U16 Girls Volleyball Season (2019)

This year I had the privilege of once again coaching the U16 girls volleyball team. I had been the assistance coach last year, but this year the former head coach moved up to take over the U20 boys leaving me in charge. Initially I was pretty nervous as it was my first time coaching a high school sport on my own, but it turned out to be an amazing season and an incredible growing opportunity for me.

Though I had been playing volleyball recreationally for years and knew the skills and general strategies involved, I had never actually played on an official team before. Furthermore, though the previous year I was the assistant coach, truthfully I was more of a skills coach and additional practice hand while the former head coach ran all of the logistical and strategic aspects of the team. All of this led to me feeling completely under qualified to be head coach. Fortunately this also provided me an incredible opportunity for growth.

Before and during the season I spent numerous hours consulting with other coaches, watching videos, and learning as much as I could about rotations, offense and defense, skill refinement, and the rules of International Volleyball that I was unfamiliar with. Through this process my knowledge of the game improved drastically and allowed me to feel much more adequate as the season went on. As I grew throughout the season so did my girls, and ultimately we able to have an incredibly successful season. Despite having only 2 returning players from last year and having 6 of my 12 girls never having played volleyball before we were able to take 1st place in our division! More importantly though we grew a lot as a team and had an absolute blast together. It was so cool to see the relationships grow between the girls and the bond that we were all able to form was truly incredible. Though I had coached teams before this experience really changed my outlook on coaching and instilled in me a much greater desire to continue to learn and grow as a coach in the future.