Seminar Notes and Pull Concept Webinar

A tool to add to your in-system offense

Earlier this week I did an in-person Offensive Concepts seminar for a high school program. I’ll share 10 takeaways from that seminar. At the bottom of the list, below the paywall, I’ll have the link to the video webinar I did, which was a module about one of the middle attacking concepts I teach in these seminars. Everybody has been enjoying these webinars so I’ll start prepping the July webinar. Look for that to be at the end of the month.

10 Takeaways

1. We started at 8:30am, but the coach had her group in there for a short team meeting beforehand. I can tell that she really set the table for this event. One thing I’ve noticed from having done camps or clinics at probably 100+ high school programs by now: if you take the time to explain to kids why you’re doing a camp or clinic, or just who the heck the clinician actually is, you set yourself up for success. The kids were excited for the camp and that helped give them the enthusiasm to push through a long day that included a lot more time in a classroom than a typical camp.

2. For a lot of kids, seeing “somebody like them” perform a skill really matters. I hardly demo anything anymore. I think a lot of high school girls are used to large male coaches demonstrating skills in a way they don’t think they can do. I set up my video demos so that kids usually see 3 clips in a row: (1) pro/NCAA-level male (2) pro/NCAA-level female (3) high school female. Seeing the same concept performed by 3 different levels of physicality seems to help give the player a higher expectation of success or perhaps reframe the possibility of levels of success.

3. I remember my first Gold Medal Squared clinic introducing the concept of synching up the timing of sets with the step of the approach, ie, “1st-step set, 2nd-step set, etc.” A concept that now seems obvious to me was a game-changer when I first heard it and it continues to be one of the most helpful concepts for any player who gets taught it.

4. Most high school aged kids struggle to truly set the ball high. Often a true 1st-step set is almost impossible because the ball just doesn’t get up high enough. Counter to the way we ofte think about this at higher levels, many high school girl’s set the ball higher off a perfect pass than they do off a bad pass. Because of this, many high school hitters struggle to find their timing and the tend to solve that problem by coming in fast and then slowing down. Not good.

5. High school players, in general, tend to start their approaches way too far off the net in-system. A lot of balls get hit into the tape because they are too far away and have to broad jump and reach out to the ball.

6. Every high school team is leaving at least 1 point per set on the table because they undertrain off-speed shots and tipping/rolling is taught as a lesser skill. For many high school kids, it’s almost a moral failing when they have to tip or roll. I spend a significant time on off-speed shots at these seminars, I put specific names to them, and can usually get at least a few kids fired up about using a few of these options.

7. It’s always fun to introduce Jamball to a group that’s never played it before. At some point I’ll get a good Jamball post up on SmarterVolley.

8. Almost all middles have an instinct to go “to the net” and it’s difficult to break. Teaching this idea of The Cone (see webinar below) is huge for these kids. If I can get them to break through on that concept, they can get 20% better in one day.

9. To go along with #8, the combination of being able to hit medium-speed toward a sideline and drop a scrape tip (again, see below) is devastating for most high school middles.

10. Basic Transition 4s-in-a-Square is one of the most reliable drills to teach all sorts of stuff. It finds away into basically any camp or clinic that I do. “You are no longer allowed to hit medium-speed into zone 6,” needs to be said, multiple times, to every high school team. If a kid is going to hit into the center of the court, they better be crushing the ball hard enough that it won’t get dug.

Okay, here’s the Youtube link as well as the downloadable slides below the paywall: