(Based upon the upcoming Brazilian Mini Volleyball DVD by JVA) By John Sample and Dave Weitl

What if your coaching in Rio de Janeiro, where his te

assignment this year was and coaches were spending t

a 14 & under team ­ final day in Brazil before heat

and you wete told that you could back home to the USA.

only play 4-on-4? What if you had The JVA had assigned us an 11 & under team and you were task of collecting video footage

told you could only play 3-on-3? terviewing experts and researd

the world of "Mini-Volei", asWhat if your 14 & under and 15

& under teams required thar every called in Brazil, for the proJUCI

player must play every posirion) of a DVD for JVA member CO~

What if your charter was to teach es. We had done our research

cooperation, responsibility and scheduled our appointments

respect as rhe primary mission we knew that it was going to

and you were instructed to use busy week for us.

volleyball as the tool to do it)

Welcome to Brazilian volleyball.

There has always been mystique sur­

rounding Brazilian volleyball, whether ir is

at rhe youth, junior or adult level. In the

past 25 years, Brazil has dominated rhe po­

dium at vitrually every world competition

at all levels of both male and female divi­

sions. One might argue that Brazilian vol­

leyball has been the best in the world. \X!hy

is this? Is it because of the training, the

players. the pipeline for younger players, or

possibly the nature of Brazilian culture)

TIlese were my thoughts on the long

flight from Dallas to Rio de Janeiro. Waiting

for me at the airport in Rio was my friend

and fellow club director from Seattle, Dave

Weitl of Washington Volleyball Academy.

We were given access to some of the top

youth programs in Brazil, and they would

be allowing us to watch and film mini and

youth volleyball training. We were both

curious to see how much impact the mini

volleyball programs in Brazil had on rhe

success of the Brazilian Narional Teams and

the Brazilian "Superliga," one of the top

professional volleyball leagues in the world.

Our assignment was to bring home infor­

mation to help USA Clubs with the train­

ing of mini volleyball (8 - 12 year olds) here

in the United States. A formidable task, but

one we were fully prepared to execute.

Dave was already in Brazil because over

the past six yeats he has been taking ju­

niors teams to Brazil to train and compete

rhrough a unique exchange program with

rhe Minas Tenis Clube of Belo Horizonte.

He had been in Brazil for 10 days before

r arrived. We were meeting at the airporr

Our first stop was in Rio

we lost little time in finding I

ing oppottunities. Driving by the beau

beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana

encountered miles of beautiful beach,

even more impressive to us were the

volleyball courtS that stretched as far a:

eye could see. We got some great fOG

as we drove, then walked and filmeJ a

watched volleyball being played by SCI'

juniors, totS and coeds of every age. W

saw "futsal" being played (a ver~ion of

on-five soccer played on a small court!~

aIso available in the US) along with faa

ley. Foot volley is an amazing game of

on-two soccer using three contacts pel

and pJayed on a sand volleyball COLlrt­

using soccer conract rules: feet only. Yo

see this game on Youtube at www.you

com/watch?v=ROptRgOpIcg. All a

athletic action was taking place on literally

hundreds of courts. That's right; I said hun­

dreds of beach courts! In many places the

courtS were four and five deep between the

densely packed rows of hotels and the crash­

ing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It rook

a full 25 minutes ro drive from one end

of Copacabana Beach to the other end of

Ipanema Beach. It was then that we knew:

this was going ro be one tough assignment.

Volleyball in the United States is one

of the fastest growing sports for girls, and

there are currently over 400,000 junior

club players. Volleyball trails only soccer

as the number two sport in Brazil, which

may be described more appropriately as a

religion than a sport. Volleyball in Brni I is played by over a million juniors and an­

other half million adults.

During our stay in Brazil, we visited four

cities and watched many hours of mini-vol­

leyball training, juniors training and com­

peting, as weH as observing while the men's

national team and some professional teams

trained. We focused primarily on youth

training (ages 8 to 12). What we found

was a little confusing because there was

very little six-on-six being played anywhere

by players under 14. Generally, the young

players are divided into groups of 8-9 year

olds, 10-11 year olds, 12-13 year olds, and

over 14 year olds.

The level of volleyball in each of these age

groups was not as high as we expected, and

although we saw hundreds of players, we

saw very few with exceptional skills at the

younger ages. Trying to reconcile the level of

volleyball we are accustomed CO seeing from

Brazilian professional and national teams

with the level we were seeing in these clubs

was confusing to say the least. Being the in­

ttepid explorers we are, we decided to delve

deeper into what makes Brazilian volleyball

so great. What we learned has caused both

of us co rethink the way our club imple­

ments volleyball at the younger ages.

Brazilian volleyball is run by the

Confederas:ao Brasileira de Voleibol

(Brazilian Volleyball Confederation) and

takes part in national and international vol­

leyball competitions. For most volleybaH

enthusiasts in Brazil, the cultural leader of

the sport is Bernardo Rocha de Rezende,

also known as Bernardinho. Since 2001,

Bernardinho has been the head coach of

Brazil men's narional ream and, prior ro

rhar, was rhe head coach of rhe women's

narional ream. As a coach, Rezende is rhe

grearesr champion in rhe hisrory of vol­

leyball, accumularing more rhan 30 major

rides in his 20-year career direcring ehe

Brazilian male and female eeams.

In an effon ro bener organize rhe junior

side of Brazilian volleybaJl, Bernardinho be­

gan a yourh movement rhar divided ehe play­

ers inco ehe 8-9, 10-] 1, 12-13 and 14 and

older caregories. Foregoing rhe normal erain­

ing rechniques, each age group was organized

around a culeural objeceive, wieh voUeybaU

serving as rhe cool co implemenr ir.

Bernadinho formulaeed a progression of

objeceives to focus on as rhe young players

move rhrough ehe age divisions. Wirh 8-9

year olds ehe focus is cooperation-wirh mose

drills being organized around one-on-one and

cwo-on-rwo acrivieies co maximize cOntacrs.

Mosr drills are designed co require acrions

rhae are dependenc upon whae is occurring on

rhe orher side of rhe ner, i.e., "reading" rhe

opponenr's movemenrs. 1he couns are scaled

down co accommodaee ehe sm,Jler size of rhe

players and rhe ner is lower co facilieaee lors

of successful coneacrs. Faccors: smaJler coun,

lower nee, seeeing to score, ripping co score,

coil shoes co score, underhanded serving, pass­

ing, reperieion, placemenr over rhe ner based

upon rargers or acriviry across rhe ner.

The 10-1 1 age groups are designed

around responsibility. Noe only are rhe

players responsible for rheir team and

coach, bue they must demonserare respon­

sibiliry at home, school and wirh friends

to gain a passing grade and progress. Their

drills are designed mainly around a three­

on-three format and rbe focus is respond­

ing again to whar is happening wirh rhe

three players on the orher side of rhe ner.

Faccors: smaller cou rt, lower net, setti ng ro

score, fronc sets, ripping co score, rolls shors

co score, underhanded serving, passing,

repeeirion, placement over net based upon

opponenes' aceiviry.

Ages 12-13 organize in four-on-four for­

marions and focus on rhe cultural of respect.

The respecr is again d irecred rowards rhe

game, rhe ream, rhe coaches, rhe opponenrs

as well as family, school, and even friends.

Games of four-on-four are again rhe rool

rhar is used ro reach respecr. Facrors: smaller

courr, lower ner, serring ro score, fronr sers,

back sers, ripping ro score, hirring ro score,

underhanded serving, passing reperirion,

one-rhree or rhree-one (fronr row-back row)

courr alignmenr, placemenr over ner based

upon opponenr's movemenrs.

In each of rhese age groups, rime was

spem ralking among rhe parricipanrs abour

rhe social progress rhey were making, how

rhey were responding ar home or school

and whar skil! drills, comperirive drills or

games rhey would be doing in pracrice

rhar could relare ro respecr. Some common

denom inarors in each of rhese age groups

were serving underhanded, tipping and roll

shors, serring on borh sides of rhe ner and

passing ro rarger. In addirion, rhe besr play­

er was always placed wirh the worst player

for drills wirh insrrucrions ro help rhe orher

player improve, meaning thar both players

learn to become better teammates.

]he focus of 8-13 year olds was on both

rechnical and tactical volleyball skills as well

as the developmenr of social and cui rural

skills through drills with very litrle com­

petition. We were also surprised to see rhe

high level of play emerge suddenly when

rhe players are hnally allowed to compere

once rhey reach 14 years old. Apparenrly

wairing for G years ro compere in six-on­

six play awakens an eager spirit EO go along

wirh rhe grear ream antrude of coopera­

rion, responsibiliry and respecr, nurrured in

these players through their paniciparion in

Mini-volei.

For more information on our research

and Brazilian mini volleyball, drills, rech­

nigue and rhe conceprs behind rhe culrural

aspecrs of Brazilian volleyball, warch for rhe

new OVO, "Brazilian Mini VoJleyball" pre­

senred by JVA, available in January. C