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Building a Tight-Knit Team

-By Tom Houser

A Question for Coach Houser: 

Looking back on our season, I had some problems
with the girls getting along. There were several
little groups that were SO close, they shut out
the others. But also the others did not want to
join in. So the problem came from both sides.
I had a talk with the entire team during the
season and they worked better sometimes. Is this
something I can expect every year I coach? In
each of my 5 seasons, something similar has
happened every year. Is this typical when you
work with females? I can't see myself putting
up with this every year. 

Coach Houser's Reply:

I expect my volleyball teams to be like women
rowing a boat. We all row together, we all take
breaks together, we're all "in-sync" with each
other. No one sits back while the others are
rowing. No one should be able to look to her right
or left and see a teammate giving less than her
best effort. No one is leaning back, satisfied
with being along for the ride. No one should be
sitting adjacent to their friends every time we
step in the boat. On the contrary, they should be
sitting where they will be the most benefit to the
team. If they can't decide what seat that is, then
I know enough about rowing to decide. 

How does this apply to your question? Haha Hang
on. I'm getting there. There are some volleyball
teams that are dysfunctional "rowing teams". The
girls who are giving 100% get upset with those who
aren't. The coach doesn't deal with the "bums,"
but just hopes the situation doesn't get worse.
Some players don't follow team rules. Buddies sit
closest together so that they can chat
before/during/after practice. As spectators watch
the team, they will see evidence of the drama that
the coach has allowed. 

The spectators may be disappointed with the girls,
but they should be more upset by the impotent
leadership. 

The teen female athlete may be more prone to
display these behaviors than other athletes.
However, these actions aren't like breathing. No. 
Attitudes, selfishness, arrogance, etc aren't
required functions for staying alive. When kids or
adults act foolishly, carelessly or rudely, it's
because (a) they aren't thinking ahead and (b)
they don't respect the consequences of their
actions. 

Here's an example of how I've learned (a) and (b).
 Yesterday, my 22-year old stepdaughter said,
"Mom, do you have something I can give Ashley as a
Christmas present?" My wife gave her a nice bottle
of wine that she bought when she and I were on
vacation and some earrings that my wife had made.
"Can I also borrow your car. I don't have any
gas." This is an every week thing at my house, and
I'm bothered by it. But I didn't say anything
yesterday. I thought ahead and I respected the
consequences of any statement I would make. Haha
In those situations I usually stay quiet, not
because of my upbringing and not because I have no
opinion; but, because I've learned to let mom and
her children work out their issues. I've learned. 

Your players must be taught about the consequences
of forming cliques and warned about not pulling
their weight. Simultaneously, coaches must use
every strategy they have to prevent cliques from
developing. Otherwise, I guarantee that cliques
will form on most high school girls teams. 

You can blame the girls. You can blame the
parents. But the coach is in charge. The coach can
prevent much of it. 

"OK, Coach Houser, that's all easy to say. But
tell me how to get the girls to row together as a
team?" 

I hate articles that say, "That's really bad. You
go and fix it. Chat later!" Haha I think I have
two strategies to start reducing the cliques on
your next team. 

STRATEGY #1: The Girls Must Like Each Other!

Your team members won't become fond of each other
by our preaching. It occurs the same way we made
friends when we were kids. Our players must spend
time with each other and do things for each other.
 

Birthday parties. My Juniors season is lasting
from Nov 15th until mid April. It's awesome that
everyone on my team either has a birthday or a
half-birthday during the season. Yes, today, Dec
25th, is Macey's 14-and-a-half birthday. It's our
third "birthday" already this season. And we'll
celebrate it at our December 30th practice. Our
Captain of the Day that day is Taylor. I have
asked her to bring an end-of-practice treat for
everyone and a card for Macey. Is the Taylor a
good friend of Macey? I'm not sure. However, they
attend different schools, compete in different
conferences, and have never been on the same
athletic team before. But, regardless of how
they've bonded after a month of being together,
they'll be better friends after Taylor presents
Macey with a "party". 

Christmas gifts. Two weeks ago, I asked the COD if
she would be in charge of the name drawing. Then
on December 23 they all gave their gifts. We had a
few rules: (a) No name exchanging after the draw
is finished and (b) $10 is the maximum that can be
spent. I once required that they not tell who they
had drawn, but I've learned that some middle
school girls will actually explode if asked to
keep such a secret. 

Here's a nice "team" story. Bekah was in Florida
with relatives, but gave me the gift for her
teammates before she left. Bonus Point, Bekah!!
Some of the pics from the gift exchanging can be
seen on my players' websites at
www.coachhouser.com. I forgot to take a team pic
before they left. Old age. 

Sleepovers and Tshirts. My team will be having a
sleepover on Friday night Jan 3rd. During that
time, they will make team tshirts. My assistant
coach will be spending the night with them. She
will have them play games in teams that she
selects. When they're on the floor in the family's
garage making T's, Shannon will even determine
which girl is beside which. You go Shannon! 

"But Coach Houser, I can't plan all this. I don't
have time." Hey, you asked for my help, and I
haven't had detrimental cliques on my team in
about 15 years. Well, that I know of! Everything
we do either encourages cliques or prevents
cliques. We can sit back and cross our fingers, or
we can protect our team. It's our choice. Here are
more anti-clique ideas! 

Warm-up together. This is the most important one!
I don't allow my players to choose warm-up
partners, unless it's on match night. Yep, my
Junior team has now had 11 practices. I've chosen
their warm-up partner each night. This pairing
takes us through partner stretching, our arm
warm-up, and our peppering. If we have a 2-hour
practice, partners will stay together about 25
minutes. I pair MB's with OH's, rich girls with
poor girls, country girls with suburban girls,
etc. 

If I get a hint that there are any girls with
"history," they're paired together continually. In
fact, right after teams were picked in November, a
parent emailed me (she's also a close friend!),
and said, "My daughter didn't get along last year
with some of her older teammates." I knew exactly
who she was talking about, so I paired her
daughter with the "mean one" three times in five
practices. When asked why by the players, I blamed
old age forgetfulness. The next time the mom
emailed me, I responded, "I've been taking care of
your daughter," and the mom responded, "I'm glad,
because Jennifer was really mean to her last
year." JENNIFER? Oh, my, that's not who I had been
pairing the daughter with. Haha So you can guess
who was together the past 2 practice! 

One Step Further: The teams you select to practice
together. My players also don't pick their 3's
teams, their 4's teams, their 6's teams, who they
condition with, what teams are in the pressure
drills, etc. 

Sure I ask for volunteers, but it's usually stupid
stuff, like "OK, you 4 are the first shaggers," or
it's "OK Jen's team is passing first, Janice's is
serving first, and Cindy's is conditioning. After
5 minutes, all teams will rotate." 

When I'm creating the next day's practice plans, I
usually look back at the previous day's plans to
ensure that my weakest players aren't always on
"team 4," that my strong players aren't always on
"team 1," and the combinations are continually
being shuffled. If Caitlyn was the MB who started
off the last week's pressure drill shagging, I
want her to start tonight's pressure drill on the
court. Yes, the girls will pick up on your
subconscious preferential treatment if you always
place the strongest players on the court to start
a drill, while the others always start off
shagging. 

Who they sit with. Who they room with. When the
players are on a bus or in a van, the coach can
also decide on seat partners. This may be
unpopular at first, but if you choose their
warm-up and pepper partners, I believe your team
will accept (after the initial shock) you picking
their seat partners. 

About 10 years ago, I was watching a college
tournament. There was one team that was watching
the action from the bleachers only a few feet from
me. Each team member was drawing names from the
coach. After each draw, some of the players would
be slapping hands, letting out a whoops, smiling,
etc. I was curious. After they'd finished, I said,
"Coach, I'm sorry to bother you, but why were guys
drawing names?" She said, "They are choosing
roommates for this weekend." 

My stepdaughter's Division 1 coach does something
similar. 

My players don't coach each other. I've finally
discovered why my players almost never coach their
teammates during practice. It's because my staff
and I talk so much, that the players don't have
the opportunity. As I'm coaching and reffing,
however, I see players coaching their teammates
constantly. 

If it's a senior helping an 8th grader, that will
probably work. But if it's a junior coaching a
freshman, or a junior coaching a junior, or forbid
that it's a junior coaching a senior, then that's
lighting the fuse on a team bomb. Whenever I'm the
coach of a girl who displays this behavior -- even
when I seeing while directing a camp -- I quietly
tell the player, "Let the coaches coach the team.
It's too much to ask of you to both play and
coach. But if you see something that you think
should be fixed, bring it to our attention. It's
best for the team that way." 

STRATEGY #2: The Girls Must Appreciate Each
Other's Worth To The Team 

Scrimmages: During most scrimmage games, there is
no 1st team or 2nd team. I don't segregate my
players during practice, so why not do it during
scrimmages? The only exception is during the final
few games of our last scrimmage. At that point, I
want to see certain people working together. 

Expect setters to be democratic at practice. When
we have any drill at practice where setters are
setting hitters, I remind my setters, "I'm ok with
setting the same person 2 or 3 times in a row, but
when the drill is over, we need for every player
to have about the same number of swings." This
philosophy probably has a dozen benefits besides
reducing clique-formation. All hitters are always
ready, the defense has to play honest, the offense
practices covering an unpredictable set, opposing
MB's have to learn to read the setter, setters
learn what type of set makes each of their hitters
successful, setters practice every type of set
during a rally, setters are forced to try to
out-think the opposing middle blocker, etc. 

When I believe that a setter isn't being
democratic at practice, I will ask someone to
secretly keep stats. 

I don't expect my setters to be democratic in game
situations. And I tell them that. "If someone's
got the hot hand, give her more balls than the
other girls until either the match is decided or
she cools off." If I suspect my setters aren't
doing this, then I will again have someone
secretly keeping stats. 

We had this exact issue with "Attitude Setter" in
the late 90's. My assistant coach told me it was
occurring because Attitude thought she had a
better chance of winning individual awards if the
star OH didn't get as many swings. Several times
in her junior year, I would say, "Set Shannon 50%
of the time until I tell you not to. Back row,
front row, bad pass, good pass". I remember
sitting Attitude on the bench in two matches
because she refused to follow my instructions.
"But I didn't have the right pass." "How good a
pass do you need to set outside?" We made the
state final four. She didn't play the next year. 
Pick a name and share a story. This is an old one,
but a good one! With a person's name in their
hands, each player is expected to say something
nice about that person, tell a funny story they
know about that person, share something that makes
that person special on or off the court, etc. You
can pass out the names before practice and tell
the story at the end of practice. You pass out the
names at one practice, and have letters ready for
the other player at the next practice. 

Create drills where each person on the team must
perform a skill. Occasionally I ask my players to
compete one-on-one. Last Sunday afternoon, I
announced a 6's drill this way: "Now, we're going
to play MB vs. OH. So that's Caroline on this team
vs. Morgan on that team. The first person to get 3
kills wins. The winning team does 10 lunges
(because we need the quad work) while the losing
team does 20." You think the stronger player will
win? Not always! It's pretty cool when the
freshman MB beats the senior OH. And it's so cool
when we plan it so that the suburban setter is
setting the inner-city OH. When you see them win,
slap hands, even hug, you'll realize that team
bonding is more important than who won this one
little drill. You'll inwardly be shouting, "YES,
this is just what I want!" 

OK, after that drill is completed, "Both teams
rotate one spot. Now it's OH vs. MB, and that's
Lauren vs. Caitlyn. First person to 3 kills. Let's
go." After that drill, "Both teams rotate one
spot. Now it's setter/opposite vs.
setter/opposite. Yep, the setter can dump or back
set for a kill. First team to 3 kills, but the
setter can only have 1 of the 2 kills. Go!" 

A drill that doesn't require 12 players. How about
a drill where the worse a mini-team performs, the
more conditioning is required! Whoa. Let's say
that the team really needs to do some cardio work.
So create 2-person teams, created strategically of
course. Each girl serves 10 balls. That's 20 per
team. Teams work in shifts; some serve while
others shag. Then when one team is done running,
that team begins shagging and a shagging team goes
to serve. Every player will be running 5 laps
after their mini-team finishes serving. However,
each girl will run 1 additional lap for each serve
that either of them miss! Whoa! 

These types of drills create bonding, support and
encouragement. Sure, they can also create disgust
and criticism. That's why the coach picks teams
smartly! You want an encourager paired with a weak
player, a mentally tough player paired with the
attitude, the quiet paired with the out-going,
etc. 

Bribe them! "I will order your school lunch from
Chick-Fil-A every Friday under one condition:
there are 400 positive things said between people
who are in different grades Mon through Thurs of
each week. I'll decide each day who counts. I'll
tell you at the end of practice Thursday how many
positives have been counted." haha. Wow, we're
really desperate, huh? 

Clique Toleration Is Optional.

My players don't even know that my methods I've
listed above are clique-vaccination. Coaches can
discourage them and break them apart. Or we can
allow cliques to form and ignore the ones that are
in place. 

My players only know that when the season is over,
and they're hugging and crying, that they love
each other, love being on such a special team,
hope that I'm coaching the team again next year
and wish the season lasted another 5 months. 

Tom Houser
Head Coach, 2007 and 2008 Roanoke Juniors 15's Open
Director, STAR Volleyball Camps
Author, "I Can't Wait" Drill Collection and Ebooks
www.coachhouser.com