"Going Over Stuff" in
Practice
By Mike Tully
For the most part, the coaches in our club are
developing nicely, and are learning to design
effective practices. The other night, though, one
of them made an error that I certainly hope all
"Yes, I Can!" coaches will avoid.
We were in the middle of putting our rotations
together when someone missed a block during a
rally. At that point, the coach stopped and
thought it was a good idea to "go over" blocking.
We then spent 10 minute "going over" blocking.
It was a 10 minutes that was lost forever.
Not only did the coach fail to do justice to
blocking in that 10 minutes, but we lost precious
time that could have gone into learning the
rotations. We didn't get better at blocking, and
we didn't get better at rotations. Don't let that
happen at your practices.
As renowned sports psychologist Dr. Rob Gilbert
says, "The most important thing is to make the
most important thing the most important thing."
It's a matter of focus. If you want to focus on
blocking, then design a practice to teach
blocking. And then teach blocking. Otherwise, the
athletes will learn nothing.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not against an
occasional practice break to throw in a story. My
athletes seem to like that.
But there's a big difference between an occasional
"pattern interruption" and getting completely
sidetracked so that no one knows what the purpose
of the drill is.
Back to blocking for a moment. Here's just one
detail to consider when teaching this skill. What
will the non-blockers - the liberos - do while the
instruction is going on? Stand around and do
nothing? Go on water break?
Practice time is precious. There are very few, if
any, coaches who will tell you that they have
enough time in the gym. Design your practices that
way, with no sidetracking. And once you're in a
drill, make that the most important thing.
-Mike Tully is a member of the "Yes, I Can!"
coaching staff. You can hear him now on his "Pep
Talk" hotline at (973) 773-2151.
By Mike Tully
For the most part, the coaches in our club are
developing nicely, and are learning to design
effective practices. The other night, though, one
of them made an error that I certainly hope all
"Yes, I Can!" coaches will avoid.
We were in the middle of putting our rotations
together when someone missed a block during a
rally. At that point, the coach stopped and
thought it was a good idea to "go over" blocking.
We then spent 10 minute "going over" blocking.
It was a 10 minutes that was lost forever.
Not only did the coach fail to do justice to
blocking in that 10 minutes, but we lost precious
time that could have gone into learning the
rotations. We didn't get better at blocking, and
we didn't get better at rotations. Don't let that
happen at your practices.
As renowned sports psychologist Dr. Rob Gilbert
says, "The most important thing is to make the
most important thing the most important thing."
It's a matter of focus. If you want to focus on
blocking, then design a practice to teach
blocking. And then teach blocking. Otherwise, the
athletes will learn nothing.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not against an
occasional practice break to throw in a story. My
athletes seem to like that.
But there's a big difference between an occasional
"pattern interruption" and getting completely
sidetracked so that no one knows what the purpose
of the drill is.
Back to blocking for a moment. Here's just one
detail to consider when teaching this skill. What
will the non-blockers - the liberos - do while the
instruction is going on? Stand around and do
nothing? Go on water break?
Practice time is precious. There are very few, if
any, coaches who will tell you that they have
enough time in the gym. Design your practices that
way, with no sidetracking. And once you're in a
drill, make that the most important thing.
-Mike Tully is a member of the "Yes, I Can!"
coaching staff. You can hear him now on his "Pep
Talk" hotline at (973) 773-2151.