How To Coach Volleyball

Are you wondering how to coach volleyball? Well, you'll either love or hate it. There's no real in between. But if you're coaching volleyball, chances are you love it and you want to help others get good at it, too. So when you're learning how to coach volleyball, whether it's coaching men's, women's or kid's volleyball, bear in mind that you should be patient under any and all circumstances, even when the ball hits you smack on the forehead.

1. Sign up as a volleyball coach. If you aren't connected with a public school or sports complex, volunteer to coach volleyball at your local YMCA. They're usually open to anyone who has a warm body and doesn't have a criminal record. If you're not comfortable coaching volleyball all by yourself, offer to become an assistant coach.
2. Have a working knowledge of volleyball in general. There's more to knowing how to coach volleyball than just throwing the ball over the net. Pick up a volleyball rule book from the library or online, and educate yourself with the moves and regulations.
3. Develop a coaching strategy. Schedule your practices and maybe even print out the schedule for your players. List what you'll be practicing during each get together so the team is prepared the day before. You might even need to show up with a clipboard or whiteboard and erasable markers to draw your playing strategies.
4. Catch your players off-guard. In addition to scheduling your practice requirements, have a few practice tricks up your sleeve to help players improvise during play. Make them be prepared for anything.
5. Help get the gear ready whenever possible. Or, if you don't feel like it, delegate the task to someone else.
6. Don't be afraid to put your team through the moves. Make them work out, sweat and stretch a little bit before playing.
7. Pep your team in order to coach volleyball well. Okay, so you're not a cheerleader and you never wanted to be, but that's no excuse for acting like a ho-hum volleyball coach. If you can't think of your own pep speech, borrow one from a movie. Preferably from an old movie that the kids will never watch, so they'll never know.
8. Reward your team for good behavior. That might mean taking them to the beach to play beach volleyball once in a while. Of course, if you don't live near a beach, going out for ice cream is just as good after you coach volleyball for a while.
9. Drill, drill, drill. They're never going to get any better if you don't drill their volleyball skills. Pay attention to the way each individual team member plays during drills to make sure they're performing the moves properly and not just winging it.