How We Practice
(What you can expect …)- Become STRONGER MENTALLY
- Increase your VOLLEYBALL IQ
- Benefit from the LATEST TECHIQUE TRENDS
- Have the MOST FUN you can imagine
- Get a COMPETITIVE EDGE over other good players
Please keep in mind: our training does not replace your sessions with your team at your club! We offer you a great opportunity to work hard once a week on the things that are likely to be neglected in club training. We take great care of YOU because we don’t have to find a starting six for the next competition. Here, we have all the time in the world to help EVERY player progress.
Find out HOW we make you a better Volleyball player:
Specificity Rules!
“The game teaches the game best,” they say. And it’s true. We’ve known since the 1960s how best to learn movements (motor skills): by playing the game you want to play!
We don’t want to bore you with nerdy technical knowledge, but Franklin M. Henry, a long-time professor of physical education at UC Berkeley (USA), emphasized this for the first time in 1958: “Skills and movements are closely related to the task and are not transferable.” He called this the principle of specificity.
In plain language: if you play Volleyball back and forth with a partner, that’s exactly what you’re practicing. You’re well on your way to becoming a world champion at “Pepper“. Unfortunately, however, what you “learn” in the process is almost impossible to transfer to a real Volleyball game.
This is because Volleyball is played over a net, and you almost never have to return the ball to where it came from. Volleyball is practically played in a triangle.
And as strange as it may sound, the weight of scientific evidence indicates that the specificity hypothesis may be as close to a law as any principle in motor learning science: we can only learn movements well in their complete context. Pepper will not help you become a better Volleyball player.
Train Ugly!
But that’s just one example. We’ve given it to you here so that you understand that we train using scientific methods, constantly questioning and improving ourselves.
That’s why at THE FORGE, we train almost exclusively in „drills” that replicate the entire sport, helping you to improve in the long term.
BUT: be prepared for the fact that this will always be a real mental challenge for you. “Train ugly” is our motto. If you look good in a training session, you probably haven’t learned anything. We will challenge you, and your reward will be great!
And there’s one more thing that’s important to us! We want you to understand why we do things the way we do. Ask us questions and keep asking until you understand. Because that will make you really good! Why? Because “the player who knows why beats the player who knows how”.
That all may sound confusing at first, but we’ll talk about it in the gym.
Training Principles we Adhere to
1. We use the entire practice time to work with the ball
Players who have been active during the day do not need to warm up without the ball. From U18 onwards, experience has shown that activity levels decline, and we recommend a 10-minute warm-up.
All players who want (or need) to warm up without the ball should do so on their own before training. Ask us if you need any suggestions.
From the first minute of official training, we work with the ball and over the net.
2. Everyone (up to a maximum of 12 participants) is active at the same time
There are no lines to wait in for your next activity.
3. Skill training never takes place in isolation
For example, when we work on attacking, the attacker never stands in the optimal position ready to approach.
They always have at least one action to complete beforehand (as in real Volleyball). Here: block and find the best starting position, or play defense and find the best starting position, or receive and find the best starting position.
Why do we do this? See the comments on specificity above.
4. We encourage conscious decisions
Many players, when asked why they chose this action (for example, play defense instead of blocking), do not know the answer.
We encourage conscious decisions. Volleyball is a sequence of if-then situations. Here, the right “then” is crucial.
5. We encourage personal responsibility.
Far too often, players blame their teammates for their own failed actions.
Example: “If the set is so bad, I can’t score.”
This is wrong and also hinders the entire training group.
That is why we encourage and demand personal responsibility. This creates maximum enthusiasm and developmental potential.
We Train at International Net Heights
The Cyprus Volleyball Federation has decided to set the net very high in the various age groups.
Internationally, the net is set much lower. We use the official international net heights in all our practice groups.
Why? Because it is almost impossible for players of normal height to learn how to attack and block at the Cypriot net heights. In the U14 in particular, hardly any players can operate above the top of the net.
To put it bluntly, the potential development of players is set back by years, especially in the skills of attacking and blocking, but also in defense (where the balls hit less hard).
However, we want to develop and promote these important skills right from the start.
Here are the net heights we work with: