2019 - Mixed Team Report

MIXED TEAM 2018/19 SEASON REPORT

Teams Performance (1 fixture pending for each team)

See the WVA web site: https://wva.org.uk/Competitions/WiltshireMixedLeagues/LeagueTables/tabid/92/Default.aspx

At time of writing:

- RWB - A are 4th in the Permier Division

- RWB - B are 7th in Division 1

 

Our job as coaches and team coordinators is to organise and lead the training sessions, invite (sometime chase!) players to matches and manage the teams during the matches.

Initially we rotated the training sessions so two coaches take the session and the third one can train (otherwise the coach does not train and we are all players!) During the season, there have been phases when this wasn’t possible due to injuries or holidays. James has taken the lion’s share of this work especially because Laura and Pablo were unavailable during feb-march

Having two teams this year has generally been a positive move but has come with challenges as well

• All team members have enjoyed more game time
• That game time has probably been at a level that was more in accord to their own level
• It has allowed newer/younger Team B members time and opportunities to get into the match dynamics and make progress (Hats off to Charlotte on her first season as setter!)
• Team A doesn’t have enough players to practice at Premier League level. As usual, several factors have impacted this
  • Literally not enough players (congrats to those from Team B who stepped up and did a great job such as Hayden or Seb)
  • Ed P moved and left the team L. Laura was injured for 2 months L
  • Holidays and similar reasons that impact attendance to training (Hats off to Andrew, Carl, James and Hayden who have the highest record of training + match attendance)
• Coaches have struggled to spend the “1 on 1” time that individuals in Team B need to improve at a faster pace

Key features of this season – Done well

• Attracted a few new members (Carl, Ed, Joby, Mike)
• Some members of the team have trained hard this year and their progress has been noticeable (coaches have been speaking or will speak directly to individuals)
• Team A had their first season in Premier League with some really good results and narrowly lost matches + Club reached DK semi-finals
• Although results have not been as great as expected, Team B has played some really good volleyball, especially by the end of the season (Match vs Fighter Squadron was spectacular!)

Key improvements for next year - Will do better

• Attendance to training and matches must remain high during season and not drop from December onwards
• Increase player responsibility with regards to training days and fixtures: check the website!
• Team B:
  • Movement and attention on court. We still “watch” the game too much and we are late reacting. We need to learn to read the game and pre-empt the next move
  • Stay happy and focused on court, we allow teams to come back when we are ahead and make silly mistakes that stop us from winning. Our points difference is much better than teams that are above us on the table because we win points but lose sets!
  • Work on individuals’ technique to improve consistency & accuracy of the 1^st touch
• Team A:
  • More tactical approach to the game. We need to take a step up!
  • Attract more players – we saw people in Lydiard who could have been great additions to the team but did not materialise such as Jeff or Ben, how can we bring them on board? Can we somehow recruit 2-3 strong players?

Coaches considerations and questions for the team/club

• It is perceived that some players do not like/enjoy drills and just want to “play”. However, performance will improve more if we drill the situations that we need, rather than just playing for fun (we rarely have 12 players in their respective positions, so not “real game practice” anyway!)
  • Do we commit to performance as a team and agree to work hard on drills?
  • Is playing just for fun is a possibility if that is what team prefers?
  • A combination of both?
  • Is there a possibility (financially + commitment from players) to consider getting the hall during the week - maybe once every other week in the evening – for the whole club to just play volleyball? All teams playing together will improve team/club building and it will be fun. Then we use our Sundays for teams to practice
• There was no “Xmas do”: Everybody is really busy and have lots of commitments but even something small such as meeting before/after a match in December would help club building