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 is teaching the selected skills and also investigate the expectations and goals of the athletes involved in the program.

Three stages of learning are recognized and labeled beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

Beginning Stage

The goal of the beginning stage of learning is to develop an understanding of the concepts, principles, and mechanics involved in volleyball. Coach should explain the reasons why a skill is executed, present as few principles as possible without compromising the message, do not nee to discuss about movements and postures that the athlete will do naturally.

This phase of the learning process should be the shortest of the three.

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.

Advanced Stage

This final stage of learning assumes that skills have been established in game related motor patterns. The player can at this phase focus on tactical applications.

General Principles of Teaching Volleyball Skills

There are many principles of teaching but 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,
• communicate clearly why a skill is being taught and why it should be performed in a prescribed manner,
• make all learning activities compatible with the skill level of the players,
• provide cues, hints, and technical information as needed,
• keep activities challenging and fun,
• use drills that duplicate the way a skill will be used in competition.

Evaluating Individual Skills

Evaluating the skills of an individual is a difficult task particularly in a team sport where it is initially difficult to determine an individual’s effectiveness as part of a team. Possibly the best method of evaluating individual skills is a simple estimation of each candidate’s skills on a coach-designed checklist. Another series of tests of basic athletic ability could also be given. For example, that can be a jump and reach test.

Evaluating an Individual’s Game Ability

Once an individual’s fundamental skills are evaluated, a coach should evaluate athlete’s ability to combine his skills with the game sense, and competitive drive for effective team effort. The athlete must be viewed in relation to his teammates and her teammates evaluated in relation to the individual athlete.

Squad and Team Organization

Before the final selection of players is made, the coach must decide whether he will organize a distinct team or teams, or a single squad. The squad or teams should be selected, if possible, at least two weeks and no later than five practices before the first game. This will give the coach time to work with these groups and formulate a team. It is important that the players in each group work and scrimmage together so that they can play as a team in the next match.

The selection of a squad is easier initially but demands more time and effort on the part of the coach throughout the season. The flexibility offered by the squad arrangement generally produces the best competitive results.

Player Combinations

Combining individuals for team play is a very difficult decision for any coach. For junior high volleyball teams, all players should receive instruction in all the skills. Later, as the coach and players become more familiar with each other, certain players will acquire specific duties and player positions.

A setter must possess all the game skills and display intelligence and game sense as well as complete knowledge of what the coach wishes to accomplish. The setter must have quick feet and body agility in order to position herself in proper position to receive the pass and then set the ball to a hitter. Body balance and body position related to the hitter are important factors for a proper set to occur.

Spikers and blockers are frequently physically tall with a strong jumping ability. The success of the spike is dependent upon timing, precision, and direction of the force imparted to the ball. Good blockers must be able to read the setter’s set and react. A blocker takes pride in her ability to stop the other team’s attack.

Diggers must possess all the game skills. Diggers must have a keen sense of the flow of the game in order to react to the opponent’s attack.

There are two different methods to compose a team. The coach has a choice of: (1) choosing team tactics to suit the players, or (2) choosing players to suit the team tactics. In most cases, only the first option is possible since the coach must choose his team from a specific group of players. This means that a coach must compromise between his ideals as a coach for the capabilities of the players.

To compose a team, a coach ideally needs tall and mobile players. However, on a junior high school team, there are never enough tall and skillful players to pass the ball, to forcefully spike a ball, and to excel in back court play. A coach has to form his team out of players with different physical, emotional and social abilities. A coach must take this diverse group of athletes and choose an optimal team system that puts each player in a position to have some form of success.

The first method entails the coach making all the decisions and demanding that players follow instructions without asking questions. This is described as the “authoritarian” style. This style may help the athletes learn to follow orders, but will not necessarily help the young athletes develop thinking skills and personal qualities.

Another style, which may seem easier to adopt if the coach has little experience, is to let the players run the program. This is the easiest style to put into practice. There is little danger of the coach making uneducated or embarrassing mistakes. Unfortunately, the greatest shortcoming with this style is that the coach will not be helping the players learn skills and values.

The third coaching style is to let the players share in the decision-making process. Unless young people are given the opportunity to express opinions and make decisions, they will not become responsible adults. This coaching style is described as the “cooperative” and is the most difficult to develop because athletes and coach both want to win, but may have different ideas about how to accomplish this task.

With the “cooperative” approach, the coach must decide how much he needs to structure and organize the program,but should keep in mind that players’ suggestions often may not really contribute to the total scheme. But if athletes are made to feel important and that some of their ideas will be adopted the athletes will work harder.

A cooperative coaching style will help the coach develop a good working relationship with his players. The athletes will show more respect and be more willing to listen if they know that the coach is genuinely interested in their opinions.