Things I've Learned Coaching Volleyball

I've done something like this before, but as we approach the end of pre-season, I thought I should remind myself:

1. You don't win as an individual in a team sport.  The team wins and everyone is part of that.
2. Much like theater, there are no small roles--only small people.  The player who succeeds in very specific circumstances is just as important as the player in for six rotations.  Strive for a bigger part, but take care of business for the sake of the team.
3. Sports are better when you are having fun.
4. Coaches need to be grateful for what they have--for D-1 coaches complaining about flying commercial, remember me sitting on a charter bus...and I haven't forgotten the D-3 coaches driving vans OR the high school teams on school buses with no leg room and no A/C on 90-degree days.
5. Young people learn better by doing, not just standing and being lectured.  I need to continue to teach using different ways.
6. In a successful season, I learn as much from my players as they learn from me.
7. This year I've already learned that I *can* change.  It's hard breaking habits, but it's not bad or wrong to do so.
8. For every coach out there who is win-at-all-costs and willing to cut corners, there are a dozen doing it for the right reasons, maybe more.
9. Volleyball is a game.  It can help teach life lessons, but it is not life. 
10. Stand behind a cart if throwing/hitting balls that will be hit back hard...safety tip #54 right there.
11. It is possible to work, get a ton of stuff done, AND have fun at the same time.  Done wrong, you can work, not have fun, and not accomplish anything.
12. You win with people.  You can have a ton of talent, but if the talent won't work, won't be a team...you won't win.
13. I'm not going to be a billionaire this lifetime.
14. I need more confidence.  I need to realize I'm actually semi-competent as a coach...that I have//can/will make a difference to people.  It won't change the world drastically, but in time...oh yes, in time....
15. The players I've had trouble with inevitably have troublesome parents.
16. At crunch time, I didn't compromise my ethics/integrity--not at Satan's School for Girls and Boys and not in building LLCC's program.  Programs can have success with integrity--it doesn't need to be one or the other.

http://www.championshipproductions.com/cgi-bin/champ/p/Performance-Training/The-Human-Side-of-Coaching_GB-00939.html  --Call me biased, but I think this is a great book for coaches written by me (see? Now you get my bias).  Don't expect magic drills...this is about working with parents and administrators, using teaching theory (even if you aren't a teacher) to improve training, and even how to work with multi-sport athletes.  Most important--it's easy to read!