Key Concept 2
The identification of strengths and weaknesses in performance in
terms of roles and relationships, formations and tactical elements
When you talk about structures and strategies, you should consider the
role that you play within your chosen structure or strategy. The success
of any attacking or defending strategy depends on how the team
operate as a UNIT, with each player performing his/her role to the best
of their ability.
Let’s look at some examples of roles you might take on in Volleyball:
Role
Attacking Responsibility
Defending Responsibility
Setter
To set the ball efficiently for the
attackers to have options of
where to attack
Primary Blocker – to stop the
opposition from scoring at the
net
Hitter
To score points by attacking the
ball so that the opposition cannot
defend it.
To defend the opposition’s
attack and make an accurate
pass to the setter in transition
Defender
To provide a back up, back-court
attack for the setter – hitting the
ball deep into the oppositions
court
To defend the back of the court
in serve reception and in
defence and stop the
opposition from scoring points.
The individual role that you adopt will be dependant on many factors.
These may include:
- Your physical attributes (hitters may be tall)
- Your ability as a skilled performer (passer needs to be able to defend)
- Your decision making qualities (setter chooses where the ball is set)
Your structure and strategy should make use of your teams Strengths
and Weaknesses, in relation to their role within the team.
Key Concept 4
Mental factors influencing performance, including motivation,
preparation and mental state during performance
- MOTIVATION
Motivation is a valuable quality which gives volleyball players the
determination, encouragement and desire to succeed at a high
standard. It takes account of an individual’s personality characteristics
and the situation they find themselves in. (For example, how do they
reach to performing in front of a large crowd, or playing a very
competitive game)
Highly Motivated Volleyballers
Less Motivated Volleyballers
- look for challenges
- avoid challenging tasks
- want to do well
- preoccupied with failure
- persist for longer at training
- give up easily
- value feedback
- seldom ask for feedback
- enjoy performing
- dislike being evaluated
- not afraid of failure
- perform worse when being watched
- MOTIVATION
The behaviour shown by highly motivated volleyball players is likely to
be repeated over and over again and maintained throughout training,
practice and performance if it is constantly rewarded.
REWARD MOTIVATES BEHAVIOUR
Rewards can come from outside – such as praise from your coach,
prizes awarded or applause from the audience. This is EXTRINSIC
MOTIVATION.
In contrast, rewards can come from inside the person themselves, such
as the satisfaction gained from improvement. This is called INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION
Principals Of Practice
When you are considering your structure/strategy in relation to all the
other previously mentioned factors (strengths/weaknesses, roles,
qualities etc), you also need to take into account the following
PRINCIPALS OF PRACTICE:
WIDTH in Attack
WIDTH in Defence
DEPTH in Attack
DEPTH in Defence
MOBILITY
Use of SPACE
Denying SPACE
COVER
DELAY
SPEED
WIDTH in Attack
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using WIDTH in ATTACK in their
chosen strategy. This volleyball game is 6
vs. 6 but the principals are the same as
they are when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use WIDTH IN ATTACK when you
have your two outside hitters attacking from
wide on each side of the net. The setter
should make sure that she sets the ball
right out to the antennae (width of the net).
This allows the attackers to build an
approach to their hit so that the opposition are unable to read where they are going
to hit the ball. It also pulls the opposition blocker right out to the width of the net,
meaning she will have to travel further to block. This may allow your attackers to hit
over a free net (without a blocker).
The hitters should be
attacking the ball
where the stars are in
this diagram - WIDTH
WIDTH in Defence
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using WIDTH in DEFENCE in their
chosen strategy. This volleyball game is 6
vs. 6 but the principals are the same as
they are when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use WIDTH IN DEFENCE when you
are receiving serve. Your two outside
players (hitters) will cover the width of the
court and are responsible for defending any
serves which are played out to the side
lines of the court.
By setting up your defence in the diamond or “one up” formation, you will always
be able to have WIDTH IN DEFENCE as in each structure, there are two players
who are responsible for covering the width of the court.
DEPTH in Attack
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using DEPTH IN ATTACK in their
chosen strategy. This volleyball game is 6
vs. 6 but the principals are the same as
they are when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use DEPTH IN ATTACK when you are
attacking against your opposition. It means
that you play the ball deep into the
opponents court and mix it up with playing
some short balls. When you hit down the
line in your strategy, you should
be trying to play the ball into the back corner of the oppositions court. This will
make it more difficult for them to pass the ball as they will struggle to get into that
position to make an effective pass to their setter. It may also cause them to be
INDECISIVE as to whether the ball is going out, and they may make error in their
judgement. In your chosen strategy, you will also be playing short tips cross court.
These should be landing, inside the attacking zone, just behind the blockers. This
will also make the defenders struggle to make a good pass to their setter.
DEPTH in Defence
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using DEPTH IN DEFENCE in their
chosen strategy. This volleyball game is 6
vs. 6 but the principals are the same as
they are when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use DEPTH IN DEFENCE in either the
Diamond formation or the One Up
formation. It means that you make sure that
your structure covers the court from short
attacks to long attacks. Players in defence
have a responsibility for covering
Tips from the opposition (in the one up formation it’s the one player behind the
blocker and in the diamond formation it’s the two wide players) and also deep
attacks into the back of your court (the players furthest back in defence). It is
important that you have this DEPTH in DEFENCE and do not just stand in a
straight line – as you will be able to stop the opponents from scoring points on your
court.
MOBILITY
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using MOBILITY in their chosen
strategy. This volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but
the principals are the same as they are
when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use MOBILITY when you are adapt
your defence or attack to what the
opposition do. In Volleyball defence, this
means reacting to the type of attack that
the opposition are making and – are they
tipping the ball or are they hitting?
If you have MOBILITY in your structure/strategy, then your team should be able to
react to where the hit is coming from and move into position early. They should
then be able to take their defensive position from whether it is a hit, tip or “free ball”
In attack, you need to have MOBILITY to choose the right play to make in reaction
to what the opposition’s defence do. If they are defending quite far back, then you
might want to tip the ball. Or if they are defending your tips, you may want to play
the ball deep to the back of the court.
Use of SPACE
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using SPACE in their chosen
strategy. This volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but
the principals are the same as they are
when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use SPACE when you attack the ball
against the opposition. As an attacker, you
should be looking at the court on the other
side of the net and seeing where the
defenders are not covering – and then
playing your attack here.
You CREATE SPACE in attack by “clearing out of court” when the setter has the
ball. This allows you to make an approach to the net where the opposition will not
be able to read where you are going to attack. This makes it more difficult for them
to defend.
DENYING SPACE
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team DENYING SPACE in their chosen
strategy. This volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but
the principals are the same as they are
when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You DENY SPACE when you block the ball
in defence. The blocker is the first line of
defence and my choosing their “blocking
line” they can take away space from the
opposition.
The blockers may choose to block “the line” so that they stop the opposition from
hitting down the line (denying the space). This may be because your defender on
the line is a weaker passer, or because you want them to tip/hit cross-court to free
your line defender to prepare to hit.
By denying space in defence, you take away options from the opposition and begin
to force them into playing the ball where you want them to.
COVER
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team COVER in their chosen strategy. This
volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but the principals
are the same as they are when you play
your 4 vs. 4 games.
You COVER in Volleyball when someone in
your team is attacking. As your attacker is
playing the ball, the other three players
should be grouping around him to COVER
the block. This is to prevent the opposition
from scoring from a “kill block”
If your attacker is blocked, it is important that their team mates can defend the
block and transition into another attack.
In the clip above, you can see why COVER is important!
DELAY
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team DELAY in their chosen strategy. This
volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but the principals
are the same as they are when you play
your 4 vs. 4 games.
You DELAY in Volleyball to slow down the
game. This may be to allow your attackers
time to prepare for their hit or to outwit your
opponents who may have prepared for a
faster attack.
To DELAY in Attack, the setter will slow down the set – making it higher. This might
be because the hitter has just passed the ball and needs time to prepare for the hit.
Or the opposition defence may have set up a block for the faster attack and
therefore, by DELAYING the set, you will outwit the opposition.
SPEED
This clip shows an example of a volleyball
team using SPEED in their chosen
strategy. This volleyball game is 6 vs. 6 but
the principals are the same as they are
when you play your 4 vs. 4 games.
You use SPEED in Volleyball to speed up
the game in attack. This will be done to
outwit the opposition and make their
blocker struggle to get to the ball.
The setter may decide to play a shorter, faster ball to one of the attackers. This is
using SPEED as the opposition might not be fast enough to get the block in the
right place.
Technical Ability
Physical Ability
Strengths of Your Team
Tactical Ability
Weaknesses of Your Team
Choosing your initial
structure/strategy
Principals of
Play
Width/Depth in Attack
Strengths and
Weakness of the
Opposition
Width/Depth in Defence
Delay/Speed
Cover
Roles and Responsibilities
Mobility
Creating/Denying Space
Key Concept 3
Problem Solving and Decision Making to develop and improve
performance
When playing matches there will be a need to adapt play in response to
performance demands. The need to change or adapt current strategy
will depend on the following attacking and defending considerations:
Is the strategy working or not?
Are we being too pressurized in defence that we’re not getting to attack
Do we need to catch up or apply more pressure?
To suit individuals who can effect an advantage
Are the physical demands of our chosen strategy too much?
Are we losing?
Are we winning?
Have the opposition changed their structure?
The players must be able to respond to changing situations by adapting
their team strategy. To be able to adapt, the team must:
- Know the alternatives
- Have practised playing against varying offensive/defensive structures
- Have practised changing from one strategy to another
- All be able to react on court
- Understand the alternatives
So you have decided to change your structure/strategy because it’s not
working. Let’s look at an example of a change:
INITIAL STRATEGY
We decided that our strategy during our Volleyball games would be to Tip Cross
Court and Hit down the line when attacking. As we were playing in the diamond
formation, this meant that the two outside players were responsible for this
attacking strategy. We decided to tip cross court, because the opposition were
also playing a diamond formation and they had left lots of space in the centre of
the court. This was our target for tipping cross court. We decided to hit down the
line, because the line defender had based themselves high up on the line to
cover behind the block, and so if we were to hit hard, with power to the back of
the court on the line, then we would find space. It meant that our setter could set
forward and reverse set to confuse the opposition’s blocker and could add a little
bit of speed to her sets to increase the tempo of the game.
In order for this strategy to work, our hitters had to, physically have a lot of power,
to jump high and hit the ball hard down the line – to stop the defender from being
able to pass it easily. The attackers also had to have a great deal of accuracy
when tipping cross court, to ensure that they are able to play the ball just behind
the block to make it harder for the defence to pick up. The attackers need to have
good balance when attacking so that they can disguise their shot and outwit the
opposition. Our setter needs to be fast to get into the correct position after the
pass in order to make the most effective set for the attackers. The setter also
needs to have good decision making skills to set the ball to the right person at the
right time
The strategy is not working……WHY?
WEAKNESSES
When playing against one of our biggest rivals, we found that our team were
losing a lot of points. The opposition had taken the first set and were in the lead in
the second set. Our coach decided to change the strategy here to see if we could
regain the lead. Through external feedback from the coach, we could see that the
hit down the line was not being effective. Our hitters were losing accuracy and
either hitting the ball too deep and out on the baseline, or too wide and out on the
side line. This meant we gave away too many points on errors. This was effecting
our attackers mentally as they were losing motivation every time they made an
error. The opposition had also started to read our attackers when they were
attacking and their blocker was blocking down the line – stopping us from hitting
the ball steep and hard down the line. Their defender had also moved deeper on
the line, and when we did manage to get the ball in court down the line, he was
able to pass it up easily and create better attacking opportunities for his team.
Our Tip cross court was less effective as well as the defenders were being able to
read the tip more often and were moving in to pass it to their setter easily. As our
team were making errors and being defended easily, their level of concentration
and motivation was dropping and this began to effect their overall performance.
Our coach decided that in order to overcome these problems, he would change
our strategy……
So what did we change it to?
ADAPTED STRATEGY
We decided to change our strategy to overcome the problems identified. Our new
strategy was to HIT CROSS COURT and TIP DOWN THE LINE. We decided to
hit cross court to allow our attackers more space to hit the ball into. As they were
losing accuracy previously, they were now able to score more points by hitting the
ball hard cross court. This also meant that they weren't getting blocked as the
opposition’s blocker had decided to block line. The hitters were more effective
hitting cross court without a block and against a defensive unit who had lined up
to defend down the line. This meant that opposition were unable to pass from our
hits, or were likely to make mistakes when they were able to pass it.
We decided to tip down the line because the blocker was blocking the line, so we
could tip it just over the block. The defender on the line had based deep on the
court thinking that we were going to hit down the line. This meant when we tipped
the ball just behind the block, the defender was unable to reach the ball and we
scored points.
As a result of changing this strategy, we began to see more success in our
attacks and were winning more points. This meant that the team regained focus
and motivation and became more confident in their own ability. It also lowered the
confidence of the opposition as they were going from a winning position to a
losing position.
STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES KEY POINTS
INITIAL/CHANGED STRATEGY
PRINCIPALS OF PLAY
- Description
- Width in Attack/Defence
- Roles + Responsibilities
- Depth in Attack/Defence
- Physical Abilities
- Mobility
- Personal Abilities
- Cover
- Technical Abilities
- Tempo
- Attacking Roles
- Delay
- Defending Roles
- Use of/Denying Space
- Strengths of Strategy
- Weaknesses of Strategy
DATA COLLECTION
OTHER FACTORS
- Knowledge of Results
- Motivation
- Video Analysis
- Concentration
- Observation Schedules
- Feedback
- Personal Reflections