Winter 2024 Mailbag Part 1

PDF abbreviations, FTN/BTN, Gifs, and Triangle Spreadsheets

It’s been a while since I did a mailbag. We’re not really at the end of Winter, but I’ve got enough questions stacked up to fill up a couple mailbag posts. So here we go. Check previous mailbag posts here if you haven’t yet:

Fall 2024
Summer 2024
Spring 2024
Winter 2023

In the comments on Post-Tournament Review, Damien Evans asks:

Is there a legend or guide as to what all the abbreviations are in that PDF?

Not yet so… let’s do that now.

FBK = First Ball Kill. When I calculate FBK%, I’m calculating (# of FBKs) / (Total Receptions). An FBK is only on your first swing out of serve receive. So you can only FBK when you receive serve.

FBK (Block/Dig). For all kills, I record whether the block or diggers allowed the kill. Sometime it’s obvious (digger shanks the ball… blocker is directly tooled) and sometimes there’s some judgement involved. You don’t need to keep this, but I like to know how much we’re attacking or avoiding the block. And for my defense, I like to know where we’re allowing the points.

BHE = Ball Handling Error. Setting errors like getting called for doubles or setting into the antenna and also miscommunications where the ball drops, etc.

Hit Error (Net/Out) = Hitting error and recording whether you hit the ball out of bounds or into the net. We want very few errors in the net.

Hit Error (Blocked) = Even better than hitting out is getting blocked. It’s not good to get blocked, but “good hitters get blocked” more than the hit out and definitely more than they hit in the net.

Everything above the solid line in that pdf corresponds to First Ball. Everything below that means the rally went into Transition.

“Us BHE” means we had a ball handing error in transition.

Us DtK (Block/Dig) means we had a “Dig to Kill” aka Transition Kill. And I record whether it was scored on a blocker or defender.

Us Error (Net/Out/Blocked) means we had a Transition Hitting Error. And I record whether the ball was attacked into the net, out of bounds, or stuff blocked.

Opp Set Error. Opponent Setting Error, Ball-Handling Error, Misc error, etc

Opp DtK (Block/Dig) means the other team scored in transition and I record whether it was scored against a blocker or defender.

Opp Error (Net/Out/Block) opponent error in transition and whether the hit in the net, out of bounds, or we blocked them.

Net Play Us/Opponent. Net play is the category I record for Jamball and other similar plays. These are overpasses, jousts, and other stuff that could be attacking or blocking but is kind of its own category. At lower levels (13s, 14s) you’ll likely have more “net play” points than you will pure “stuff blocks.” For example, in this previous tournament, we had 23 net play points while our opponent had 17. I always like to win this category because (1) it means we’re taking care of the ball, keeping passes off the net, etc and (2) our middles (and other frontrow players, but especially middles) are active near the net, cleaning up tight digs and other weird plays. So I was happy to see us win this category.

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Another reader asks:

Was just looking at your In the Gym notes and was wondering if you can explain to me the FTN/BTN meaning. Thank you.

"Face The Net" or "Back To Net"

Basically: teaching setters to deal with some tighter passes where they can't stay square to target. In camp sessions or regular practice tutoring, I like to include a little bit of this. It’s a real challenge for young setters to figure out how to orient their body when they are close to the net. Also, for you club coaches out there, this is something I like for setters to do a little of whenever the warmup permits it. I don’t do it as part of the official warmup after they call captains, but, if you have some time while your team is just peppering or whatever, do some FTN/BTN tutoring. Remember that your team will spend at least half as much time in a tournament gym as they will at practice. Look for opportunities to snag 2 minutes here or 3 minutes there and do some Itsy-Bitsys on random stuff that’s hard to find practice time for.

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Another reader asks two different questions. To summarize:

1. What are you using to convert your short videos into gifs?

2. Can you share some of the Triangle Spreadsheets that you used for the AU Post-Match Analysis posts?

Sure! I use Convertio.io for all the quick little gifs. And here’s some examples of Triangle Spreadsheets.