In Episode 14, Chuck and Brian met up with TNT 14U National Coach Sam Moyerman to discuss the value of statistics in volleyball and suggestions for proper use of them within the concept of a team.

Given that there are many different opinions about stats, Sam presents a lot of valuable information about which are most important and how they should be valued by coaches, players, and parents. The need to balance the coach's “eye-test” with what statistics say was an interesting aspect of the discussion, too.

In segment one, we meet Sam, hear some about his coaching background, and he shares his thoughts about the benefits of stats as part of his coaching, those which relate most to each position, and team stats he feels are most important.

For segment two, the guys continue the discussion of the importance of using stats to help make decisions, plan practices, instruct players, and the value of them for parents, too.

Segment three features discussion about the stats that are correlated to winning vs. losing, including some potential surprises, tools available for recording and analyzing stats, and the episode ends with some stat-related questions from our friends at volleyball moms before a brief wrap-up.

Timeline:

1:17 Meet Coach Sam

4:00 Sam’s coaching philosophy, reflections on some past coaching experiences, and discussion of goals for 14 National for the coming season

10:00 Benefits of using stats … what to focus on stats-wise as a coach, using the stats as well as the eye-test to make informed judgements, and those most important to a team and for each individual position

18:30 The role of stats in determining a team’s approach to serving

22:22 Using statistical data to help plan more effective practices

26:13 Sharing stats with players and how to use them to help explain coaching decisions and set goals for player and team improvement

30:25 Benefits for parents being aware of the objective nature of statistics and understanding them so that they can support their player off the court and engage in positive discussions about player performance vs. negative ones

35:48 Stats that are the most important in terms of college recruiting

39:38 Thoughts on coaches who are reluctant to use statistics as part of their process, relying solely on the eye-test instead and the dangers of doing so

43:20 How the importance of some stats changes at various age levels

47:30 How stats are perhaps underutilized in certain situations

50:00 Significant numbers and thresholds that correlate to winning in relation to certain stats

53:35 Stats that surprisingly do not have as much correlation to winning as one might think

61:00 Tools that are available for those interested in collecting and using stats

67:00 Stat-related questions from Volleyball Moms

75:47 Wrap-Up