, but have the ones that made the mistake shed the balls and then the others want to as well just because it's fun. We usually play these on our Friday evening practice since we have Saturday games. Helps get them going. Keep up the good work with your girls. Sounds like both the girls and parents have a lot of respect for you. Thanks again! Holly-Marie

Thanks everyone for your comments! I've read the previous e-mails posted on this site about the games such as, dead fish and centipede. I've been playing those games lately with the girls and they seem to be more excited. We've practiced really hard prior to our first game last Saturday, Sept. 10th and I now have all but one girl able to get it over the net. Thanks! I had one girl that couldn't stop throwing the ball up in the air, however she has been practicing at home and is able to keep it in her hand, but she keeps lifting her leg up in the air and leaning forward too much. She is still not able to get it over the net. We've had her try practicing without a ball and against the wall, with little luck of breaking this habit. We'll keep working! As for the information on the court and net playing area; this will be one of the things that I'll mention at our next athletic board meeting and see if there is anything that can be done to get the CYO Athletics Department to change the court area and net height requirements for the 4th graders. I really appreciate all of your feedback. By the way, on Saturday's game we finished, 1st game 19 (us) to 21 (them), 2nd game 21 (us) to 9 (them) and 3rd game 10 (us) to 15 (them). Although we didn't win the match, I was definitely pleased on how the played. The one girl that couldn't get it over the net and finally started to at the last practice before our first game was my star server that day. Holly-Marie

I'm rather new to coaching 4th grade girls volleyball. I've read most of the topics here and I'm still searching for some information. I've noticed that I have difficulty with getting my girls enthused and motivated about the sport. Don't get me wrong, I have quit a few of them that are but I have some that aren't. I've tried everything possible to get them excited. (drills, games, working as a team, talking to them, encouraging them, etc...) I also have some that really don't have the strength to hit the ball over the net and have really run out of idea's on how to strengthen their arms to get the ball over the net. Another issue I have with one girl is that she can't seem to stop tossing the ball up in the air while serving underhand. I've tried to teach her overhand but she doesn't seem to get the concept. All my girls serve underhand and we have our first game Sat. Sept. 10th. Any help would be greatly appreciate. Despirate on getting serves over the net. I have 10 girls on my team and only 4 can get it over the net. Thanks, Holly-Marie