A 6-2 offense for 7th grade vball? Really?

Question
I coach 7th grade volleyball and have coached 7th or 8th grade volleyball for about 15 years.  I have been running a 4-2 with the setter coming from the right side for most of the seasons.  I did run 6-2 with 7th graders one year when I had several hitters/blockers.  I am getting pressure from the 8th grade coach to run a 6-2 so they will know the rotation when they get to 8th grade, but very few of my girls that I have had in the past can get their hands above the net, so blocking is not that much of a factor.  I always have a few that have played club volleyball before, but I have several that have never played.  What is your opinion?  At 7th grade should they be playing 6-2?  If they have never played before, will it be harder for them to learn 6-2 than 4-2?  She seems to think it is all new to them and you might as well just teach them 6-2.

Answer
Hello Jill and welcome to www.allexperts.com.   

Here is your situation:  Should athletes be coached
-> to be successful for the present or;
-> to prepare them for the future?

     In the fall of 2001, I watched my stepdaughter抯 middle school team (7th and 8th graders) try for 2 months to run a 6-2 offense.   They finished the season 2-11. I was so upset, I couldn't watch the matches.  I would just read or something.  Either the girls weren't being taught how to run the offense at their practices, or they were too young.  Either way, they were losing unnecessarily.  I didn't understand.   
 
     That winter six of the 7th graders on that team played on my u13抯 club team.  We ran a 4-2 with only one blocker up.  The front row girls switched, but the back row girls didn't!   We won 60% of our sets and even won a 10-team tournament at James Madison University.  
 
    The next year of middle school ball was FANTASTIC.  The same coach used the same 6-2 offense and the girls went 14-2 and won the conference championship.   Then seven of them played on my junior team again.  This time u14抯.  We had a fantastic season, winning 75% of our sets, finishing 2nd in 5 of our 8 tournaments.   We ran a 6-2 offense sometimes, a 5-1 sometimes.  But they were ready for it.  And they did it very well.   

     Because of their good experiences with vball, eleven of the girls from the 14-2 season tried out for the school JV team. They had an undefeated season.   
 
     Fast forward to December 2003. Seven of the 10 girls from my 14's team returned and we had three new girls who are outstanding athletes/players.  The girls were now u15's, and they loved each other and loved volleyball.  But by then the ENTIRE TEAM could successfully jump serve.  They all knew how to roll and pancake; but, just didn't do it in matches much.  :)  My setters at practice would often be expected to jump set every decent pass.  My MB's loved the quicks and the slides, and my rights ran x's with the middles.  All this took 2 years, but the girls came back, they were happy.
    
    I'm a believer in only teaching kids what they can successfully execute. It's wrong for coaches, teachers or parents to expect kids to try to perform what they're incapable of performing.  And I refuse to do it.  

     My job is only PARTICALLY to prepare my players for the next level.  MY JOB is like a school teacher's:  to teach the kids what they're mature enough to understand and master.  Do I expose/tease them with other skills? Sure do!!  Do I expect it of them?  Nope.  Never.  I guarantee that this approach will enhance their future in volleyball, not compromise it. I know that my 13's junior teams learned the fundamentals to passing, setting, hitting, etc.  But they didn't have to learn a complex serve receive, a bunch of fancy sets, or to holler "free" and be embarrassed as balls fell.   In fact, my 14's team the next year beat most of those teams who were "prepared" better as 13's.  And we did again as 15抯.  I knew we would!   

      I don't teach any Algebra II to my Algebra I kids.  Do I expose/tease them with it?  haha.  SURE!!!  My stepd. is in Spanish I. I'm sure she's not being taught Spanish III.   

     Likewise, I refuse to teach children a 6-2 or a 5-1 and watch them fail at it just so they'll be ready when they're older.  It is the NEXT coach's job to teach them what they need to learn to be successful at that level when they get there.  If the next coach possesses enough motivation/desire/ambition, then she can accomplish this by having preseason open gyms, taking them to team camps, having 2-a-days, etc.   
 
     As I think you can tell, I抦 pretty adamant about this.  If you sat in the bleachers for an entire season watching your stepdaughter fail at something she couldn抰 do just so the next coach抯 job would be easier, I think you抎 feel the same way.  Furious.  It抯 been nearly 10 years.  And I抦 still upset.  Haha  

     This just tells you my thoughts.  Doesn't mean I'm right.  But even as a high school varsity coach, I would tell the JV coach, "Teach them only what they can master.  Yes, push them.  Yes, do what's best for the team. But don't ever compromise wins b/c you're trying to force skills upon your girls that they're not ready to execute correctly. I'd rather you win now.  I'll take care of the rest."   

     I hope that this helps some.  Thank you again for visiting www.allexperts.com.  For all this typing, please do two things for me?  :)  (a) Please visit my website, www.coachhouser.com, and check out the site camps that I offer.  We're doing camps this summer, and my staff wants more!  We come at a great price, and your girls will have more fun and learn more than they thought possible.  (b) I also offer a drill collection and 2 huge ebooks (350 pages).  All three can be purchased for $40.  There are a number of free drill and articles to download.  Make yourself at home.   

     If you ever need anything else, just follow-up here or email me at www.coachhouser.com.