Goldilocks Method: Serving
(Hello everybody, this week is NOT beach week, sorry about the accidental email out of order earlier today. Well, you got a preview of next Friday’s post, at least!)
Differential learning is a thing. There’s some specific definitions and debate about the best applications and the scientific basis behind some of the effects, but there’s some simple takeaways for volleyball coaches. The best summary to me is:
By introducing some noise into the system, we can hear the signal better.
Much of that research has been done on literal noise in audio signals. It also makes me think of the fact that minor misspellings or missing letters can help you better learn vocabulary words. And the noise can also be movement noise introduced to a system of volleyball movements. So when we, as volleyball coaches, think about this concept of differential training, we’re thinking, “how can we introduce some deliberate variability into how a player will perform a skill, to help them better learn an aspect of that skill?
What is the Goldilocks Method?
Goldilocks is a practice technique I like to use for helping a player understand an aspect of her technique. Like the character Goldilocks, we’re looking for volleyball oatmeal that’s not too hot, not too cold, but, “just right.”
You can use the Goldilocks Method for any skill. The idea is to do a 3-rep sequence where one rep is, “too hot,” one is, “too cold,” and the third is, “just right.” In the first two reps, the athlete is thinking about a piece of the technique and deliberately performing them out on the boundary that she knows isn’t ideal. On the third technique, she isn’t thinking about her technique, she is just focusing on the result; she’s trying to make the ball go, “just right.”
This week, we’ve looked at some serving statistics. So, let’s look at some applications of the Goldilocks method as it applies to serving.
Goldilocks Tossing
When players start hitting jump floats, getting the toss just right is difficult for them. Even advanced players are constantly trying to dial in their toss. For some players, getting the height of the toss right is a challenge. Some players under-toss the ball. These players have a cramped arm swing and their jump height is limited. Some players over-toss the ball. These players end up either hitting on the way down or struggle to make clean contact, because the ball is falling too fast on their hand to consistently hit a clean float.
When a player does Goldilocks for her toss, she’s going to do a 3-rep sequence.
1. Serve a ball with the toss, “too low.”
2. Serve a ball with the toss, “too high.”
3. Serve a ball, “just right.”
It’s important that, when doing the third rep, she’s not thinking about how high she wants to toss it. That’s not the worst cue in the world, but it’s still a bit more internal than I like. I like the player to focus on how high she wants to contact the ball, which tends to tie in all aspects of the rhythm better than just thinking about toss height.
Goldilocks Tossing Part 2
Another good Goldilocks variation is to vary the toss a bit to the left and a bit to the right. This is usually more useful for advanced players than the first Goldilocks tossing variation. Most players with good jump float serves have developed a good rhythm and have the right toss height dialed in. But even advanced players sometimes struggle with keeping their toss straight down their line and will pull the ball slightly to the left or right. This causes the player to have to lean and contact slightly over their head (instead of over her hitting shoulder) or have to reach slightly outside her body.
You can hit a good serve with a toss off your line, it just tends to be less consistent. So this Goldilocks toss variation is:
1. Serve a ball with a toss off your line to the left.
2. Serve a ball with a toss off your line to the right.
3. Serve a ball, “just right.”
Don’t overthink the toss on the third rep. Think about, “creating a runway, “to the target, or “tossing down the hallway.” These are both images that get the player visualizing a line to the target rather than pulling the ball left or right.
I particularly like this variation for jump spin servers. They don’t need to go crazy tossing 5 feet left and right. But just creating some small, intentional, variability in their tosses helps them find the “just right.”
Goldilocks Hand Contact
More players can hit a serve hard and flat than can hit a clean float. It just takes time and touch to develop. Anything that involves touch is well-suited to the Goldilocks method, because the noise introduced to the system helps the player feel the signal on an intuitive, rather than conscious, level. Dialing in the hand contact is well-suited to Goldilocks.
A useful Goldilocks sequence is:
1. Serve a ball with a hand that’s, “too soft,” or, “too relaxed.”
2. Serve a ball with a hand that’s, “too hard,” or, “too stiff.”
3. Serve a ball, “just right.”
It’s critical that the player does not think about her hand on the third rep. It’s also critical that the player feel that the first two reps should not feel good. They should not necessarily be good serves. (Although, for young players who tend to be too soft and too weak with the ball, the, “too stiff,” hand can often be an immediate upgrade. Players like these are not necessarily great Goldilocks candidates because they are still far away from developing a good feel.) Those first two reps are just there to help your body feel the edges. On the third rep, you don’t try to consciously control what your hand does. You just think about hitting a good serve and your body will start to intuitively fine-tune things.
Another Goldilocks sequence for contact is:
1. Serve a ball with a follow-through that is, “too long.” (You can cue them to, “swing way through the ball.”)
2. Serve a ball with a follow-through that is, “too short.” (You can cue them to, “pop it off your hand.”)
3. Serve a ball, “just right.”
Some inexperienced float servers will like the, “too short,” contact, because they will tend to contact lower on their hand than on the full follow-through, which is better for float serving. That’s fine if they immediately feel that. Long-term, most good float servers find a median point. Very few top float servers have a very short follow-through. But most also have a longer/flatter follow-through compared to when they spike. So this sequence helps players start to get a feel for that.
Other Variations
Goldilocks is a very simple method. This barely scratches the surface of everything that you can do.
For what it’s worth, in a recent conversation with a super-duper-high-level-elite coach1 who many of you would know, that coach described this technique as, “as close to a magic bullet as I’ve found in coaching.” So, there you go.
That said, we were discussing making pretty specific technical changes in a tutoring environment. So there’s a lot more to coaching besides this one little method. It’s important that players know that they have space to experiment when they are doing this. Don’t have them trying Goldilocks in a competitive 6v6 drill! Use this when a player can cycle through several 3-rep sequences and start to feel the difference.
John Mayer and I talked about some of this stuff in our small-group workshop last year.
I’d also recommend Casey Krider’s appearance on CYBO, as well as the recent CYBO with Rob Gray.
Hey buddy!!