The Value of Things: Gaming the Secondary

Photo by Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesThere is something in baseball that has been called the “platoon advantage”. Even though it is a relatively new concept, it is one that volleyball coaches have known forever. Your team usually has a mix of tall girls and short girls. It makes very little sense to play any of them all the way around. The tall ones play at the net and the short ones play in back row. At least that is how it is supposed to work.

Coaches have types. I had them when I was a coach and when I watch my daughter’s teams those coaches do too. I know this all too well because she never seems to be any of their type. She often looks awkward when she performs…