Measuring Performance for Practice Design and Beach Player Development

Fuel Inject Your Practice Plan Through the Art and Science of Motivation

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) recently determined that collegiate beach volleyball has a smaller percentage of its season devoted to competition than any other NCAA Division I women's sport.  In a 22 week season only 8 are allowed for competition with the remainder reserved solely for practice and conditioning.  In many programs, players start training in late August but don't compete until early March.  That's a lot of training, a lot of waiting, and a lot of opportunity for motivation to wane.

So that got me thinking, what is the coaches' role in sparking motivation and why should we care about it all?  Given evidence that motivation can be as important to performance than intelligence, ability, and even financial reward, better understanding the puzzle of motivation may drive us to become better for and to our players.

In the following sections we'll take a look at some principles of motivation culled from scientific research and explore some methods for bringing those principles to practice.

Progress

Progress in Principle

Nothing sparks motivation like progress.  Of all the events that can spark a person's drive to perform, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work, says Teresa Amabile, whose work on motivation in the workplace appears in her insightful book, The Progress Principle.

According to Amabile, a consistent amount of even minor success is more frequently associated with high motivation than any other workday event.  People, it seems, have their best days when they feel like they accomplish something, even if its not a major breakthrough.  In fact, just movement in the right direction can be enough to boost people's emotions and perception of the work.  "When people sense they're making headway, their drive to succeed is at its peak," she says.  The "power of small wins" can make all the difference in how people feel and perform.


Figure I. 

So if this all seems obvious to you (of course people are more motivated when they're doing well) then you're ahead of the many managers Amabile studied. Not only did she find that companies made little effort to enable progress in the workplace, when asked to rank factors that might inspire motivation, managers ranked "progress" dead last.

It seems that the power of progress is both great and overlooked.

The exciting news is that, like workplace managers, we coaches have a wonderful opportunity to facilitate progress in how we choose to interact with our teams.  We must creatively work everyday to ensure we're shaping an environment in which progress can be identified, enjoyed and celebrated.  Opportunities for meaningful accomplishment must be woven into our daily routines.  That's where the art of coaching comes into play.

Progress in Practice

There are a lot of things we can do in practice to nurture progress.  Among them, let players know why they're doing what they’re doing.  If it’s a drill – why that activity?  If its game – why that scoring system?  Tell everyone what the goal is and make it challenging and attainable.  Have a back-up way to measure progress even if a goal is not attained.  Was performance closer than yesterday, last week, last month?  Track performance from day to day, week to week, even year to year.  Keep data and review it periodically for opportunities to show improvement.  Day to day a player may feel like she hasn’t changed.  Show her results trending over a few months and it’s a great visual image of what she’s becoming.  Movement in the right direction is a powerful catalyst.  Videotape performance as much as possible.  It’s an investment worth making for many reasons, not the least of which is you never know when archived footage can be a great motivator.  Show a player who thinks she’s in a rut what she looked like a year ago – she’ll see progress and be energized from the experience.

Setbacks

If progress is the best motivator, setbacks can have the opposite effect.  Some research suggests that setbacks can be even more negative than progress is positive in its impact on motivational drive.  For this reason coaches should plan carefully what we ask of our players.  Think carefully what goals we set and activities we design.  Work with players to customize how we challenge them, and perhaps most of all be cognizant of how outside influences have colored the day.  Our players have busy lives and may suffer setbacks before they even get to practice from home, work or class.  The design of practice should include ways to neutralize those setbacks and allow some meaningful progress to fuel their motivational fire.

In addition to neutralizing setbacks we need to help change how setbacks are viewed.  Experiencing and dealing with setbacks is an essential part of the learning process, it's how we characterize them that matters.  We can minimize the impact of setbacks by emphasizing the good in them.  Perhaps nowhere is this more possible than in our approach to mistakes.  By encouraging experimental error and facilitating improvement through mistakes we can lead our players to a mindset of growth and awaken their senses to what is possible.

[This is Part I of a two part series.  In Part II, we'll continue to look at motivation from the standpoint of autonomy and purpose and discuss ways to incorporate those elements into our practices as well.

How to Build Confidence in Your Volleyball Athletes

Confidence is king.  That's right, KING.  I've never heard anyone say confidence is queen.  That got me thinking about confidence in female athletes and in particular, how we can get better at building self-confidence in girl's and women's volleyball.

Being in a gym on a daily basis I am amazed how often successful, skilled, hard-working, well-educated, healthy, young women in the sport of volleyball lack self-confidence.  We coaches need to get better at building confidence in our players.  It's not that we don't try, but sometimes the methods most familiar and comfortable to us are woefully inadequate to the task.

How many times have we heard coaches implore their players to play with confidence?  It's well-intentioned but completely ineffective advice.  Telling someone to be confident is like advising the hungry to feel full.  Building confidence is also not a matter of being a cheerleader or puffing up players with constant praise and pats on the back.  Intelligent young woman are too smart for that.  Besides, the best available research on the subject indicates it's counterproductive.[1]  

So how do we begin moving our players toward a more confident state of mind?  It takes a consistent, creative, daily effort that begins with including in our practices successful moments for the players and by delivering effective feedback.


Put Athletes in Successful Situations

We all know that practice is about training our weaknesses, and that can be very stressful, but sometimes we just have to put our athletes in successful situations and let them do what they do best.  Success builds confidence.

For example, allow your blockers to block some balls.  Blocker don't always get a lot of positive reinforcement.  Sure, we know that blockers can do their job effectively without actually blocking the ball but there's nothing like the feeling of actually blocking a ball to build a little confidence and provide some motivation as well.  This can be done in a coverage drill, a blocking drill or both.  Be creative and let your blockers block some balls.

There are hundreds of other examples  It's up to you.

Teaching is Not Always Correcting

Let your positive feedback substantially outweigh your corrective feedback.  Too many female players cringe when they hear a coach say their name because they assume we're going to correct something they did "wrong."  If a player's first reaction when you say her name is quickly to explain herself or, worse yet, apologize then you need to build her confidence by recognizing all the correct things she does; and be specific with the behavior being complimented.  There's volumes of research on percentages and ratios for giving positive and corrective feedback.  The takeaway?  We need to develop young women who aren't surprised when we stop the action to give credit rather than correction.

Playing with confidence is something that is instilled over time by successful, creative coaching, not something players will do if we "remind" them.  Let's stop telling and start teaching.    


NOTES

[1]  See Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Random House 2006); see also Po Bronson, How Not To Talk To Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise, New York Magazine, Feb. 19, 2007 available online at http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/    

Can Exercising After Practice Improve Retention of Volleyball Skills?

If you're like most coaches you may have wondered at one time or another why your athletes perform one way in practice but differently in competition.  The answer may be found in your practice design.  To best train players for competition, coaches must create practice environments that promote long term retention and transfer.  What does this mean?  It means skills learned in practice must be retained beyond the training session and must be taught in such a way that the motor programs developed in practice transfer to competition.

Retention and Transfer of Motor Skills

To help coaches do this, motor learning science has identified several prominent features of effective practice design.  Practices should train whole skills, under randomized conditions, with effective feedback, in a game-like environment that re-creates the moods and emotions of competition.  Coaches who follow these "laws of learning" enable their athletes to develop in practice the "relatively permanent improvements in the execution of skilled motor behaviors."[1] that are essential to improved performance in competition. 

Does Exercise Promote Retention of New Skills?

Want more good news?  New research out of the University of Copenhagen now suggests another potential element for promoting long term retention and learning.  Researchers in the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology examined the impact of exercise both on the rate of acquisition and retention of new skills and found that participants who exercised after practice retained more of what they learned when later tested for proficiency.[2]

Study Methods

Participants were asked to engage in 15 minutes of intense cycling either before or after practicing an accuracy tracking task.  The task required right-handed men to use a joy stick to trace a white line over a red squiggling line appearing on a monitor in front of them.  Researchers wanted to explore whether the exercise or its timing in relation to practice effected the acquisition or retention of the practiced skill.  Acquisition was measured during practice and retention was measured 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 days after practice.

Study Results

Regardless of timing, the cycling exercise did not significantly effect the rate of motor skill acquisition or short term (1 day) retention.  However, both exercise groups showed significant retention when measured 24 hours and 7 days after practice; and compared to participants who exercised before practice, participants who exercised after practice showed even greater retention when measured 7 days after practice.

According to researchers, these findings "indicate that one bout of intense exercise performed immediately before or after practicing a motor task is sufficient to improve the long-term retention of a motor skill.  The positive effects of acute exercise on motor memory are maximized when exercise is performed immediately after practice, during the early stages of memory consolidation."

Application to Volleyball Coaches

So what does cycling and tracking a red line have to do with coaching volleyball players?  Maybe nothing - human understanding of motor learning continues to develop.  In the meantime, this research may suggest to coaches that a short intense bout of exercise inserted at the end of their practices may enhance the long-term learning of what is taught in practice.

NOTES

[1] Bain, S., McGown, C., Motor Learning Principles and the Superiority of Whole Training in Volleyball.  Available here.
[2]  The study, A Single Bout of Exercise Improves Motor Memory, is available here.

Reading Revisited: The Challenge of Reading Left-Handers in Volleyball

Last year I wrote about teaching the skill of "reading" in volleyball and posited that we coaches need to spend a lot more practice time teaching this skill to our players by (a) creating practice environments that afford the players game-like reading opportunities; and (b) teaching players what cues to look for and what they mean by giving effective feedback.  Here's an update.

Reading Can Be Taught

Whether we call it the "premier skill" in the game (Hugh McCutcheon) or the "most important skill" (John Kessel), it is by now settled that the skill of reading is in fact trainable and not some mystical innate talent.[1]  When we see volleyball players who always seem to be in the right place, it is because they have advanced cognitive perceptual skills developed from proper training.  A player's ability to forecast the future of the game by seeing, interpreting and responding to the visual cues presented by it is borne of deliberate practice with effective feedback in a game-like training environment. 

So why are we re-visting this great subject of reading in volleyball?  Well, the last six months has produced some very interesting research on the subject that can improve our knowledge of the game and help all of us to coach better.

The Lefty Advantage in Sports

In the last decade and a half research has shown that left handed athletes present considerable difficulties for their opponents in interactive sports.[2]  Lefties are overrepresented in many sports (as compared to their presence in the general population) and their left handedness appears to give them an advantage over their opponents.[3]  The "advantage" seems to be their opponents' greater difficulty in predicting the left-hander's behavior.  For example, soccer goalkeepers have been shown to have a more difficult time predicting ball direction for left-footed opponents,[4] and tennis athletes (regardless of their own handedness) have shown themselves to be better at predicting the direction stroke of right handed as opposed to left-handed opponents.[5]  Researchers have supposed that one explanation for this phenomenon is that players have less experience with left-handed opponents and therefore lack familiarity with their techniques and strategies, leaving opponents to act (react) the same as when faced with a right-hander.[6]  The hypothesis is referred to as the "negative perceptual frequency effect."

Reading Left -Handers in Volleyball

So this takes us to the sport of volleyball.  In a game where the premier skill of the players is accurately predicting the action of opponents, do lefties still maintain an advantage by being less "readable" than their right-handed counterparts?  A study recently published in the journal of Attention, Perception & Psychophysics says "yes."[7] 

To test the negative perceptual frequency effect in the sport of volleyball, researchers invited 18 expert and 18 novice volleyball athletes to predict the shot direction of left- and right-handed attacks.  Participants predicted the outcome of attacks using a video-based occlusion model.  To control the amount of advance visual information (and identify its importance to reading) footage of the attacks was occluded at three different time points: (a) 4 frames prior to hand contact with the ball, (b) 2 frames prior to hand contact, and (c) moment of contact.  Consistent with earlier research, participants performed more poorly predicting the shot direction of left handers, i.e., the lefties were more difficult to read.  Moreover, "the left-right bias" was most distinct when participants were required to make reads based on pre-contact cues (before contact with the ball).  According to the authors, "[t]he study’s findings corroborate the assumption that skilled visual perception is attuned to more frequently encountered actions."

Neutralizing the Left-Hander's Volleyball Advantage

So what can we coaches do with this information?  We must train in reality.  As long as left handed volleyball players continue to play the game we must expose our athletes to more left handed attacks.  We must make familiar what is unfamiliar.  If you have lefties on the team, give them a few extra swings and play defense against their attack.  Let the left handed players hit even if they're not your "hitters."  The training will be good for your defensive players and every player on the team, particularly at the junior level, should have a basic proficiency in attacking anyway.

Coach eye sequencing for your defenders and design drills that allow you to coach them while they perform in a pass-set-hit environment.  Do your defenders use the same eye sequence for lefties and righties?  Watch and coach them.  Ask your players what they see when facing the left-handed attack.  Is it the same as for righties?  Engage your athletes in a dialogue and help guide their discovery; you might find that your players are not focusing on the right kinematic cues against the lefties.  It wouldn't be the first time.  An early study from 1983 that examined the visual search behavior of German volleyball players found that participants incorrectly focused on the right arm and shoulder of attackers even when they were left handed.[8]

The available evidence suggests that the key to neutralizing the "left-handers advantage" is to design practices that promote exposure to lefty tactics and techniques.  This makes intuitive sense and is supported by the most recent research on the subject.[9]  Researchers successfully reversed the negative perception frequency effect in a study published in February by exposing participants to a perceptual training program that improved their reading skills against left-handers.  Apparently anything can be learned with the right kind and amount of practice.

One of our many tasks as coaches is to identify and improve weaknesses in our players and teams.  As the skill of reading plays a critical role in achieving success in volleyball, we have a heightened responsibility to guide our players' development in this area.  Coaches who creatively help athletes become better readers against all attackers are being good for and good to their players and also helping to raise the level of the game in all gyms.

NOTES:

[1]  See Farrow, D. (2008). Reading the play in team sports: yes it’s trainable. Australian Institute of Sport Coaching Magazine; Abernethy, B., Wood, J.M., and Parks, S. (1999). Can the anticipatory skills of experts be learned by novices? Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70, 313-318.

[2]  Grouis, G., Koidou, I., Tsorbatzoudis, H., and Alexandris, K., (2002).  Handedness in sport.  Journal of Human Movement Studies, 43, 347-361.

[3] Lefties Have Element of Surprise in Sport, Discovery News (Apr. 26, 2012) (available at http://news.discovery.com/adventure/left-handed-athletes-sports-120426.html) (last visited September 26, 2012).

[4] McMorris, T., & Colenso, S. (1996). Anticipation of professional soccer goalkeepers when facing right- and left-footed penalty kicks. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82, 931–934.

[5] Hagemann, N. (2009).  The advantage of being left-handed in interactive sports. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 1641–1648.

[6] See, e.g., Loffing, Hagemann, N., & Strauss, B. (2010).  Automated processes in tennis: Do left-handed players benefit from the tactical preferences of their opponents?  Journal of Sports Sciences, 28, 435-443.

[7] Loffing, F., Schorer, J., Hagemann, N., Baker, J., (2012).  On the advantage of being left-handed in volleyball: further evidence of the specificity of skilled visual perception.  Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 446-453.

[8] Neumaier, A. (1983). Beobachtungsstrategien und Antizipation beider Abwehr von Volleyballangriffen. [Observational strategies and anticipation during the defence of attacks in volleyball.].  Leistungssport, 13, 5–10 (cited in Loffing, F., Schorer, J., Hagemann, N., Baker, J., (2012).  On the advantage of being left-handed in volleyball: further evidence of the specificity of skilled visual perception.  Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 446-453).

[9] Loffing, F., Schorer, J., Hagemann, N., Baker, J., (2012).  Human handedness in interactive situations: Negative perceptual frequency effects can be reversed!  Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 446-453 (participants underwent a perceptual training program to improve their reading skills against left-handers).

Maximize Practice Time By Eliminating Static Stretching

It's properly been observed for volleyball coaches that, "practice is the battle you must win."  (Hugh McCutcheon, U.S. National Women's Team Coach).  To win the practice battle, coaches must maximize the time they have with their players and follow sound principles of teaching through the practice session.  In this post, we'll talk about maximizing practice time by eliminating static stretching from your practice routines.

You’re ready to begin practice but the team needs to "warm-up."  So they walk out to the court, sit down in a circle and begin a series of static stretches ostensibly designed to get them ready to practice volleyball.  Right?  Wrong.  Waste of time.

Science of Static Stretching 
Current research demonstrates that static stretching prior to dynamic activities like playing volleyball decreases motor unit recruitment, motor unit synchronization and rate of force production.  In other words, stretching before practice inhibits performance and does not reduce injury.

In 2004, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study that reviewed 361 other research studies on stretching and concluded that there was no evidence that stretching before or after exercise prevents injury or muscle soreness [1].

In a more recent study conducted by kinesiology researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all [2].

In fact, there's evidence that static stretching actually decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent.
According to research conducted by the Tudor Bompa Institute, static stretching causes the muscle to lengthen, which interferes with its ability to recoil or contract forcefully.  The result of this stretching for volleyball players is that they experience a loss of power production. [3]  So please eliminate static stretching from costing you the first 10 minutes of every practice.

But even if you're not convinced by the stuffy scientific journals, at least be persuaded by the wisdom of what USA Volleyball's John Kessel calls the "recess rule," according to which "you sit 2 hours then go full bore for 15 min, no problem."

Have you ever seen kids stretch before they go to recess?  Of course not.  They don't want to waste recess time.  Exactly.  So, no more static stretching; it doesn't make the players safer and doesn't help their performance.  Get rid of the routine and extend your practice by 10 minutes.

Sources:
[1]  The results are published in the March 2004 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise.
[2]  Samuel, M., Holcolm, W., Acute Effects of Static and Ballistic Stretching on Measures of Strength and Power, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22(5): 1422-1428 (Sept. 2008)).
[3]  Gary Rothbart, The Effects of Stretching on Power Output for Volleyball Players, December 2011 <www.optimumfit.ca/effects-of-stretching-volleyball.html>

[Originally published March 26, 2012] Follow @WayneDHolly