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Flaming Six Coyotes 2021-22 Coaching Reflection
New Teams
Due to a contract clause, I was unable to coach my City University London (CUL) team for at least 3 years (until October 2023). This is quite sad because I build that program where I coached the team to three divisional titles in four seasons and we were one match away from going to Premier South (the top division).
However, it did give me an opportunity to coach other teams. One of the two new teams I coached in September 2021 was Flaming Six (F6) Coyotes. It was a nice opportunity to coach a team in the London League again (I last coached there in 2015/16 season with However, it did give me an opportunity to coach other teams. One of the two new teams I coached in September 2021 was Flaming Six (F6) Coyotes. It was a nice opportunity to coach a team in the London League again (I last coached there in 2015/16 season with Dynamo Daredevils). ).
So how did the season go? Read my reflections below. If you wanted to read my reflection on coaching the other team, University College London (UCL) Men, click on this link.
F6 Competitions Report
London Division 1B Women | ChampionsI didn’t know what to expect since I didn’t know what the level of the league was like so I was happy I was able to coach the team to win the league. Apparently, it was the first time in seven years that Flaming Six last had a Premier team. We ended with an 11-1 win-loss record, although one of the wins was a loss that we won on a technicality (the opponents fielded an ineligible player). However, even if that loss stood, we still would have won the league.
It was nice that the last match of the season was the title decider. The team that wins that match would win the league. It was a bit of a crazy match. We lost the first set. I tweaked the team for the second set and we were able to win the next three sets and the league. You can watch the match at the end of the post.
F6 Coaching Reflection
Stick with the Coaching Plan My coaching plan has always been to organise the team by coaching systems of play first, i.e. reception, defence, free ball defence, out of system etc. This is because I feel this is the easiest and quickest way to improve the team’s performance. However, I did think about whether I needed to do something different since I was coaching more experienced players, compared to the university students I was used to? In the end, I stuck with the coaching plan. My reasoning was half the team was new so they needed that team practice. Although results aren’t everything in regard to coaching development, I do feel that I shouldn’t deviate too much from my coaching plan.
Needing a Bigger SquadAfter a few departures and arrivals of players early in the season, we ended up with 13 players on the team and available for training plus 2 liberos who only came to matches. Having such a small squad of 13 meant that we only averaged 9 players per training session. This isn’t ideal because I tend to do team drills to organise the team. The attendance rate was fairly low at 68% so to get 12 players at training with a 68% attendance rate then I need 17.5 players. The attendance rate for matches is 71% so to get 12 players, I need 16.9 players. So I will probably aim for 17 players next season although I will be ok with 16 players.
Recruiting PlayersIt was a new experience recruiting players. At university, the players come to you. While some players did come to the club of their own volition, I had to be more proactive in recruiting players. Persuading players, or having that strong player-coach relationship to do it, is not my strong point but I was happy that I was able to recruit three players. Two were from my old City University London team and one was from Polonia SideOut London, the Super League team. I was surprised and grateful that they wanted to join the team. However, I’ve pretty much exhausted that avenue so I do have to think about next season and who I can ask.
Employing Unusual Tactics
The second part of my coaching plan is slowly changing the team to get the best out of them, i.e. maximising their strengths. Since every team is different, it can mean employing unusual tactics.
Set High Balls for the Middle Attacker I found that the connection between the setter and quick middle attacks wasn’t quite there and it was reflected in the stats. I just felt the hitting window was too small and the setter didn’t use the middle unless in perfect situations (which like I said, it didn’t always connect). I gave it time but I felt it didn’t improve. I eventually decided that we were going to use higher sets for the middle attacks to increase that hitting window. I did initially get some pushback from the players but you could see that it was working after the first training session. The middle players were now smashing the ball. Once I added some shoots and back quicks drills for the middles (with a higher ball), we looked like a transformed team. The higher balls also had the added benefit that even if the ball was not perfect, e.g. 2 metres off the net, the middle player was still used.
Four Person Passing UnitI like to have different reception strategies if we can’t sideout. The easiest option is to take out an outside hitter from the passing unit (ideally the one struggling to pass) and put the opposite (they are usually converted outside hitters so they can pass). However, when I wrote my blog post on a four person passing unit, I knew this was something I wanted to incorporate. When I introduced it to the team in training, I did get some pushback. However, once I mentioned that this was the back-up plan to the back-up plan (i.e. putting the opposite in), the players were ok with it.
I did think there could be issues with seam responsibilities or with the court being too crowded. However, when we tried it in training, there were absolutely no issues with it. I also found that when we got stuck in rotation in matches and I asked a change, the team naturally went to four passers rather than take one player out for the opposite. I assume it’s an easier way rather than asking somebody to step out. I’m glad I coached this because four-person passing became the standard in some matches. I employed this in our title-deciding match after we lost the first set. Knowing I wanted the middle players more involved and we were struggling in our passing, I decided to make four passers the standard. I put in our second opposite, who was the better passer, to help with this. This did help stabilise the pass and we were able to use our middles more.
Starting the Setter at 4After I wrote the blog post about should you start the setter at 1 (see link), I found that I often started my setter in our worst point-scoring rotation. I put too much value on either starting my best attacker in zone 4 (so they have the most rotations in the front row) or my best server in zone 1 (likely to get a third round to serve). I looked up my best point-scoring rotation and it happened to be the setter at 4, despite thinking it should be one of the worst in theory. This eerily happens to be the same for UCL. The only difference was we didn’t start with the setter at 5 in reception as it was a pretty bad point-scoring rotation for us.
Tip MoreI found that tipping is highly effective but undervalued in volleyball, especially in the women’s game and at lower levels (see link). The evidence was there. I was proved correct as our tipping (22%) was almost twice as effective as hard attacks (12%)(see chart below). The same effect was also seen in the opponents we faced so it wasn’t just team-specific. So throughout the season, I encouraged the team to tip more.
Libero Defends Zone 6The Polonia SideOut London libero (Kennedy) that I drafted in for matches actually played for the Canadian National Team so she was several magnitudes above the level of the team. Since most of the attacks go to zone 6, especially at our level, it made sense to put her in zone 6. She can mop up every ball and do it with quality so the middle was available to hit in transition. We do lose the pipe option but we tend not to use pipes anyway (see link on why I don’t encourage back row attacks). Also, the quality of the defended ball was so good that we didn’t need the back row option anyway. When Kennedy wasn’t around for the match, I did go back to libero defending zone 5.
Less Emphasis on Free Ball SituationsI felt that free ball situations is an area where we could train more (see link). This is because free balls are technically a point-scoring skill (statistically anyway) and the lower the level, the more points are won and lost this way. We can theoretically squeeze out some extra points and efficiency this way. I found that when I started to coach being smart in free ball situations, players started to put over more free balls rather than being aggressive and spiking the ball. This is the opposite of how I want my teams to be so I stopped coaching this. The same thing also happened when I coached free balls at UCL (see link).
Next Season
I am excited about next season and seeing what London Premier is like. How far can my brand of coaching and use of stats take the team?
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