Riley Salmon Talks Passing

Riley Salmon sat down with myself and some Smarter Volley subscribers to talk passing. Great session with one of the all-time best.

Five Takeaways From The Audience

DP: "My biggest takeaway was how he mentioned making your platform early in serve receive right around when the ball is crossing the plane of the net and having it out at where you think the ball is going to end up. I went back and watched video from this past girls varsity season of all the times my libero got aced and lo and behold saw how many of them she was still in the process of making her platform as the ball was contacting it."

MM: "I liked his training focus on the coach stepping in and recreating the error situation to correct it more quickly."

HW: "Another point that stuck with me was how critical the idea of committing without hesitation was for Riley. I think this is a great example of cultivating the mindset and culture you want to see from the team. Taking this idea along with Riley's comment that coaches can sometimes over coach an athlete makes me think that trust is central to his relationship with athletes. He trusts that his athletes are capable of finding a way to solve the problem (pass the ball to the middle) as long as they are committing."

JR: "My biggest takeaway was the discussion on communication between plays, which I don't think happens enough at my level (HS) other than cheering or "you'll get the next one." Reminders on seam responsibilities, reminders to front row about net "clippers" (as I call them), and things like that are very important and something I need to emphasize more in practice. We already work on communication during the play, but I don't do enough with between plays."

MS: "For me it was being early and decisive both as an individual and team. Many of his points all play to that idea. So the seam responsibilities get rid of any gray area of short or deep. The communication determines what will happen or what is about to happen. Platforms are decisive and out early.

If a team did those things well their play would improve drastically and none of it actually has to do with technically how to do any specific skill."