Who coaches the coaches?

Author	Comment
topvb	Who coaches the coaches?	Lead	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 31 (05/08/08 8:30 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None After watching some volleyball ( region tourney) this weekend, I shifted my focus from a player I was there to watch, to the coach. In doing so I saw several different levels, and styles of coaching. Which leads me to my question. WHO COACHES THE COACHES? Does your club offer a coaching clinic pre-season? Do they re-imburse for coaching clinics attended? Are they solely drawing on the volleyball knowledge developed from playing experiences? Does the club director get involved with the development of volleyball strategy or player implementation? As a coach, who/what/how are the ways you developed your coaching style? Anyone please feel free to add your own question, as I'm sure I could ask more, but just don't have enough time.
bluknight		#1	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 619 (05/08/08 10:35 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	All coaches in our club go to IMPACT (paid by club). We have a pre-season meeting to discuss club rules and basic philosophy. Each coach trains their team how they choose. The club director provides feedback to the coaches based on observation and input from the players, other coaches, and parents. I think my style comes from several sources: Player/Coach/Ref: I coached softball and volleyball while I was in college. It helped me mature as a player and also gave me a new perspective on my coaches. I like to think that each coach I've ever had plays a role in my coaching today. Whether it be style, philosophy, or strategy, everything I know and everything I do; I learned from someone else. I've always had tremendous respect for the refs. But, I reffed for a while when I was recovering from an ACL surgery in college. This helped me become a better player, but it also helped me find a style that suited me. I don't like to huff and puff on the sideline. I saw that many of my coaches did (troll the sidelines, whine, jeer) and the results that it got with the team and with the refs. I decided from that point on, I was going to let the refs do their job without too much input from me. I do on occasion let the refs know that they're being inconsistent, but for the most part I focus on my team and their play rather than the ref's whistle. Ex-Player/Asst Coach: I sought feedback from the Head coach all the time. I relied heavily on military and corporate training and realized I had so much to learn beyond the x's and o's of volleyball. As a coach you are very much apart of the dynamic but at the same time you have let the dynamic develop and also steer it when it goes off course. I picked up other perspectives working camps and clinics. Camps and clinics are a good place to observe and share. Head Coach: On the USAV side, I've been to IMPACT and CAP I. I wasn't expecting to learn anything from the IMPACT clinic as I had already been coaching for 6 or 7 years at that point. John Kessel and Deidre Collins opened my eyes to a different way of thinking and a different way of learning. It was great and definitely helped me make that transition from Assistant to Head Coach. : On the college side, I've attended the AVCA convention as part of my professional development. This is a great place to collaborate, network, and observe delivery and demonstration. I have also been to "Perform Better: Learn by Doing seminars". These 3 day, 1 day clinics are great for mixing up training sessions. On the coaching spectrum, I would imagine that I am somewhere in the middle. I am not brand spanking new to coaching or volleyball, but I am not a master coach either (coaching for 20+ years). One thing that pulls everything together for me is that I see coaching as a profession, not as a hobby. I am always looking to get better at what I do and looking to pass that on to the next person that comes along.
NYvbc	Coaching the coaches	#2	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 143 (05/09/08 7:08 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	This is a good topic, I'm surprised that there aren't more responses... At my club, all of the coaches get together a couple of times prior to the beginning of tryouts. We cover basics like club rules, how to deal with playing time, working with parents, how and when to do 1 on 1s with the players, what stats we want covered (at a minimum) and other types of administrative items. We'll also talk about what we want accomplished in the first few practices after teams are formed: covering basic club wide offensive and defensive schemes, terminology, how to teach the fundamental skills so that all of use are saying basically the same thing. We're not creating a "rigid" environment, each coach is free to make modifications that work for his/her team and personnel, but there are some things that we expect to be consistent from 12s to 18s. Once the season gets underway, we hold coaches sessions about every 3 weeks at the gym. During these we continue to discuss club policies and rules (with 20 teams seems like something is ALWAYS coming up), and we use that time to share practice techniques and to share coaches favorite drills. We try to focus on a different skill area with each coaches session. We'll actually have the coaches out on the floor being involved in DOing the drill so they can see how it's supposed to work. I'd love to hear more ideas! Coaches, directors, let us know how you do things!
lblazer	Great topic	#3	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 25 (05/09/08 6:36 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	NY: Our club runs things a lot similar to how you described for your club. We have our initial meetings on court where we talk about club policy, basic fundamentals, and overall expectations for the season. I think we are a little more strict in that we try to run a specific system of volleyball throughout our teams so that they are taught the same thing throughout their club experience (if they stay with the same club). There is some negotiating the 'system' if you are qualified, or have a team that warrants it. I feel in our area we could use more "coaching the coaches" I see it time and again where you watch coaches decisions, or interactions with their players, and it's shocking. I don't claim perfection because I know I've had my blunders throughout the year. But I am always trying to be a student of the game. I know several of the college coaches in the area, and I've been fortunate that a former Olympic coach (Bill Neville) set up his gym in my town, and I work camps with him so that I can absorb as much from him as possible. There are coaching clinics in the northwest quite often, and I would assume around the country as well. I have take the IMPACT clinic, and it was ok. Depends on who is teaching it I guess. I had a great time going to the Gold Medal Squared clinic taught by Carl McGown. I think that's nation wide, but their system is used heavily in the NW, namely the University of Washington. I'm signing up for CAP clinics for this summer as well. It's associated with the AVCA, and seems to provide a wealth of information. I guess that's a little bit about my club, and my personal approaches to coaching. I do wish more coaches sought out mentors and education. Price can sometimes be a factor, and some clubs help with that.
volleyball12	new course offered to coaches	#4	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 14 (05/09/08 7:14 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Check out this new program www.respectinSportUSA.com I believe all new coaches should take this course. As a parent Don't we want a Coach who will Teach not only sport, but Character, Sportsmanship and be a role model for our children. Who is really coaching your child? Teaching your child? Sport and life lessons......
volleyball12		#5	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 14 (05/09/08 7:24 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Let me clarify...Not just new coaches. All coaches. A self checklist on what is really important as we guide youth in sport. Really....sport is just an avenue to develop young women and men, and prepare them for their future. Most of the time after High School and College these young women and men become a professional in something other than sport.
bluknight		#6	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 619 (05/10/08 8:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Were we all just thrown into the fire? "Hi" "Here's your team" "Have fun stormin' the castle" I know a few clubs in our area that put new coaches with older coaches to mentor them. I also think that my most valuable learning experiences come from coaching at team camps. You are training and learning alongside your team. This year was also the first year cameras were not allowed to tape AVCA sessions. I was a little bummed about that. Many of the sessions I had wanted to tape were restricted because those presenters had contracts and I guess they were putting out a training series of their own of some sort. I think if the AVCA made those sessions available to members online either as on-demand or downloadable formats my AVCA membership would be that much more valuable.
WIVBCRAZY		#7	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 753 (05/10/08 9:24 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	We make every effort to make sure our young coaches get a little seasoning as an assistant before getting a team. They also tend to get lower level teams to start which makes sense as we are a competititive club and the directors want to know that our top teams are getting coaching that will work them to their potential. As the other posters said, all coaches with USAV have to be impact certified and with the right person running the course, even old timers can bring something back but you get out of it what you put into it. One thing we have done is group our practices now that we are centered in one facility instead of scattered all over in local gyms. This gives everyone the chance to see other coaches practice and organization, it also lets the directors keep an eye on what is going on at practice with our younger coaches. The one thing everyone needs to understand is club coaching is a lot of time and a high level of commitment. Because of this, there is a very high turnover and new coaches are always coming in. Because of this, every club has young coaches that are trying to learn, and young coaches that think they know everything. Some work out, some don't.
Phaedrus	Great thread	#8	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 2004 (05/10/08 1:27 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I am an IMPACT clinician and one of the things we harp on is that a bus driver gets more training in dealing with people than a beginning coach does. I took CAP I and II, I went to coaching clinics, I went to adult player clinics, mainly because I wanted to learn about the game and how to train, and I could afford it, not everyone can pay to go every clinic they are interested in. I also watch a lot of matches, sometimes I watch as a fan, mostly I watch critically: asking myself how I can improve the skills of certain players, analyzing the strategy and tactics. I also make friends with other coaches, you kind of have to be thick skinned and go ask your local college coach about their system, their training methods, and their ways ofdelaing with their teams. I don't duplicate what they do but I do analyze and I do think critically about what they do, and I come to my own conclusions and that is how I learn.
CAclubcoach	Coaching coaches	#9	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 115 (05/10/08 1:57 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	In our club, all of our coaches are required to attend a Gold Medal Squared coaching clinic prior to coaching in the club. It is considered one of the benefits of coaching with the club. Newer or lesser experienced coaches are assistants to more experienced coaches. All coaches are encouraged to attend clinics run by the more experienced coaches in the club and they can participate to their liking. Our director also tries to attend at least one practice or tournament with every age group in order to get a first hand perspective of how the coaches are interacting with the players. The coaches try to meet once a month to just discuss being coaches. I really love it! Personally, I am a life-long learner whether it be with regards to coaching or teaching. I am continually trying to advance my skills as a coach and as my husband will attest I am always looking to discuss coaching philosophies with other coaches.
volleyguy4	Re: Who coaches the coaches?	#10	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 55 (05/11/08 11:22 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	One of the main reasons I stopped coaching for the first club I was at is because of no internal training/mentoring. Being a new coach, I wanted to learn from the seasoned coaches but, I was never "taken under anyone's wing" even though I watched and asked questions. I mainly didn't know what to ask. It was truly a "thrown into the fire" experience. I then pursued training outside of the club and took a minimum of one clinic per year, usually two. I now have my ASEP certification (high school), went through training from the Positive Coaching Alliance, am IMPACT, CAP I, & CAP II certified, attended many independent seminars from college coaches, and watch a lot of training videos/DVDs. Am I "seasoned"? Maybe, maybe not, depending on your perspective. It's been six years now and I feel comfortable with my head coaching role, knowing there's still more to learn as kids, parents, and club/athletic directors' philosophies change. I wish my club paid for my training but then again, they do pay a pretty good stipend .