When is the Best Time to Fix a Problem and Improve Your Game?
By Dave Taylor, Coach and Technical Skills Instructor

A common question parents ask me, "Coach Dave, my daughter needs help with <setting, spiking, serving, etc.>, when should we schedule a lesson with you to work on it?" Usually I just chuckle and say, "Whenever she's ready!"

Fact. Most athletes won't improve or change their skill until they see a problem. Their best recognition method comes right after the season starts and they are constantly watching their teammates from the bench. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to correct bad habits at that point. Coaches are playing those players they feel have the best game.

Fact. A player has to be determined, committed and willing to work extra hard to fix a problem and improve her game. Often times a player may think it is her swing that is the problem when it may be her footwork. This is where a technical skills instructor can lend their expertise and direct the player to fix the problem and in time improve her game. 

Perhaps a story about one of my very own experiences is the best way for me to explain. Back in 2006, I attended a coaching clinic taught by Carl McGowan, a renowned Olympic volleyball coach with a few gold medals to his credit. His coaching clinics are based on classroom work first, followed by an on-court show and tell. This day it was ‘spiking’ and from the classroom we headed straight for the gym where Carl asked me to show everyone my spike.  

On the court, I stepped into position with forty high school, college and club coaches gathered around to watch me demonstrate the approach and kill. After a beautiful set, I slammed the ball down close to the 10 foot line, and if I should say so myself, it looked pretty awesome. 

Well just about that time, Coach McGowan addressed the class with the question, “What did Dave do wrong?"   I’m thinking to myself, “Wrong?  What was he thinking?”  I’m still thinking it was textbook and I probably would have left a mark on the defender’s face had there been one. Many of the other coaches agreed and couldn’t identify anything incorrect in my spike. 

Next, Coach McGowan asked the class to watch closely a second time as he responded with the comment “Dave is goofy foot."  I proceeded to spike the next ball just as I had before and this time the class responded with "Ohhhh!"  While I had heard that term used before, I was not exactly sure what it meant. Sure enough, my footwork was all wrong. 

As you might imagine with all my years of playing volleyball, this was a traumatic and humbling experience to say the least. I went home determined to fix it. But there was this challenge in that the harder I tried, the worse I seemed to play. I practiced my footwork over and over in my backyard but it never seemed to translate very well on the court.  Too much action, too much pressure to play well, too many peers watching me hit the ball into the net or out of bounds. Finally, after several months of working on it, I was thinking I was destined to be goofy footed. 

A month later into the season, I discovered that I was doing it the right way and it was working. I had realized that I just needed to get my brain out of the way and let muscle memory take care of the rest, just like coaches and instructors had said before.  I can’t even demonstrate the "goofy foot" way today, it feels so awkward.

As a player that has had personal experience with fixing a bad habit and as a technical skills instructor that has worked with hundreds of students to fix problems and improve their game, I would say the best time to fix a bad habit is during the off-season.  Below are a couple of reasons for my response.

During the season is too late. Playing time is critical to an athletes’ development. Practice time is helpful, but practicing a bad habit limits your potential.

Peer pressure makes you want to perform well in front of others. Fixing a bad habit or learning a new skill with an element of failure at the beginning is difficult in front of an audience and can result in loss of confidence.

Coaches are watching players with a critical eye. An athlete will be tempted to return back to the old way to avoid the anxiety. It's extremely common for athletes to choose this rather than face a disapproving look from their coach.

Reality is that when correcting a problem, your game gets worse before showing improvement.  Adjusting to new timing, new footwork, and new muscle memory all takes time. It requires a process of ‘unlearning’ the old and ‘relearn’ the new. 

Now is an athlete’s best time to improve and prepare for upcoming team and club tryouts. The off-season window is short for high performing athletes with High School season starting Aug 2nd and Middle School season starting Aug 24.  For most, the school season ends by November and three weeks later the Club season starts and ends three months later in May. That calculates to roughly a 3 month off-season that started a couple of weeks ago.