USA Volleyball has finally decided to let liberos serve starting this season.  This rule change has been coming for a while but I was hoping it would not happen.  Liberos are there to play defense, and serving is very much an offensive action.  Besides this will even further limit specialization in our front row players.  Right now many middles only get to play in the back row when they are serving.  Now they won’t even get to do that.  I don’t like this new rule, but it is what it is, and we will have to learn to use it to our best advantage.

Here is the guidelines sent out by the USAV:

USAV LIBERO SERVING RULE
USAV 7.7.1: A rotational fault is committed when a Libero serves in a second rotation position in the same set.
USAV 19.3.1.3:
a. The Libero may not block or attempt to block.
b. In one rotation, a Libero may serve after replacing the player in position 1.
USAV 19.3.2.1: In one rotation, a Libero can replace the player in position 1 and serve the next rally, even if s/he is already on the court in replacement of another player. In this situation, the Libero does not have to exit the court before replacing the player in position 1, and there does not need to be a completed rally between Libero replacements.
Related Rule Interpretations
1. Team A’s Libero (#3) is in the game in position 5, having replaced #8. A Libero has not served in the set. #10 is in position 2. Team A wins the rally and rotates. The Libero #3 goes directly to position 1 to serve. Team A’s #8 comes off the bench to position 4 and #10 leaves the court to the bench. Both regular players exchange through the Libero Replacement Zone.
Ruling: This is the proper procedure. According to USAV 19.3.2.1, the Libero does not have to leave the court, and there need not be a completed rally if s/he is replacing the player in position 1, and is the next correct server.
2. Team A’s Libero (#3) is on the court in position 5, having replaced #8. Team A has a second Libero (#14) who is on the bench. A Libero has not served in the set. #10 is in position 2. Team A wins the rally and rotates. Team A wants the second Libero (#14) to serve, so Libero #3 and regular player #8 exchange, and Libero #14 and regular player #10 exchange. Libero #14 is the next server for Team A.
Ruling: This is the proper procedure. A team with two designated Liberos may exchange Liberos freely, as long as the exchange takes place between completed rallies. Either Libero may serve, as long as it is in only one service rotation position.
3. Team A’s Libero #3 has served in rotation 1. In the same set, after winning a rally, Team A’s Libero #14 replaces the player in rotation 4 on the scoresheet. #14 goes to position 1 and prepares to serve.
Ruling: Even when there are two Liberos on a team, the Libero(s) can only serve in one position on the scoresheet. The Scorer and Assistant Scorer should wait until the Libero contacts the ball for service, and then notify the second referee that a rotation fault has occurred. The second referee should whistle to stop play, indicate a rotational fault, and the first referee should award the rally to Team B. If Libero #14 entered the game from the bench after there had been a completed rally, s/he may stay in the game. If Libero #14 was already on the court, or if there had not been a completed rally between the Libero replacements, the regular player and Libero #14 must exchange, with the regular player going back to position 1. There now must be a completed rally before Team A is allowed another Libero replacement.
4. Team A’s Libero, #3 serves three points. The Team A coach now wants their second Libero, #14 to serve during the same term of service.
Ruling: Per Rule 19.3.2.2 the Liberos are allowed to exchange after a completed rally at any time during the match, so there is no rule prohibiting this type of replacement. However, the match must not be delayed any longer than if the same player had stayed in the game to serve. If there is any delay longer than the normally allowed interval between serves, the replacement is allowed, however a delay sanction should be assessed.
5. Team A’s #1 rotates to position 1 to serve. The Team A Libero runs from the warm-up area, and #1 leaves the service zone directly to the warm-up area. The exchange takes place behind the end line.
Ruling: All Libero exchanges must take place in the Libero Replacement Zone, in order for the Scorer and Assistant Scorer to properly note the exchange. Team A is at risk of a delay sanction. Even if a delay sanction is assessed, the replacement, if otherwise legal, should be allowed.

Chris (Geeter) McGee is a former college player, an announcer for the AVP, and he is a co-director and 18s coach for Sports Shack Volleyball Club.  He has coached his 18s to a 5th place finish in the 2009 National Championship in the 18s Open division and to the Gold Medal in the 18s Open Division in 2010 and 2011.  He is also a cohost to the podcast The Net Live.  A caller to the show asked Chris “What mental strategies do you preach to your girls during the season and do you revisit them as the season goes on?”

His answer was:

“A lot of coaching is the technical part and the game part.  For me, my style  - a lot of it is the mental strategies, a lot of it is about the journey and the process.  Too much now in club sports and when kids are young - people are always wanting the end result so early.  They want to see the gold medal, they want to see the championships and they don’t remember that there is a process that goes into it, it is a growing and learning process.

I think personally, this is why I believe in it, this is why I preach it to my teams.  The season and the team you are on, it is what you make of it, and if it was easy and all rosy and perfect, then everyone would do it and it wouldn’t be that fun and you wouldn’t learn that much.

I think in a season you are always going to have some adversity, you are gonna have injuries, you’re gonna have sickness, you’re gonna have some kids who aren’t playing who are unhappy, you are going to go through some bad spells where maybe you are not playing well, all that, I think makes you better.  And how you handle that situation, that is what defines you at the end of the season.

I always use two years ago as an example, that team that won the gold medal in 2010 we ended up using a lineup at JOs (Junior National

Championships) that we had never used before.  We just had a thought that we needed to do something.  We went with it, played really well, we stuck with it for the next 6 matches.  So we kind of do that during the season.  We’ll throw different things out.  We’ll see how they respond, its almost like Phil Jackson type style of coaching, when sometimes he won’t call time out, he’ll maybe even lose a game because he wants to them to try and figure it out.  So you wanna see how the kids react. Maybe I’ll bring a kid in to serve in a pressure situation because I want to know if she can do it later in the year as well.  So I think those kinds of mental aspects of coaching are vital for a team’s success.

So we definitely preach that and teach it and the big words we use are “the process and the journey of being a team” because if you think you are going to come out in December and January in the club season and be great and win championships its just not going to happen that way.

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I hope everyone remembers that being on a club volleyball team is an eight month journey.  What we learn, what we teach, and the relationships we build and how we handle obstacles along the way are what is important.

For each individual in this club - playing volleyball is an even longer journey and a much more complex and involved process.  For some girls their journey may only last a few years.  For others it may last a lifetime.  So enjoy the journey, embrace the process of growing, learning and playing.  In the immortal words of Seals and Crofts - “We may never pass this way again.”  So enjoy it while we are here now.

I was working on the computer this evening while my kids were watching a Disney Movie called Akeelah and the Bee.  There was a moment in the movie where the protagonist is made to read a quote that was hanging on the wall.  Her tutor then asked her what the quote meant.  I liked the idea of behind the quote so I looked it up.  The quote was from

A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles by Marianne Williamson

Here is the entire quote that is a little longer than the edited version in the movie.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I wish every volleyball player in our club could learn this lesson - do not be afraid to be powerful, to be brave, to be dynamic.  Dare to excel, dare to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous.  As you dare to succeed you will find your team growing and succeeding with you.

The little girl in the movie’s description of what this quote meant was pretty straight to the point also - “Don’t be afraid.”  When asked what she should not be afraid of she answered “Me.”

This article is also saved in the volleyball articles section of this website.

I got an e-mail from a friend a while back that had this line in it:

“Last year ‘my daughter’ was on the “C” team.  They put her on “B” this year.  Hopefully, this means that the club league and the volleyball camp were worth it.”

That line got me wondering, when he says ‘worth it’, what does he mean?  What does he expect his daughter to get out of playing club volleyball and attending volleyball camps?  At what point does the time and money commitment for a kid to play club volleyball out weigh the advantages of playing club ball?

That got me to thinking about my own daughters playing volleyball.  That’s right I said daughters, plural.  I have one daughter playing high school and club volleyball and her younger sister who is just starting middle school volleyball and is thinking about club ball.  So I had to ask myself, what do I expect to get out of the time and money that my family is spending, or is going to spend, into them playing this sport?  What is ‘worth it’ to me?  What is worth it to my daughters?

I am a parent with a daughter(s) playing club volleyball; I am also a club/middle school coach and a club director.  My oldest daughter does not play for my volleyball club.  So while I expect parents to make a huge time and money commitment for their daughters to play on my club volleyball team.  I am also expected to make the same time and money commitment to my daughter’s volleyball club experience.

As a parent, ‘worth it’ means a lot to me.  I expect my daughter to improve her volleyball skills.  I expect her to improve her overall physical fitness.  But most of all, to me, ‘worth it’ means if she is exercising regularly in a manner that she enjoys, and she is so busy trying to keep up with volleyball practices, volleyball tournaments, and homework that she doesn’t have time to be getting into trouble.  Then it is ‘worth it’, regardless of the cost, regardless of where the sport takes her. 

Does my daughter have to be a starter on varsity, or on the ‘A’ team or the best volleyball player in town for club volleyball to be ‘worth it’?  In a word – No!  Would I like club volleyball to turn my daughter into a state champion or a super athlete who has college recruiters beating down our door?  Of course I would.  What parent doesn’t want that for their young volleyball player?  But that is not what I expect from club volleyball.  That is not why my daughter is playing.  My daughter is playing because she loves the game.  I am paying for her to play because I love that she loves the game.  But I also love that she is fit, she is healthy, and she is spending her free time doing something she loves.  She is hanging around with and forming friendships with like-minded peers and she is too busy to be bored and hence getting into trouble to alleviate that boredom.  As a parent that is what makes the time and money I commit to club volleyball ‘worth it’.

That is my parent answer to what is ‘worth it’.  As a volleyball coach and a club director, what should I tell parents to expect from their daughter’s club volleyball experience that will make it ‘worth it’ to them.

I always tell the club parents if you are here - thinking that playing club ball will get your daughter onto the high school team, or eventually onto a college team - then you are here for the wrong reasons.  A corollary to that statement is “Any club coach or director who tells you that they can get your daughter onto a certain team, or get them a chance to play in college or get them a scholarship.  Unless that coach or director is in charge of the program they are promising your daughter a chance to play on - they are lying to you.”  No one can honestly promise those things and expect to deliver.  There are too many factors involved in who makes what team, who gets scholarships, and who is successful and who is not, that are completely out of club coach’s or director’s control.

There is a lot that goes into a school coach picking a team.  Coaches have to evaluate a player’s athletic skills, their volleyball skills, their attitudes, their work ethic and their personality.  Trying to explain how coaches make those kinds of decisions would take volumes.  I will leave that up to someone else with much more experience than I, to write about it.

So if a parent and their child are not supposed to expect club volleyball to make their child an all-star, a varsity standout, or a college ready player, what should they expect from playing club volleyball?

You should expect to:

Work hard, play hard, sweat, hurt, ache, laugh, cry, be happy, be sad, and hopefully to have a lot of fun in the process.  You should expect to have days when you hate to go to practice and you should expect to have days when you can’t wait to get there. You should expect to win some volleyball games and you should be ready to lose some.

You should expect to learn new things.  You should expect to have to teach things to others (including your coach).  You should be open to new ideas and to adopting new things and making them comfortable old habits.

You should expect to jump, hop, leap, dive, roll, slide, skid, run, skip, shuffle, sprint, crouch, spike, slam, tip, dink, pass, set, serve, shank, miss, hit, block, bump, crash, lift, shove, push, pull, weave, wobble, topple, stagger, swagger, accept, reject, laugh, cry, boast, brag, apologize, agonize, celebrate, commiserate, rejoice, revel, rebel, talk, hug, glare, grin, smile, sneer, talk, shout, yell, groan and grimace.

If you try to do all those things, you will learn how to be a better volleyball player.  You will learn how to be a better teammate. You will learn how to win, how to lose, how to fail and how to succeed at a lot more than just volleyball.

You will make new friends.  You will make new enemies.  You will learn how to deal with both.  And if you are lucky, and you are paying attention, you might just get to know yourself a little bit better.

And after all that, you might, if countless different factors all come together just right, you might get a chance to play volleyball in high school and/or maybe even in college or beyond.  But club volleyball can’t promise you that.  It can only promise you the opportunity to try and the opportunity to play.  Where those opportunities take you and what you get out of it – is up to you.