[Mr. Owl]

Volleyball is one of the few sports where all the players on the team need to be in continual verbal communication with eachother while the ball is in play.

In! Good! Out! I Got It! Mine! Free! Help! Over! Dink! Line! Angle! Touch!

These are just a few of the calls players shout during a point. Communication among players is often slow to develop on a newly formed team. To speed up this process, when you establish positions before the match you should also establish communication protocols. For example, if the ball is served deep and there are two back row passers, one calls I got it and the other calls in or out. Both are responsible for making a call. If a player doesn't hear the other player call for the ball, they should assume its theirs, call for it early and start to go for it. If they subsequently hear the other player call for the ball, and they haven't encroached on the other player, they can always stop. It takes practice to learn how to be aggressive without running headlong into your teammates, but call everything near you. Call, call, call.

If communication still doesn't improve, you can make a game of it. Every time a player passes a ball without calling for it, they owe the team a quarter. Also, if the player closest to the passer didn't call the ball in or out, they owe the team a quarter. Silent players will start calling for the ball to avoid having to pay for the first round of drinks afterwards. Don't penalize players for making incorrect in/out calls, it will only discourage them from speaking. However, the player is making these bad line calls is from the opposite side of the court, they should be penalized along with the closest player who didn't say a word.

In 6's I actually prefer yelling people's name. No other word gets people's attention better. I either say "Me or Mine", or I yell the person's name who should get the ball. The problem is when I have two people with the same name.

Its easier to motivate 1 player to call the ball than to motivate an entire team. Tag someone to lead the defense. In my club, I charge the libero with this responsibility (since that's the libero's job anyway). I'm fortunate enough to have a libero with a tremendous vocal range, who's voice cuts through the usual din of battle in a crowded gym, so its pretty obvious who will be playing the ball. This also eliminates the problem of two players yelling "You!" at the same time.

The libero anchors the defense, the setter runs the offense. Therefore, if a ball is to be passed, its the libero's responsibility to yell her teammate's names and do traffic control and get the ball to the setter. Ideally, she should develop a habit of yelling and pointing to the player who will be playing the ball (in case the passer didn't hear the libero's call). If a ball isn't dug or passed, the libero is responsible for identifying why it wasn't dug and to make adjustments, either by communicating with the other players or changing her position on the court to take away the hitter's strongest shot.

Another reason why I tell my libero to point to the passer is so that, if the passer is in vapor lock or shanks the pass, the libero already has her hands out and away from her body towards the ball in case she has to do a last-second one-handed stabby pass.