Email Campaign Archive

A Site Camp Follow Up

-By Dave Cross


The following email is from the coach of one of
the site camps I did this summer. He took over a
"down program" last year and is working hard to
turn things around. Luckily, his most talented
class right now is his sophomores. (If you don't
know, we offer unlimited, never-ending follow up
service on all our site-camps.)

(Received on 9/17):

Hi Dave.  We just had our first match last night
versus a league power. We went down in 4. I
thought that we looked much better than last year.
Unfortunately our opponents could well have their
best team in a long time. Our girls played well on
the floor. Where we faltered was in generating
enough offensive pressure.

From the bottom to the top of the program I'm
constantly pushing aggressive play at the net.
Progress is a little faster than a snail's pace.
I tell the girls that I'm trying to get them into
the 80's.

In an attempt to get through to them I tried to
set up a time to view a recorded High School match
between two good teams. They were too busy.
"We'll do it next week coach." This Saturday
we'll do it in practice.

P.S.  I like the "Flat" defense against free and down balls!


My Reply:

Good to hear from you-I was wondering if you had
started yet. That's quite a long pre-season you
have there-Ohio's was only 20 days this year.

Ok, my thoughts on what you said:

If you took a game off a team that is that strong
that's a good stepping stone for you. Use that to
build on. How close was your closest loss? If it
was 25-19-that means you were only three plays
away from being tied at 22. Use this idea to point
out to the girls how close they actually were to
forcing a game 5. Ask them if they can remember 3
plays in that game that they could have easily won
with a better decision or execution. Get them to
see how important these little things acutally
are. (If they can't remember the plays, I'm sure
you can) :)

Instead of telling them you are "trying to get
them into the 80's", how about "I'm trying to
bring you up to the way the strong teams play
now." Yes, their best will be a far cry away from
what the top teams in your state are at. But they
don't know that!

How motivated do you think they will be to work
to be 30 yrs. behind the times? It's kind of like
telling them, "you really stink-let's get the
'really' out of there!"

I know that's not your point-but what is really
important is how they receive and feel about your
message and I think a little rephrasing could help
a great deal.


***The coach is trying to change a long embedded
losing attitude. He just needs to change the
phrasing here, and give the girls a more
"positive image" of what they are trying to
accomplish. How we phrase things to our kids is so
important because we want the "visual" they
bring up in their minds to be a desirable
image-something they will be motivated to achieve.
There's a big difference in the image produced
between working to "bring our game into the
80's", and "I'm trying to bring you up to the
way the strong teams play now."


Also, they don't get to be "too busy". If you
schedule something with enough advanced notice,
then they are there-it's that simple.  

But doing it during practice is a good idea to get
it fit in quickly-but I would extend practice to
make sure you get enough court time in. They
should understand that the amount of time they put
in isn't going to be reduced by telling you the
don't have time-it's just going to make one of
their days longer.

It doesn't matter if you tick them off with
this-that will fade. Your best group is your
sophomores and they need to understand their work
ethic and time commitment have to improve to be
the best they can be by their senior season.


***Yes, we all know that changing a losing "we
are only going to work SO hard" attitude is a big
challenge. They are comfortable with the amount of
time and effort they have always put in, and
don't realize how much more fun it will be when
they expand their comfort zones, work harder, and
achieve more success. Kids aren't going to expand
their comfort zones on their own any more easily
than an office full of workers at a failing
company. The "new boss" is going to have to
ruffle some feathers to get the production up to a
successful level. He's going to have to "push"
them out of this mindset, and it doesn't matter
if they all like it or not to begin with-plus the
big key for him is those sophomores-he's got some
real talent there-and if they start to understand
now that they level of commitment is going to be
higher they will come to expect and accept it
rather quickly once they start to see the "light
at the end of the tunnel" this season as the team
continues to improve and play at a higher level
than they have previously.  


Coaches: Don't be afraid to keep pushing their
comfort levels toward expansion. Don't "bow" to
their resistance. Keep pushing them toward where
you know they need to go in a POSITIVE MANNER,
inch by inch. Pretty soon you'll be an entire
"foot" closer to where you need them to be.

As you reach the half-way point of your season,
keep this all-important point in mind:

Your seniors only have about a month left, and
yes, you need to keep motivating and pushing them
to improve, but realize the "real value" of
everything you do the rest of the season in terms
of "growing your program" will be seen next fall
when those underclassman come back a year
older-and with a better understanding of what is
expected and acceptable right from day one!


Good Luck!

Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball