Completely happy New 12 months as soon as once more!
Right here’s my annual overview of the yr passed by and sit up for the yr forward.
Job
I’m now about 19 months into my function with Volleyball England as Strategic Supervisor for Expertise. In different phrases, overseer of all issues associated to the England nationwide groups – Indoor and Seaside. After spending most of 2023 creating the overarching imaginative and prescient and 5-year plan, 2024 was rather more about implementation. The three foremost areas of focus are improved teaching, extra/higher competitors, and an upgraded athlete expertise.
There isn’t the area right here to speak about every little thing that’s gone on in these areas during the last 12 months. What I can say is that a lot of the work has been aimed toward constructing foundations and transitioning to new methods of working. Some areas have seen important adjustments already. Others not as a lot but, however with plans creating.
The opposite a part of what I do at VE is act as Indoor Efficiency Director (we even have somebody who covers Seaside). For those who’ve adopted my log entries, you’ll have a way of what I’ve carried out at Volleyball England in that function. A number of working of planning and working camps!
Journey & Training
My one actual journey occasion of 2023 was going to Lisbon to spend a couple of week with the membership Benfica. My contact with the workers there goes again to 2020 (additional again for a minimum of one coach). It was my first journey to Portugal. Other than practically going blind on a sunny day close to the seaside (stupidly forgot my sun shades that day), it was completely pleasant.
I did have it in thoughts to attend the AVCA Conference. They didn’t choose the session I proposed to ship with the VE Seaside Efficiency Director, although, so it by no means occurred.
An enormous developmental piece for me in 2023 was beginning to use AI in a significant approach. That’s one thing I additional progressed in 2024. I’m not going to assert to have it mastered, or something like that. It has develop into a really useful gizmo for me, nonetheless.
On the guide entrance, there have been a couple of fairly good titles on my checklist final yr. One was The Tradition System by JP Nerbun. One other was Studying To Be an “Ecological” Coach by Rob Grey. And whereas I primarily consumed Developmental To Division I: Power And Conditioning For The Volleyball Athlete by Missy Mitchell-McBeth for functions apart from my very own schooling, I undoubtedly picked up some new information doing so.
I additionally listened to The Rating Takes Care of Itself and The Management Secrets and techniques of Nick Sabin. Whereas I didn’t get round to posting opinions about them, each had been good teaching views – particularly, I believe, by way of a coach’s private improvement and development.
Content material
There have been 57 new posts to the weblog final yr. That’s down a bit from 2023, however I made up for the lowered weblog output elsewhere.
My new school volleyball recruiting guide is one main supply of separate content material. I printed that within the Summer time. It additionally represents my first foray into audiobooks. Admittedly, I imply AI narrated moderately than me doing it or having another person achieve this. Nonetheless, it’s one other technique to get content material to folks in a approach they wish to eat it.
I additionally took on two new programs final hear. One was a redevelopment of a previous course on follow planning. The opposite was a brand new one on managing issues round matches. That got here out of survey outcomes indicating it was one thing folks needed to get higher at.
Lastly, I dipped again into the NCAA information for a brand new report. This one seems on the change in ball-handling errors after the rule change to largely remove double calls on 2nd contact.
Web site site visitors
The location hit 3 million lifetime web page views in early December. General, although, it was a down yr for site visitors. By fairly a bit.
For the yr as a complete, 2024 web page views had been down about 20% from 2023. Each month noticed much less site visitors than it did the yr earlier than, with March being the one one the place the drop was lower than 10%.
Dig in to the numbers and also you’ll discover that it’s a fall off in site visitors from social media that’s the distinction. Guests coming from search (Google, and so forth.) – which has all the time been the one largest a part of site visitors to the positioning – had been mainly flat. Guests from social media – the #2 supply – had been down higher than 40% in 2024 in comparison with 2023, although the engagement ranges of those that did come to the positioning had been up by about 70%.
That is very attention-grabbing as a result of the Teaching Volleyball group on Fb, grew by one thing like 50% final yr, hitting over 108,000 members. You’d assume that will assist elevate site visitors to the weblog, particularly since I share content material there. Not a lot apparently. I’ll converse to this extra beneath.
Anyway, listed below are final yr’s most considered posts.
- Volleyball Set Diagram
- Volleyball Strive-Out Drill Concepts
- The right way to train the overhand serve to volleyball newbies
- Whose ball? Seam duties
- Volleyball hitter protection technique
- Pin hitter in volleyball – what’s it?
- Ice-breaking and bonding video games
- Placing collectively a beginning line-up
- Volleyball tryouts for highschool groups – some concepts
- Organising your beginning rotation: 5-1
And right here is the place readers come from.
The highest 5 international locations remained the identical from 2023, although guests from Canada had been up about 13% and Australians up about 8%, whereas the others had been down.
What’s notable is Poland at #6 when it wasn’t even on the checklist in 2023. Germany and India are each carryovers, however dropped down a notch and swapped locations. Sweden is the opposite new arrival for 2024, with France and Italy the 2 international locations bumped out.
Looking forward to the brand new yr
The massive factor on my checklist for 2025 is to get a brand new membership neighborhood launched and working. The framework is in place. Simply must put some ending touches on issues earlier than it’s able to go.
This neighborhood concept has been on my thoughts for some time. Seeing simply how a lot of a stranglehold the Fb algorithm has on what the Teaching Volleyball group sees, although, actually pushed it from a doubtlessly attention-grabbing idea to one thing I must do.
As I write this, I’m wanting on the final 28 days of posts to the group. There are 117. Of that 117, solely 7 obtained views in extra of 10% of the group’s members. A publish with 114 feedback and 129 reactions was seen by fewer than 5% of members! That’s simply not proper.
So I wish to construct one thing the place there’s no system deciding who will get to see what. One which organizes content material and discussions higher. And in addition one the place members can have extra of a say in how issues work.
Search for extra on this within the weeks to return.
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