Dimitrov inspires coaches to work on player development

Nikola Dimitrov delivered on Thursday the first session of the seventh webinar series run by the CEV Technical and Development Department in conjunction with the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’, with some 30 attendees from across Europe joining the videoconference call.

In another webinar meant to inspire coaches and physical education teachers working at the entry level of the game, Nikola emphasised that kids absorb and learn the best from active learning methods, such as discussions and practices. Gamification is the perfect way to incorporate active learning methods into practice and provide the kids a different perspective on how they see the game.

The Bulgarian expert has been working with underage teams for years and he saw a spark of new motivation in his players after they had the chance to create training/practice plans for the team, and teach it to others.

Dimitrov stressed that the time spent playing in relation to the difficulty of exercises directly affects the challenge. This means that a player achieves optimal learning when the practice is neither so easy that it becomes boring nor too hard or confusing that it becomes frustrating, but somewhere in the middle.

Game mechanics like leader-boards and badges provide children with additional motivation to improve their skills, while also meeting basic human needs/desires such as reward, status, achievement, self-expression, competition, and altruism.

Nikola emphasised that coaches should focus on player development, not on short-term wins and they should communicate that clearly to their players even when they are making mistakes. Providing players will small, tangible goals, step-by-step helps improve their self-confidence and motivation to improve.

This seventh webinar series will continue next week, and more specifically on May 18, with Slovenia’s Živa Cof delivering a session on “Small tips for coaching young children to get their maximum”. If you have not done so already, make sure you sign up here in order to receive the link to the relevant Zoom call.