A Coach's Defense

Last night, as our girls were warming up on the courts of a rival team (Osan American High School), I overheard a conversation behind me between two fans from that home team. They were older men and talked with that confidence that comes with authority; however, they did not have authority in the subject they were discussing. This is what happened:

Joelle hit a smashing slide off of Sarah's backset.

"Whoa!" Man #1 exclaimed. "Did you see that?"

"All-star player right there," Man #2 said.

"That's pure talent. That's what you've got to have for a winning team. A coach can't do so much. It's the talent that wins games."

"And they must have a big talent pool. Look at all their players hitting. Our talent pool is much smaller, so that hurts."

I wanted to turn around and defend myself, but as usual, I didn't have the courage or the words to do it right then. Especially when facing older, dominating men, I feel like a little worm eeking out a rebuttal. I guess the world wide web will hear my defense instead. It's dedicated to you two fans who know little about coaching.

First of all, there is no doubt that we have talent. Joelle, Sarah, and Jessi all made the varsity team in their freshmen years and had an automatic knack for the game.

However, talent alone is not enough to win games, just like strong armies are not enough to win battles. Strategy is necessary. Practice is vital. Teamwork is irreplacable.

This season, my husband and I have spent hours pouring over draft after draft of lineups and rotation variations to figure out what strategy would best use the talents of each girl on our team. Now, in mid-season, we are in our third rotation, and it looks like this one will stick. Our first two tries were a 4-2 and a 6-2, then we evaluated our stats and invented our own rotation, which requires intense concentration because each girl must memorize her six positions, which are often not identical to her opposite on the court--and our two subs must memorize everyone's positions.

Speaking of subs, yes, we really only have two. So we obviously cannot have a huge talent pool or our bench would be full.

I know that some coaches just supervise and repeat what things they themselves learned in high school or college. But that surely doesn't seem true of us or of the other volleyball coaches at our school. I can testify that Mark has watched over 20 hours of coaching videos since the beginning of summer--to broaden his understanding of each position and to gather ideas for new drills and practice methods. I know that other coaches search online for new drills and different strategies.

And still, I could be doing more. Mark reminds me that my first priority is taking care of my children, and this often does interfere with how much I invest in the girls on our team. To me, they are volleyball players first because that is the only role in which I see them. But I must remember they are also students, daughters, and teenagers. I need to remind myself that they are dealing with the issues of high school and pressing maturity...and, of course, spiritual decisions as well. When I recall what weights they carry in addition to sports, I'm humbled into prayer for them. This is all so much to balance, yet they still sing on the bus rides home.

We have talent, but more importantly, we have a team. It's a team we have built on commitment, intensity, and flexibility. I argue that it's the coach's job to decide what kind of team he/she will build, and it's the team that wins games.