Volleyball Coaching Bible, Volume II, The

This is the second Volleyball Coaching Bible. Unlike the first one, the emphasis of this book is on the more advanced aspects of coaching. Basic skills and concepts of indoor volleyball play had been covered earlier in Volleyball Coaching Bible I. The four main areas of coverage are: Coaching priorities, Program Building and Management, Positional Training Strategies, and Match Preparation and Strategies. The segregation of subjects is rational and welcomed, as the audience for this book is the advanced beginner to intermediate level coaches. Their knowledge of the game is more advanced and their initial obsession with drill collecting and command and control of the team has subsided. their focus now turns to some more complex and show more involved topics. The lead off chapter by John Kessel is an excellent way to motivate the coaches. It gives a short history of the sport and it gives the reader a very unique and refreshing view of coaching. The chapter is full of ideas on how to get around limitations, both in terms of resources and in terms of physical space.

One excellent characteristic of both Volleyball Coaching Bibles is that the authors are all experienced and credentialed practitioners in the subject that they are speaking to. Chris Catanach, Randy Dagostino, Charlie Sullivan, Shelton Collier, Bill Neville, Salima Rockwell, et. al. are all veteran coaches and administrators well experienced in their respective topic areas.

The problem that I had, and the only reason that I did not give the book a five star rating , it that even though the topics are well chosen, each topic constitute wells of significant depth, some are deeper than others but each topic is capable of generating a book by itself. It is very difficult to adequately discuss and inform the audience on every nuance and subtlety associated with every topic. For example, there are already books written on mindsets and on deliberate practices, a short chapter does not do justice to the depth and breadth of some topics. In a manner of speaking, the authors were attempting to facilitate the reader in their task to drink from a fire hydrant: it was an impossibility.

Yet, for as impossible a task as the authors were given, the book does introduce the topic to the reader. I hope that the reader is motivated to continue their education beyond this important but incomplete compendium of chapters, to further their coaching education by researching and reading further about some of these topics.

In the end, this is a valuable and well intended tome of great amount of coaching knowledge. show less

Received a copy in exchange for honest review.

I began reading this book with absolute zero knowledge about the sport. However, The Volleyball Coaching Bible was quick to make an impression on me, especially since the pages are filled with so much detail and pratical information from knowledgeable coaches of the AVCA, from team formation to statistics. Though in general the book is great, it has one major mistake: this should be made into a specific book of volleyball tactics, not short chapters on different subjects since I thought it was not definite enough, personally.

It has been a long time, since I played volleyball for CCS Hillsdale High School, previously at middle school, but an enjoyment I still appreciate. This bible, manual, coaching book, reference, first hand accounting is quite friendly and easy to read and access. it is result driven, both for win and loss, encouraging all levels to play, and fostering a good will amongst players, coaches, parents, and fans. A refreshing look back and forth to rules, regulations, fundamentals, that apply to life as well as to sport.
"The word coach comes from the term, "carriage", a vehicle used to carry valuable people from where they were to where they wanted to be." "For the younger players, the Brazilians have a great statement: Your first coach should show more be the game."
The book is written and divided into sections, each subject, topic, addressed by volleyball pros, specialized by their field of expertise, and it forms a nice networking and following. Thank you very much to Human Kinetics, for sharing this knowledge. show less

I requested this book because I thought it might be useful for my college bound volleyball player. We both agree that it is interesting and covers a wide range of topics by some excellent coaches, and we wish we had access to Volume 1 to see what might have been previously addressed. There were lots of practical suggestions but like other reviewers, I felt some of the chapters could have been much longer, and we would like to have seen more on Beach Volleyball Doubles, which is in its first year as an NCAA sport. Overall, a valuable resource for parents, players, coaches and fans of volleyball.

Well shoot I thought I had reviewed this already, but I guess not.

As far as a volleyball book goes this had a lot of information for volleyball players and coaches. It really didn't helpe me as I had hoped for but the information provided seemed pretty through and organized.

Fantastic book! It taught me everything I need to know about the basics of volleyball and coaching the sport.