Beach Training

I found out today that some of the guys from the Under 17 indoor team that I have been coaching are playing in an inter school beach volleyball tournament tomorrow.

Summer has really only just started here, so I have not had much time to work with the guys on the beach. As I rode my bike home from training tonight, I found myself thinking, If I get 10 minutes to talk to the boys before they start playing tomorrow, what would I tell them?

Firstly, I am making a few assumptions about the standard of competition: I am pretty sure there will be a lot of young players who are fairly inexperienced. The skill level will be “junior regional” so there will probably be quite a high percentage of free balls being bumped back over when play breaks down. I am guessing that my guys will be amongst the better players.

So here’s what I came up with:

1. Setting. Remember that you are playing with a friend. Just try to set every ball like a gift to your best friend. Don’t think about technique, or score, just think about setting the juiciest, floatiest, softest most hittable set every time.

2. Hitting. If you get a great set, hit it! Hard! If it’s not so great, play an easy ball to a zone, (I.e. line corner, diagonal corner or cut shot). It doesn’t need to be a great shot, just safe, loopy, and close to a corner or line. If you make your opponent move, there is a good chance of an error, or a bad dig. If they make a good dig, there is still a good chance that you will find another way to win the point.

3. Free ball target. Before each match, choose a target. The weakest attacker. If you need to put an easy ball over the net, then make sure it goes to the target.

4. Make a plan. Before each match, make a plan. Choose your service target, and decide where you want to make points. (E.g. block his cross court hit or dig his line shot). Confirm, or change the plan before every point. Keep talking to each other about what it is you are trying to do.

That’s about enough to start with. Keep it simple, but always have a plan.

Interesting article on the future of Todd Rogers here… with a one line bombshell at the end LOL.

http://www.fivb.org/en/BeachVolleyball/viewPressRelease.asp?No=37443&Language=en

“Dalhausser will be playing with two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal in 2013.”

I am coaching a squad of players in Austria at the moment. We only had three guys at training today, so I played as the fourth, and in one of the drill, I found myself getting worked over.

I was siding out against a back court player who’s name is Robert Kufa. He’s a great player, watch out for him this summer.

The first ball, I got a great set, had a good look at the defense as I jumped, he was sitting on my hard angle, as I looked up at the ball I didn’t see him move, so I rolled a line shot over the block, right to the corner, … but he dug it. He must have moved late to the line.

Second attempt, exactly the same. Then the third, exactly the same. On the fourth, I made the same play, saw the same thing, but at the last second, flicked my wrist and hit a cut shot….

He had stepped to the angle, made an easy dig before drilling it past our defence for the point.

I am pretty sure that he made a good guess on the first one, then made three educated guesses for the next three. Especially on the last cut shot.

He probably guessed what I was thinking.

Ever played paper scissors rock?

We usually play it before a match instead of tossing a coin. At home there is usually almost as much trash talk during the paper, scissor, rock game as there is during the match. It’s an important game, for more than just bragging rights…

Paper scissors rock is a psychological battle, very similar to the battle between a defending team and a side out team.

Let me explain.

A couple of years ago I started to play paper, scissors, rock with my kids (3 and 5 years old). At first, they just always went rock, because it was easiest. That was easy, I just went paper, and won every time.

Next they got the hang of all three different hand shapes, and started choosing randomly. This made the game pretty much 50/50. I could not beat them because they weren’t thinking.

How does this relate to beach volleyball?!?!

Well here we come to our first important beach volleyball / paper, scissors, rock comparison. You can’t out think a player that is not thinking.

Often when you play against a player that likes to shoot line, or cut angle, a great tactic is to fake a move towards the line shot, and then just before the attacker hits, run back to the cut shot, or vice versa. When you are playing a against a player who is not looking at you… don’t bother. It’s a waste of energy.

Back to the game with my kids…

Next, my daughter realised that I was always going “paper”, so she started going “scissors”… Suddenly it was game on! Luckily for me, her tactics were very simple. She started playing to beat my last play. I went “rock” to beat her “scissors”. The next play, I went “scissors” because I knew she would go “paper” to beat the rock that I showed her in my last turn.

Back to the court.

So let’s assume that you are playing against an attacker with good court vision, and an intelligent game plan.

First play: Your team blocks line and waits for the hard angle in back court… he/she wins with a line shot over the block.
Second play: Your team blocks angle and defends the hard line in back court… he/she wins with a chip angle shot over the block… and so on.

Third play: This is where you block line and your backcourt player shuffles to the cut shot as the attacker approaches, then runs to the line, just a split second before the attacker contacts the ball. Hopefully the attacker saw that you were moving to the angle, and plays a line shot, and there you have a chance to make a dig.

Back to the game with my kids…

The next thing that happened was a disaster. We played a game for TV time, or something pretty important, and my daughter got smart. She jumped ahead of me and started playing to beat the play that I was going to make to beat her, based on my last assumption, which was that she was playing to beat my last play. (Read it a few times slowly… I am having trouble following it myself

So I play “rock” and win.
Next round, I play “scissors” because I knew that she would play “paper” to beat my last “rock”….
But!…. she played “rock” instead, because she worked out what I was doing… and she beat me and got to watch TV.

Back to the court.

So your blocker blocks line, and you shuffle to the angle shot, then run to the line at the last minute… and watch a very poorly hit cut shot hit the sand behind you, right where you were standing… Oh, oh… he’s on to you. Now you have a battle of whits that will probably decide the outcome of the match.

Next play, you shuffle to the angle, then take a big step to the line at the last minute… but stop, and return to the angle. Will your opponent hit to the open line, or will he drop the cut shot right on top of you, because he thinks you are faking again?

So here begins a game of fakes, bluffs and double bluffs that is part of what makes beach volleyball such a great sport.

Physical Preparation

Getting ready physically starts, as with everything, the night before.

Eat a good dinner. Chicken and brown rice is a great meal to set yourself up with. Along with the carbs and protein drink a lot of water. Get a good nights sleep.

As soon as you wake up, drink some water and start gently stretching and flexing muscles. Keep this up through the whole morning and combine it with some active visualisation. Gentle passing movements, arm swing movements, block movements etc.

Drinking water: If it’s going to be a hot day drink a liter of water within an hour of waking up, and then keep drinking about 200 ml every 30 minutes. This might seems like you are drinking crazy amounts of water, but keep in mind that it takes about 4 hours between when you drink water and when the fluid makes its way to where it needs to go to rehydrate you. So if you get half way through the day and realise that you are getting dehydrated, it’s too late to do anything about it…

Eat a big breakfast, without any sugar. Natural sugar like fruit is OK, but save the extra sugar hits (I.e. energy drinks etc) for in the game.

When you get to the beach, stay relaxed and loose. It’s OK to have a hit, pepper around a bit but keep it short. When you are waiting around before your first game, stay out of the sun and stay relaxed. Avoid walking around, and save every ounce of energy. Remember that if you go deep into a tournament, at some point you will probably get tired. Every ounce of energy that you don’t waste in the morning and between games is going to help you at the end of the day.

Tactical and strategic preparation

Ideally you should enter every game with at least two game plans, preferably three, and hopefully you will only need one of them. The second plan is a back up if the first does not work and the third is a back up if the second doesn’t work.

Here is an example of a plan going into a match where you know the opponent well. This opponent is a classic blocker/defender pair. The blocker is tall and hits hard, the defender is smaller and plays a lot of shots.

Plan A - Serve the taller player and move the block around. Our back court defender should stay for the hard hit ball. We plan to make blocks and digs from hard attacks.

If that doesn’t work…

Plan B – Serve tough at the smaller guy and look for opportunities for our blocker to drop back from the net.

If that doesn’t work…

Plan C – Bomb Aces! or go back to plan A or B but serve much harder.

This plan is pretty basic, and is also a good plan to use against a team that you have never seen before.

There are a few important things to remember about the game plan.

Always have one!
If you are not winning, make sure you change to plan B early enough to give it a chance to work
If you are winning, don’t change it
Keep thinking throughout the match, and if you think of a better plan, then change to that.

Before the first point

So here you are on court in the warm up period moments before the first serve. You are feeling relaxed because you know you have a bag full of bananas and sports drink, you are feeling fresh and energetic because you slept so well and had a great breakfast.

Now for the final touch. You need to start the first point as if you have been in the game for 15 minutes already. So once you have warmed up, and peppered (played the ball) with your partner as usual, spend about 30 seconds peppering at 100% intensity. Getting into a good low defensing position, hitting hard (but with control), diving for every ball and chasing everything down. This should raise your heart beat and give you a little leg burn.

Then go through your hitting warm up. Your body should be petty warm, so jump hard from the first hit, but hit the ball at 60% for the first one or two. Concentrate on clean, high contact. Gradually hit the ball harder until the last couple are at 100% game speed.

And lastly, make sure you leave some time for a couple of serves.

Good luck!

Do you have a pre-match routine? Tell us about it!