Use Your Whistle

Last week I introduced the concept I call Terminal Serves. I shared a scoring modifier called Aceball as a way to help train our teams to be better in this area. This week we’re talking about the First Ball aspect of the game. Yesterday we looked at some relevant statistical concepts, today we’ll talk more about application to training. Instead of a drill variation, we’ll talk about something simpler: your whistle and when you use it.

“Teams Wear Their Coach’s Attention”

I always thought that was a cool phrase. I heard it from my mom, who attributed it to a talk Mary Wise gave at an AVCA convention. Unless somebody tells me differently, I’ll keep attributing it to her. But teams undoubtedly are shaped by the details their coaches attend to. Just like dogs and their owners start to look alike over time, coaches and their players converge on a common set of shared values about the right way to play the game.

Which team is yours?

There’s another force shaping our players over time: entropy. Humans are inherently efficient creatures. We aren’t the fastest animal in the kingdom, but we’re really good at wearing more impressive beasts down and submitting them. It’s in our nature to save energy. Our volleyball players are the same way, and that isn’t a good thing.

What Does This Have To Do With First Ball Sideout?

We have a lot of control over our ability to pass and, especially, to serve. Most players understand that. As coaches, we talk a lot about controlling our serve, we understand that we can create routines, and that even young players can attain a high degree of technical proficiency in this skill. (If you doubt the ability of a younger player to master a movement as simple as swinging her arm through a ball in a controlled space, just check out what gymnasts as young as 8 years old can do!)

However, many coaches don’t apply this same level of execution expectation to their first ball attacking. When we are receiving the serve, the ref gives us time to stand exactly where we want. Our setters can get ready and release to their passing target with total control over their footwork. Hitters who are not passing (usually middles and opposites) can enter to any area of the court with whatever footwork they want. The only timing constraint is the contact of the serve, and refs will often be pretty lenient with that!

And yet, many teams, especially younger teams, really struggle with these areas. At the high school level, rotations 1 and 4 are by far the worst sideout rotations.¹ What do these two rotations have in common? Difficult setter releases. Or, perhaps said another way, setter releases that aren’t practiced enough or practiced well enough.

Where Does The Whistle Come In?

All coaches should have a whistle at practice. Wear it around your neck, wrap it around your wrist, or, if you’re like me, pop it in your fanny pack. Some drills don’t need a whistle. But anything that involves first ball sideout should be whistled. What does this mean? The server waits until you whistle. You whistle. They serve. This should be a relatively easy task for your players because every point ever played in the history of volleyball involved a whistled serve.

Once your players are used to waiting for the whistle, you can turn to your primary task: making sure your first ball sideout execution is perfect. There’s a whole bunch of details to get right, but the three big categories are:

1. Positioning

2. Posture

3. Footwork

Players have total control over #1 and near-total control over #2 and #3. Once the ball comes into play, things get hard. Eyes have to track the ball and body parts have to arrive at the right place at the right time with the right speed. That takes an almost unending amount of practice. Even pro golfers miss puts. But beginner players can still stand in the same posture and initiate their techniques the same way.

Some of these details are outside the scope of this section, but briefly:

Positioning

Positioning is where you stand on the court. There are 6 players on the court, and you’ll go through 6 rotations. That’s 36 sets of coordinates that you need to know as a coach. Let’s face it, it’s not that difficult. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet and you learned them by the time you were 3 years old. Passers should have a specific place on the court that they stand. Do you want them 18’ back from the net? 20’? 22’? (Hopefully not 22’ unless you’re facing a jump spin.) Be precise.

Get precise about where your setter starts and where your middle and opposites stand. Get a head start on your setter entries and hitter releases.

Posture

If positioning is where you stand, posture is how you stand. Do you like passers to be upright or bent over?

Upright, please say upright!

Do you want setters standing flat-footed in rotation 1, or in a track start? Which foot should her weight be on? All of these things are things that can be trained. And all of them, are relatively simple. (Again, think back to the gymnastics examples.)

Footwork

Setter release footwork can make a slow setter seem fast or vice versa. The proper hitter entry footwork can set a player up to be right on time to attack the ball, or leave them wrong-footed and late. The quality of footwork takes some time to practice; a professional setter knows how to leave at just the right time and moves more quickly than a 13 year-old. But the number and order of steps can be perfected even by young or inexperienced players.

Take The Time To Get It Right

The good thing about whistling the serve in your sideout drills is that you don’t rush through things. We all like a fast pace at practice. And we’re certainly going to get there. But in the beginning, don’t blow the whistle until everybody has their positioning correct. If two passers are in the right spot but the third one is out to lunch, don’t blow the whistle. Get her in where she needs to stand. If your setter isn’t in good posture for a quick release, don’t blow the whistle, get her in the right posture. And once you whistle to serve, keep your eyes on these details. If your middle hitter uses the wrong entry footwork, blow the whistle again and say, “stop…” and get the ball back to the server. Remind your middle of the correct footwork and give her another chance to do it right.

Taking It Too Far

As with anything related to coaching, there’s a right balance to be struck. Make sure you’re demanding perfection in moves that you’ve already taught these players. For example, your young setter might know the setter-1 release is right-left-right-hop stop and can be expected to take the right sequence of steps, but it’s okay if her timing isn’t perfect or the speed of the steps isn’t as fast a more advanced setter.

So use the whistle, but use it wisely.

1. Also, Rotation 1 is by far the most common starting rotation. Think that one over.