Fall 2023 Mailbag Pt1

Catching up on all the Qs

The last mailbag I did was a 3-parter back in May, so I’ve got a nice backlog of emails and comments to get through. As always, I put one or two outside the paywall and the rest behind, so become a Premium Subscriber to get access to everything. And, as always, a reminder that comments are open to all Premium Subscribers and I respond to every one. Enjoy!

Fall 2023 Mailbag Pt2

Email from a reader:

I just want to add a congratulations to you on your new position and thank you for your content. I absolutely LOVE reading and feel like I can't even fully process all of it. I'm entering my second year as head coach of a D3 program and trying to make small steps of improvement in my knowledge every week if possible. Your content has helped me so much as I think through things and plan practices. I'm so excited for this series you're doing. Your triangle content was super influential for me last year. I'm happy to report we won our conference! These girls have big goals to go further into the NCAA tournament so I'll be hungrily reading all your stuff.

Why thank you, reader! Glad the content is helpful. I try to keep a mix of content that’s aimed at high school or club coaches, some content that’s more geared toward the elite level, and some stuff in between. The cool thing about coaching principles is that they apply at every level; you just have to figure out the specific methods to pick the lock with that particular team.

There’s some newer readers lately, so if you want to catch up on what this coach is referencing, click the links I embedded in that response or check this link for some of the older pieces.

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From Gerald M in Club Special Pt2: Post-Tournament

Hey Joe, first thing, I enjoy and get so much insight from your articles. I’m gonna stay supporting as long as I can!

I might’ve missed it in either this or in other articles but how did you calculate both FBK % and FBE % under First Ball Points in the sample stats sheet? I’m assuming you left more components out, but I was still wondering what the formulas were. Thank you so much!

Thanks Gerald!

FBK = First Ball Kill = (FBKs) / (Total Reception)

FBE = First Ball Error = (FBEs) / (Total Receptions)

"First Ball" means your first opportunity after the ball is served in to you. So just that initial pass-set-hit sequence. After the first time you put the ball over the net, you're no longer in "First Ball", you're now in, "Transition."

So First Ball Kill means you kill that first Pass-Set-Hit attempt and First Ball Error means you make either a hitting or setting error in that first sequence. (But not a passing error, that counts as a reception error for me.)

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A high school coach sent me the following clip (which I’ve edited into a gif), with the question:

So this is something we have struggled with a lot. Your setup is different because your libero is in left-back and mine is middle-back. I have also told my libero to move up because I feel like she can get 100% of short middle and really only gets a ball or two more trying to get deeper balls and misses a lot short. So when our left-back comes in no one ever gets a clean dig. Is your thought here that your libero is stronger and gets whatever she can read ?

Ah, the Pot Throw/Roll. We love it! Precisely because it’s not an easy ball to play. A couple thoughts: