by Katie Guillory, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at LSU for Beach Volleyball
When I took a job at my alma mater, LSU, this February, I started working with school’s beach volleyball. Softball, not beach volleyball, has always been the staple in my sport of focus, and I have worked with a few other sports during my collegiate coaching tenure.
February primes the pump for beach volleyball teams, and I was working with a top-10 team with lofty goals at a highly respected institution. I had never worked with the sport and, on top of that, most of the technology in use prior to my arrival was washed out by the turnover in our football strength staff.
Moving forward with little sport application, no buy-in, and less than half of the velocity tracking equipment that was used all year left, I was in a unique position. I relied on what my previous years of experience had taught me on how to coach people, and I ran with it.
As the calendar turned to May, we entered the 2022 postseason ranked No. 6 in the country, and with a newly expanded NCAA bracket, I knew I was in for a treat at the national championship. In the opening round, I took the time to pick our head coach’s brain while watching the matches. Eating dinner that night, I realized how close seven out of the eight duals ended up being, and I kept commenting on how amazing this was for the sport!
As the sport evolves and more universities add beach volleyball, support staff will continue to follow. Specifically, strength and conditioning must continue to evolve as rapidly as beach volleyball to keep up with the excitement and uniqueness of the sport.
Understanding that each university uses different systems, technology, and equipment to train their athletes, I believe strength and conditioning coaches that work with beach volleyball must shift to train the sport as a high priority to give these athletes the best-value experience possible at the highest level a university can offer.
To those who have the honor of stepping into this role for a team, here are my thoughts on how to survive, establish a foundation, and embrace the grind all at the same time:
- Research the sport as much as possible before starting the job, although I learned that research is rather scarce for beach volleyball. Get excited, though, as you get to be a part of creating history!
- Just two weeks before the first match I took time out of a team lift session to lay out my standards and expectations, knowing I’d need some transitional grace and love moving forward. I understood I had to set the tone.
- I took our seniors aside and had a conversation on what they wanted from me to contribute to THEIR team. I got awesome feedback, and allowing the most experienced players seemed necessary for buy-in.
- I got to know players as people—one-by-one—and shared my pride and love for the university through my high-energy voice in the weight room while coaching with a goal of high-movement competency. Correlating my experience of being a collegiate athlete at LSU years ago, I tried my best to put myself in their shoes.
- I went out to practice and analyzed movement patterns, while also asking coaches questions, so I could create in-season key performance indicators.
Still just four months into the sport, I am as uncomfortable as ever … and I love it!
At the end of the day, even though a beach volleyball is a different dimension and weight than a softball, the mission is still the same. Through this journey of mine, I have learned these young females need mentorship, accountability, and a COACH nonetheless.
The sport of beach volleyball at a NCAA level is new, incredibly fast-paced, on the rise, and I am hooked!