by Jim Stone, 2009 Girls' Youth National Team Head Coach/ Women's Junior National Team Asst. Coach

This summer I've been fortunate to be able to coach at both the Girls' Youth and Women's Junior World Championships for USA Volleyball.  I was the head coach for the YNT in Thailand.  Upon return from Thailand, I assisted Paula Weishoff with the JNT in Mexico.  Both teams finished 12th at their respective championship.  I thought it appropriate that I communicate to the youth volleyball community in the United States my impression of the teams and program structure from other countries and how the USA might continue to improve what we do in youth volleyball development.

To say I was impressed with the top teams at the Youth championships would be an understatement.  The top teams (probably teams 1-5) would defeat 80-90% of the Division 1 collegiate programs in the country.  Again, these are 16 or 17 year old players.  The athletes are tall, very fit, and very motivated.  This is the highlight of the volleyball year for the participating teams/countries and they approach it accordingly.  From the way teams sing their national anthems prior to the match, to how hard they play, one can tell there had been a major time investment and there is a great deal of national pride involved in performing well at the World Championships. The incredulous looks our staff received from other coaching staffs, when told that some players who might have been on the USA team but opted for club championships in the USA over the world championships, were noteworthy.

We all want our teams to compete successfully at the international level.  Our junior and youth teams have never won medals at the World Championships.  At this World Youth Championships, Brazil, Serbia and Belgium stood on the podium.  At the Junior Worlds, Germany, Dominican Republic and Brazil were the medal winners.  Is there a connection between success at this level and potential national team success?  The Brazilian women's team has taken success at the youth and junior levels into their national program.  The Italians are competitive at all the levels.  China has a solid history of being competitive at the various age levels.  I believe there is a relationship from approaching these age group tournaments in an organized and serious manner that will benefit the national team programs over the long term.

Success never happens in a vacuum.  There are definite reasons for success throughout the age groups, from Youth through the Olympics.  Germany, who defeated our national team twice this summer, has four regional training centers at which all the athletes for the Youth and Junior teams practice, train and compete on a year around basis. Italy has most of their team together since January. Brazil trained for several months and went to Europe and China to compete prior to the tournament.  Belgium, which finished third, but might have been the best team, have the bulk of their team playing together on a year around basis.  Serbia, a silver medalist, have a similar year around commitment required of the athletes.  Quite often, these teams that are together year around, play in leagues with older players which certainly challenge the players to compete at a high level.  In some form, most of the countries have similar approaches to youth volleyball development. Clearly our junior sport club program and sport program within our educational structure present special challenges for USAV.

We had good players on the USA Youth team.  Tall, athletic, made of steel, etc.  However, quite possibly for the first time in their volleyball lives, they were facing players across the net that were also tall, athletic and made of steel.  The winning teams possess very good volleyball skills.  To be successful internationally, the USA must become more skilled.  Being a good athlete is not sufficient to guarantee success.  Statistically, both the Junior and Youth teams finished in the appropriate places.  Rankings of serve, pass, attack, defense and block were kept, with no USA players being ranked in the top ten.  The team stats found both the Junior and Youth teams in the bottom half of the tournament in all the skills. Specifically, the skills of serve and pass are not up to international standard.  We do not serve with the velocity or accuracy of other teams.  Since we do not face this type of aggressive serving within the club environment, our reception skills were also lacking.  The USA Youth passed at a 2.41 level on a 4 point scale. Our competition was passing at a 2.90 level.  This is partially due to good passing skills, partially due to our average level of serving.  We served at a 1.50 on a 4 pt. scale.  This translated to our opponent being in system about 80% of the time.  Defense certainly becomes more challenging with this type of serving.  Another glaring difference is the outside attacking.  We must have better terminating outside attackers.  At the same time, these outsides must be able to receive serve.  So, there is some work to do.

The players on the Youth team walked away from this tournament with a better understanding of what good volleyball looks like and what is necessary to win against the best teams in the world.  The level of play was way beyond anything they would have faced in a club championship in this country.  There is no substitute for this type of experience, certainly not a national club championship, and they are better and more knowledgeable players for having competed in this tournament.  As a former collegiate coach, there is no doubt that competition such as the World Championships prepare a player for whatever they will face at the collegiate level.  Keep in mind, it is my opinion that a lot of the teams in the youth tournament in Thailand were better than a majority of USA university teams.  I would certainly encourage any youth player to participate in such a challenging environment.

What needs to be done to have our teams perform better at the Youth or Junior level internationally?  I am approaching this with the opinion that doing well at the age group levels is important to future national team success. To achieve a higher rate of success at the Youth and Junior levels, there needs to be more skilled players at every level of volleyball in our country.  I believe that the saying "a rising tide will raise all ships" might be appropriate.   Coaches and players at every level will benefit from having more good players in the system.  I suggest the following ideas might be considered:

• At the Open level of the Junior Olympic Championships, from ages 15-18,  we should implement international substitution rules. This would allow many of the players that need to be international outside hitters to play six rotations a majority of the time, allowing for the development of serve receive and defensive skills.
• Perhaps, a new approach for the younger players might be considered.  Until age of 13, the players play on a smaller court, with fewer players on the court, with little or no substitution.  This will allow the players to touch the ball more, be more involved in the game and increase the enjoyment of playing.    
• We must get the best teams, coaches and players in the country together to train, learn and compete on a consistent basis.  The emphasis would be on training and skill development.  Given the emphasis on high school sports and the club system currently in place, a year around system which some countries have implemented will be problematic in this country.  However, the current High Performance program might be expanded to provide additional training time allowing players and teams to progress to a higher level.  The club coaches in our country have done a wonderful job of developing a broad base of player participation and they need to be part of the plan to develop a deep roster of quality players capable of playing internationally and generally raise the level of play in our country.  This needs to be a cooperative approach, inclusive of all parties, with the best interest of the athlete being a priority.  In Europe it is normal for clubs to release players for national team events during the club season.  This philosophy needs to be in place within our country.
• Coaches must teach skills during their training sessions.  I was struck when the USA Women's Soccer team did not reach expectations at the last World Championship, a former USA Soccer coach said that "We play and compete too much in our country.  We must spend more time teaching skills".  This mirrors my opinion of club volleyball.  Just playing and hoping that by osmosis the skills will develop is not a good strategy for skill development.  We must spend more practice time devoted to skill development and less time focusing on competition and results.  I'm reminded of an interview with Tony Bennett, the world renown singer, when asked about his practice routine.  He indicated that every day in the morning, he does voice scales.  I don't know too much about music, but voice scales to me might be the equivalent of passing 200 balls every day.  The players on the USA Youth team found out that skill level is relative.  Within this country, they are skilled.  However, relative to what is going on in the world, our skills are lacking.
• In regard to the above point, more educational opportunities for the club and secondary school coaches must be put in place to assist in coaching development.  This could take place in regional coaching clinics, internet educational opportunities, etc.

This was a great summer of high level volleyball for myself.  These World Championships were quality events that were a joy to be a participant.  I told the players of the YNT that it was their responsibility to go back to their clubs and make a positive impact based on what they saw and experienced.  As coach, I feel that I have that responsibility as well.  Hence the motivation for this report. Feel free to contact me with thoughts, opinions, etc.