VOLLEYBALL DRILLS FOR CHAMPIONS

 USA Volleyball Store  Volleyball USA Magazine  Molten Balls  USA Volleyball Mall  CAP Registration 
 CAP Testimonials  Education Home Page  IMPACT Resources  About USAV CAP  Publications  Sports Medicine  Awards  Education Articles  Education Links 
 Course Schedule  CAP Cadre  Programs & Courses  Course Topics  Accreditation Requirements  Hosting a CAP Course  On-Line Registration 
 Athlete Handbook  Guide to VB Basics  Articles & Publications  Skill Posters  Player Nutrition 
 Commission  Resource Advisory Committee  Biomechanics Team  Medical Team  Physiology & Conditioning Team  Psychosocial Team  Position Papers  Research/Articles  Int‘l Journal 
 2007 Indoor  2007 Outdoor  Links  Comparison of Rules 
 NCAA  FIVB 
 Forum  Rating Sheets  Official Word  Training Camps 
 Structures & Officers  Officials  Update Database  USA Volleyball/Professional Association of Volleyball Officials Joint Agreements 
 National Referees  Junior Nat‘l Referees  National Scorekeepers  Junior Nat‘l Scorekeepers  Outdoor Referees  Retired Referees  Retired Scorekeepers 
 Scorekeeper Commission  Scorekeeper Materials  Certification Requirments  Applications 
 Rules Home Page  Rules  Training Materials  Official Division  Be an Official  Applications  Scorekeeper Info  Official Word  FAQ 
 General Information  Tryout Schedule  Register Online  Print and Fax Registration 
 General Information  2005 Women‘s Jr. National Team  2005 Women‘s Jr. National A2 Team  2005 Girls‘ Youth National Team  2005 Girls‘ Youth National A2 Team  2005 Girls‘ Youth National A3 Team  2005 National High Performance Camp  2005 A2 Camp  2005 A3 Camp  2005 Developmental Camps 
 General Information  2005 Men‘s Jr. National Team  2005 Boys Youth National Team  2005 Boys Youth National A2 Team  2005 National High Performance Camp  2005 A2 Camp  2005 Developmental Camps 
 International Results Archive  2004 Programs and Results  2003 Programs and Results  2002 Programs and Results  2001 and Before Programs and Results 
 HP Home Page  News & Updates  HP Program Introduction  Boys 2007 HP Tryout Results  07 Coaches Clinic  07 Online Tryout Registration  07 Girls‘ Tryout Application  07 Boys‘ Tryout Application  07 Tryout Schedule  07 Age Definitions  06 Team & Camp Rosters  06 USA Boys‘ High Performance Championships  06 USA Girls‘ High Performance Championships  06 Jr. Beach High Performance Camps  Endowment  Forms and Documents  Archives 
 News Home Page  Current & Past News 
 2006  2005  2004  2003  Archive 
 About The Foundation  Grant Application 
 Founding Organziation  Education-Based Multi-Sport  Multi-Sport Organizations  Nat‘l Volleyball Organizations  Affiliated Organizations  For Profit  USA Volleyball Regions 
 About USAV Home Page  2005 Annual Report  USA Volleyball Foundation  Leadership  Staff  Awards  Corporate Documents  Bylaws  Operating Code  Guidebook  Molten Diversity Grant  Collegiate Grant Program  Bid Manual  Jobs  USA Volleyball Regions  Member Organizations  Int‘l Volleyball Federation (FIVB) 
 Founding Organziation  Education-Based Multi-Sport  Multi-Sport Organizations  Nat‘l Volleyball Organizations  Affiliated Organizations  For Profit  USA Volleyball Regions 
 Indoor Facilities  Outdoor Facilities 
 Wanna‘ Play Home Page  Places to Play  USA Volleyball Regions  Member Organizations  High Performance Camps and Development  Men‘s College Volleyball 




 HP Home Page  News & Updates  HP Program Introduction  07 Coaches Clinic  07 Online Tryout Registration  07 Girls‘ Tryout Application  07 Boys‘ Tryout Application  07 Tryout Schedule  07 Age Definitions  06 Team & Camp Rosters  06 USA Boys‘ High Performance Championships  06 USA Girls‘ High Performance Championships  06 Jr. Beach High Performance Camps  Endowment  Forms and Documents  Archives 
 International Results Archive  2004 Programs and Results  2003 Programs and Results  2002 Programs and Results  2001 and Before Programs and Results 
 NCAA Collegiate Programs  Collegiate Club Programs  2006 Collegiate Tournaments  2007 NCAA National Championships  2007 Molten Championships  USAV Collegiate Grant Program  Rules 
 2007 Indoor  2007 Outdoor  Links  Comparison of Rules 
 NCAA  FIVB 
 Men‘s National Team  Youth & Junior High Performance Programs  Beach  Adults  Disabled  USA Volleyball Regions  Men‘s Collegiate  Boys‘ Scholastic 
 National Stats by State (PDF)  State Athletic Association Links  USAV Boys‘ Scholastic Grant Program (PDF)  Coaching Education  Rules 
 About USAV CAP  Publications  Sports Medicine  Awards  Education Links 
 Course Schedule  CAP Cadre  Programs & Courses  Course Topics  Accredidation Requirements  Hosting Guidelines  On-Line Registration 
 Athlete Handbook  Guive to VB Basics  Articles & Publications  Skill Posters 
 Commission  Resource Advisory Committee  Biomechanics Team  Medical Team  Physiology & Conditioning Team  Psychosocial Team  Position Papers  Research/Articles  Int‘l Journal 
 2007 Indoor  2007 Outdoor  Links  Comparison of Rules 
 Paralympics  International  US Federations  USOC Disabled  USAV Leadership 
 USA Standing  USA Sitting  USA Deaf 
 Disabled Home Page  Teams  Organizations  Education 
 Adults  Jr. Olympic  Online Registration 
 Events Homepage  Indoor Volleyball  Beach Volleyball  Park Volley  Bid Manuals 
 Archive 
 2007 Austin  2006 Results  Past Results 
 USA Open  Beach Championships  Park Volley Championships  Online Registration  Wanna‘ Play? 
 2006 Jr. Beach Tour  2006 Jr. Beach High Performance Camps  2005 Beach Junior Championships  2004 Beach Junior Championships  How to Get Involved  Outdoor Rules 
 2005 Girls‘ JOVC Bid Allocations  Age Classifications  Championships Section of Guidebook 
 2006 Tournament Info  2005 Tournament Info  Past Championships 
 2006 Location & Dates  2005 Location & Dates  Past Championships 
 2006 Tournament Info  2005 Tournament Info  Past Championships 
 Indoor Volleyball  Beach Volleyball 
 Entry Deadlines  Schedule 
 Anaheim Training Center  Match Stats  Schedule  Results  Rosters  Player Bios  Computer Wallpaper  Youth & Junior Team Programs  Athens Olympics 
 National Team Tryout  Match Stats  Schedule  Results  Rosters  Computer Wallpaper  Youth & Junior Team Programs  Athens Olympics 
 Nat‘l Teams Home Page  Women  Men  Photo Gallery  Stats by Data Project  Support The Teams  Computer Wallpaper  Playing For Team USA  FIVB World League 2006 





BOOK REVIEW: VOLLEYBALL DRILLS FOR CHAMPIONS
By Kinda S. Lenberg
"Drills are like recipes. With the right ingredients and directions, anyone can cook, but it takes a master chef - or a master coach - to mix and vary ingredients to suit the needs of different individuals."
So says Mary Wise, head women‘s volleyball coach at the University of Florida and editor of Volleyball Drills for Champions. And she should know a thing or two about successful teams, as she as taken her women to the NCAA championship tournament five times and has won 11 SEC conference championships. Wise has put her volleyball skills to the test as an NCAA Division I head women‘s volleyball coach for 18 years after earning four letters while a player at Purdue University.
And she is not alone in this particular endeavor. Wise is joined by six incredibly successful volleyball coaches, who also provide their own unique insight into the intricacies of the six main skills of volleyball: serving, passing, setting, attacking, blocking and digging. Volleyball Drills For Champions is truly an all-around look at the skills necessary to be successful in this game - and provides the readers with the crucial drills to help them reach the top.
"Every coach loves drills, especially new drills that come from other successful coaches," says Doug Beal, current head coach of the U.S. Men‘s National Volleyball Team and coach of the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S. Olympic team. "Each coach develops the drill ideas for one particular part of the game, which makes this a very unique book and a must-read for any serious coach."
Volleyball Drills for Champions is jam-packed with 73 practice activities sure to bring excitement and fun to your next practice. According to Wise, successful drills boast four key factors - a purpose, a goal, competition and feedback. The drills in this collection certainly live up to that description. Each drill is replete with a purpose, procedure, key points to remember, variations, equipment needed and an easy-to-understand diagram. In addition, there are coaching cues for each skill included in the introduction to each drill. Finally, a handy drill finder grid is placed at the very beginning of the book, so if a coach is looking for a specific type of drill or particular drill for a certain skill, it is found easily in the publication.
"Not a week goes by that we aren‘t asked the question, ‘Do you have a good drill that will help my team‘s _______?‘ explains Wise in her chapter, "Drill Design - Changing Behavior in the Gym. "The blank can range from individual skills to social interaction and everything in between. This is not an easy question, as every player and team has special needs. A drill that works in our gym will not necessarily work in yours, even if the players‘ abilities are similar. A better question is, ‘What is the best way to design a drill to help my team improve.‘ "
Russ Rose, Lisa Love, John Dunning, Brad Saindon, Greg Giovanazzi and Jim Stone provide some answers in Volleyball Drills for Champions.
"Serving remains one of the most basic skills but continues to give coaches headaches when trying to teach it," explains Russ Rose, head women‘s volleyball coach at Penn State University and author of Chapter 1: Serving. "You must establish a serving philosophy that will best fit both your personality as a coach and your team‘s personnel." Rose offers 10 serving drills to help any coach achieve success with his/her layers.
In Chapter 2: Passing, Lisa Love tackles, essentially, the foundation of a team‘s offense. Love, former head women‘s volleyball coach at the University of Southern California and current associate athletic director at the institution, understands the intricacies of this particular volleyball skill and passes her knowledge on to the reader.
"Offensive tempo and play execution both revolve around a team‘s ability to pass accurately," Love explains. Without consistent and accurate passing, your team can‘t exploit the talents of its attackers and setters."
Love provides 12 drills perfecting the art of passing, each with its own unique challenge and coaching cues.
John Dunning, head women‘s volleyball coach at the Stanford, is known worldwide for his expertise in teaching setting. In Chapter 3 of Volleyball Drills for Champions, he offers 12 drills that will help any coach mold successful setters.
"A great many people have helped me to learn what I know about setting," Dunning explains, "and many have convinced me that I really don‘t know much at all. I am now convinced that the joy of learning comes from the players themselves. There is a uniqueness in the way that any player does a skill, and part of the teaching/learning process is paying attention to that uniqueness."
Chapter 4 focuses on the attack. Brad Saindon, former coach of the Australian Women‘s National Team and current head coach at Arizona State, has spent years helping players perfect this most vibrant of volleyball skills.
"The spike! It is one of the most dramatic and dynamic single moments in all of sport," Saindon muses. "The sheer beauty and athleticism of a well-executed spike can take one‘s breath away. It is the home run, the slam dunk, the touchdown strike, the slap-shot goal, and the 300-yard drive of volleyball."
Saindon, who came back to the U.S. after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, brings with him 12 drills that will help players young and old with the skill of spiking.
In Chapter 5, Greg Giovanazzi, former head women‘s volleyball coach at the University of Michigan, offers up 12 drills of his own concentrating on blocking, the team‘s first line of defense and, according to Giovanazzi, "…with the least amount of training can yield the greatest dividends for just about any team.
"The philosophy of the block varies from team to team and is dependent on your personnel as well as the opposition‘s ability to attack. Fundamentally, the block takes two forms in the concept of team defense. First, the block is a part of the whole. It takes an area of the court away from the opposing offense while the diggers take another. A second philosophy is that the block takes everything it can, going for as many stuffs as possible."
Finally, in Chapter 6: Digging, The Ohio State University Head Women‘s Volleyball Coach Jim Stone concentrates on this, the team‘s second line of defense.
"Good team defense quite often reflects a team‘s desire to win a match," Stone says. "A good defender has mastered the skill of playing the ball in a variety of body postures and can accurately play the ball to an area that allows smooth transition to offense. To master these skills takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and repetition."
And Stone provides 13 drills to ensure that repetition is taking place in practice.
"A good defensive team will be able to wear down and frustrate the opponent, forcing attack errors. Generally, the better defensive team will win close matches."
In the final chapter on drill design, Wise sums up the intent of the book quite nicely when she says, "In trying to improve skills, coaches are trying to change behavior."
Volleyball Drills for Champions can help coaches - and players - do just that. Practicing like a champion translates into winning matches like a champion, and these seven consummate coaches can help you every step of the way.
Volleyball Drills for Champions is available on the USA Volleyball website, click "Merchandise" for $14.94.