Goals: By volunteering at the volleyball clinics at The Greensboro Sportsplex, I hope to act as a mentor and coach to young girls who want to pursue the game of volleyball and teach them the skills they need to become the best player and teammate they can possibly be. Personally, I hope that by the end of these clinics, I experience what it is like to be a coach, and understand what it is like for my volleyball coaches. I also would like work with lots of other coaches to acquire a wide range of knowledge about volleyball from them whether it be new drills that I have never tried, different techniques used, different coaching styles, or simply how to be a better coach.
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| Teaching a girl how to serve overhand |
9/29/13 and 10/6/13 clinics- Volleyball is a huge part of my life, it makes me happy seeing other people learn to love the sport as much as I do. In middle school I started learning how to play at the clinics held at The Greensboro Sportsplex every Sunday, I thought it would be awesome to go back and volunteer in the same clinics I had participated in five years ago. The 9/29 clinic was my first one and I felt really nervous, I had worked with kids before in other areas, but this was my first time teaching volleyball. It was a harder task because I needed time to observe the kids and make sure I was telling them the right things to work on. My game plan going in was to always be encouraging because I know how hard it is learning a new sport, and it takes lots of practice to finally master a skill. The main part of the first clinic, however, was starting to build a relationship with the girls I was coaching so that they could trust me and ask me for help when needed. I was assigned to the youngest age group and I was happy about because then I can see their improvement and how they grew as players when the clinic ends. During the 10/6 clinic, I felt more comfortable approaching and helping the girls and some of them even asked me for help. My main goal with the youngest group is to establish the fundamentals because if they do not have them, it will be hard to improve as they get older and the pace of the game gets faster, so I really stressed to them that for now, where the ball went was not important as long as their techniques were solid. Because volleyball is such an impact sport, I needed to make sure they all knew the proper way to dive so they would not end up hurting themselves, and if there was at least one thing they improved on, it was diving because I made sure each one was doing it correctly. When we started working on drills, I could see them applying what they had just learned to pass the difficult balls, which made me really happy. I felt like I impacted their future career in volleyball because they will use that move for as long as they continue playing. I am looking forward to teaching new things at next Sunday's clinic
10/13/13- I felt a lot more comfortable with this clinic because I stayed working with the same group of girls and I really got to know them. I even got my own sub group that I got to run drills with, this was a huge step for me because I was the one modifying all the drills. I had to do this because since I was working with the youngest group, they did not have the experience to do some of the advanced drills meant for older players. This made me think outside of the box and create fun drills that will also help them develop the fundamental skills needed to play volleyball. One part that really made me happy was when some of them asked me if they were doing the specific technique right, and I was able to watch them and help them. I felt like they really trusted me and saw me as a good teacher for them.
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| Teaching the girls how to dive properly |
10/20/13- The turnout for this clinic was a lot smaller than usual due to the age 15 and under tryouts happening that day. Usually the director of the clinics gives us a schedule with drills to do with the kids, but the ones for this clinic were made for bigger groups so I had to make up new drills that fit with the numbers we had. I noticed I was much more comfortable explaining things to the kids and helping them, and found myself pulling some off to the side to work on a specific technique they needed to learn. Out of the two other coaches that I usually work with, only one of them could come that day, and she really left the planning and coordinating up to me. At first, this made me nervous because I had never planned a clinic from start to finish and I was afraid that the drills I picked would not work, but as the clinic went on, I learned a lot about explaining drills using the right words so they can understand it.
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| Running a passing drill |
2/17/14- As I mentioned in my other volleyball blog, I play for Piedmont Volleyball Club, my coaches are trying to expand the club by running clinics for young girls. I wanted to be a part of this so they let me help coach and tonight was my first night with them. The majority of the girls played on the same school team, so they were already comfortable with each other, which made it easier for me to conduct group drills and have them constantly communicating with each other when playing. When going straight from school to coaching, I started to understand what it was like for my volleyball coaches, I was tired from the school day and then went to coach which was even more tiring, but the kids had so much energy! I feel like I am learning a lot about what my coaches go through and I respect them a lot more for the time and effort they put into trying to make us perform at the best of our ability.
3/10/14 Clinic
After a short break in clinics, I started working again at the volleyball clinics for The Greensboro Sportsplex again. This time I saw a lot of new players, which made me even more excited to be there and teach the kids more about volleyball. This day I got the youngest age group which can be very fun while very challenging. Working with young ones can be very difficult because they do not have the fundamental skills yet to conduct most of the normal drills successfully. I have to refine and change some of the drills in a way so that they can focus more on gaining the right techniques to be able to perform those normal drills when they get older. However, this challenge is also my favorite part about coaching the youngest group because it allows for me to watch the kids grow as players. By the end of the clinics, I can see how certain players have improved when they are able to perform those same drills that they could not carry out at the beginning of the season
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| Working on court movement and rotations |
3/24/14, 3/31/14, and 4/21/14 Clinics:
I can really start feeling myself become more comfortable working with the kids and feeling confident enough to run my own drills and change the plans as I need to. We had a really low turnout so I practically got my own set of girls to work with, which was very fun because I could see them improving throughout the clinic because I was able to give more time to them and work specifically with them on what they personally need to improve on. I could tell that the girls were becoming more open to my advice and really trying to stay open minded as I suggested new things for them to try out. I am really having a great time learning about myself as coach as well as make a difference in these girls' lives. The clinic on the 31st had the same amount of people, which was good for me because it let me have more individual time with each of them. Almost all of them remembered my name, which made me really happy because they started giving nicknames like "Mel". I am really starting to enjoy coaching these girls because almost all of them have improved so much since I first met them.
8/3/14 Clinic:
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| An example of a practice plan |
Today was the beginning of the Sunday volleyball clinics held at the Sportsplex. These clinics are extremely special for me because it was at these clinics that I started to really fall in love with volleyball when I was in middle school. However, this experience will be so different because now I can see what it is like being on the coaches side of these clinics and hopefully I can gain a lot of new skills from other coaches and the players. I was put with the youngest group and did not recognize any faces from the previous clinics which was exciting because I saw how popular volleyball is becoming for girls. Additionally, I had a young boy for the first time! I loved seeing that diversity in the game because outside of North Carolina, there are as many boys volleyball teams as girls teams, and it is important that people understand that boys and girls can play volleyball. Since I work mainly with the youngest group, the main thing I tried to focus on again were the fundamentals. If they can master passing and controlling the ball at this age, as the game speed picks up when they grow, they will be able to adapt to it much easier. I am excited and hopeful
that I will be able to see these players next Sunday!
August 4th-6th Middle School Camp:
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| Page 1 of our practice plan for the camp |
Seeing young volleyball players want to become better at what they do always puts a smile on my face, which is why this middle school camp was so much fun to coach. I was put with the youngest group that mainly composed of 6th graders and I saw them improve so much in only three days! Out practice plan was mainly written for the older kids who had more control of the ball, so most of the time I had to modify all the drills we did so that my players could do them. In fact, most of the time I changed the drill completely to make sure that the players focus on their fundamental skills. I always write about teaching fundamentals because it is truly the most important part of any sport and if they cannot learn to control the ball before being put in situations that requires them to do so, then I have failed them as a coach. The biggest area where I saw improvement was serving which is good because it is the most important part of the game. The first day they were struggling to get the ball over the net, but by the end, all of them developed their primary skills required to serve
so that as they get older and stronger, they can carry those skills with them.
8/17/14 Clinic- This clinic was so much fun because I did not have a big group of people, which means I got to work with them more individually on their skills. I was happy to see that the boy from the last clinic was there as well as one boy from France and another little boy starting to play for the first time. I hope there continues to be more male players attending these clinics because I would love for Greensboro to have a more active men's volleyball program because the girl's program has just recently grown in the past couple of years. Since I only had four people in my group, I had to change many of the drills so that the kids could have a more effective practice, however I did not get the youngest age group this time, which was an interesting change because I could make the drills a little more advanced so that these girls could get a proper workout. However, I do like having different age groups so that I can learn different coaching styles that go with each age group.
August 18-20 Middle School Camp- Once again, I got the youngest group which I loved, as always! At first my group was really shy, but by the end of camp, they were laughing and joking with each other. I really wanted to find more games that they could play because as I have said before, the hard part about working with the youngest group is that they do not have all the fundamental skills down to play an actual game of volleyball. This is hard because my kids constantly wanted to play a game, but the games never worked because we could not get any rallies going. Luckily, I found a game to play that the kids loved. It is called "nuke 'em" and the entire game only involves catching-it was basically a game of volleyball, however, instead of hitting each contact, you catch each one and throw to get the other side out. It required a lot of moving which helped the kids' agility while playing. Additionally, it also taught them how to play smart. In volleyball, you have to play smart or else you cannot win. Seeing where the other teams' weaknesses and open spots on the court enabled the kids to use their minds more than their physical capabilities to win. Many of them had never played volleyball before this camp and seeing them improve just in a couple of days really made me happy. All of the kids improved since the first day whether it be their serves, hits, or passes. Seeing the looks on their faces when they have accomplished something reminds me of why I love teaching kids how to play volleyball.
Learning Outcome: Worked collaboratively with others
There are many different approaches when it comes to teaching kids, I know I had to make sure that what I was saying got through to them. One girl asked my help with jump serving, while teaching her, I had to make sure my points were getting across to her and we worked together to help her reach the goal. When creating drills, the other two coaches and I had to make sure that they were not too confusing, while still being fun for the kids. At times my fellow coaches and I realized that a certain drill was not working well with the kids, so when we discarded some of the drills, we had to think of new ones to replace them fast.
Learning Outcome: Developed new skills
For years I knew only one side to volleyball, the playing side. These clinics helped me understand the coaching side to volleyball, which is something I never experienced before. Knowing both sides will help me be a better player because I understand what my coach sees from the outside as we are playing. This will help my future plans of coaching volleyball. After making my first practice plan on the 20th, my planning skills grew because I had to plan according to the numbers we had and take into account that fact that they were the youngest group, so they could not do the advanced drills that I am used to doing with my own team.
Learning Outcome: Engaged with Issues of Global Importance
Whether they grow passionate about volleyball or not, being active is extremely important for children as it is a growing concern every day. Kids are overwhelmed with technology and schoolwork that the times that they are not doing homework, they are watching TV or playing on the computer. By providing these clinics, we are encouraging kids to be active and showing them that being healthy is important. Along with their lifestyles, the foods that are available are also detrimental to childrens' health, so creating an environment where kids can come and be active is extremely important whether it be playing volleyball, basketball, or any other activity that requires them to move around.
