Episode 37 - Serving Velocity, Load Management and Concussions with Kerry MacDonald

From The First Chair Podcast

In this episode, Frank & Thierry welcome Volleyball Canada Director of Sport Science, Medicine and Innovation Kerry MacDonald to discuss serving velocity, preventing injuries through load management, developing concussion prevention strategies and much more. (1:18) - How did Kerry's passion for numbers and for volleyball originally begin? (3:22) - How did coach MacDonald progress from a 13U team to a university program? (5:34) - How does coach MacDonald achieve outstanding team success in such a short period of time with various teams? (6:20) - Why did coach MacDonald make the decision to leave the UBC program immediately after winning a USports title in only a second year of head coaching? (7:55) - What were the biggest lessons learned from his position at UBC? (9:05) - What motivated Kerry to try such a radical serving approach with the men's team at UBC? Big Data Baseball by Travis Shawchik (12:10) - What metrics did coach MacDonald utilize in regards to serving? (15:35) - How could a club coach apply some of these lessons in regards to serving? (18:08) - What are the critical factors to observe with spin serves? (19:18) - Why does Kerry abide by the principle that every serve is an independent event? (20:55) - What does serve training look like in Kerry's practice environment? (23:20) - How many serve attempts on average would an athlete do during a practice? (24:08) - What metrics are tracked in regards to serving in practice? (25:00) - Are athletes sometimes serving at empty courts or are there always receivers? (27:40) - When and how did coach MacDonald develop his science based coaching approach? (28:58) - What was Kerry's doctorate on injury prevention really about and what did he learn from it? (34:50) - Why isn't the FIVB concerned about the load the VNL schedule is creating on the athletes? (35:50) - How can club and school coaches manage the jump load for their athletes? (37:36) - How can summer program athletes that go from basically total rest to two training sessions a day be better prepared? (39:16) - Would playing beach volleyball be an appropriate way to prepare for a summer program? (40:00) - Is there a sample pre-training load program available from VC or a provincial association? (42:04) - How should the jump count be monitored in season? (46:25) - What advice does coach MacDonald have in regards to dealing with injuries? (48:15) - What are some general conclusions on concussions in volleyball that Kerry would like to share with coaches? (51:38) - From an injury risk perspective, how improper is the international hitting warm up? (53:20) - What is the actual trend on the recovery of concussions? Should it be more active or passive? (54:24) - Should a baseline test be administered to every athlete at the club level? Head Check Health Making Head Way (57:20) - What is being done with national teams in terms of science, medicine and innovation? (61:20) - How can significant loads over time for some international athletes like Graham Vigrass, Blair Bann and Gord Perrin be sustained?