The VolleyNerd Podcast

Great talk with Coach Alex Haapamaki from Sweden! He explains how a mentor can help athletes transfer skills from practice to the game and how to help athletes develop their own inner coach. Also we discuss why science is a great starting point, but not an end point when it comes to training in your particular environment. Such interesting views from a coach who is getting it done his own way!

Top club coach Luis Cuatok examines how to make goal setting more powerful and effective, even through the middle of the season and all the tough parts! We explore why makes his process so meaningful and how coaches can use it for themselves.

Coach Hawke has a unique viewpoint on how to motivate players that includes essentially no physical punishment whatsoever. On this episode we talk about how coaches can get more out of our players by taking more of a collaborative approach and by taking a few steps back to really determine what motivates us. This one’s a very thought provoking episode that will be sure to make any coach think about how we approach discipline, inspiration, and interpersonal dynamics.

A coach’s unique coaching style is critical to his/her success, but developing our own style and making it work can be challenging. Steve Greene has a unique, player-centered style and has been highly successful despite being an “army of one”. This insightful talk focuses on how he developed his coaching style, how he does things differently, and how more coaches can be themselves in order to be more successful.

Mental training is so key for high-performing athletes and even younger athletes to make the most out of their sport! Highly successful Coach Ariel Haas has had The ability to put into practice some of the most affective mental training techniques with his teams with a lot of improvement and growth shown from his athletes. In this show he goes through how you can start and thrive with mental training.

Legendary American volleyball coach, marketer, leader, and mentor, Terry Liskevych has done nearly everything in the sport of volleyball and he still wants to help make it better! The Founder of the Art of Coaching, Coach Liskevych joins us to talk about where volleyball should go next in order to make it into a game for fanatics. We also discuss how the United States can develop a richer, more abundant appreciation for our favorite sport!

Completing a 100 mile run just to know what it was like is just one example of how Cameron Schmidt takes on life. In this episode of the podcast we catch up with Cameron, discuss some really interesting ideas about leadership, and learn how we can apply his unique take on life to the world of volleyball.

Head Coach of Polish Pro Club Warta Zawiercie, Mark Lebedew is one of the world’s most unique thought leaders in volleyball. A contrarian by either nature or experience, Coach Lebedew discusses why challenging everything is good, why GMS and Art of Coaching are fundamentally flawed, and how examining contradictory theories can lead coaches to being even better. Basically, we examine how coaches can be better. So much good stuff!

Expert Mental Performance Coach, Cort Peters joins The VolleyNerd Podcast to discuss the complex nature of motivation and how being positive is only one (very important) rung on the motivation ladder. He uses some fun stories to express important ideas about how sports can be utilized to make ourselves better for the long-term. Should the winning team run if they win? What is the best motivator for long-term success? How can coaches help their players stay motivated? All on this pod! Check out @thevolleynerdpodcast on Instagram and TikTok for more interesting content

Owner/Founder of Flux Sports Performance, Zach Penolio joins the pod with great insight into training volleyball athletes and how to physically account for the unique demands of the game. We talk about when to start training, how to have a great warm-up, what a high-level workout looks like, the asymmetry of volleyball, developing “landing gear”, and how hitting with torque can damage our athletes if they don’t have the strength to decelerate very quickly. Such rich content for any player or coach who wants to take their game to the next level!