2010 AIS Development Tour Final Report
On Wednesday, 27 January the AIS Men’s Volleyball team returned to Australia after 41 hours in transit, returning from their 3 week development tour of Japan, Italy and Sweden.
The second half of the tour saw the team take on the junior teams of Italian A1 Club teams Marmi Lanza Verona and Aqua Paradiso Monza, and local Men’s team Ternate.
The team played consistently in the Italian series, narrowly losing in a marathon 5 set match to Verona and comfortably accounting for Monza and Ternate.
The Australians continued to work on their consistency under pressure and capitalising on opportunities that had been created which had been a key issue for the team in Japan.
From Italy, the team travelled to Sweden for a 3 match series against the Swedish Junior team and a one match best of 3 sets scrimmage against the top Swedish ‘Elitserien’ Men’s League team boasting 5 AIS graduates, Linköping Volleyball Club.
The series with the Sweden Junior team was a hard fought affair, with Sweden finally taking out the series 3-0 with every match being a close contest between both teams. The AIS boys struggled with their consistency under pressure during this series and failed to capitalise on key opportunities in a number of sets and were reminded constantly of the difference between playing junior volleyball and the level required to progress to the senior level.
The scrimmage against LVC helped to highlight this difference between junior and senior volleyball as the AIS played well against their strongest opponents for the tour, acquitting themselves well in the second set after a nervous start in the first set.
Tour Results:
06/01/10 AIS v JPN Jr. Men 2:3 (23-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-23, 12-15)
07/01/10 AIS v JPN Jr. Men 0:3 (11-25, 22-25, 21-25)
08/01/10 AIS v JPN Jr. Men 0:3 (23-25, 21-25, 15-25)
09/01/10 AIS v Asahi Univ. 2:3 (23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 12-15)
10/01/10 AIS v Asahi Univ. 2:3 (25-15, 23-25, 31-29, 21-25, 16-18)
13/01/10 AIS vs Verona Jr. Men 2:3 (25-17, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 22-24)
14/01/10 AIS vs Monza Jr. Men 3:1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18)
15/01/10 AIS vs Ternate 3:1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-18, 25-19)
19/01/10 AIS vs SWE Jr. Men 1:3 (25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 27-29)
20/01/10 AIS vs SWE Jr. Men 1:3 (28-26, 19-25, 20-25, 24-26)
21/01/10 AIS vs Linköping VC 0:2 (12-25, 21-25)
22/01/10 AIS vs SWE Jr. Men 1:3 (19-25, 25-20, 21-25, 20-25)
Analysis of the team’s performance indicates that the team’s passing was very consistent and very good for this level. The biggest issue for the team was killing the ball in attack (42% kill) whilst the error rate in attack overall was quite good at 18%.
In the Men’s AVL series of 2009, 42% Kill was the consistent attack figure for the AIS Men’s team during the season, with only a few matches for the year providing attack stats above 50% which is the team’s goal and the level required to be successful at the next level.
On this development tour for the AIS team, they attacked at above 50% kills in only 1 match and had 3 matches where the teams kill efficiency (kills – errors / total attacks) was at 30% or better. Again highlighting the importance of attack in men’s volleyball and the development still required for the young AIS boys to be ready to progress into the senior ranks in a few years.
The team’s blocking was inconsistent throughout the tour and is another key area for the team to work on both individually and as a team. The AIS system of play relies heavily on players performing a structured role in their blocking that works closely with the defenders behind them. The team’s goal is to score 3 or more stuff blocks per set and they were just short of this at 2.4 blocks per set for the tour. Having said that, the players definitely improved their defence throughout the tour and created many transition for point attack opportunities because of this. The ability to kill these opportunities in key moments was a contributing factor in the losses of a number close sets during the tour.
The team returns to Australia in good spirits having improved throughout the tour and learning many valuable lessons about the level and consistency required to be successful at the next level. The players return to training and school in Canberra where they will begin a targeted beach volleyball program in Canberra, Adelaide and at various beach events over the next couple of months as they take part in the AIS Men’s volleyball integrated beach / indoor development program.
Tour Stats Summary:
Reception: 53% perfect passing. Passing proficiency 2.21. 6% Error.
Attack: 42% Kill. 18% Error. 24% Efficiency.
Block: 114 Stuff Blocks (2.4 Blocks per Set)
Serve: 1 Ace for every 2.5 Errors.
