Eldo on “Setting the Serve”

 Anecdotes like these are great!

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Eldo 

Guys can set the serve much better because of the size of their hands. Brad Saindon the USA coach who took the Aussie girls to the Sydney Olympics tried it for a couple of months with little success. Brad who was a top level setter was challenged by me to set the girls serves himself and found he could not do it.

The net was too low and the ball travelled too flat. Couple that with the average size of girls hands and you have a problem.

Of course setting free balls. Now that is another story.

Travis Moran on “Setting the Serve”

I got this response from Travis Moran on my post on setting the serve. Travis was a member of both VTAM and TABV. His career culminated in playing as the Australian Mens team’s libero at the Athens Olympics.

Extract from original post:

I’ve respected Sue [Dansie] for a long time as the ultimate authority on all things Volleyball so I asked her if girls struggled finger passing a serve more than boys did because their hands weren’t as big or strong. Her answer was simply that no one should receive a ball on their fingers.

She said that on reception, players should stand far enough to let any ball
above their chest go out.

Travis’s response

- with respect, disagree in a major way.
- with respect, that is a very much a 1990’s approach to vball
- overuse can lead to deficiency in forearm skill
- float serve especially is a very good time to use hands. Definitely on good deep float serves

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Travis made some valid points, and as someone who received plenty of serves at the highest level he’d have a pretty good idea of what makes good passing technique. Indoor volleyball will never go back to the days when people exclusively forearm passed the serve, but there’s something undeniably refined about it in a vintage kind of a way. It may be a 1990s approach (or even more outdated), but nostalgia ain’t always a bad thing.

* * *

I first heard of Travis when some of my Norwood clubmates from Rostrevor talked about this freak of a player in their open honours team who was just 14. While in high school, he played with maturity well beyond his age and dominated every competition he played in including state league and AVL. No doubt he learnt a lot from his coach Glen Urbani, who deserves a notable mention for putting 5 players into the national team from an exceptionally small school programme. So it was only a matter of time before Travis got offered an AIS scholarship.

I was lucky enough to play U21s with him in my last year. He and Andy Earl flew back from an international tournament to join us on the third day. Although jet lagged, they managed to help us get over the line in wining the gold medal in a memorable 5 set final against the Vics. A couple of years later I was surprised to see Travis as Australia’s libero at the Athens Olympics. It was hard to shake the memory of him being such a terrifying hitter. But in reality, Travis only spent 4 months of his international career as a libero.

I haven’t seen him play for a while, which is a pity because he was great to watch. He’s involved more in coaching these days at various levels, where his experience is nothing short of invaluable.

Mikasa Gold Ball Tournament – In Heathfield for the Heatwave

As an agnostic/buddhist, I can’t help but think that if there is a God, then s/he really must hate the city of churches, because this heatwave [in March?????] has gone on longer than it is tasteful.

Willunga’s annual Beach Family Day (to be held on the Sunday) was cancelled due to “Unpredictable Weather”. Although the news media kept on talking about it, Princi assures me that the fires were always under control. Tea Tree Gully’s Volleyball Association’s anniversary BBQ/party complete with fun and bouncy castles (also to be held on the Sunday) was also cancelled.

But before I could find something idyllic to do, Paul [Finn] gave me a ring to see if I could fill in for the team Esther [Finn] usually coaches as she had to get to U19 training, at a new Tournament up at the new Heathfield Gym. I’ve got a pretty short attention span, so besides taking in the location and times, i didn’t pay too much attention to what Paul was saying.

The Mikasa Gold Ball Tournament was a lot of fun. For U15s, it serves as a good warm-up for the National U15 tournament held later in Albury-Wodonga. Besides the 5 Heathfield teams going up there, Hawks fielded 2 teams and Unley 1. Games only went for 30 minutes, which was a good idea with it being so hot.

We had two teams made up of primary school-aged kids I had never seen before bar 1 or 2, so it’s good that we’re still getting kids come through at a young age. I took the boys and i think by their 5th games they were struggling a bit. Young teams usually peak in the middle of a tournament and then drop off. I find their best game is usually their 3rd or 4th game. Although i didn’t know most of the kids well, they were all the younger siblings of kids I’ve coached – with an exception being a new kid who was an only child.

Eldo mentioned this was the first time he didn’t had to travel to go to a tournament. He hopes that more teams will come in the next few years, and that the matches will go for longer. Janice Scott organised most of it and it was a good event at such late notice. She and her husband Stuart were involved with running the Riverland Open for years up in Renmark which I have a lot of fond memories of going to (I think it’s a pity it died in the arse after they moved to Adelaide).

The gym’s a pretty good venue. Whereas the Brighton gym stands as a beautiful monument for exclusive volleyball use (3 taraflex courts with no other line-markings!), the Heathfield gym has been built as a multipurpose centre. The size of both these stadiums will make them great venues for international and national events.

After 10 days, the heat doesn’t seem to be leaving us anytime soon. Maybe God just doesn’t like volleyballers. After all, we seem to be planning too many things on Sundays!

[N.B. maybe not too bad at Brighton. They have the sea breeze and their gym has awesome air-conditioning]

More Warrnambool Rallies

For the Hawks out there, some more selected rallies i picked out from what little footage i managed to take. Sometimes i picked bits because there was nice rallies, sometimes because i thought there was a good execution of skill involved. Personal aesthetics really. Speaking of which, note the  beach-style of passing a lot of the players seem to be using. High platform, high shoulders, light foot movement etc. Call me a traditionalist, but I still prefer getting behind the ball and passing it low. I think it helps you gives the setter running in from backcourt a more slower pass that gives them all three options.

More Warrnambool

Some selected video from Warrnambool taken from my $200 DV-cam i bought from Strathfields. Possibly didn’t get the best volleyball our teams played since you don’t usually get a whole lot of time to film stuff when you’re coaching.

Having left it till late to decide going, I couldn’t take the day off and leave early with the rest of the club, so i ended up doing the long drive on my own. I got in at Midnight and Min gave me a hot bowl of pasta.

Our girls teams did pretty well. They’ve been to U15 nationals in the past and enjoy playing tournaments now. Our younger girls playing div 2 women have really improved over the last few months under Ingrid Randva, a former captain of the national team whose daughter now plays for us.

As Min said, I ended up jumping on the court. We had 10 inexperienced players and they were struggling to get enough rallies going, so Michael (the coach) and I started jumping on with them from the 3rd match. We alternated sets, taking 5 players each. I don’t usually like jumping on, but it ended up being good to help them out and make sure they didn’t lose their morale against much stronger teams. They got a lot better which is good. I played libero for a set but took myself off after i shanked a couple of passes in a row!

Min on Warrnambool

MIN 

Well that’s Warrnambool for another year.
Great to see Souths , Steve Irwin All Stars over there with the Henley Hawks flying the SA banner.
A fun weekend and some top VB was had by all.
Had a thought whilst there………. If SA state squads were picked prior to this weekend then the squads could travel over and have a REAL HIT OUT before the actual teams were selected. God knows this has to beat playing in another underdone SA Open ( re 2007 ) and trial games against each other ! Any thoughts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have not worked on the logistics of this as I’m sure others will come up with the pros and cons!

To our ” baby ” hawks you are a credit to yourselves, family and club…….CONGRATS Hope you found the experiences worthwhile and will come back.

By the way Huy THE SWAG did not get that christening we promised oh well there is always next time.

One other thing to comment on You know the true worth of a coach when they sub themselves off…… for……………. eh HUY.

My sister Tam sets the record straight on trying out for U16s

It’s bit of a worry when the first time you hear from your only sister in months is through a response on your obscure blog. It’s a pretty good sign you need to spend a little less time blogging and a little more time with your family. Fair enough she lives on the other side of the world, but I really should try a bit harder (she was skyping with my parents this morning as I was leaving their house to get to a tournament at the new Heathfield High Gym). It’s always nice to hear from her.

Tam was a a bit part of my life growing up, with Mum and Dad so busy all the time. She also helped me a lot when I started playing volleyball, whether it was by being someone to practice with in the backyard, someone who drove me to and picked me up from trainings and games, or just generally being morally supportive when I was a new kid playing at a club with a bunch of guys that had all known each other for years. When I made the state team she gave me a pair of new court shoes for my birthday that I still use to this day. And all this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Tam sheds light on what really happened at U16 trials. So Mum and Dad (if you’re reading this), we can now stop saying Tam was asked to leave U16 trials early next time Eldo’s name pops up at the dinner table. It’s trivial but important nonetheless to get the facts right.

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Tam Nguyen

Hello from Sheffield, UK. First timer comment on a blog so forgive lack of correct format protocol.

To clarify, I was NOT sent home early. Apologies that nostalgia from the family dinner table has been incorrectly elevated to this pubic forum and caused any offence.

However, I was told – loudly, publicly and disparagingly – that I should not have bothered to turn up if I couldn’t serve overarm. I was in the second Brighton team at that time. We were nowhere near as good as the first team but nevertheless, both teams were told about the trials and our team were not discouraged to attend. 4 of us (who all served underarm!) decided to go. We didn’t realise until we got there how out of our depth we were.

During the serving part of the proceedings (everyone serves continuously, hit net, sit out, best servers left standing) a couple of us B-listers were still standing but only obviously because our action was less difficult. This is when I was ‘told’. I did not get sent home and I came back for the rest of it. Though by then it was pretty humiliating for all of us because clearly no one thought we should be there and were wasting everyone’s time.

To be honest, the fact I couldn’t server overarm was an accurate indicator of how developed my skills were generally. The girls in our first team could set, serve and hit better. They were more coordinated, stronger, taller, confident. The Heathfield girls were superhero-like mutants. It was a totally humiliating experience at an age where peers are very important to a girl, and wearing non label shoes to a trial is a lifetime traumatising experience, but as they say, whatever doesn’t kill you …

On a lighter note, I spent many, many weekends afterwards with our patient dad in the backyard learning to server overarm. Mum and Huy helped fetch the thousands of errant balls. I continued to play relatively badly at junior league and reserve level but to this day love volleyball as the means by which I spent time with dad, and later Huy. I am glad I went to those trials because it raised my expectations of myself – thank you David Eldridge. And if you have a dad who helps you to meet that expectation, then that’s a very valuable lesson indeed.

On Sooty’s thoughts – The cost of not having the best buy in

The number of teams we have wearing state colours is an argument we can have till the cows come home – and no doubt we will. What people on both sides do agree on is that not having the “buy-in” of top coaches has hurt the quality of the programme.

Having buy-in was important on many levels. Obviously having them coach or mentor new coaches was important. But the other thing that their buy-in would have brought was the legitimacy of the change and the involvement of athletes and coaches that they influenced. Some of my own mentors/coaches disagreed with the plans, and although they never told me I shouldn’t get involved, it certainly influenced my decision not to put my hand up for a number of years. In the end I did it to support the kids from my club, for whom trying out was like stepping out into the unknown and I thought having a familiar face would have helped. I still lean towards the idea of having less teams.

The effects of losing these coaches and those they influenced became evident. As a casual observer, it became a bit like seeing a Vichy-styled regime prop up while some of our leaders went into self-imposed exile. We still had some great coaches who remained involved, but it could never quite make up for the ones we lost.

Expansion may or may not have been the best idea. Certainly the reasons that Sooty mentioned for doing it all sound good. In another life I was an IT consultant in training and learned that great ideas seldom work without the buy-in of key people. Change management is a delicate beast, and as a consultant, one of our rules was we never took something on if the support from the key people wasn’t there, no matter how good the idea. Change cannot be simply promulgated and shoved down people’s throats without consequences. Those who oppose it can do much to undermine its success whether deliberate or not. Getting people on board is a skill that is at least as important in coming up with the great ideas.

Whether or not having our best coaches on board would have fulfilled Sooty’s vision remains the unanswered question. I wonder what those coaches think of the programme now that it has shrunk back down to 8 teams? Less than 20 girls tried out for U17s and talk is that they won’t have a second team. As Eldo said, there are girls who he cut from the U16s that would benefit from playing in a second team, and I have to agree (some of them were from my club so I have a bit of bias here). We may also be facing the prospect of neither having the quality of coaches (from those who left) nor the quantity of players in development.

State Teams – Richard “Sooty” Casutt speaks

The response to my post on the decline of SA’s competitiveness at AJVC has been overwhelming. A plethora of people from either side of the divide have weighed in, but perhaps the most intriguing insight comes from this response from former SA state team Czar, Richard “Sooty” Casutt – the central figure in Volleyball SA’s decision to radically expand the programme.

Not only was he the one behind it all, but his response introduces possibly the biggest piece of the puzzle in this discussion: the failure to secure “Buy-in” from some of our top coaches in the changes to the programme.

I disagreed and argued with Sooty on a lot of things, but this much is certain: he is a superb coach with countless successes in coaching a wide range of players and teams; he is an excellent beach referee on the FIVB tour; and he gave of himself tirelessly to improve the sport…

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SOOTY

Well it is an interesting read on the theory of the 2 or 3 state teams. As one of the insitgators in the change way back in 2001, i give the thoughts at the time of why and what….I believe i was lucky (or unlucky) being an outside from nz, coming into one of the believed stronger state team programmes in Australia. my views and experiences were different that the people i was working with, but i knew this was a great oppotunity to learn from some of the legends of volleyball in australia in the 80s and 90s.

when i arrived in sa, i noticed several things which i think may or may not hold back volleyball in SA inthe future:
1 – the state teams of SA in 2000 (i coached nz that year at ajvc) and 2001 were significantly shorter than the other strong states – QLD, VIC
2 – the u21 mens and womens teams were struggling for numbers and barely had 6 players to match their counterparts.
3- Junior league was strong in 2001, with quality the of players evident
4- state league was dominated by teams and players that were older – 28 plus in age, with a spinkling of talented youth.
5- the philosophies of the Australian national programmes were changing to align with international tendancies for elite volleyballers.
6 – a lot of the state coaches had been in their roles for a long time, and there had been limited succession planning to replace them.
7 – a shortage of coaches at state league level

with these factors higlighting issues – the risk was taken to expand the teams, with me driving that change ….. which believe me was a difficult task with some of the characters which exist, and control volleyball at youth level in SA. The change would hopefully alleviate many of the forseeable problems in the near future.

but – i was not in sa to do what they already do, as it looked to me and other leading coaches in the Australian programmes that there need to be change.

the concept was simple…
1 – we needed to develop more quality coaches through exposing them to real situations.
2 – we needed to increase the number of athletes that fitted the national team programme criteria – why – because the state programme is not just about winning, but also developing potential international athletes.

3- other state had a higher percentage of athletes in national programmes, already, consequently you would expect them to dominate at juniors level. If we did not produce some athletes of this calibre (athletic ability that can play the ball high above the net) we would not compete when the pressure came on in the future as we would not match physically.

For this to work ,we needed the ‘buy in’ of some experienced quality coaches, to help guide the lesser experienced coaches through the tough times, without taking full control.
Unfortunately some key people here did not buy in.

it was very obvious that SA teams were picked on stuff that wins junior volleyball, great serving, solid passing, and a determination to play great defense. one player or maybe two would have potential to play for Australia in the future.
Unfortunately at the other states could not compete on this level, so went to where they have an advantage – larger population more taller athletic athletes. it has taken a while to work out how to manage a taller athelete when they are young gangly and not as coordinated as a 15, yr old. but as a 20 yr old, they dominate 21s, AVL and not play overseas on contracts. Victoria, and queensland have taken full advantage of this now.

the change was envisaged to really start working in 3-4- 5 years time, with the right leadership, and continual input and support from the knowledge bearers in SA.

also because of the quality of these people, it was also believed that 2 SA teams could be the finalists in one single age group of the national junior championship.

i question the support of some people to help the inexperienced coach, and players. They were more concerned about their own agendas, and not there for the good of all!

For SA to be strong we needed more involvement from more participants, with better athletic ability. Unfortunately the programme i believe did not receive the full support it granted, consequently the quality of the 3rd team coaches may have been questionable…..but i only believe this because of the lack of support given by people whom oposed the change on their views, and were not prepared to give it a full go. With proper support these people would develop, into potentially expert coaches.
question – was a top coach now, a top coach when they started coaching?

my last year of these programmes was 2005,
sa dominated the tournament – yes it was at home,
but
u17 mens – should have won
u17 women – won with 5 players whom did not make the u16s the year before but played in the u17 nd or 3rd teams
u19 women – won well – 3 players fron the u17 team the year before, and one from the 3rd team
u21 womens – silver – undefeated till the final, should have won,
u19 men – won – 2 players from the u17 nds, plus 4 from the u19 second team the year before
u21 men – struggle to put a full team on the court at home, but ended with a respectable 3rd, and a great win against a stacked vic team.

i truly believe sa should have won 5 golds and 1 silver, out of 6. which would have been the best results ever by sa teams at national juniors.

many of the the tournament team players that year were players whom may not have played volleyball if they did not get the opportunity to play in a 2nd or 3rd team at state level in previous years – mel cross, greg sukochev, becchara palmer. I also think players like chris mchugh would not be playing now if they did not have the opportunity they got in a second u19 team.
AVL was won by USC lion – which was made up of some beach players, and a lot of younger athletes whom got oppotunities they may have not got in the past – they had potential but had not developed the game awareness and statistical accuracy to compete at the top level … yet.

unfortunatly time was up for me, and i headed back to nz.
from a lot of accounts the leadership and direction, and support for coaches from has been reduced in the programme, exaggerating the excuses and incidences of unprofessional behaviour, and development of coaches. consequently creating the negative views of having more…..
the top teams in each age group … are still the top teams .. are they not?

stateleague evolved, and a the old players retired (except slugger) so a lot of young people have had opportunities at state league to shine.

SA is still dominating the national beach programmes…..

i am not convinced the reasons given by people to stop opportunities for athletes to compete,regardless of their level plus the comment like “the athletes know they are in a state team so they do not work as hard”, “the “coaches and programmes are not good because the coaching is poor”, “the national champs is devalued by having these weaker teams that only lose” …. etc are a reason to stop 3rd teams from existing… making sure these things do not happen, by contributing and supporting instead of criticising and questioning

as a reasonable successful coach – beating australia u19s 5-0 in 2001, in the transtasman (sorry for dropping that in) i know as a coach i am responsible for guiding my atheletes and educating them on what the requirements for this team is….if they do not buy in, and deliver, they dont get selected, regardless of their perceived ability. set the standeard, and work only above that, and success will be achieved.

so to finish my ramble….

what if all the great peolple and coaches in SA bought in to the state programmes – and a concerted unconditional effort was made by all to ensure all coaches, athletes, new or experienced got support and were developed considerable from 2001-2008, regardless of their age, gender, perceived ability …….
would their be 2 SA teams competing in the finals of juniors in u17, u19, u21s, mens and womens in 2008?

with the system of pre 2000, not a chance…..

cheers sooty

Warrnambool

Off to Warrnambool tomorrow for Australian Volleyball’s annual kick-off event (well for Vic and SA at least). It’s a nice drive along the Great Ocean Road and a great tournament in a great town. I only played there once in 2002 and regret not playing there again. I’m going with Henley Hawks, which is taking three teams. I’m assistant coaching our boys team playing div 3. They’re made up of the juniors Funky and I coached last year. I’ve been told to bring my playing gear in case, but not sure if I’m that keen to jump on. Other than that, I don’t really have any real responsibilities, which is weird. I’m camping in the caravan park with the McHughs. Good thing I have a swag. Say g’day if you see me.

[The last time I was in Warrnambool in 2002]