Before you can effectively teach the skills and strategies of volleyball, a coach must understand how the athletes learn. Learning physical skills is a process with measurable progressions and goals that change as skill level improves. The learning process must involve both the coach and the athlete. A coach's role is to ensure that proper techniques are presented and that the athletes enjoy their participation in the sport. This requires motivation on the coach's part and on the athlete's part.

Both coach and athlete must have an understanding of why they are involved in the sport volleyball. That means that a coach must know why he/she is teaching the selected skills and also investigate the expectations and goals of the athletes involved in the program. When these variables are clearly understood and accepted, learning can begin to take place.

For simplicity, three stages of learning are recognized and labeled beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

Mental or Beginning Stage

The goal of the beginning stage of learning is to develop an understanding of the concepts, principles, and mechanics involved in volleyball. The principles of execution should be established. Drills aimed at developing this level of understanding emphasize mechanics rather than the integration of the skill into playing situations.

Three important guidelines should be utilized when presenting materials during this phase of learning:

1. Explain the reasons why a skill is executed.
2. Present as few principles as possible without compromising the message.
3. Movements and postures that the athlete will do naturally do not need to be discussed.

This phase of the learning process should be the shortest of the three. A coach will want to move on to game-related skills as soon as possible.

Practice or Intermediate Stage

During this stage, the focus is on learning to perform the skills. Coaches will spend most of their skill-teaching time in this phase, especially if they work with young or beginning volleyball players. Because players will begin to refine a motor program for performing a skill, the learning environment should parallel the competitive environment as closely as possible.

Automatic or Advanced Stage

This final stage of learning assumes that skills have been established in set, game related motor patterns. The player can at this phase focus on tactical applications. The subtleties of tempo control and ongoing competitive adjustments can be addressed. Although skill refinement is a goal of this phase, refinement is accomplished through a focus on playing the game.

Developing a Teaching Plan

To meet the needs of the athletes in each of the phases of learning, a coach will need to develop a teaching plan. Each coach will have different individual strengths and weaknesses that will make this teaching plan unique from any other teaching plan. However there are several important issues that should be addressed when devising a teaching plan.

• Assessing fitness and skill level
• Developing a seasonal plan
• Planning practices
• Selecting drills
• Selecting an appropriate teaching style

There are many principles of teaching and each school of thought about teaching modifies the concepts. The following list of principles have universal acceptance and have been found to be successful.

• Keep any presentation simple by using carefully chosen words.
• Use as few words as possible. Be sure to use consistent, memorable, and meaningful cues.
• Demonstrate the skill frequently. Visual instruction often has more impact than verbal instruction.
• Describe the desired end result and encourage the athletes to explore ways of achieving that result as long as the technique is biomechanically correct.
• Provide cues, hints, and technical information as needed.
• Communicate clearly why a skill is being taught and why it should be performed in a prescribed manner.
• If possible, answer a question with a question. This process involves players in the learning process by encouraging problem-solving through exploration.
• Make all learning activities compatible with the skill level of the players.
• Keep activities challenging and fun.
• Use drills that duplicate the way a skill will be used in competition.

As a coach presents new skills, additional concerns need to be taken into consideration.

Speed of Execution

Each player should perform skills at the fastest speed possible without sacrificing correct execution.

Perfection of Movements

Players should strive to perfect their movements, postures, and ball-contact skills during the beginning phase of learning.

Effort

Players should exert maximum effort at all times, during practices as well as games. Remember, a player plays the game of volleyball the same way she practices for a game.

Imagery

Visualizing a complete skill give an athlete an opportunity to review correct techniques, cue their motor program, and see a clear image of what they are trying to accomplish.

Become a Student of the Game

Volleyball is a multifaceted game. In addition to understanding the rules, a coach must understand the elements of the sport and how to teach skills. Take the time to watch other successful coaches. Go to as many volleyball games as possible and watch other teams. Play the sport as experience can be a beneficial teacher. Finally, join a coaches' association and attend the clinics.

Before a coach or player can really learn the various systems, theories, tactics and their application to the game volleyball, a coach or player must understand the nature of the game itself. Volleyball has many unique characteristics with which the coach and player must become familiar with before he/she is able to successfully teach and apply the skills.

Volleyball is distinguished by the following elements. It

• is a rebound sport.
• uses intermediate contacts.
• has a congested playing area.
• offers little immediate positive feedback.
• is a game of transition.
• has an imbalance of offense and defense.
• is a noncontact sport.
• is player dominated.
• requires similar skills of all players.
• uses unique skills and playing zones.

A REBOUND SPORT

The fact that volleyball is categorized as a rebound sport means that players never maintain possession of the ball. Rather, the ball is contacted briefly and then directed to another player. The only exception to this is the serve.

In most other sports, athletes can compensate for poor body position at the time of possession by moving into a more advantageous position. Because a player can not catch the volleyball and then move to a better position to release the ball, a player must learn to position themselves correctly BEFORE contacting the ball.

INTERMEDIATE CONTACTS

Common volleyball strategy encourages the use of three contacts per team possession on each side of the net. Because two of the three possible contacts are not the final contact, controlling the rebound of the ball is important. This need for controlling the ball highlights the necessity of moving into position for an intermediate contact BEFORE contacting the ball.

In addition to good ball control, cooperation among team members is essential. For this reason, the interaction of players and the development of teamwork are dominant themes in learning the skills of volleyball.

A CONGESTED PLAYING AREA

Volleyball is unique in that a high concentration of people play in a small area. The congested playing area makes it vital to organize the positioning of players and their movements. Balanced coverage of all parts of the court is an important goal to achieve before any team or player can achieve any type of success.

In achieving balanced coverage, the relationships between players positioned next to each other must be considered. Team dynamics become a prime coaching concern because of the congested playing area.

LITTLE IMMEDIATE POSITIVE FEEDBACK

Because playing volleyball itself offers few opportunities for immediate positive feedback, some difficulties are created in the learning process. Each player needs to be able to identify and perform correct skill techniques and be able to "teach" these same skills and techniques to other players. As players learn to recognize and appreciate the correct execution of the volleyball techniques, those players should make positive compliments to the other players who are demonstrating those correct skills.

A GAME OF TRANSITION

The roles of offense and defense can be confusing. Volleyball does have offensive and defensive skills, but they are not as separate as they may appear to be in other sports. The ball does not stop between the time a team takes an offensive role and when it must play defense. And a team may switch frequently between offense and defense without a point being scored or a violation being called. Volleyball players must understand the nature of this game of transition. To be successful, a team must be able to shift between offensive and defensive alignments fluidly.

There are four ways to score a point in volleyball: a service ace, a stuff block, a controlled defensive play resulting in an attack (known as "transition"), and an unforced error.

A serve has been described as both an offensive and defensive skill. It is offensive because the server directs the velocity and trajectory of the ball. It is defensive in that the serve is intended to, at the least, disrupt the opponents's offense and, at the most, cancel it. A stuff block is clearly a defensive play. A controlled dig is also defensive and can lead to a point through team offense.

The opponent's unforced errors can be credited to a tough defense that intimidates the other team into attempting shots not usually found in their attack game plan. A team's overall discipline and consistency is reflected in the opponent's errors.

It is often said that the best offense is a good defense. This is particularly true in volleyball. Traditionally aggressive offenses are sometimes handicapped buy unforced errors that result in lost opportunities for points. Vice versa, the conservative defense, which simply waits for the opponent to make mistakes, is not likely to produce success. TO BE SUCCESSFUL, TEAMS MUST STRIVE TO BE AGGRESSIVE DEFENSIVELY TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES TO SCORE POINTS.

IMBALANCE OF OFFENSE AND DEFENSE

Probably more than any other team sport, the offense has a tremendous advantage. The offense achieves success (by scoring a point or side-out) over 60% of the time.

NONCONTACT SPORT

Volleyball is a team game with a physical barrier (the net) that prevents most direct one-on-one contact. The players are in control of their own games, and in many respects the players control their own success and failure, regardless of the skill level or actions of their opposition.

In volleyball players must learn to control their frustrations and aggressions. Volleyball players must play within themselves and compete against self-imposed standards more than compete against opponents.

LACK OF TIME CONSTRAINTS

The rules of volleyball present no time limit. Teams compete until one team scores at least 15 points and has a two point advantage. As a consequence, the last point must be scored by the winning team. A volleyball team cannot run out the clock as in football.

Because no time limit can stop play, there is constant pressure to score points. Players must learn to create opportunities to score points so that they can win a volleyball game. Players waiting for the other team to make enough mistakes to lose a game can produce a loss for their own team.

A PLAYER-DOMINATED GAME

Volleyball is more a player-dominated game, rather than a coach-dominated activity. Communication between the coach and athletes is restricted. As a result, a team must prepare thoroughly before each competition. Players must also learn to adapt to the changing situations that occur throughout a volleyball game without relying on the coach's comments.

PLAYERS MUST BE ABLE TO PLAY MANY ROLES

The rules of volleyball require that players rotate to each of the six positions on a volleyball court unless a substitution for them occurs. Therefore, volleyball is dominated by the theory that all players must become equally skilled in all phases of the game. Having a team in which all players are equal in all respects has been the goal of coaches for years. Unfortunately, this is an unattainable goal for most coaches. Players must understand the rotation concept, the limitations of specialization, and the rules of the game. Each player must become familiar with playing in all portions of the court and must be equally comfortable in the front or back row.

Players need to also understand that even though coaches try to train all the players to be perfect in all the skills, this task is almost impossible in the real world situation. There are simply not enough hours available to train everyone equally well. Consequently, most coaches will teach all the skills to everyone but will work within the rotation rule to build limited specialization.

UNIQUE SKILLS AND PLAYING ZONES

Running, shuffling, sidestepping, diving, rolling, and various combinations of these skills comprise the movement skills used in volleyball. It is during practice time that the athlete learns to perform a series of movements that will lead to a successful execution of a skill without having to think about each step.

Further, the underhand pass is unique to volleyball. In most sports, the ball is contacted with the feet, the hands, or an implement of some sort. Because contact is made with the forearms, special eye-arm coordination is required.

Finally, in volleyball, there are two additional unique zones of play. Most sports are played at a level between the top of the head and the knees, in something we call the MIDDLE zone. Volleyball also involves two additional zones. Many balls are played very close to the floor in the LOW zone. For this reason, players must become comfortable diving, rolling, and using flying recovery techniques, all of which are standard skills.

The other zone used in volleyball is the HIGH zone which spans from the top of the athlete's reach to a point 10 feet or more above the floor. Because much of the game of volleyball is played in this high zone, jumping skills are frequently needed.

Volleyball is a unique activity in many respects. Coaches and players need to familiarize themselves with the various offensive and defensive schemes permitted in volleyball. Coaches and players need to learn how the skills are applied during the tactics of an actual game. Players need to develop a general proficiency in all the skills and understand the role of limited specialization in the success of a team's efforts. Players need to understand how their emotions affect their ability to perform in a game and how their feelings and emotions affect the players around them.