The Method

#culture

I doubt the public has any perception of the craziness that is running a youth volleyball club. I have had the fortunate opportunity to be a part of three very different clubs. Each had different goals and operated at different scales and levels. Through it all, one lesson stands out clearly - it's all about relationships, relationships that are structured with defined roles and accountability.

On a club team, there are always going to be three distinct stakeholders: the player, the coach, and the families, each with their own needs and agendas. The most difficult and important part is to ensure that the needs and agendas have at least a general alignment. I would like to hope that all three have the goal of helping every player in the club get better as efficiently as possible. This is not always true, but I hope that our industry holds onto that goal.

With that purpose in mind, Fusion realized long ago the importance of creating standards and processes that help unite and organize the relationships for our three stakeholders.

Coach

• Technical Knowledge

• Transfer of Knowledge

• Team Management

The coach's job is to have or have access to the technical knowledge of the sport we are trying to teach. They need to understand the science and have a methodology of how the athletes are going to both learn and execute the technical knowledge. Lastly, they have to be able to manage the team directly with a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each of the three parts of the team.

Player

• Technical Knowledge

• Execution of Knowledge

• Optimal Performance

Players must also be accountable for the technical

aspects of the game being taught to them by the coaching staff. Most importantly, they must be accountable for the learning process to learn the material being taught. The learning process is generally broken down into four parts. Use this link (click here) to get more information about the stages of motor learning. Lastly, and arguably the hardest for the youth we work with, is Optimal Performance. This means they get enough rest, they have mentally prepared to practice and perform, and they have the right nutrition for the tasks at hand. How many teenagers do we know have the understanding and control to have this? Therefore, we rely on the families they come from to help.

Families

• Optimal Environment

Families are one of the most uncontrollable factors in a coach's environment. The expectation of families is to provide a healthy, safe, and supportive environment for the athlete to learn and grow. All families may have personal ethics, morals, and beliefs. If those beliefs affect the performance of the athlete or the team, there must be a conversation and a willingness to consider the factors at hand. In all my years of coaching, I have learned, all relationships need compromises to be successful. I find this to be more true in the modern world as so many cultures are colliding.

Coach, Player, Families. Each of these roles must be balanced and managed for the success of a team. If all teams in the club can manage these things well, we have the community that Fusion strives to build and maintain. Future posts will be tagged with these responsibilities and be elaborated further. This is the Fusion Method. This is the way…