Hi, I’m Kyler, and today I’m sharing the story of my sister, Alina, who coaches our Special Olympics volleyball team, the WARHAWKS. I got to interview her about her coaching style and what it’s like teaching our amazing team. Here’s what she told me.
Every Saturday, Alina leads our practices for two hours. We start by warming up with volleyball conditioning exercises, like shuffling and block jumping, plus a few laps to help us get in shape. Then Alina has us focus on the basics, like setting, passing, and holding a ready position. She’s great at noticing what we need most. For the WARHAWKS, it’s usually serve-receive and hustling. After practicing, she lets us scrimmage so we can use our skills in a real game.
One of my favorite parts of practice is how we end it. Alina has us form a circle, facing away from the center, and quizzes us on lessons from the day. She says this helps each of us remember what we learned. She even gives us homework called “3, 2, 1’s” in which we each need to remember 3 volleyball positions, drink 2 bottles of water, and do 1 workout a day. The workouts can be Just Dance, swimming, walking or running, or following a volleyball conditioning video. This keeps us fit and builds healthy habits, even between practices.
Alina also makes sure we play safely and avoid bad habits. Instead of tossing the ball over the net, she teaches us to roll or hand it to the next player or coach. And if we’re walking instead of jogging, it slows down practice, so she gives us reminders. If we’ve had three reminders, she might have us run laps or do burpees, and then have us explain why we had the consequence, in order to learn from it. She says it’s important to push ourselves, while making sure we’re safe and having fun. Since we practice outside, she makes sure we have plenty of water breaks and social time, which is really nice, especially on hot days.
When in-person practice is canceled, Alina keeps us active with virtual workouts, where we play Just Dance. It’s fun, and everyone can do it, even without gym equipment. It also helps us stay connected and moving as a team, which makes us stronger as the WARHAWKS.
Alina has taught me a lot about volleyball, but she’s also shown me how important it is to keep going and work hard. She’s a great coach because she believes in us, helps us learn, and always makes sure we’re having fun.
