It's Not How Fast You Can Do It, It's How Slow You Can Do It Correctly

Whenever I plan a practice, I always prioritize speed and efficiency. I aim to maximize our time so that we can squeeze even more reps out of our allotted time. After a few practices, my athletes get the hang of this accelerated tempo and come to crave that speed. The downside is that sometimes my athletes "get sloppy" on the fundamentals like serve receive, defense, and blocking footwork.

That is why I tell them, whenever I slow something down it is because it is extremely important. When I say slow it down, I don't mean "everyone bring it in and let's talk about this for 10 minutes". I mean, slow the actual skill down. Like way way down.

To use an alternative sport metaphor, you can imagine a golfer practicing their swing in slow motion. In volleyball, I like to mix in 10-15 minutes of my athletes performing their approach jumps, passing platform, top spin serves, and block moves in complete slow motion.

Why? Because it allows my athletes to focus on precision. Daniel Coyle says, "Super-slow practice works like a magnifying glass: It lets us sense our errors more clearly, and thus fix them."

Ask your athletes to try jump serving in slow motion (without a ball) and see how much variation there is in there mechanics. Provide feedback along the way, but also provide your athletes the freedom to explore their movements and identify things that need changing.