I was watching a 7th grade volleyball game last week. Both teams used a serve receive where the left back and right back players are about 20' off the net, but the middle back player is about 4' from the baseline. The girls on the other team could barely serve the ball to the baseline, so they kept getting ace after ace whenever the ball was served to the middle of the court. I thought the coach would make an adjustment, but she insisted with sticking to her old-school serve receive. The coach should have plotted where the serves were hit and the outcome. Had she done this, she would have noticed a disturbing pattern.
The fact is, most serves can be received with all three back row players standing around the 22' line...in a straight line. The overhand receive makes those deep serve-receive positions obsolete. The same is true for defense. Most kills occur in the middle of the court, not the perimeter. So, why is there so much effort defending the perimeter of the court. Plot the hits and kills in your next match and you will see where to play defense. Remember, coach smart, not coach tradition.
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Every year there is a descent player on your team who has poor hitting technique. After the first several weeks, it is clear that the muscle memory is too engrained in this player and they are not willing to change their technique. You know that the poor technique will lead to shoulder problems later in their careers, but the player is better than most of the kids on the team.
When parents and coaches are faced with this situation, you will quickly find out what they value most. Any coach who is in it for the kids will find a way to get the technique corrected without letting the player continuing to put stress on the shoulder, even if that means not playing her until she has corrected the technique. This is a difficult decision, but it is one that must be made. A few years ago, I saw a player with a hitting technique issue where her armswing put all the pressure on her shoulder socket and tendons, instead of dispersing the strain with proper shoulder rotation. Despite repeated efforts to talk her parents and coaches into making changes, she continued to play and have fun as a starter. Toward the end of the season, she felt a pop and experienced severe pain. Her volleyball career was done as a Freshman in high school. Now, this is an extreme case. Most players merely experience nagging shoulder problems through high school, which typically haunt them later in life. The bottom line is, winning is not worth it. Life is too short to play for today at the expense of suffering tomorrow. It takes guts as a coach and for parents, it means to swallow your pride. 2 months of dedicated effort will provide years of joy playing the sport. |
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September 2020
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