Brainiac Ben: Josephson's Coaching Style in Austin

Associate Head Coach Ben Josephson arrived in Austin about a month ago, and he has wasted no time getting involved and implementing his coaching style in the Texas gym. He brings with him not only a wealth of experience from Kentucky and Trinity Western, but some very intentional, research-based strategies for making improvements in performance.

One of these strategies is called a constraints-led approach. Ever since his arrival, the team has practiced more mini-game drills that don't exactly emulate the game of volleyball and have very specific but impactful rule changes. For example, the players might compete in a 3-on-3 drill where the third contact must take place from out of bounds. Or, they may have a choice to attack under the net on the 2nd contact or over the net on the 3rd contact. Or they may only be allowed to use their non-dominant hand. With each rule change, it forces the players to think about the game differently and strategize based on the new rules. You can see the learning curve over the first few minutes of the drill as the players catch on to an optimal strategy. And this is exactly the point.

According to Josephson, volleyball is all about problem solving. Say you're an OH who's been set an out-of-system ball in a tough spot with limited options. How can you do something positive? Josephson says that "Playing volleyball and being good at volleyball are two different things. So if we can get better at playing the game, not just being good at the skills, I think that's an opportunity to continue to push this group a little higher." That's the intent of these drills; to not only get better at the skills of volleyball but at the game of volleyball. To train players that are not just talented, but who are high-IQ problem solvers.

Another strategy he refers to as training with nature. The central idea behind this is that the more things you do that are abnormal, the harder they are to learn and repeat. Specifically, this often applies to mechanics. One piece of advice Josephson gives to his setters Ella Swindle and Rella Binney is to "just look cooler." Now, he doesn't actually care whether his setters "look cool," but the advice helps them be more natural, flowy, and athletic. He noted that "Our players are so technically efficient that if they could be a little bit more flowy and athletic and cool-looking, all of that technique just gets maximized."

His goal is to create good mechanics without making them feel mechanical. It's all about steering players towards what they're naturally good at, not making any big changes that bog them down or make them overthink. "Everything that we're doing mechanically is trying to free them up to maximize what they already have."

In his implementation of these strategies, he's always quick with an analogy. For example, he has used comparisons to a Super Bowl party and Mount Everest base camps to explain defensive positioning concepts. When asked the reasoning behind this, he got philosophical: "The history of the Earth was passed down in story, not in written form... The brain doesn't remember details specifically, but it can remember stories, pictures."

These 'stories' are designed to help players learn these coaching concepts more efficiently. Rather than thinking "I need to stand here," it's a lot easier for a player to think "I need to be at base camp #1." This is another benefit to the analogies: communication becomes more efficient. Instead of a coach explaining where a player should be every time, they can refer to these pre-known locations. Additionally, these analogies can enhance team culture. They enable the staff to keep things light, with more story-based and joke-based instruction rather than pure details, which allows for more real conversations, and allows the team to connect about things outside of volleyball.

So Josephson has certainly made his presence known in the first month of work. He has basically owned the auxiliary court in the practice gym, using it to implement some upgrades for every position group. But he sees his contribution more as building on preexisting layers than making any major changes to the program. In true Ben Josephson fashion, he used an analogy to explain. After the Super Bowl, someone walks with the Vince Lombardi up to the stage, and all the players reach out and touch or even kiss the trophy as it passes them by. Josephson imagines himself as just one of these players reaching out. "The program is already special. I just want to make sure that it feels my fingerprints on it."

And by all accounts, the existing coaching staff has made it easy for Josephson to do so. "What I love about Jerritt and David and Reily is how open to collaboration they've been. I don't feel like I have to be quiet and wait my turn... It's a really easy collaboration process with the staff. I think all great staffs have that, I'm just a little surprised how fast we got to it." Josephson will continue to bring his positive attitude, infectious energy, and surely some more analogies along his way towards making Texas Volleyball better every day.