Tuesday, January 26, 2010

January 23: The never-ending day

As a quick note, Mark and I have changed the name of the blog to Driving by Sonar, It's No Problem. The first refers to the caucophony of horns that people use when driving to let other drivers know they are passing them, to get out of the way, they are idiots, or sometimes, just to honk. It was even more evident on January 26, but we'll get to that later. Let's just say people use their horns here. A LOT.

The last part, It's No Problem, refers to Martin's favorite phrase when we need something. Whatever it is, coffee, tea, no more biriyani, lights on the courts (that were set up by people shimmying up a 30 foot pole), more volleyballs, fewer mosquitos,  rolling up to airport 10 minutes before our flight and getting on the plane, whatever we need, (except some real rest), he always replies, "It's no problem." More on THAT later

SO, without further ado, on to the much anticipated, much needed blog updates.....

January 23

This is a our last full day and let me tell you, it was FULL. We were up at 5:30 to meet a friend of Martin's that coaches Team Customs, a local "pro" team. (As a reminder, we were up til 12:15 the night before because our "15 minutes" at Martin's house turned into 2 hours). We worked with the guys on blocking for about an hour and they seemed to catch on very quickly. The players here are ultra respectful, learn very quickly and do exactly what you ask them too. We talked briefly on some team concepts, chatted with the players for a few minutes and then had to get going back to our teams and the beach guys. We were a bit late getting back but went over some attacking and let the guys hit the rest of the morning and then went over a lot of team strategy in the afternoon: calling out shots for your partner, seeing the court, and knowing when to hit shots and when to swing away. They all seem to like to swing away even if the balls go out. SO changing that habit is something we have focused on all week.

The girls team worked more on swing blocking and team defense and communicating on the court. They are VERY quiet on the court around Mark and I which can be frustrating to a degree but they seem to be open to talking more as the week as gone by, especially when we have specifically designed drills that encourage and reward on-court communication. Their transition game was the focus of the afternoon/evening and then got into a LOT of serve receive into defense transition games and more work on blocking and their eyes.

We worked with the guys team on a lot more 6 on 6 situational drills. We also played a game called USA where one team had to win 3 rallies in a row (each rally won is a U first, then S, and finally A) and a serve to win a point to focus on some rotations and win multiple rallies in a row. After a quick conversation between Mark and myself about half way through practice, we also put in a few fast tempo sets: shoots to both pins and also a BiQ and a Gap, a fast back row set between the Zone 2 and 3 blockers. Their offense was really moving by the end of the night. We also adjusted the spacing of their middle blockers to a bit farther off the net to give them more room to swing. We really like working with the teams here and how fast they are able to change, never questioning why we do things and how respectful they are. They are learning quickly and have been a pleasure to work with

After practice, and a few technical difficulties, we watched some video of a few international professional matches we found online. We showed the teams on video the blocking moves were taught them, showed them some of the fast tempo sets other teams were running and got the guys, and girls, understanding the reasoning and methodology on why we do what we do.

So, by the time it was all said and done, our day started with practice at 6am, and ended with video at 11pm. Yowza. That is a LOT of volleyball and I am ready for a lot of sleep. Good night from Chennai.

No comments:

Post a Comment