Tough Times..

Today I had volleyball practice with the team I coach for at Cincy Classics. I felt like today was a struggle. The girls could not focus, get motivated, they kept complaining, and they kept saying,"but, I can't..." I knew from the beginning that the practice wasn't going to be good when one of them said, "can today be an easy practice?" I knew it was going to be all downhill from there. This as a coach is a worst nightmare. I was so frustrated, but I knew I couldn't let them know I was. So, i expressed my self, but did not yell. Yelling won't help at this age. You have to tell them sternly, and try to relate to them.
I came into practice with a good and productive practice plan. I knew what we needed to work on, but based on their attitudes i had to change it up a little bit. I gave them more team oriented drills because more skill based drills weren't working. As they were doing team drills they started to play better and talk more. This was actually good. They were being productive, focousing, communicating, and working together. They are a tougher group of girls to work with than the girls I had last year. The girls I had laast year would jump when I said jump and run when i said run, but with these girls they always have something to say before they do something. I need to break them of this fast. It's just a matter of finding how. Hmmm..