Email Campaign Archive

Whose Ball is It?

-By Tom Houser


Coaches:

I got the following email from a coach who will be
hosting a STAR camp July 13-16, 2009:  

"The afternoon JV girls are the ones I’ll be
coaching this year. Problems last year were
serve-receive and first ball reception (no one
wanted it). We have a few new girls joining our
team this year. I am going to work with them on
basic passing this week. (stealing a couple of
your drills I saw you use at the camp last week.) "

As I answered his email, I thought it would
something I’d like to share with you.

It’s so painful to watch players not know which
ball is whose. Some teams we see are full of older
players who have strong wills and will holler and
scream for the balls. Unfortunately, they often
run into each other trying for these balls. Then
there are other teams who are more immature and
modest; thus, indecision reigns.  

“GO FOR THE BALL!!,” is the typical solution that
coaches and parents employ for both situations I
described above. But we all know that doesn’t
work. Wonder why we keep using it? If it did work
so well, the coach wouldn’t have to say it year
after year after year. A teacher would not be
satisfied explaining a certain concept to a child
for a month, let alone a year. And the child still
not understand it? I don’t think so. The teacher
would find some other method. We must also.

I discovered after coaching for about 7 years,
that I, Tom Houser, would determine who took the
seam balls, not the girls. OK, I’ll let the girls
change my “rules,” but if they mess ‘em up, then
I’ll take over. I was even saying it at camp this
week, “You can go ahead and decide yourself who
you want to take that ball, but I’ve told what I
prefer, and if your way doesn’t work 2 or 3 times,
then there’s room on the bench with me. I
recommend you do it my way. My way works.”

I encourage each coach to decide who you want to
take each seam ball in every situation (serve
receive, double block right and left, single block
middle, and free ball), and start teaching your
players who takes what ball on the first week of
practice. Then keep teaching it all year long as
necessary, and if you have players who refuse to
go for a ball in their area, then put in someone
else for whatever time is necessary for the
starter to get the message that she must pass the
balls that are in her “zone”.  

The old coaching solution of, "CALL IT!"
doesn't work with the meek and the mild. But what
will work is the coach telling his players that
letting balls drop in their zones, being
indecisive about passing their zone, hurts the
team. I would tell a player, "This ball is yours.
You must take it. I'm telling you now that it's
yours, and if you don't take it, the team can't
play its best, and I’ll have to put in someone who
will take it." That statement, coupled with the
teaching the girls which ball is theirs, has
worked really well for me.  

I have even put tape on the floor to show them
their “zones”. I will leave it there for the first
weeks of practice with young teams. That will
completely erase the question, "Is that mine?”
because all they have to do is look down at the
tape! Haha.

If one of our Gold Members would like to see a
handout that specifies which girl takes which ball
in every defensive formation, I can send it to
you. After we go over the handout, I will often
give my players quizzes where they will place an
“x” where each girl should be standing, use
colored pencils to shade in the area that each is
responsible for, and tell me which girl has each
seam

Finally: Giving your team these passing rules will
help both your team and your players. The decision
about which ball is whose will no longer be
theirs. It’s now yours. And it'll be much easier
for them -- especially the more passive players --
to take balls because you told them it's their ball.  

One more time: Telling a girl phrases such as, “BE
AGGRESSIVE!!” didn’t solve the problem in 1990 or
2000. Why do we think it’ll work in 2010?  



-Tom Houser
Head Coach, 2009 Roanoke Juniors 16’s National
JOVC Qualified-2006, 2009
Director, STAR Volleyball Camps
Author, “I Can’t Wait” Drill Collection and Ebooks
www.coachhouser.com