Individual Defense: Little Things that Make Big Things Happen

with Ryan McGuyre,
Baylor University Head Women's Volleyball Coach;
2019 USMC/AVCA Div. I National Coach of the Year;
2019 Final Four;
2x Big 12 Coach of the Year (2017, 2019);
Big 12 Champions (first time in school history!);
former Cal Baptist University Men's & Women's Head Coach;
9x National Champions; NCCAA Division I National Coach of the Year (2011);
Named AVCA's Men's & Women's NAIA National Coach of the Year in the same year (2010)

Baylor University head coach Ryan McGuyre is one of the rising stars in volleyball coaching circles. He won nine national championships at Cal Baptist University before taking over at Baylor and becoming the Bears' fastest coach to ever record 100 career wins. In this video, Coach McGuyre lays out the traits and training methods needed to create superb individual defenders. You'll see how to shape your players' attitudes and movements to make your team defense better than it's ever been before.

First Trait of a Great Defender: Attitude

Coach McGuyre begins by mentioning he instructs his players to utilize the "Jag Stance" while on the court. Jag Stance, of course, meaning getting after balls like someone chasing the keys to a new Jaguar! McGuyre wants athletes to have the mentality of "I WILL GET THIS BALL" all the time in order to play their best on defense.

You'll discover base techniques that will allow your players to move around the court more aggressively. These include:

• Staggering feet
• Keeping legs shoulder width apart
• Arms out in front to ensure minimal up/down movement
• Maintaining fast hands

It's important to understand that the things you praise in practice as a coach are the things that will be repeated by your players in games. McGuyre's knowledge and guidance in this section will ensure your team is better prepared to kick off your season with a hot stretch.

Second Trait of a Great Defender: Movement

Once your defenders have a great attitude and base stance, you can begin to work on their movements. McGuyre prefers that his players:

• Keep a forward head position throughout the step so it's easier to work left, right, and forward
• Utilize a step to dig move to quickly get to the ball and generate a great platform to dig the ball
• Learn a sprawl move that takes the step to dig move to the next level by keeping their knee to the outside while sprawling
• Use pancakes in emergency situations by allowing gravity to do the work

An effective way to train these moves is through partner tosses, which can be used to simulate every left, right, front and back action on the court. Coach McGuyre also details how to execute an overhand dig, which requires starting with high hands so players are ready to get into the proper position quickly.

Live Defense: Handling Dig Progressions

A great way to build progressions into your practice plan is to utilize a catch and throw technique so that your players keep moving the ball, working on foot speed, The platform dig progression allows for players to get immediate feedback as the ball travels toward the passing target. Random passing assignments will keep your players on their toes so they cannot prepare for the incoming passing assignment.

What makes this video exceptional is the knowledge of Coach McGuyre and how he teaches these defensive concepts to his skilled group of players. The techniques demonstrated in this video can be duplicated by any club coach, high school or college team and will make your players better individual defenders, which will benefit your program overall!

56 minutes. 2020.