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All In Due Time 'Volleyball Magazine' August 2009
Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon is ready to take on the world with the USA women’s team
By Carrie Bowers
It’s impossible to spend even two minutes at a USA Women’s National Volleyball Team practice at the American Sports Center in Anaheim without seeing Hugh McCutcheon glance at his watch to monitor the time. It’s symptomatic of his acute attention to detail. As the Women’s Team is now finding out, there are no little things on McCutcheon’s court.
“We need our athletes to perform the fundamental skills correctly, time and time again,” says McCutcheon, head coach of the squad as of last December. “It’s not enough to do it ninety-nine out of one hundred times. We need to be able to do it nine-hundred ninety-nine out of one thousand times.”
McCutcheon, a native of New Zealand and former BYU standout player and coach, is bringing a few new elements into the gym. Using a numbers-based program to determine efficiency, McCutcheon is gathering information to create a successful training program for a team that’s relatively new to him, in order to prepare them for international competition this summer.
“I don’t know a lot about this group yet,” admits McCutcheon. “But what I do know about them is they were silver medalists at the Olympics. So they were doing some good stuff already. I want us to define some goals for the squad and hope we can go about achieving and behaving according to those goals.”
Though he claims to not yet know much about the 30 girls currently training in Anaheim, McCutcheon has already determined what his squad needs to do to be better.
“In general we need to improve our ability to make the appropriate choices at the appropriate times and get better at seeing what we need to see to read the game correctly.”
At his courtside whiteboard is where McCutcheon’s “little changes” take form, and so far, the players are buying into the changes he’s made.
“We try to get the athletes in game-like situations as much as possible. Even with fundamentals we use transferable live-randomness in basic practice drills,” says McCutcheon. “I’ve been extremely impressed with the ability of these athletes to make change. The challenge is that the decrease in performance during the process can be frustrating.”
Decrease in performance may be a part of change, but McCutcheon is optimistic regarding the capabilities of the squad that are already in place—likely key components to their success at the 2008 Olympic Games.
“One of the strengths we have is that there are a lot of good athletes in the gym right now. They work hard,” asserts McCutcheon. “They haven’t been as cognitively engaged as we would’ve liked, but that’s quickly changing. They’re working hard and learning to work smart.”
Led by McCutcheon, the USA Women will be headed to several international competitions this summer, the first being the Pan American Cup in Miami, Florida, June 26th through July 4th.
“There’s not a lot of time to implement systems, so if we can play hard every point and continue to get better I’ll be happy. If we can do those things, my guess is we will win some matches too,” McCutcheon believes.
Winning matches is not something that is new to McCutcheon after having led the USA Men’s Olympic Team to a gold-medal finish in Beijing last August, defeating Brazil 3-1 in the final. But for McCutcheon, a few things need to happen in order for the US Women to achieve the same feat.
“We’d certainly like to think it’s possible to win gold,” says McCutcheon, “but we need our athletes to invest in the process, hope for the desired result, and try to be the best team we can be. We can’t control what our opponents are doing, but we can control what we’re doing. We need to figure out the systems that work for USA, implement them, and then work our butts off, on and off the court, to try and realize our individual and collective potential. If we can do that, we’ll be a very good volleyball team in 2012.”
McCutcheon thinks experienced veterans can play a vital role in the quest for the podium in 2012, but he also believes his athletes need to commit to the Team Concept in order to produce a cohesive, winning unit.
“Everyone is saying [the veterans] will be in the gym at some point,” says McCutcheon. “One of the strengths of the US women is that we have depth. We have the talent, but that needs to be developed. We know the value of experience, but it is not the only evaluative criteria we will use to select the final roster. Consistently high performers will do well in our gym.”
Before McCutcheon has the opportunity to usher his squad to the Olympic podium three years from now, a lot of significant things have to occur on his court to make that happen; and much of it is contingent on a simple whiteboard and a watch. And luckily for the US Women’s National Volleyball Team, there are no little things on McCutcheon’s court.
Q: What is your overall viewpoint regarding the technical changes you’re making?
A: When we’re teaching skills, we’re trying to distill the parts of each skill to their purest essence in order to simplify the learning and execution. Adding layers of complexity can potentially lead to variance in execution (i.e., errors). We want to keep variance to a minimum.
Q: What is your philosophy on passing technique?
A: Generally when passing we want to track the ball and present our platform in a way the ball will angle to target.
Q: You are a believer in swing blocking. Many women’s/girlsteams are not accustomed to the technique. What is your viewpoint of swing blocking’s importance in the women’s game?
A: Swing blocking is just another tool in the blocking tool kit. It’s not something you have to do all the time, or should do all the time. It allows the athlete to jump as high as they can by creating momentum. Jumping high can have a positive effect on blocking. If we get good at reading the game like I want to, then we’ll get good at blocking. We don’t do a lot of specific blocking drills, but they get a lot blocking reps and blocking feedback in practice through live play.
Q: For women’s coaches, what should be their main priorities?
A: Serving, receiving serve, first-ball offense, and transition offense are the most important parts of the game today. Winning those battles will win you a lot of matches.
Q: What are you teaching in the gym to make attackers more efficient?
A: We’re talking to our athletes about rotation and trying to get them to torque when they hit. You can generate a lot more power around a central axis than through spiking.
Q: Is it working?
A: Yes.
Q: Defensively, how would you describe your system and methodology?
A: When we’re playing defense, we want to be in a stopped, balanced, and neutral position when an attacker swings. We try to make good reads based on information we’re receiving and then dig the ball.
Q: Many young kids don’t understand the impact good serving makes. What advice would you give young players?
A: Today’s game is disproportionately weighted toward serving. The ability to serve a good serve at the weakest receiver on the opposing team consistently is a huge systemic advantage.
Q: How much practice time do you typically dedicate to serving?
A: I’d say that at least two-thirds of our activities involve serving. It’s one of the foundational cornerstones of this game that we’re trying to get better at.
Q: Do you ever work with [your native country’s New Zealand’s National Team?
A: Sometimes I’m in the gym when I’m home; mainly just coaching clinics. But I usually try to avoid volleyball when I go back to New Zealand.
Q: Could you ever see yourself moving back?
A: Yeah, if the right opportunity came up I’d certainly look at it. But I’ve got a lot of years living in the US and I like it here. Living in New Zealand would be a lot harder for my wife than living in the US is for me.
Q: Who in your life has contributed the most to your knowledge of the game of volleyball?
A: Carl McGown, Doug Beal, and Marv Dunphy—but all in different ways
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