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City St George’s University | Coaching Reflection 2024-25
Back at City
I have a soft spot for City, University of London, as I coached there for seven years (you can read my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth season reflections). I sadly had to leave in 2020 due to a non-compete clause with Premier Training Network after the City transitioned to direct hires (I was employed by PTN rather than by the university itself).
After the last coach left in January 2024, I was asked if I wanted to come back. I gladly accepted. However, I only coached two sessions because I went to India to stat for Hyderabad Black Hawks. In the summer of 2024 (during All Nations in fact), I was asked again if I wanted to come back for the 2024-25 season. I was a little apprehensive about whether I should go back. The main reason was that away matches weren’t paid. That sucked because if I was in, I was fully in, away matches and all. Also, I have such fond memories of my time there before; would I ruin it with a second run? In the end, I have a soft spot for City (now City St George’s), and I really felt I could help them. I also wanted them to see some success after languishing in BUCS Tier 2.
So I accepted and I was back! But how was it? What did I learn? Read on to find out.
Competitions Report
BUCS South Eastern Tier 2B | Champions I was happy that I won the league in my very first season. That was my first aim. That means automatic promotion to Tier 1, where I believe the team should be. We pretty much had the league locked up by Christmas as we beat the second-placed and third-placed teams twice. We just had to make sure we didn’t have any walkovers or have too many bad losses. We didn’t because we ended up unbeaten (10-0 win-loss record) and only dropped 4 sets.
BUCS South Eastern Conference Cup | Runners-Up This one stung a bit. We beat the second-best team (Brunel) in the quarterfinals and the third-best team (Arts) in the semifinals. The venue for the finals was also going to be at home. Everything was shaping up for a relatively comfortable win in the final. However, my best player was away (it was reading week) but I still thought we had enough to win. In the final itself, nobody played well. I made many different changes but nothing worked. So that was a tough one to lose. It also meant I lost two out of three South Eastern Conference Cup Finals (read about my first win and first loss).
Student Cup | 3rd in Qualifiers We were in a tough group with four other Tier 1 teams (we’re in Tier 2). It also didn’t help that I only had eight players available. It was still a good team but not much wiggle room to make any changes. We ended up in third place with a 2-2 record, which wasn’t that bad. We could have sneaked into the Last 16 Finals if we won our match against East Anglia. It ended 1-1 but we lost on points.
LSE Pre-Season Tournament | 0-3-1 Win-Loss-Draw Record No wins but I wasn’t too bothered. The pre-season tournament happened before the trials had even finished. I also didn’t even know the players properly. Also, the teams were of upper Tier 1 and Premier teams, so they were a level way above us.
Reflection
Trials
Don’t Cut Players Early in Trials We had 85 students sign up for the trials. To help manage numbers, we decided to cut players early. It was immediately obvious we had a lot of beginners, so I was ok with cutting them early. I didn’t face too many issues when I did it at the UCL Men’s Trials. However, it didn’t go down well at these trials. We had a lot of complaints. In the end, I let them stay on until the end.
Sashes/ Bibs to Identify Player Positions I did somewhat organise players into their playing positions. However, it was still a sea of faces that I couldn’t identify. I did previously try name tags to identify players. However, I think sashes/ bibs to identify positions will help me identify players.
Select 17 Players This is something I knew from before. I selected 15 players and two players left early due to school-work commitments. We did pick up some new players but we did struggle to have 12 players for training. We 12+ players in 8 out of the 18 training sessions (44%) and 4 out of 16 matches (25%). This isn’t ideal since I like to have 6v6 drills. However, it’s still tricky because you have to select players who aren’t great and you have to carry on the team.
Reworked Registration Questions After we set the registration questions, we realised we were missing contact details, e.g. an email. This was a blunder because we couldn’t contact the trialists! Also, there were some questions that I didn’t even take into consideration, e.g. what level do you consider yourself, do you have knowledge of the 5-1 system, school year, and age. So, was it worth asking them if I wasn’t going to use it?
Below are the questions that I feel are most pertinent to me.
Do you have a minimum of two years of playing experience?
Are you available for training on Tuesdays, 7:30-10pm, and matches on Wednesdays, anywhere from 10am to 10pm?
First name
Last name
Preferred position
Second preferred position
How many years have you played volleyball?
Please list any notable experience/achievement for school/club/national team level, if any
Height
What tryout session are you available to attend?
Email
Phone
Attach photo
The first two questions are qualifying questions because if the student says no to either, then there’s no point in considering them. These questions are normally towards the end but I think it’s best to have it first.
Questions 3 to 8 are really the main information that I considered in trials. If students put “universal” or “no position” as their playing position, then that’s an automatic red flag. If students put 0 or 1 year of playing experience, then that’s another red flag. Although this would be caught in the first qualifying question. I also like to see what students put down as their notable achievements because it helps me remember players.
I think having Height as a question is weird but I think it’s reasonable to have. In USA recruitment sites, it will have height included. Attaching a photo does again seem weird. However, it would make life so much easier in tryouts to identify players.
Season
Be Patient When I first started coaching at City University London, I distinctly remember I shouldn’t shout at players (it doesn’t help, and it’s not my style anyway) and that I shouldn’t swear (be professional). I did both in the first match. I got very angry because the team wasn’t playing well. I wasn’t too sure why I got so angry. My old coach suggested a factor could be that I was getting old. I felt bad about this and I did tell the team in the very next training session that I won’t be like that again.
It’ll Take Time to Learn My System of Play I think one reason why I got so angry was because the team wasn’t playing the way I wanted it to. However, I had to remember that I was with the team for three weeks, so they didn’t fully know how I wanted them to play. I have to remember it’ll take time for the team to know how I want them to play. The first season will also take the longest because none of the players will know. Next season will be easier because returning players will know.
Some Extra Reps on Serve and Receive I tend to prioritise point-scoring and attack because they are critical to winning (see link). However, I realised that at lower levels of play, serve and reception are a little more important since you can score and lose more points this way. So, I dedicated around 10 minutes to serving and reception.
Forgetting Two Touches and Ball into the Net in 6v6 drills I reflected in the UK Coaching Symposium that I should have teams have two touches only in 6v6 drills. This is to create more free ball opportunities so teams have more reps to organise defensively (and offensively) when there’s a free ball. I forgot about that. Also, I should start 6v6 play with a ball into the net. I talk a lot about when the ball is in the net that the rally isn’t over, so this is an opportunity to practice that.
Coach for Skill Development I normally don’t coach new skills. This is because the improvement in performance will take time, assuming it will improve performance. However, my experience with the American School of London has told me that I should coach new skills. It’s because if players don’t learn these skills now, when will they learn them? At City St George’s, some of these players are only a few months removed from the ASL players, so I should try to coach for skill development. I did try to coach setting quicker middle balls but it was towards the end of the season as it goes by so quick. I do intend to do more next season.
Struggled With Intensity in Training We had a stretch of around three training sessions towards the end of the season where I felt we didn’t train well due to a lack of intensity and hustle. I think it’s because we had a lot of easy wins, and it’s hard to be motivated when the season is like that. I hope this is the case because it’ll be easier to motivate players next season with tough matches in Tier 1 and trying to get to the Last 16 in the Student Cup.
More Face-to-FaceMeetingsOne of my biggest weaknesses as a coach is that I tend to think of players as stats rather than as human beings. On Brian Singh’s podcast, he said that one way to connect with players is simply to have face-to-face meetings. You could talk about anything. I did have a few one-to-one meetings with players after team meetings/ before training. However, I feel like I should have one after every team meeting, even if it’s just a filler conversation. I should also have individual talks with players after matches. It would just help build connections with players.
Give Out More Confidence Players have told me, directly and indirectly, that they wanted me to give out compliments to make them feel confident. Confidence, or self-efficacy, is not really a thing I think about, although I’ve seen how giving confidence to a player can really transform them. I hate to give out fake compliments, e.g. saying a player is playing well when they are not. However, I could give out true statements that are based on stats, e.g. you’re my best passer. This could be done when I do one-to-one meetings with players.
Final Thoughts
It was a good season. We won the league, which was the main aim. Winning the Conference Cup would’ve been nice but it’s only a cherry on top of the cake. It was helped that I had a great team to work with. They did have the best stats out of all the City teams I’ve coached.
When I started to write my reflection, I didn’t think I had a lot to say. It turned out I had a lot of things to reflect on and change for the next season.
As for next season, I can’t wait. It’s going to be a lot of fun competing in Tier 1. I still have a lot of my starting players coming back, so it should be a good base to work off.
Season Stats
Below are the stats for the season. Click on this link to see how they players rank amongst all City players I have coached.
Meeting Former Players
In this already long post, I wanted to remember that I actually met two former City players two weeks of each other. It was great to catch up and tell them how the current team was doing.
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