Prepare for total domination: The Volleyball Swing Offense

My volleyball team had their first real scrimmage last night, and they kicked ass. This year so far has been kind of an experiment because I decided we were going to run what's known as a "swing" offense. This is a big deal because it changes a ton of different things about the game.

The basic premise of the offense is that your hitters all approach from the middle of the court, and with that arrangement, can hit anywhere on the net at any time. The big advantage here is that you throw off the blockers and can match your strongest hitter with their weakest blocker.

To say the girls were skeptical of this is an understatement. They wanted to keep doing what they were used to: Set high and hit the ball as hard as you can. Well, as I told them, that wasn't going to get the job done at a 17 open level. Sure enough, they tried it on their own, and either got stuffed or had blockers touch the ball every time.

And what a difference it made when they ran the swing plays. The blockers would get a touch on the ball, but there was generally only one blocker, if any at all. Most importantly though, there was no outright blocking of our attacks.

At this point, they might still be a little skeptical, but they're also believers more than before. It also makes me feel vindicated, because it means my little experiment (not to mention my ability to coach an offense I've never done myself) works.

I'm very proud of my girls. They're positive, powerful and setting themselves up for success. I can't wait to see how the season goes!