Volleyball coaching tips?

I am a 25-year old male and I have just been named the girls volleyball coach at a local middle school. Anyone have any good tips? Not just volleyball strategy, but how to deal with middle school girls? Thanks everyone.

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middle school girls will function well with playing lots of games. Incorporate games into your practices not just drill.

I coach volleyball at several levels and in the past two years have started a feeder/development  programme for our elite club teams within the schools of the area.

The development programme starts at year 7 & 8 (10-12yrs) and continues right through to year 13 students (16-17yrs).

The girls have responded best when they are involved more with the way things are run. Although I do subscribe to the "Athlete Centred" coaching ideals as opposed to the "Coach Centred".

For example; Last year I gave a year 9 (12-13yrs) girls team the freedom to choose things like, Team Values, Team Goals, Training Times and Duration. What happened was remarkable. As a team they held meetings, outside of training times, to discuss these issues and more. They chose to create their own rewards and consequences system for things they felt did not contribute to the team reaching it goals. They set the level of intensity for trainings and even made sure the coach was going to abide. They even set personal goals for skill and fitness pertaining to volleyball.

As coach, although I designed the drills for each session and recorded and monitored their progress, I was merely the facilitator in the girls becoming more aware athletes. This was the most rewarding thing for me.

For the athletes%3A They achieved their team goals for the year and all exceeded their personal ones.

The drills for teaching skills were all designed to employ a (Teaching Games For Understanding) TGFU format. Where the athletes were 1st shown the drill, then allowed to complete the drill, then where asked a few questions regarding. THe questions serve to confirm and cement their understanding.

They quickly moved through the four stages of the understanding process. From Unconscious Incompetence > Conscious Incompetence > Conscious Competence > Unconscious Competence.

Today every single one of those first group of girls is playing their now preferred sport at an elite level for their age group. Two or three have remained in volleyball.

Hope this helps.

A good start is to have a structure to work within around how you expect the players to behave as volleyballers.

You could start with a 4 point rule that they must adhere to%3A

RULE 1%3A  they are there to have fun and enjoy

RULE 2%3A When you talk they listen - check understanding by asking individuals to repeat what you have said

RULE 3%3A When you say stop they STOP!! NO continuing with the drill, no messing with the volleyballs. It's the quickest way for injuries to happen when some players have stopped and others are still playing.

RULE 4%3A "I want never gets" Please may or please can i, dosent work either. You are the coach and you say what happens full stop.

within that frame work you can build a great relationship with the players and they know what is expected of them.

Outside of that the Key to building  a good team is the ability to serve. Not just to get the ball in but to win points by putting the other team under pressure. A good tough serve will either win you a direct point or give you the ball back as a free ball ( dug over or volleyed over - not hit) this will allow your team to mount a counter attack (transition play) so you are constantly putting pressure on the opposition.

Good luck