It’s surprisingly straightforward to observe a volleyball match with out really seeing very a lot. That may sound unusual because you’re standing on the sideline watching each rally. The issue is that coaches’ imaginative and prescient is of course pulled towards the ball. We see the serve, the go, the set, the assault, and the results of the play.
That provides us data, for certain. It simply doesn’t all the time give us the knowledge we really need. If we need to make helpful selections throughout a match, we have to search for patterns slightly than merely react to particular person rallies.
Don’t simply watch whether or not you received the purpose
A rally ends and one staff will get the purpose, clearly. That doesn’t have a tendency to inform us very a lot, nevertheless.
Suppose your staff wins a rally as a result of the opponent misses a straightforward assault. Good outcome, however what occurred earlier than that? Did your serve create any stress? Was your block organized? Had been your defenders in the appropriate positions?
You’ll be able to win a degree whereas doing a number of issues poorly. You can even lose a degree whereas doing most issues nicely. The extra helpful query is:
What occurred through the rally that’s more likely to matter once more?
Search for repeated issues
One unhealthy go doesn’t essentially imply you’ve got a passing downside. One missed blocking task doesn’t essentially imply your blocking system is breaking down, simply as one poor assault selection doesn’t essentially imply the hitter is making unhealthy selections.
What issues extra is repetition.
Is similar passer getting focused efficiently? Are you repeatedly giving up factors in a single rotation? Is the opponent persistently discovering the identical defensive seam? Are your hitters repeatedly attacking right into a well-formed block?
Patterns let you know the place the significant points are. Particular person performs create noise. The higher you may separate the 2, the higher your selections are more likely to be.
Take note of rotations
Rotations provide you with a helpful strategy to arrange what you’re seeing. In case your staff struggles in a single rotation, although, don’t instantly assume the rotation itself is the issue. Take a look at why.
Possibly the serve obtain formation is creating problem. Maybe your setter is beginning too removed from the goal, or one front-row mixture isn’t producing sufficient attacking choices. It is also that your serving in that rotation isn’t creating sufficient stress, permitting the opponent to facet out comfortably.
Or there could also be no structural situation in any respect. The rotation may merely have given up just a few factors.
That’s why monitoring the sample issues. It’s when a rotation repeatedly produces the identical form of downside that you just in all probability have one thing price addressing.
Watch what your serve really does
Coaches typically consider serving by whether or not the serve goes in. That’s clearly necessary, nevertheless it isn’t sufficient.
The extra helpful query is whether or not your serving technique creates the issue you need it to create. Does it transfer the setter off the web? Do you pressure predictable attacking choices? Does it make the opponent use a weaker passer or disrupting their most well-liked first-tempo assault?
A serve might be in and nonetheless accomplish little or no. Equally, an aggressive serve that sometimes misses should still produce the form of stress you need.
You want to consider the serve throughout the broader purpose of your serving technique.
Watch the primary contact
The identical concept applies in your facet of the web. It’s straightforward to take a look at a foul assault and blame the hitter, however typically the true downside got here a lot earlier.
Was the go adequate to provide the setter choices? Did the setter must chase the ball? Did the hitter get the tempo or location they anticipated?
Typically the play is already compromised earlier than the attacker ever touches the ball.
First contact impacts nearly every part that follows, which makes it one of the crucial necessary issues to observe if you’re making an attempt to know why your offense is or isn’t working.
Watch the block-defense relationship
One other space the place coaches can focus too narrowly is obstructing. If the opponent will get a kill, the pure response is to take a look at the block, however the query isn’t merely whether or not the blocker touched the ball. You want to have a look at how the block and protection are working collectively.
Did the block take away the supposed space? Had been the defenders positioned based mostly on the block? Did the attacker rating as a result of the block failed, as a result of the protection was out of place, or as a result of the attacker merely made an excellent play?
A block can do its job with out touching the ball. Likewise, a defender might be in the appropriate place and nonetheless get overwhelmed by a superb assault.
What issues is whether or not your system is persistently placing gamers in affordable positions to make performs.
Watch what occurs after the primary defensive contact
Groups typically focus closely on making the dig, which is comprehensible. The dig, nevertheless, isn’t the top of the defensive section. It’s the start of transition offense.
In case your staff digs numerous balls, however fails to create helpful assaults afterward, it’s essential perceive why. Are gamers transitioning rapidly sufficient? Is the setter accessible? Are attackers creating sufficient spacing? Are you defaulting to predictable excessive balls?
A staff can defend fairly nicely and nonetheless battle to attain as a result of the transition section is poorly organized. That’s a unique downside from poor protection, and it’s essential see the distinction.
Watch participant decision-making
Probably the most necessary issues you may observe throughout a match is whether or not gamers are fixing issues themselves.
Do they acknowledge the place the opponent is susceptible? Are attackers adjusting to the block? Do defenders adapt to repeated tendencies? Does the setter acknowledge which matchups are working?
You also needs to take note of the knowledge gamers are sharing between rallies. Helpful communication is commonly an indication that they’re really studying what’s taking place slightly than merely executing directions.
You don’t need to be the one individual on the staff figuring out issues. If the gamers can see and resolve them, the staff turns into far more adaptable.
Watch out with emotional reactions
Matches create emotional noise. An extended service run feels vital, a missed serve at 23-23 feels extra necessary than one at 5-5, and a spectacular kill tends to stay within the reminiscence.
These moments matter emotionally, however they don’t all the time matter tactically.
A shanked go could look worse than a number of common passes that quietly restrict your offense. A giant block could get everybody excited even when your block-defense system has in any other case been poor.
That’s one cause it could possibly assist to put in writing down just a few observations slightly than relying solely on reminiscence. You don’t want an advanced statistical system. Just a few easy notes may help you identify whether or not one thing is genuinely taking place repeatedly.
Resolve what really wants intervention
Seeing an issue doesn’t robotically imply it’s essential intervene. Typically gamers already know what occurred and are fixing it themselves. Typically the difficulty is clear however momentary. Different occasions the sample is clearly getting worse and wishes consideration.
Earlier than calling a timeout, making a substitution, or giving a tactical instruction, ask:
Is my intervention possible to enhance what occurs subsequent?
That helps maintain you from teaching just because one thing went flawed.
Watch the opponent too
It sounds apparent, however coaches can develop into so targeted on their very own staff that they cease listening to what the opponent is doing. Search for patterns there as nicely.
Who’re they making an attempt to serve? The place does their setter go underneath stress? Which attackers are getting the highest-quality alternatives? What occurs once they’re out of system? You can even watch how they defend totally different assault areas, whether or not they make predictable substitutions, and the way they reply after a timeout.
The purpose isn’t to determine each potential tendency. It’s to search out the few patterns which may really affect what your staff does.
Give your self one thing particular to observe
Making an attempt to observe every part normally means you don’t watch something significantly nicely. It helps to provide your self one or two particular observational priorities.
Possibly you need to observe whether or not your serve is creating the supposed stress. Maybe you need to deal with one rotation that has been problematic, or watch transition spacing extra carefully.
You’ll be able to nonetheless see the remainder of the match. The distinction is that you just’re intentionally searching for one thing that issues.
Use the match to be taught, not simply handle
Teaching throughout a match is partly about making selections within the second. It’s additionally about accumulating data. What you see ought to assist inform substitutions, timeouts, tactical changes, and the conversations you’ve got with gamers.
It also needs to feed straight into future coaching. On this regard I typically take into consideration matches as exams telling us how nicely our coaching has been working. That makes match remark a part of the practice-planning course of. The higher you develop into at figuring out significant patterns throughout competitors, the higher data you’ve got afterward.
And that in the end helps reply the identical query that ought to drive your coaching:
What does this staff most want subsequent?