Coaches: Stress Immediate Reaction to Your Instruction
By: Dave Cross - National Director - Yes I Can Volleyball
If you've been with us as a Gold Member for awhile, you know I usually coach 14's during the club season. This year, however, I have moved up to the 15 National Level, and six of the girls from last year's 14's are on my team again. We played in our first tournament the last weekend in January. Three of my players could not make it, (two because of their school basketball commitment and one with an illness), so we brought up two players from our 15-2's to round out the roster. If this first day was any indication, we are going to be "height-challenged" all year, in comparison to many of our opponents-although things will be a little better when my six footer completes her basketball commitment. Overall, it was a frustrating day, and you'd think it was because of how we fared-but that really wasn't the story. In pool play, we went 3-5, losing three games by two points each, and a fourth by just four. Then in the Silver Playoff, we won both matches in two straight.
On the surface, not bad. I mean, we were missing our "tree", along with two others, and the two girls we brought up filled in admirably. We ended up winning the Silver, and lost only one game by more than four points. The problem was not in the losses, but in how we lost most of them. As always, I stress to my teams that their focus should be on their effort and their attitude-as long as they are doing their best to do everything I am asking them to do we accept the results, learn from them and move on-and my frustration was due to the fact that I really didn't think they did a good job of focusing on my instruction during matches. In other words, we simply didn't correct many of our mistakes quickly enough at all.
Here's a few examples of what I am talking about:
- -Forgetting to run our free ball play.
- -Forgetting to double block middle attacks.
- -Not adjusting on defense to our opponents tendencies.
- -Not setting the ball high enough on the outsides.
- -Not playing with enough emotion and enthusiasm.
Ok, yes, some of these problems will go away when we finally start getting everyone to practice consistently, but with so many returning players, it shouldn't have been that big a problem adjusting as the day went on. So, I sat them down at the next practice and reminded them of what I think is a key principle we should all be stressing-no matter what the age our talent level of the group you are working with:
It is their responsibility to listen to instruction and do their best to do what they are being asked as soon as they are asked to do it. In other words, how many times do you have to hear something before you act on it? The answer quite simply is ONE! That's it, one time-unless they don't understand the instruction, of course. When this happens, it is simply a lack of focus on their part, and that is just not acceptable. This was the theme of my talk at that practice, and all my returning players agreed-I was right-they weren't focused on the adjustments well enough (for whatever reason-the reason doesn't matter at all-there is no excuse for not listening). This is something we stress at our camps, too. Listening to instruction and acting on it is a learned skill. And it is their job to do this to the best of their ability.
It is the same thing in my classroom. "How many times do you have to be told to be quiet before you do what you are told? What, you don't know what that instruction means? Do we have to hold a "how to be quiet" seminar after school?" When I do this, I get some of the most quizzical looks. "What, you want me to listen the first time I am told? I thought you had to say it three-four times before you really meant it." It's this simple: They need to understand they are responsible for following directions as soon as they hear them-it doesn't matter if it's on the court, in the classroom, or at home.
Why is it like this? In my opinion, it is simply our expectations of them. They need to understand that is what is expected of them, and that if they don't do what is expected, there will be consequences right away- not after they don't listen and adjust to the same request a number of times, but instead, right away. So that was my focus at the last two practices: I want to see that you listened to the instruction and did your best to do it at the very next opportunity-or there will be consequences. You will hear about it. You will be replaced. There will be consequences, it's that simple. The result? We've made a lot of progress on the "little things". And, after that progress is made, you see a lot of smiles and energy-because they truly do want to improve. All I'm doing is getting them to "focus" right now on what they have to do to see this improvement.
That's all you have to do, too. I hate it when I hear a coach say, "I keep telling them, but they just aren't doing it". Look, if you know it's something they understand, lay down the consequences firmly and immediately-and stick to it- they'll get the idea pretty quickly. "Oh, I know how do to do that. Why didn't I just do it? Now I'm on the sidelines. That was pretty stupid."
And, if it's a concept they don't understand, stop them and make sure they do understand before you go on. Then expect them to do their best RIGHT AWAY!
Coaches: This works. All you have to do is discipline yourself to be consistent in your reactions. The result will be a team that improves more quickly-and adjusts on the fly during competition much better.
This is up to you-so get to it now-unless you don't understand....... :)
Good Luck!
