Volleyball team culture: three values you see in every practice

Volleyball team culture develops whether you work on it or not. The only question is whether it becomes the culture you want. Here is how to work with three core values you see in every practice, in the gym and not on a poster in the clubhouse.

What is team culture on a volleyball team?

Team culture is what is normal on your team. You see it in small things: what a player does after a teammate misses a serve, whether someone helps take down the net after practice, how the bench behaves when you are down 20-24, how a new player is welcomed on their first night. Nobody agreed on those habits, and yet everyone knows what is expected.

Culture has three layers. Values: what you find important. Norms: what those values look like in behavior. Habits: what you do the same way every week, from the warm-up to the moment after the final whistle. A team that only has values has a poster. A team with norms and habits has a culture.

Agreements about attendance, letting the coach know when you cannot come and playing time belong in the first meeting of the season; how to set that up is covered in the first team meeting. This article is about the layer underneath: where those agreements come from. With a new team you set the tone in the first weeks; what else comes your way in your first season is covered in starting as a volleyball coach.

Why three values and not ten

Nobody remembers ten values, and you cannot show them all in one practice. Three is doable: every player can name them, and in every drill you can see whether they are there. Pick words that mean something in the gym. Respect and fun are well meant, but too vague to coach on: what does a player who shows respect do after someone else makes a mistake? A value only works when you can see it happen, and see it missing.

Step 1: choose the values together with your team

Start with yourself. Which two or three things are non-negotiable for you, whatever happens? That is the core of your coaching philosophy. Take that to the team and let the players fill in the rest. Three questions work well:

• What do you want an opponent to say about us after the match?
• Which team did you enjoy playing on most, and what did they do differently there?
• What do you see on our team when we are down 20-24, and what would you like to see?

Let everyone write on their own first, group the answers and choose three words together. With a youth team of twelve-year-olds, you choose the words and ask the players what they mean by them. With adults, the team chooses, within the limits you set beforehand.

Step 2: turn each value into behavior you can see

An example with three values you come across on many volleyball teams: Every ball, Together and Grow.

Write down two or three behaviors like these per value, no more. You will use that translation in your drills, your feedback and your conversations about playing time.

Step 3: build the values into your practice

A value that only exists in the locker room disappears. Put it in your drills, with scoring that rewards the behavior.

• Every ball: the save point. In a scrimmage, a ball that gets back into play after a dive or a sprint earns an extra point, even if the rally is lost afterward.
• Together: call it or lose the point. A first ball that was not called counts for the other team, even if the pass was good.
• Grow: the try point. In the last scrimmage, a successful action with that night's technique counts double, and a failed attempt costs nothing.
• A fixed closing. End every practice with one question: who showed one of our values today? Let players name each other, with a specific moment.

Activities that make the group stronger, with and without the ball, are in team-building exercises that work.

Step 4: make playing time and feedback speak the same language

This is where a culture succeeds or fails. If you say Every ball counts but the hitter who never chases a ball plays every set, your team learns that talent comes before the values. Players do not watch what you say, they watch who plays and who gets praised.

• Playing time. Make clear beforehand what role the values play in who plays, alongside skill level. How to share playing time in a way you can explain is covered in distributing playing time fairly.
• Praise. Name the behavior and the value: "That ball all the way to the wall, that is Every ball." That way the whole team hears what you mean.
• Corrections. Point to the agreement instead of the person: "We call every first ball. Whose was that?" How to correct without raising your voice is covered in correcting a player without yelling.
• The captain. Agree with your captain that they guard the values during the rallies. A player who calls out a teammate sometimes carries more weight than you on the sideline.

When your best player breaks a value

Sooner or later the moment comes: your best player does not chase a ball, grumbles at a teammate or shows up late. What you do then decides whether the values apply to everyone. Talk to them privately and briefly, at the break or after practice, not in front of the group. Give the same consequence you would give anyone else. And bring it back to the value, not to your irritation: "We agreed together that every ball counts. You let that one go." A team accepts differences in skill, but rarely differences in rules.

How you see whether it works

Take a look after four to six weeks. In one scrimmage, count how often a first ball is called, or how often a player says something after someone else's error. Ask players anonymously for a score from 1 to 10 per value: how often do you see it on our team? Repeat that halfway through the season. If the scores do not improve, look at yourself first: do you model it, and does it show in your decisions? If a value is still not alive after half a season, the word may not suit your team. Then pick another one together.

Tracking team culture with Koach

Koach has no separate field for team values. What does help is writing down briefly after every practice what you saw. In the practice report you fill in Went well, To improve and Focus for next time: write there which value you saw and where it was missing. With Player notes you attach a moment to one player, for example the diving save you named them for at the closing. Only the team's coaches read the report, and at a club the club board as well; players and parents do not see it.

With Rate effort you give the players who attended a rating from 1 to 5 per practice, for things like Work ethic, Effort and Coachability. In the player profile, History shows the average effort. That way you have a conversation about Every ball with something more concrete than your memory. What Koach costs after the 14 free days is on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

The first team meeting: expectations and agreements Team-building exercises that actually work for your team Volleyball coaching philosophy: values, choices and an example

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