The CEV Technical and Development Department has finalised plans for the delivery of another two webinars run in conjunction with the School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’. It is yet another great opportunity for coaches and physical education teachers working at the entry level of the game to hone their skills with the help of two internationally renowned experts. Therefore, anyone interested in joining these webinars should sign up via the following link: https://schoolprojectregistrationportal.cev.eu/.

Frank Smoll from the USA and Stephen McKeown of England will deliver these two sessions on February 24 and March 10, respectively.

Smoll is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington and he will be sharing this knowledge and expertise on how to build a strong mind-set for competition. Smoll, who received his Bachelor’s degree from Ripon College (Wisconsin) and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, played as an undergraduate on championship basketball and baseball teams. When Dr Smoll was a University of Washington faculty member, he taught courses in sport psychology, and he served as Graduate Programme Coordinator, Human Subjects Coordinator, and Co-Director of the Sport Psychology graduate training programme.

In 2002, he was the recipient of AASP’s (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) Distinguished Professional Practice Award, bestowed on him for “demonstrating exceptional quality and innovation in delivering sport psychology services to the public.” Dr Smoll was also named a Sports Ethics Fellow for 2008 by the Institute for International Sports, which honoured him as a “pioneer in researching ways to improve youth sports.”

Dr Smoll’s research has focused on coaching behaviours in youth sports and on the psychological effects of competition on children and adolescents. He has published more than 145 scientific articles and book chapters, and he is co-author of as many as 22 books and manuals on children’s athletics. Throughout the years, Professor Smoll has made over 150 presentations at scientific/professional conferences and invited colloquia.

Ricardo Contreras will be accompanying him in the webinar to help facilitate the presentation of their Mastery Approach to Coaching concepts, focused on a healthy philosophy of winning for children in sports.

“The webinar will explore how we can apply long-term player development models to coaching children the sport of Volleyball at different ages and stages of development. The topic should be of interest to any coach working in participation and / or talent development and it will review the challenges of making youth programmes genuinely inclusive in environments with limited resources and with young players who are at different stages of playing, training and psycho-social development.”
Stephen McKeown

Some two weeks later, on March 10, Stephen McKeown, Course Director at Leeds Beckett University, Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching and Physical Education at Headingley Campus, will deliver the second webinar of this sixth series. McKeown is involved with the iCoachKids movement, with whom the CEV signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2021. His colleague Craig Handford will help dive into the topic of the webinar, i.e. long-term player development, which will focus on helping coaches align their training plans and competitions with children’s biological and training ages, rather than their chronological age.

All participants registered through the abovementioned portal will receive the link to the relevant Zoom videoconference in due time.