Volleyball Coaching Wizards: Insights and Experience from Some of the World's Great Coaches

Book Synopsis: Eight master volleyball coaches with experience covering all levels, both genders, all over the world, indoors and on the sand. Their experience, insights, and expertise all in one place, just waiting for you to make them part of your own coaching!

• Carl McGown: Renown for his 40+ years of work with the USA Men’s National Team, the BYU men's college team, and being a promoter of the idea of specificity in volleyball training.
• Giovanni Guidetti: 2016 Olympic coach for the Dutch Women’s National Team and for Turkish professional club Vakifbank. Winner of two CEV Champions Leagues and an FIVB World Club Championship.
• Ruth Nelson: AVCA Hall of Fame inductee with over 500 NCAA Division I victories alongside coaching at the national team level and in professional volleyball. Now dedicates her time to players under 10.
• Jefferson Williams: Winner of nearly 60 league and cup titles in the UK. Coached at the national team level for both England and Team GB.
• Teri Clemens: Won 7 NCAA Division III national championships in 14 years, including 6 in a row. Also won three straight state championships as a high school coach before moving to college volleyball.
• Garth Pischke: The winningest men’s collegiate volleyball coach in North American with nearly 1300 victories in Canada, including 9 national titles and 9 runner-up finishes.
• Tom Turco: Winner of 17 state high school championships, including a 110 match winning streak. Twice selected National Coach of the Year.
• Craig Marshall: Australian National Team beach coach for three Olympics. Nearly 20 years coaching on the international professional beach tour.

You may know a few of these coaches, at least by reputation. Chances are there are some you've never heard of at all, though. The thing they share is lots of of success in their particular volleyball arena, or in some cases across multiple arenas. They each have things they can share with you about how they got to where they are, including mistakes they've made along the way.

What is Volleyball Coaching Wizards?

The Volleyball Coaching Wizards project is about identifying great coaches from all categories of volleyball and making their experience, insights, and expertise available to people all over the world. We interview coaches from across the globe, all age groups, both genders, all competitive levels, indoor and beach. They share with us their philosophies, their thought processes, and their methodologies. We then share that with you.

This is not about drills and games. There are other great places to get that type of material.

Instead, Volleyball Coaching Wizards is about the thinking that surrounds the technical and tactical side of things. It's about letting you see what great volleyball coaches have in common, and where they differ despite all having great success over their career.

There are two main goals of the Wizards project. One is to provide information and inspiration to volleyball coaches everywhere. The other is to help develop a real volleyball coaching literature, one which matches what can be found in other sports.

About the Authors

John Forman is the author of the well-respected coachingvb.com blog. His coaching experience includes Juniors and high school, college and university in the US and U.K., professional coaching in Sweden, and work as a visiting coach in Germany.

Mark Lebedew is currently the Australian Men’s National Team Coach and coaches professionally in Poland. He previously coached five seasons in Germany where his teams won three straight league championships and a CEV Champions League bronze medal.