With a Tambre Nobles serve that scraped the top of the net and trickled between three BYU defenders, Penn. State added to its trophy case yet another National Championship, one for each day of the week now, and the 2014 College volleyball season came to a close last night.
As Club starts to get its engines firing, are you as a coach content with your coaching knowledge? Can you ever afford to take a day off from learning? Great coaches, by definition, are lifelong learners and just because the volleyball season is over at the High School and College levels, a place where many of us coaches learn and gather info from, are our resources dried up until next fall?
At the end of every season, UCLA Coach John Wooden would find something that he felt his team wasn’t as good at as it should be or something he felt he was lacking as a coach. This was back before the Internet and cell phones and google at the touch of a key, so Wooden would buy books and magazines, call and interview other coaches that were better at things than he was. He would ask questions, take notes and over a few weeks would get the answers he wanted to help his team succeed.
A recent survey by Sports Coach UK, in England, of 1200 coaches asked the question what sources of learning have you used in the last 12 months to further your professional development as a coach?
The number one answer, at 87% was talking to other coaches followed by observing and working with other coaches at 85%, reflecting on their own personal coaching sessions at 79% and using the Internet at 71%. The lowest was formal distance learning, or taking online classes of some type at just 7% and just ahead of that was Coaching Qualification classes, not unlike IMPACT and CAP for USAV members.
Wisely, a second question was asked of the 1,200. What source of learning made a significant impact on your professional coaching development? The number one answer was the Coaching Qualification Classes (IMPACT and CAP for example) at 68% significant followed by observing and working with other coaches at 66%, talking to other coaches and reflecting on their own personal coaching sessions, both tied at 62% and finally mentoring at 60% significant impact.
While they are less available, coaching clinics are a great way to energize and reevaluate what you are doing as a coach. USAV offers CAP clinics around the country and in Dec. of 2015, the Arizona Region will offer up their biannual clinic. Gold Medal Squared offers up a yearly clinic in January in Az. and there is also the Art of Coaching Volleyball clinics that are available around the country in the summer.
What is the worth of asking a more experienced coach in your club to take an hour or two out of their week, come and watch your practice and give you some feedback on it? Maybe a coach you respect or admire from another club WITH the Club Director’s blessings of course!
Have you filmed any of your practices or matches and broken them down point by point so you know where your team’s strengths and liabilities are and used that to gauge practice going forward? Is it worth putting together a season long practice plan to follow and guide you through the club waters ahead?
Grand Canyon University has a Men’s program that is quickly becoming a National power. Is it worth a phone call to the Coaching staff to ask permission to come watch practice, learn some new drills or feedback you can carry over into your own coaching?
Sooner than later, spring volleyball training will be upon us. Is that a time you can call a coaching staff and ask permission to attend some practices, scrimmages or tutoring sessions? Is it worth a drive away from where you live to hear a different coach perhaps? Flagstaff, Tucson, Prescott? Maybe even Southern California to watch the USA Team’s train in Anaheim? As an American citizen, that is your team and you are welcome to attend practices. What about a club practice from another Region on your next trip out of town or vacation?
Many great coaches also read a lot of books, articles, etc. Is it worth an e mail to a coach you admire or like asking them what’s on their reading list or any books they could recommend to you; Maybe a movie or documentary or magazine article or YouTube video or podcast?
There are a lot of learning resources online that we have asked you to check out. Is a few minutes out of your week worth what might be gained from them?
Train Ugly
The Coaches and Trainers Facebook Page
The USA Volleyball Coaches resources
The Talent Code
Volleymetrics
FIVB Education site
The U.K. study ends with this: “A coach should never be afraid to ask questions of anyone they could learn from.” A little time, imagination and some gumption is all a lifelong learner needs to stay in coaching relevance to his/her team and more importantly, to themselves.
What is it worth to you?
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