Coaching USA in the 2024 All Nations Tournament

Jun 25, 2024

5 min read

tl:dr

I finally won the All Nations Tournament with USA
The team was stacked so I just had to let them play

Stacked USA Team

I do love the All Nations Tournament. You get to see old friends and watch lots of good volleyball. This was my fourth year coaching USA Women. I had an absolutely stacked team of mostly Super League players so I knew I had a good chance of winning it this year. The only problem was two other stacked teams in Russians and Brazil Yellow. In any other year, any of the three teams could comfortably win All Nations but we had all three in the same year. In fact, Brazill Yellow did win it last year with largely the same team and Russians did win it in 2019 based on three players, who all came back this year. USA did get close in 2022 but I had a much superior team. So how did it all go?

Competition Report

We won all seven of our pool matches 2-0. My main aim was to give fairly equal playing time to all the players. We finished top of our pool so we made it to the Division 1 knockout stage. Our knockout run to the Championships was probably the hardest route we could have. We had the Philippines in the quarter-finals, who were probably the best team outside the top 4 seeds. We were then likely going to face Brazil Yellow in the semifinals, who as I said were one of the best three teams in the tournament. We were then likely going to face Russians in the Final, who like I said were the other best team in the tournament.

We beat the Philippines 2-0 in the quarterfinals. It wasn’t that easy as we weren’t playing well. The big difference was putting doing a double sub and the setter really helped run the offence and take us over the line in both sets.

We faced Brazil Yellow as expected in the semifinals. The court was packed with spectators and it was noisy. These were the matches you want to be a part of. The match itself was close. Their ex-pro opposite was almost unstoppable but our wing players pulled through for us and we won 2-0. It didn’t help Brazil that their main outside injured her knee. They had a Super League player coming off the bench so the quality didn’t go down but I’m sure the team was shaken.

We then faced Russians in the Finals. I love the All Nations Finals because it is probably the best attended volleyball event in the UK, even if you include the National Cup and Super League Finals. I also like it is packed in with spectators sitting on the floor so it has an old-school feeling. Anyway, the final itself was fantastic. The first set was a back-and-forth affair as we got to a 14-10 lead but then Russians got to an 18-20 lead. Some good plays by us and we won it 25-20. In the second set, we couldn’t finish off our attacks and Russians punished us by winning 14-25. So it all came down to the third set. My main tactic was to set to our big-time outside hitters and let them score the points. We got an incredible start by leading 5-1. Russians won the next 5 points to lead 5-6. We lead 8-7 in the changeover. From there, we slowly increased our lead and we won the final set 15-11. That meant we won the whole damn thing!

You can watch the final below. It’s a playlist so all the other matches are there too.

Coaching Reflection

Just Let Them Play

As I said, I had a stacked team so I felt all I had to do was let them play. In the pool stages, I was more of an admin guy. Just write the starting line-up and ensure everybody got equal playing time. In the knockout phase, I did do a little bit more. I had one tactic: use the middle blockers early and then use the outside hitters late. I always like establishing the middles early and getting them involved but I knew the outside hitters were going to be our main point scorers. I also picked out service targets for each team and that was really it.

Coaching Without Stats

I statted every match in 2022 and I even did some live stats in 2023. I didn’t do any of that for 2024. It was mainly because I knew the stats of the Super League players so I knew where our strengths were. Also, I didn’t want to do all the work – the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. I also had the Capstone Case Study to write up. Of course, it would have been better because I did stat the Finals and I did see some things which would have changed what I would have done in the final.

More Plans To Use the Subs

My only plan was to do a double sub. However, I didn’t always use the double sub and I didn’t have another plan for how I could use the setter and opposite. I could have used the setter, who is an amazing libero, as a service sub but I only thought of it in the final set. I could have used the opposite as a straight sub because she can pass and it would have been a nice option when we struggled in the pass in the second set. I would have used the middle blocker sub if we were winning by a lot or losing by a lot. We were losing by a lot in the second set but I forgot about her. I had the idea I could give her a one-time permission to ask me to be put on if we were in that situation again so I don’t forget.

Final Thoughts

Any of the three teams in USA, Russians, and Brazil Yellow could have won the All Nations Tournament. Obviously, I am happy we won it. It does make the victory a lot more sweeter.

I also find it funny how my coaching approach in 2022 was vastly different compared to this year. I was committed, prepared, and hands-on in 2022 whereas I was more laid back this year. I was all about the win in 2022 whereas I would have been ok if we got second or third this year.

I don’t know how USA will look next year but at least I can say I have won it. I can put that line in my coaching CV and hang up the medal with the rest of them.

Coaching Record

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