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Coaching Reflection | 2022-23

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
May 6, 2023
7 min read

Introduction

I coached five teams this season.  If you include the two teams I do performance analysis for, this was by far the most teams I’ve ever taken on.  Every day, I had something going on with one of my teams.  It actually become my main job as I was spending more time coaching than I was in my regular job as Wagamama.  So what was it like basically working as a full-time volleyball coach?  Read my reflections below to find out.

Competitions Report

  • American School of London | International School Sports Tournament (ISSTs), Champions

  • UCL Men | BUCS Premier South, 5th Place | BUCS National Championships, 1st Round | Volleyball England Student Cup, 4th Place

  • Flaming Six Coyotes | London Premier Women, 8th Place (Relegated)

  • Flaming Six Leopards | London Men Division 1B, 6th Place

  • Team SideOut Boys East | No competitions entered

It was a losing season generally as UCL Men (10-12), Flaming Coyotes (2-2-11), and Flaming Leopards (4-10) had more losses than wins.  The bright spot was the American School of London (20-6) winning the ISSTs.  We played the International School of Brussels in the ISSTs final and they had already beaten us four times previously.  They had superior stats compared to us so I didn’t expect that the fifth time is the charm.  However, after some game planning and video analysis, the boys played out of their skin!  The five-set match could have gone either way but we just pipped them to it.  The match ended 27-25, 21-25, 31-29, 24-26, 15-12.  

Coaching Reflection

There Are Levels to This Game I got UCL Men and Flaming Six Coyotes promoted into the top division last season.  For both teams, I recruited better players at the start of the season that I thought I could do well in both top divisions.  I soon found out that there are levels to this game as we struggled in both divisions.  You really need the players if you want to compete in the top division.  I inherently knew this as Team SideOut Polonia London, the team I do performance analysis for, is on a different level from most of the teams in the Women’s Super League.  It’s just that I am now on the other side of it.

I came up with a theory that if you want to be competitive at the BUCS Premier and London Premier, you need a minimum of two monster attackers that will get you points and a setter that can set to them.  It’s easier if those two players are wing players (one outside and one opposite is probably the best combination) but I reckon two monster middles can work too.  I came up with a theory that if you want to be competitive at the BUCS Premier and London Premier, you need a minimum of two monster attackers that will get you points and a setter that can set to them.  It’s easier if those two players are wing players (one outside and one opposite is probably the best combination) but I reckon two monster middles can work too.  

Separate Your Well-Being From Losing (and Winning)I had a losing season with three of my four competing teams.  With losing so many matches, it does get you down.  You think about what you could have done better and if you could have made better decisions.  You doubt yourself as a coach.  However, I did try to focus on the performance itself (having a positive, even small, point-scoring performance) rather than the match result.  This is because you can’t fully control the match results but you can with your own performance.  I’m not going to lie but it didn’t always work.

Spend More Time Coaching the Systems of Play I have been glossing over coaching the systems of play because I often see players/ the team not organising the way I want them to.  I should really spend 2, 3 or more weeks (rather than the usual 1) to really focus on explaining the systems of play and drill them into organising the right way.  I should also have drills where I can give immediate feedback.  Rather than having my preferred 6v6 drills and playing out the rally, which doesn’t allow immediate feedback without disrupting play, I could have 6v3 drills so the rallies stop more often and I could give that immediate feedback.

I have already reflected that I need particular focus on defence systems (see UCL Men and F6 Coyotes).  Defence is often the third most important performance indicator critical to success in volleyball (behind point-scoring and attack – click on the link to read more).  If we are struggling to score points, you can stop the opposition from scoring points via the defence.

Having Live StatsI don’t always have a good sense if players are playing well or not (this is why we have performance analysis).  I rely on players’ stats for the season so I know who my best players are.  However, I find that I sometimes leave players in the match because they have good stats but are playing terribly.  Additionally, I would take players out because they have poor stats but they were playing very well.  

Due to this, I was thinking about using a tablet to take live stats.  It should give me better ideas for changes I could make during the game.  Early in my coaching/ performance analysis career, I tried to do this before with pen-and-paper stats but I couldn’t keep good track of it.  I’ll miss a couple of points and then I wouldn’t trust the stats because of missing data so I would just give up.  I also fear I could miss out on seeing something else that is not in the stats, e.g. a change in strategy.  I recently purchased a tablet so my plan is to practice it during the All Nations London 2023 Tournament and see how it goes.  Watch this space for a future blog post.

Feeling Burnt Out I was involved with seven teams this season.  Every day I had something going on with one of my teams.  There was no break.  It is not just turning up for training sessions and matches but the hours dedicated outside of that.  There’s the training session planning, match preparation, travel and statting all of those matches.  Those hours really added up.  It took its toll and I did feel the burnout from coaching all of that volleyball.  I have even thought often about which teams I was going to drop next season.  It did remind me of the phrase you can’t have too much of a good thing.There was no break.  It is not just turning up for training sessions and matches but the hours dedicated outside of that.  There’s the training session planning, match preparation, travel and statting all of those matches.  Those hours really added up.  It took its toll and I did feel the burnout from coaching all of that volleyball.  I have even thought often about which teams I was going to drop next season.  It did remind me of the phrase you can’t have too much of a good thing.

The Pay Isn’t Worth the Hours I Put Into ItIn a typical week, I probably put in around 30 hours of work for around 11 hours of pay.  The pay rate per se is good but when you spread it out over those hours I put into it (training planning, match preparation, statting matches etc), then the pay rate goes below minimum wage.  If you include the travel, especially matches outside London, then it gets worst.  You don’t feel it when it’s only one or two teams but when you scale it with more teams then those In a typical week, I probably put in around 30 hours of work for around 11 hours of pay.  The pay rate per se is good but when you spread it out over those hours I put into it (training planning, match preparation, statting matches etc), then the pay rate goes below minimum wage.  If you include the travel, especially matches outside London, then it gets worst.  You don’t feel it when it’s only one or two teams but when you scale it with more teams then those hours add up.  I feel that this majorly contributed to the feeling of being burnt out.  hours add up.  I feel that this majorly contributed to the feeling of being burnt out.  To be fair, the 20 extra hours I put into it can be greatly reduced.  For example, I don’t need to stat all of those matches.  If I didn’t then that’s 12 hours per week I can save.  However, my strength as a coach is the use of performance analysis so I’m not sure I can do without it.  I could also limit the time to plan training and matches so it’s done rather than perfect.To be fair, the 20 extra hours I put into it can be greatly reduced.  For example, I don’t need to stat all of those matches.  If I didn’t then that’s 12 hours per week I can save.  However, my strength as a coach is the use of performance analysis so I’m not sure I can do without it.  I could also limit the time to plan training and matches so it’s done rather than perfect.

Final Thoughts

I always wanted to have enough teams to work full-time as a volleyball coach.  I pretty much got my wish and it was great to experience it.  The feeling of burnout was strong though.  The feeling of burnout was strong though.  I thought often about which teams I was going to drop next season.  I even declined job offers to coach beach volleyball over the summer as I wanted a break from coaching.  I thought often about which teams I was going to drop next season.  I even declined job offers to coach beach volleyball over the summer as I wanted a break from coaching. 

I’m not sure what I will do next season.  With the season over and having no teams to coach, I already feel I could take it all on again.  However, it makes sense to spend the summer mulling it over before deciding.  I have to think about what is worth my time.  This would be in terms of pay and/ or experience.  I could keep all my teams but then I’ll need to find ways to reduce the extra hours outside of attending training and matches so it would be worth my time, e.g. I could live stat during the match rather than stat after the match from video.  The other big consideration is I want to get back on track to being a data analyst/ computer scientist.  I identified this as the alternative career I want to get into since there isn’t much money as a volleyball analyst.  

 
 
 

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