Winning With 3rd/4th Graders!?!?!?

Question
I'm a first time coach, and I'm coaching mostly brand new players at a young age, 3rd and 4th grade.  Although we fought hard, we did lose the match to the other team, and our opponent next week is even tougher, as they're mostly 4th grade returning players and I have newbies/almost all 3rd graders.

They have an enormous amount of heart, and in practice things looked great but in the game I was unable to coach them past freezing up once the score wasn't in our favor.

I'm not concerned so much about winning, as I am about keeping the kids interested and to continue trying despite the disappointment.  Some were even crying and it made me feel awful, I know they tried their best, and I don't want them to give up and feel like they can't do it.

And I wouldn't mind giving that tough team a heck of a time winning.  

Do you have any suggestions to help brand new players get a crash course in moving to get to the ball on serve receive and also how to help them get to the second hit when one is needed, because the first will be short.

Their form is great, so that's little concern.  This is more of a foot-speed and confidence issue.  Oh and what can I do as a coach of very young players to keep them "on their toes".

Thanks so much!

Amanda

Answer
Hey Amanda:

Welcome to www.allexperts.com.  I started answering your email yesterday, but stopped.  I thought I was being too hasty and called my stepdaughter.  She's now a junior in college playing D1 volleyball. When I started dating her mom, she was a 9 year old soccer fanatic, playing in weekend tournaments.  I wanted to see what she thought of your questions.

Thus, after talking to her, I may not be giving you the advice that you want to hear b/c I'm a little dismayed at your situation.  You say that you're not concerned about winning these volleyball matches, but I think that you are.  And these little children are also.  I imagine their parents are also.   Little 9-year olds crying when they lose a volleyball match?

What you've described makes me wince. I've been spending the past 15 summers directing volleyball camps.  After over 100 camps, I've probably had no more than 10 total rising 4th graders attend the rookie portions of my camps.  You live in a community where volleyball is more serious than any I've ever visited.

I've seen u-10 girls play volleyball at tournaments.  They are about 4 feet tall and weigh 50 pounds. They are weak at judging where a served ball is going to land, and they almost all too young to anticipate what their teammates are going to do.  

Volleyball (like ice hockey & basketball) is a very hard sport to play for kids at 9 and 10 years old.  My stepd. agrees that soccer is much easier.  Little girls will rarely "call" a volleyball that's in a seam, thus they can barely make a decision regarding if the ball is theirs or their teammates.  Why?  B/c they can't judge where the ball is going to land).  They usually just stand there and wait for the ball to come to them, then have very little clue what to do when it does.

In order for these little girls to do what you want, I believe you must do one thing:  coach them to be older and more mature.  From my experience, that's the only way they'll be able to move to the ball on serve receive and to make a 2nd hit.  But if they can learn to underhand serve at 80% in the court, not swing their arms when they bump a ball, and maybe get the ball back over the net occasionally, then they've accomplished something great!

In my opinion, kids this age don't need a volleyball coach.  They just need a volleyball baby-sitter who loves them.  And the best way for these girls to improve is to just keep getting older!  When they get to the 6th and 7th grade, they will then need an adult who's 50% coach and 50% baby-sitter.  

If my stepdaughter and I were coaching your team, we wouldn't keep any records of wins and losses.  We would try to turn off the scoreboard at matches, and let the kids play.  Then when the scorekeeper or referee whispered to us, "Game's over, Coach," we would tell the team it's over (not who won or lost), switch courts with them, put 6 more girls on the court, and play the next game.

Thank you for visiting!  I'm sorry that I can't be much help.  (But I can when they become 6th and 7th graders!  haha)  Please visit me at www.coachhouser.com.  And hopefully you and I can work together sometimes!