Duties of a Volleyball Coach

Duties of a volleyball coach involve focusing on the process.

Winning in volleyball is important, but developing great volleyball players is a process. The following are fundamental coaching principles that will help lead to effective and efficient coaching.

Have Patience.
Especially with younger players, there will be countless errors and it will take awhile to figure things out.

Process and Performance Over Outcome.
Volleyball coaches must focus more on the process and not so much on the outcome. The development of the player as a whole is the most important thing. Winning is fun and exciting, but in the sport of volleyball, winning is usually out of any one player's control. The emphasis should be on the performance of players over the outcome of the game. It's simply a fact that half of the volleyball teams playing on this very day throughout the world will lose!

Success is not just winning on the scoreboard, but in knowing the players did their best to play their best. Thus, a team can win on the scoreboard but not succeed, or lose on the scoreboard, yet still make significant gains in improvement.

Remember, kids play volleyball to have fun and to enrich the quality of their lives. Share with them the concept of "we will be successful. We may win some, lose some, but we will be successful."

Help every player on the team.
Give every player equal attention, regardless of skill level. More skillful players often are given more opportunities to play, so pay closer attention to less-skilled players during practice.

Separate the performance from the performer.
One of the most important things coaches can do is build every player's self-esteem no matter what their skill level. Make sure every comment is constructive, sandwiched between compliments and correction.

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Consistency

Be consistent.
Coaches are very important role models to young players. Coaches must always demonstrate what they believe in, model it in practice and reinforce it when it's seen.

Coaches need to let their athletes know that coaches are human and will make mistakes, and so will athletes. Coaches should demonstrate to players how to believe in themselves and what they are doing.

Coaches should also earn respect and then accept respect. Help each player develop in mind, body and spirit, not just in volleyball skill development.

Be demanding and disciplined, never demeaning.
The coaches style must be based on the laws of learning. If screaming, yelling, or putting down a player was the best way to teach, then all teachers in school classrooms would be using that method. Coaches must make sure they are teaching, not taking out their frustrations or setting unrealistic expectations. Coaches should never be demeaning to their athletes.

Coach smarter, not harder.
Experience is a great teacher, but attending coaching clinics and learning from other coaches is essential. Sharing and bouncing ideas off other coaches will lead to greater coaching wisdom.

Be innovative, not imitative.
This is hard to do, but it's best to not just copy other successful coaches. For instance, don't just copy volleyball practice plans.

Players should also be involved in the process. One key goal of youth volleyball is to involve the player in problem solving. The team and the player will benefit more from such a standard of coaching.