Coaching Info Database

11/17/25

The first video is from International Volleyball Academy, a Czech group which posts videos once a week. This past few months, Czechia men finished 4th in the U21 championships and the World Championships. That's pretty impressive for a country of 10-11million. For me, it's interesting to see how a different country trains their players.

11/18/25

Serving is the only skill completely under the control of player. It does not reley on a teammate or opponent. If the player misses, it's their fault. This is Tod Mattox fron The Bishops School in San Diego. Art of Coaching faculty is comprised of current and ex college coaches. However, despite being a high school varsity coach, Tod has become one of the main instructors for AOC. Tod is a friend of mine, but he is a great coach. Anyway, he makes some great points about serving. I teach our 13s toss,step,swing as a rhythm similar to Tod.

11/24/25

Today's video is from Craig Skinner, head coach of Kentucky, which is ranked #2 in the country by AVCA. He also won an NCAA Championship a few years ago during covid. One thing I like is the emphasis on elbow even with shoulder. I'm seeing more concern with injury and elbow too high on draw back. Another interesting thing is they start on the knees first. You see this in baseball/softball.  

11/24/25

This is a video from 10 years ago from USAV, featuring John Kessel and motor learning guru, the late Carl McGown. Kessel was in charge of coaching education at USAV until Covid. McGown was the long time head coach and motor learning professor at BYU.

This video is great. However, it is long at 1:27. So to adhere to the 10 minute rule, we are going to watch two segments and read a slide.

From 15:06-20:15, McGown talks about margin of victory. What happens when your team gains a small advantage over an opponent (For example, 51% vs 49%).

Segment 2 (53:00-55:00), discusses when to use block and random drills.

Lastly, at 1:06:25 they show a slide of a John Wooden quote. It's his explanation of why he emphasizes fundamentals vs. team drills. John Wooden is one of the greatest coaches, not only in basketball, but in all of American sports history.

12/1/25

Today's video is from the International Volleyball Academy. It shows how they train setters. They like using basketballs for some of their training. I am not that big on heavy balls for setter training, but I don't mind it as a change of pace. They use drills that have a lot of contacts and multiple balls. I do agree with this and using a variety of drills to prevent boredom. Setters need a lot of reps. 

12/3/25

Today's video is from Gold Medal Squared. It is an out of system team drill. Like any drill, the variables can be manipulated to fit your teams needs. I like Gold Medaled Squared, but Tht Art of Coaching offers more resources for free, whether on their website or on Youtube. I agree with simple is better than complex, though some other things I don't agree with. 

12/8/25

Today's video is about reading on defense. Another thing I like about the video, is that Sealy changes it because the player isn't getting it. After he only hits balls at her face, he returns to the original drill. Don't be afraid to modify the drill if it's not working. I knew a coach in San Diego, who made his boys team do the same drill for two hours straight because they didn't get ten in a row! If a drill isn't working, revisit it later in practice or try again next practice. But don't get so mad/frustrated, that you do 1 drill an entire practice. It's not good for players or the practice. By the way, this person was out of coaching 5 years later. 

12/10/25

Today's video is about blocking from International Volleyball Academy. They do a lot of work on lower nets and using the Other ball (Soft ball you can throw).

They want arm action for jumping (Bent elbows). Blocking requires a lot of reps and experience for success. Also, watch your players fingers so they don't get injured

12/15/25

Today's video is about forming the platform too soon. This is the reason for most aces in serve recieve, in my opionion. When you move your platform with hands together, your platform gets there late. Going left, your left hand and arm reaches out, but your right hand/arm pulls in. With your arms pulling on each other, you platform can't help but be late. Thus the shank pass/dig out of bounds. We work on this a lot with the 13s, because it gives us so many problems. A bad pass the rally continues, but the ace means point for your opponent. I would strongly recommend all coaches at all ages to practice this.

12/17/25

Today's video is about tooling the block. I think training your players to be comfortable in less then ideal situations, is important. If they can only attack perfect sets, they will not be effective. I do share the coaches concern about sprained ankles. If you do this drill with the player performing a full approach, emphasize safety first. 

12/22/25

John Dunning is one of my favorite coaches. In this video, he demonstrates what I call a rally control drill. Again, you can manipulate the variables to make it easier or harder, depending on your team's age, skill level, etc. In a row drills force your players to develope consistency.

12/30/25

This week's video is about jump setting. Jump setting speeds up the offense and allows your setter to save balls tight to the net. High level setters all jump set. 

1/6/26

I don't think players talk enough. It's a problem with players of all ages, but especially with young/inexperienced players. In this video, the Kansas head coach shows what he wants from his players in terms of communication during serve recieve. When a team struggles in matches, serve recieve is the main culprit. 

1/7/26

Today's video is about middle hitting footwork. I like the coaches idea about tape on the floor to keep middles away from the net. However, we are not allowed to use floor tape at our practice facilities. Perhaps a small cone or the flat dots can be used as a substitute. Also, he noticed the player didn't follow through because she was too close to the net. I look for this too when coaching middles hitting.  

1/12/26

This video by Jim Stone talks about various ways to use the block. I.think this is important for all hitters, but especially if you are not tall. The video shows various ways the players are using the block. If the end blocker is drifting towards the sideline, even better.

1/14/26

This video is from Four Athletes and it covers defensive postioning. I know when our 13s make a mistake, it's because they are out of position. Middle back too shallow. Left back behind the block. Setter too far back to dig the tip.

1/20/26

This is Todd Mattox with a contraption he made to help players reach over properly. It's hard to teach blocking for various reasons, but reaching under the elastic is something a lot of coaches do. 

1/22/25

Today's video is about serving success relative to location of server. At 13s, we will have players serve from area 6, because they will serve out if too close to either sideline. This can be true for girls we are teaching to jump serve. I once coached a college player who could serve/hit hard, but had little control serving areas. We put her in area 6 and had her back up so her serve wouldn't go out. We had her serve area 6 and if it went to areas 1 or 5, we were fine with it because of the speed/movement of her serve.

1/27/26

I like to see how successful clubs teach technique to their players and why. This coach is with KIVA, out of Louisville, Kentucky. She is working on armswing and timing without a net. I like her point about process over outcome. We tell our players success is not an accident or luck. It is hard work and planning.

1/30/26

I have mentioned before about training players/teams out of system. This video is about training setters. What do you want your setters to do when out of system. When you see highlight videos on YouTube about setters (National team or All Amercan college players), they are out of system. Luciano De Cecco, of Argintina, is one of the most amazing setters I have ever seen. He has dozens of videos on YouTube. As great as he is, he was once a beginner. 

2/2/26

Today's video is from Tod Mattox about using one hand on defense. He does emphasize training both hands, which I agree with. Sometimes, the situation doesn't allow our players to dig with two arms. 

2/5/26

Today's short video is about mindset. No matter how great of an outside hitter a player is, they are still going to get blocked. Roofed hard sometimes. Back in the nineties, LBSU had an All American OH named Mark Karins. In a match at San Diego St., he got roofed hard. The blockers are talking trash. The crowd was going wild.

"Nice set, my fault", is what he said to his setter. Next play, he is set again, and absolutely crushes the ball, bouncing it into the stands. "Nice set, my fault last time." Very even keel player, no big highs or lows. Resilient for sure. 

2/9/26

Today's video is a JVA video about fast paced team warm up drills. These drills put your players in a high contact situation and the coach talks about variations to make each drill harder or easier. Again, adapt the drills to your teams skill level. 

2/11/26

Today's video is about passing movement and angles. When the coach stops them, she says hold. Using words that begin with the letter h, is easier on the vocal cords, if you are yelling. Also, her players are pretty good at tossing. Younger/inexperienced players can struggle in a drill like this because they can't toss. 

2/17

Tod Mattox is demonstrating a dynamic warm up game. Lots of contacts and you keep score. The more contacts we can get for our players, the better. Especially for young/inexperienced players.

2/19/26

This is a short video about motor learning. Rob Gray is a motor learning expert and has longer videos on YouTube. Unfornately, the video doesn't show his volleyball example, probably because Championship Productions sells a full video of his clinic. 

2/24/26

This short video is about "Framing". The coach is John Dunning former Stanford and UOP head coach (5 titles total). I think he is an all time great coach. 

3/2/26

This is a short video about serving strategies to hinder the other team's offense. In the early 2000s, I coached high school boys varsity in San Diego. Playing in a tournament in LA, we played a team whose best player passed in 6 a lot. If you moved him right, he would hit the back set or D set if he was back row. If the serve moved him left, he would hit outside or the A set if back row. If the serve kept him in the middle, he would hit the 2 set or pipe if he were back row. We served him to hit a set vs. our best blockers, since we knew the pattern. Only time I have seen an offense geared toward 1 player to that degree.

3/4/26

This is a brief video about points per rotations and lineups. Interesting fact that most national teams don't adjust their lineups. I have coaching friends who keep track so they know which rotations are weak, so they can work on those rotations in practice.  

3/9/26

This is a brief video about the post match talk. When I was a community college coach in San Diego, one of our rival head coaches would get so mad losing to us, her post match talk would last 60 -90 minutes! Eventually, this program went downhill because she couldn't get players anymore. 

3/11/26

This short video is about overhead digging. Sometimes, in local tournaments, we play boys teams. The boys are better at overhead, because they don't want to platform pass. This is the reason our 13s beat boys teams, because of serve recieve.