The Out-of-System Offense

by John Speraw, Men's Volleyball Coach, UC Irvine and

USA Men's National Team Assistant Coach

originally published in Coaching Volleyball Magazine

During the last two summers with the U.S. Men's National Team, I was impressed with the velocity of the serves on the international level. What may have been even more impressive to me were the abilities of attackers to hit their way out of the bad situations caused by these incredible serves.

In our training environment, we, as coaches, spend a significant amount of time working on our side-out offense. However, it is imperative that we also spend time teaching our players how to deal with poor situations. Basically, we must teach them the "out-of-system" system.

To highlight these concepts, here are some key components for running a successful offense on a medium or poor pass, along with some stories and observations from my time with the U.S. Men's National Team at this summer's Olympics in Beijing, as well as during some other recent USA competitions.

Know Your Shot Selection

Players must first understand that when a pass goes off the net, the opposing middle blocker has a much better chance of closing the block. Therefore, a ball hit sharply down into the court is more likely to get stuffed.

As soon as the ball is passed off the net, the attacker must think about changing his shot selection. It's a thought process that must be trained. Some of the hitting options include the high flat shot over area six, the tool off the end blocker, or even the wipe-off shot.

No one understood this better on the USA men's team than Riley Salmon. At 6-4, Riley needed to hit a variety of shots off the block, especially in bad situations. He wasn't big enough to overpower the blockers on a busted play, but he was incredibly good at attacking the line and using the block. But, sometimes he did try to make the straight-down spike into the seam, and those times were bad for him and bad for the team.

In one of his best matches, Riley caused Russia fits in the Olympic semifinals. The Russian players knew he was going to try and use their big block, yet no matter what they tried, he couldn't be stopped. His shot selection, in particular his effectiveness at "tooling the line," was crucial in our win.

Get Your Feet to the Ball.

In order for an attacker to effectively take out-of-system swings, he must put his body in a good place relative to the ball. If the ball is too far out in front of the attacker, or to the right or left of the attacker, it is impossible to hit the ball with any range.

This is more than just simply putting the ball in front of the hitting shoulder. It requires the player to get his feet to the ball so his body is balanced in the air with the ball in front of his shoulder. This would also allow him to land balanced on two feet.

No one on our team was better at this than Reid Priddy. Everyone talks about his power, but what they don't realize is that it is his balance in the air that allows that power to affect the ball. What Reid does to achieve this balance is to use a very fast close-step (the last two steps in his approach). When he completes his approach, the final step of both his right foot and left foot, almost simultaneously hit the ground. It is very fast.

This movement allows Reid to wait a half-second longer at the start of his approach, judge the direction of the set, and then use his second step to better adjust to the ball's location.

This type of footwork is particularly effective when using a fast offense and when there is less time to recognize the direction of the set.

Adjust Your Set

The setter might have to adjust the speed of the set to the pin when distributing it from off the net. It will depend on the severity of the situation.

Some teams have the ability to still run fast sets to the pin from 15 feet off the net. Others have to set the ball higher from there.

The challenge of running a fast offense from off the net is the set has to be perfect in order to attack the ball effectively. In addition, the hitter has to be very proficient in getting his feet to the ball. Depending on the skill level of the setter and the hitters on the team, running the offense from off the net will need to be adjusted.

Both of our smaller outsides on the USA team wanted to run fast. Fortunately, Lloy Ball did a nice job of putting the ball in the right place. This was especially true in the quarterfinals against Serbia and the semifinals against Russia. Even if the pass was 15 feet off the net, Reid and Riley wanted the ball set as fast as possible to the pin so they wouldn't have to deal with a perfectly formed block from one of their big middles, such as Russia's seven-footer Alexander Volkov.

Know Your End Blockers

Before a play starts, it is important for a hitter to recognize who the opponent's potential blockers will be on that play. It might seem simple, but it requires focus.

We were playing Brazil in the finals of the Pan American Games when we ran into a problem. This is not a story of success, so let's give our player an alias. Let's call him "Brook Billings".

Brook had the option of taking a swing at the end blocker, Marcelinho (Marcelo Elgarten), who is small and not a very good blocker, or Gustavo (Gustavo Endres), a middle blocker known for his ability to stuff the ball. Brazil had a server up who was causing our passers some problems. The balls were coming off the net and Brook was getting high balls out to the pin. He clearly should have been taking his chances with Marcelinho, but, instead, swung hard and low at Gustavo. Twice!

After getting blocked straight down on consecutive swings, we were forced to take a timeout. As a coach, I try very hard not to state the obvious. This time, however, I couldn't resist.

"Brook, did you think about taking those swings at Marcelinho?," I asked.

"Good idea," he replied.

Get the Ball Back

The ability to use the block is key in the international game. In fact, it is rare when someone gets a clean kill that goes to the ground untouched. We all teach our players to use the block in some fashion, but usually that means trying to hit the ball off the block and out of bounds.

When watching Giba (Gilberta Godoy Filho), the best outside hitter for Brazil, I was struck by his skill at hitting the ball into the block with the purpose of getting the ball back on his side of the net. If he found himself in a bad situation, or if the set wasn't exactly where he wanted it, he would hit the ball at about 50% directly into the block, and then he or his teammates would scoop up the soft bounce off the hands. This easily controlled shot would essentially give his team a "free ball," which would hopefully allow for another, more effective, swing at the ball.

On the following pages are a few drills that you can use with your team to practice your out-of-system offenses so that they can be best prepared in the event of an errant pass during a match.

About the Author...

Speraw has also been successful on the international level, serving as an assistant coach with the United States Men's Indoor Volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In 2011, he was given the U.S. Olympic Achievement Award, an honor that recognizes the colleges and universities whose coaches and student-athletes have won Olympic medals in the past two Olympic Games.

In 2009, Speraw guided the UCI team to a 27-5 overall record and ended the year ranked No. 1 in the country. The Anteaters were ranked No. 1 for eight weeks, the most of any team in the country. UCI also captured the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season title.

With UCI's first national championship in 2007, Speraw became the only individual to have won a title as a head coach, assistant coach and player in men's volleyball history. Speraw, Rod Wilde and Bob Yoder are the only three to have accomplished the feat as a player and head coach.

Along with the national championship in 2007, Speraw's team also won its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament championship, ended the year with the No. 1 ranking and had a school record 29 victories, a win total that was the most among all NCAA Division I-II schools that year.

Speraw, was named 2006 AVCA National Coach of the Year as well as Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year. He has been a finalist for National Coach of the Year three times.

In 2006, The Anteaters claimed their first-ever regular season Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, finishing with a 20-2 league record. The team had a school-record 21 consecutive victories to end the regular season and held the number-one ranking for eight consecutive weeks.

Speraw, who is 154-89 overall as head coach of the Anteaters, has mentored both the AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Year and the AVCA Division I-II Men's Newcomer of the Year in 2006. UC Irvine players have earned All-American distinction 16 times since Speraw arrived at UCI, including six first-teamers. While at Irvine, Speraw's players have also garnered MPSF Player of the Year, MPSF Freshman of the Year, NCAA Championship MVP, NCAA All-Tournament Team, numerous national and conference Player of the Week honors as well as academic distinctions such as Academic All-American, MPSF & UCI Scholar-Athletes and Lauds & Laurels Athlete of the Year. Under Speraw's leadership, the men's volleyball team has had no fewer than five scholar-athletes each year.

Speraw, who has had a team ranked No. 1 in four different years, has had UCI sitting in the Top 10 final rankings all but one year while at the helm of the Anteaters.

In 2008, he received a Pillar Award, which showcases outstanding achievement in ethical leadership at the12th Annual Ethics in America Awards. Speraw was also named to OC METRO Business Magazine's 18th annual list of the Hottest 25 Business People of Orange County and was tabbed No. 16 in the Daily Pilot's 2007 Top 103 Most Influential People in the Newport/Costa Mesa Area. Speraw has been in the Most Influential list the last four years including the Sports Newsmaker of the Year in 2006.

Speraw was named an assistant coach with the U.S. National team in January, 2007 and helped Team USA to a not only the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but a World League Championship. He also served as an assistant coach the U.S. Women's National Team in 2009.

Speraw's other international coaching experience, includes being the head coach of the USA Junior National Team three times as well as the head coach of the Youth National Team. He also served as an assistant for the Youth National Team (1998 and 2001), the World University Games Team (1997 and 1999) and the Pan American Games Team (1999, 2007).

Prior to UCI, Speraw served in various roles with the UCLA volleyball program for 12 years. He played middle blocker for the Bruins from 1990-95 and was a member of two national championship teams. He was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team in 1995 when he had 11 kills and eight blocks in the championship victory over Penn State. Speraw became a volunteer assistant coach with the Bruins before assuming a full-time assistant's position in 1998. He graduated from UCLA in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology and molecular genetics.

Speraw was elected to the AVCA Board of Directors as the men's representative in 2007.

He is the co-author of the book Exercise for Your Muscle Type: The Smart Way to Get Fit and had a cameo appearance in the movie Beach Kings.