Hugh McCutcheon's golden nugget. New rules are coming?

Insane Italian Cup rally.

March 05, 2023

Welcome to The VolleyBrains Weekly. D*mn it, this edition is way too dense, only continue reading if you're an actual volleyball nerd!

Let's get our volleyball on.

Here's what we've got this week

  • Hugh McCutcheon's 🥇 coaching nugget

  • Italian Cup ➡️ insane rally.

  • New rules being tested. (love it)

  • The best article you'll read this year?

  • Andrea Gardini on sharing responsibility

Controlled inputs don't always lead to controlled outputs.

The temptation is to believe that it's all very algorithmic, that controlled inputs lead to controlled outputs, but that's not the case. It's all about trying to coach to the moment, coach to the group, and the circumstance.

Yeah, we're fixed in our principals. But we're not fixed in their application.

For example, if we're talking about the Olympics with the men, we would have pretty detailed scouting. We would have a lot of information.

We will try and review that before the match, make sure everyone was clear about the plan, but you know, before the final the players are like: "Hey, we think we've got a pretty good handle on it. And let's just hit the high notes and less is more for us today."

We'd played Brazil plenty. So it's not like we didn't know who we were going up against.

So I think just being open to the idea that:

1. As a coach, you don't have all the answers and the sooner you figure that out the better.

2. It's okay to compensate and adjust as you go along and just coach to 'what is' versus feeling like you've got to do it your way or the highway.

Hugh McCutcheon

You can read more on Hugh's coaching in the Masterclass we've created over here.

Just added this image because it's 'baller'. 🙃

The best make it look so easy.

Last weekend the Italian Cup Final Four tournament was held. Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza became the 2022-2023 Italian Cup winner.

Today however we're featuring a clip of the semifinal between Itas Trentino and Allianz Milano. Trento won that match in the 5th, after being down 2 sets to 0.

The rally below happened at the start of the 3th set. It all looks a bit messy, but that being said, there also are at least 3 world-class touches being executed also.Among them and more: a 1-armed set, a backward diving bump set by an opposite, insane on-the-body digs, ...Well, just watch the clip til the end!

Let's test it out.

Every coach we interview for volleybrains.com we ask the following question:

"What are you hoping that our game will look like in a couple of years? What rule change is necessary? And why would you want to see this rule implemented?"

Mostly that question divides coaches into 2 camps:

  • The coaches that say, I will coach inside of the rules that I've been given. It's my job to adapt.

  • The coaches that say, rule A, B and C is not beneficial to our sport and needs to go!

A couple of times we come to the conclusion that we want to see more 'new rules' being tested out. Evaluate those test cases and go from there...

Yesterday morning Italy's volleyball portal volleyball.it featured the following article:

World Junior Championships: The FIVB will test the banning of set receiving.

A quick Google didn't let me find the original FIVB news item, but very sure this is happening.(other smoke signals arrived to us from Switzerland 😇)

What will not be allowed? Setting on serve receive...

What is allowed? Everything else, even overhead stuff (punching, chopping, 'the gator'...)

Objectives? Reduce the number of serve mistakes and immediate side-out actions. Balancing out the attack and defensive phases of the game to get longer rallies.

Where my mind is going, rather automatically, is here...😅

For the youngbloods reading this, check out this oldie but goodie.

All jokes aside, we need to be and stay welcoming for these test situations or environments. Really enthusiastic about all this.

Getting all real over here?

The article below is one of the best articles you'll read this year. An emotional roller coaster that will make you think deeply about your daily actions and relationships.

Stay in the game, is the core lesson here.

Bonus: It has a Hollywood-esque twist that you really have to read to believe. Well worth 5 minutes of your time this weekend.

Is it a bit too serious for 'The VolleyBrains Weekly'? Probably it is. 😇 But that's alright.

This is the way.

Hall-of-fame coaches always make it sound easy...😅

Andrea Gardini's Masterclass is over here.

If you read this far, send me a quick reply and tell me who you are and where you coach. Always curious about who's reading this.

Btw, we're with 900+ coaches now who are reading this "volleyball coaching brain dump" on the weekly. Thanks for your support.

That's a wrap. Have a great week!

If you like this newsletter, please forward to other coaches and players. It only takes 10 seconds. Can't thank you enough! ❤️

Matias

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Take a look over here if you want to further invest in your volleyball coaching development.✌️