Email Campaign Archive

How to Handle a Game 5

-By Tom Houser


A Question for Coach Houser:

How can I get my team more motivated to win in game 5?
I’m just tired of losing like that. We have improved
so much this season and we’re starting the second half
of our season. We just need to believe we can win.

Coach Houser:  

It’s normally not motivation; it’s often nerves
and/or lack of skill that make the difference.
Realize that the last 5th game was made
intentionally shorter than the other four to make
it unpredictable and exciting.  

The Frustrated Coach:

I don’t know. We could have won both of our last
matches, but I don’t know what happens in the last
game. We just get scared of losing or something.  

Coach Houser:  

“Scared of losing” is exactly what I was saying.
It’s typical for a player to be scared of losing.
But it’s not normal! It’s a learned behavior.
Players are either coached into playing with
abandon and with confidence; or, they are coached
to be careful, not to mess up, and not to lose.
This may have occurred when the player was 14, 16,
18, or 20. But after a player is chastised -- and
even punished -- for making mistakes in pressure
situation, it’s really hard to her to shake it.

The Frustrated Coach:

Well, I know most of it is probably confidence
because of our old coach. He would make us think
that we couldn’t mess up. We’re just getting so
close, but can’t win.

Coach Houser:

Well, no team is going to win all their fifth
games regardless of what they do. But the team
that wins the most fifth games is the team that
has the most support from their coaches. Those
coaches want the players to play as if the game
was the first, second, etc.  

~~~~~~~

Coaches:

The above is a series of text messages between
myself and a member of a college volleyball team
who is also a member of my STAR staff.  

I looked at the team’s website. They’ve won only 6
of their 18 matches, but the last two have both
been 8 - 15 losses in the fifth. So I feel her
frustration: Losing and losing, then her team has
two matches that they can win, and they fizzle in
the 5th.  

The Game Is Already Hard Enough! This game of
volleyball is already mentally challenging to
play. The parents even think it’s a game of
momentum. Little do they know! Haha Then when
coaches punish players for hitting balls out,
bench them for missing serves, chastise them for
being aced, etc., the game is made even harder!  

I believe that coaches should fuss about mental
mistakes. I do. These mistakes include not
covering, running the wrong play, not calling the
seam, not knowing if the opposing setter is back
row or front row, etc.  

But for a coach to get angry when his players
spike a ball out, or get aced, or miss one serve a
game, I’ve just never understood.

Why Do Volleyball Coaches Get So Upset? I guess
volleyball coaches think this game is just like
softball or baseball, where each little error is
monumental. WRONG. Or maybe they think that since
a girl has time to think about the serve, time to
think about where to hit that set, time to see the
serve coming at her, etc., that the girl shouldn’t
make mistakes. WRONG.  

Volleyball is more like tennis and basketball.
There are going to be a multitude of mistakes.
When Andy Roddick plays a tough tennis match, he
will make 50 or 60 mistakes. The Boston Celtics
will have dozens of mistakes a game. So will
volleyball teams.  

Does A Volleyball Coach Believe That Fewer
Mistakes = Victory? Most volleyball coaches
believe that team that makes the fewest mistakes
has a better chance of winning. Is that the case?
If we’re talking about mental mistakes, that’s
probably true. If we’re talking about physical
mistakes, I don’t think they’re much of a
contributor to losing.

What did I just say? I said the number of physical
mistakes a team makes is rarely correlated with
losing. OK, physical mistakes may contribute to a
middle school loss; but, my assertion is
absolutely true on a highly skilled high school or
college team. I have seen it over and over again.
On Monday a team makes more hitting errors, yet
wins. On Wednesday, a team misses more serves, yet
wins.  

How? It seems counter-intuitive. The fact is that
the team that’s the most aggressive will make more
mistakes; yet, they will also have many more
kills, aces, digs and blocks! And thus will often
win. It’s pretty cool.  

What Does This Teach Us? As volleyball coaches get
more mature, or more experienced -- or maybe just
wiser, regardless of the age -- they learn that to
pull on the reins of the thoroughbred will cause
it to buck! The coach learns that some 5th games
will be lost, and some will be won. But if you
make your team scared of making mistakes, and they
play carefully, then the team will lose more 5th
games than is necessary.  

Finally: Playing scared and careful is not the way
most teams practice, and that’s not the way they
want to play! They want to run like a stallion! So
let them.  

How do I coach a 5th game? I tell my players to
“GO FOR IT!” I tell them to hit the good set,
serve where they’re told, take their seem, and
cover like it’s the last time they’re ever going
to play the game! We don’t mention mistakes, being
careful, etc. And over the past 5 years, my teams
have won 73% of the deciding 15-point games!  



-Tom Houser
Director, STAR Volleyball Camps
Author, “I Can’t Wait” Drill Collection and Ebooks
Head Coach, 2009 Roanoke Junior 16 Nationals,
Old Dominion Region Champion
Junior National Participant-2006,2009
www.coachhouser.com